The Tom Lord-Alge (love?) thread

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

I hate to admit that I'm still largely unfamiliar with TLA's discography. Not long ago I heard his radio-single mix for Sevendust's 'Waffle', which not only shattered the original album mix by AW, but also has one of the best rock guitar tones and overall mix balances I've ever heard.

So, can anyone suggest any more of his other great works?

 

[JeffTD]

Blink 182 - Takeoff Your Pants & Jacket
Sum41 - All Killer, No Filler
Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue

Him and Jerry Finn/Neal Avron have done a lot of work together and he's done some seminal modern pop-punk records (the three above, for instance). It'll be different from what you're used to but I find the mixes to be incredible and the individual tones to all be fairly unique but great.

 

[JeffTD]

Worth noting that 4 of the tracks on Blink 182's s/t album were done by him, and with 4 by Andy Wallace. AW clearly got the better songs, but it's still an interesting thing to hear.

Also includes Jerry Finn mixes - really different styles throughout but it's all cohesive.

 

[kev]

I was just listening to All Killer no filler the other day. Album of my teens that one, it was an absolute monster! I think it was a slow downhill for them afterwards. Never really seem to hear too much from TLA either, seems to be much more on the low down than his big bro. How about Jeff Lord Alge?

 

[Machinated]

love TLA, he mixed life is peachy which has an incredibly cool vibe too it and suits the music perfectly IMO. Did a lot of work with yellowcard (more pop-punk) and also the avril lavigne stuff is good.

the sum 41 and blink 182 mixes are probably my favourite ones of his though.

 

[crillemannen]

Nice article:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr00/articles/tomlord.htm

 

[aramism]

yes!!!! yes!!

side note i started a bob clearmountain and tla appreciation thread a few months back. to me they are pretty similar in some ways. the whole thread was an ode to 90s mixers.


ermz: tla has also mixed A TON of radio singles in the 90s. him and BC, and towards the end, CLA wre the GOTO radio single mixers. "crash" by dmb comes to mind, collective soul, fastball, all those alt rock late 90s hits.

 

[Ermz]

Oh wow, I think I already heard the single from the Yellowcard record while playing DiRT some years back.

 

[dcb]

ever heard of guano apes (german female fronted band).
they have a new album, mixed by staub (single) , terry date and tla.
the tla song is soo vibey and the only song that really caught my attention.
its interesting hearing so many different guys on an album. staubs punchy drums are perfect for the rock track (bel air or something).
but tlas track (fire in your eyes) speaks to me... more than any of the other songs. sure its musically a little more 80ies and different
to the other tracks on the album, but the openness, the space tla creates really speaks to me ;-)
check out that song!

 

[JeffTD]

Based on the SOS article, it seems like he really just listens to the songs, takes the tracks, fucks them up to his liking via compression, eq's to taste, mixes based on what he feels sounds good, and calls it a day. Come to think of it, basically every great producer/mixer I can think of has that attitude - "fuck it, lets tweak and make cool sounds."

 

[PhilTheBeard]

Based on the SOS article, it seems like he really just listens to the songs, takes the tracks, fucks them up to his liking via compression, eq's to taste, mixes based on what he feels sounds good, and calls it a day. Come to think of it, basically every great producer/mixer I can think of has that attitude - "fuck it, lets tweak and make cool sounds."

+1 that is the way to be

 

[Aaron Smith]

I've always really liked the self-titled Stabbing Westward. There are a few spots that stand out on the album where the amount of sub-low end in the bass guitar is really impressively tasteful.

 

[Sloan]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[Doctor Gay]

they must like campbell soup or sumtin..tss

 

[Eduardo Apolonia]

He did an interesting mix of Fear Factory's song Resurrection.
It appears on the Hatefiles Compilation.
From what I remember they asked him to do a mix but it ended up too much Rock sounding so they used the original mix done by Rhys Fulber or Greg Reely (can't remember who did the mix of that song).

TLA did a lot of great mixes, one of the best Rock mixers IMO.

Here is a link to most of the work he has done:
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-lord-alge-p51110/credits/date-asc/

 

[Ermz]

I've always really liked the self-titled Stabbing Westward. There are a few spots that stand out on the album where the amount of sub-low end in the bass guitar is really impressively tasteful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBruPwoOoC4

Hahah, they used to be my favourite band. Had no idea he mixed their 'sellout' record. They were originally meant to do it with Bob Rock before Columbia dropped them.

Based on the SOS article, it seems like he really just listens to the songs, takes the tracks, fucks them up to his liking via compression, eq's to taste, mixes based on what he feels sounds good, and calls it a day. Come to think of it, basically every great producer/mixer I can think of has that attitude - "fuck it, lets tweak and make cool sounds."

Totally feel that btw. Oddly I can only ever apply this mindset to rock or acoustic music. With metal I always get caught up on 'damn, gotta make this low-end as flat as possible, need to make the most efficient use of headroom possible etc'. Just seems to lead to better results if you saddle up and weather the boring stuff too. Might be why the rock guys with their 'vibe' approaches rarely ever work out when doing metal music.

 

[metalkingdom]

love TLA, he mixed life is peachy

Not. Straight Ross Robinson/Chuck Johnson stuff right there. Doesn't sound anywhere near a TLA mix. That record does sound incredible, though.

I never worked with TLA, but the other assitant engineer back at Skip Saylor when I was assiting there did work with TLA a lot over at Enterprise (I think it was Enterprise, anyway...) He used to tell us a bunch of stories, but what was consistent throughout everything is that TLA uses a shitload of compressors (1176's - sometimes 4 in a row on a single source - and La2a's mostly) and he has an incredible, natural feel for the song and therefore smashes out two mixes a day most of the time. That's total craziness to me! Oh yeah, he smokes cigs like a madman too - in the studio.

The first time I heard a TLA mix in a critical listening environment was when my old friend Pat MacDougall (who went on to become Paul Allen's personal engineer) came in for a session and A/B'd the room using Hole's "Celebrity Skin". Randy Staub had been using the room a lot, so we had those giant KRK's that he loves setup in place of the ns-10's. I don't really know how to describe it, but that moment when Pat first played the cd changed my life and how I perceive mixing. There was just so much energy coming out of those speakers, it sounded like the mix was on fire. Everything was so well balanced, yet so alive it just blew me away. This was in like 1998 or some shit, but I still and very often vividly think about that day.

 

[JeffTD]

Totally feel that btw. Oddly I can only ever apply this mindset to rock or acoustic music. With metal I always get caught up on 'damn, gotta make this low-end as flat as possible, need to make the most efficient use of headroom possible etc'. Just seems to lead to better results if you saddle up and weather the boring stuff too. Might be why the rock guys with their 'vibe' approaches rarely ever work out when doing metal music.

It makes sense, to be honest. I remember Bendeth saying at one point that he didn't understand why all the metal guys were referencing Paramore and Underoath CD's - with metal, the lean is mostly on editing, but rock and it's related genres are all about vibe and energy.

 

[Ermz]

It's a tough gig. You try to inject energy and movement into metal using more rudimentary analogue processing, but most people are still digging ITB mixes like 'TWoAF' and Confession's 'The Long Way Home'. Pretty much tells you the emphasis is on clarity and fidelity, above all.

 

[Sunny84]

Rather off topic, a book titled "Behind the Glass" by Howard Massey is a great read. It's, in essence, a compilation of interviews with tons of producers (Eddie Kramer, Mike Clink, Geoff Emerick etc). Not really "metal" producers but a great insight all the same.