Mixing Carrie Underwood's Vocals - Chris Lord-Alge
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/cla-s...
The most comprehensive and in-depth mixing series with mix legend Chris Lord-Alge! Watch CLA mix, from start to finish, the song ’Smoke Break' by Carrie Underwood. In this 2-hour video, he explains the entire process and guides you through his methods and workflow!
Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/cla-smoke-break
Hi , how can I get you guys assistance in a few mixings I eat you guys to mix a few records for me! Is that possible ?
When you're good at what you do, no one questions the tightness of your shirt.
😂😂
😝😝😝
I’m getting this printed on a shirt that’s too small. I’ll quote you on it.
Top comment
Hey, he's a successful New York guy. He's got to have a tight shirt and a belly lol
There is so much to learn in this craft, I find myself watching these types of videos for hours upon hours and you still can't know everything. Anyone else persuing this feel the same way?
Mikey Sean yup
Mikey Sean absolutely! Lol I’m just trying to get to a place where I feel comfortable getting a good solid foundation for an entire mix. I’m still very much groping my way through the dark. Frustrating.
That feeling of being overwhelmed with "where do I start?!" cuz there's just SO. MUCH. INFORMATION. is actually good, it's good for you & a sign that you're in it for the long haul, and that you're just grappling with a certain pursuit of excellence. Nothing wrong with that! I've been mixing for years and yet each new session, when I open 'r up to begin a mix, it feels like splashing random paint on this giant, intimidating blank canvass. Or like I'm finally set to clean out my garage & get my house in order..."I guess I'll start by opening this box over here...ugh. Thus is gonna take forever". (translation : no method to your madness = nothing gets DONE). You should try Graham Cochrane at Recording Revolution have you scoped out his videos, yet? I've recently discovered Graham's tutorials & like I said I've mixed for years and still feel new to it (this is exciting)! Graham at Recording Revolution is - by far - the best I've seen on UA-cam (or anywhere) in terms of a clear path to getting your mix up & running and sounding really good QUICKLY, explained in plain English and he's all about getting things done efficiently & without dropping tons of coin on expensive gear. Search him. I've even purchased some of his video modules and no I don't know him personally or have any relationship there (other than enjoying the results of Graham's insights). So check out RecordingRevolution.com Here's to your next sweet mix, realized! Cheers
Sometimes it's crazy the synchronicity that you run across chasing this knowledge because I was just experimenting with slapback and Reverb And Delay combinations on lead vocals and then this video pops up. I think Google is monitoring my every move LOL.
One thing to remember there isn't a right and wrong only taste. Granted a lot of skill goes into mixing and to make Pop sound like radio ready music. At a certain point though it's making the song work not plugin or device xyz.
I love how he makes such an amazing sounding mix and then says "that's a great starting point".... Incredible!
I had the opportunity to sit in on a session with him and he works really, really quickly. It's kinda impressive. He's also a wizard on that console and moves around it with a quickness and comfort that you don't see often. Most engineers are looking at a screen and looking at the PT monitoring. He mostly left the Pro Tools and studio routing to the assistant and he focused on the actual mixing side of things. Cool to see....
Guys like him taught me everything I know
my recording class last semester went to power station new england and the engineer there was so fast it was wild. Takes so long to get to their level of speed and proficiency.
What an amazing time we live in where you simply go online and watch countless instruction videos from extremely talented people. Any schmo can learn from the best in the industry free of charge! Thanks for the video!
When I was growing up you had to subscribe to a magazine about recording, wait for it to come in the mail, and whomever they chose to do articles about that month was all you could read about. And that was it! These are glorious days indeed. I am jealous of people growing up in an age when you can learn almost anything from the comfort of your desk chair. An age when music distribution to most of the planet is at your fingertips. An age where a multitrack recording studio resides within a laptop computer. What I wouldn't give to be 15 now!
his raw tracks sound better than my finished tracks lol,great recordings require very little as you can see :O
Vincenzo Avallone I’ve spent over $20,000 on my second album and am disgusted on how it turned out. Pretty sure I want the impossible being on my third engineer.
Jay Dobbins hey , i can master the tracks for you! Email me at smilde43@gmail.com
Uriel Basurto Santos i charge $50 a master. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to mail me.
Cheers, Joshua
I hear that too and also find the same thing on mixes I do, but I think part of what he’s doing is also making the vocals cut through everything else and also not build up too much ‘woof’ at the bottom. The EQ is probably at least partly so we can still understand the words even with the guitars, keys, bass, and drums.
1. he is not doing "a little". He is limiting, then equing the lower, the mid and some of the higher frequencies, limiting again, sending it to reverb, slap, delay and saturation.. and at the same time he is adjusting the volume. There is not a whole lot more you CAN do.
2. this track, as it was sent to him was already processed. It wasn't just a chick singing into a microphone in her living room. It was recorded in an optimized room with a mic that was carefully picked for this song and her voice. All of it was cut and probably also stretched /shortened here and there to make it tighter rythmically speaking.
And lastly doing too much is sometimes what ruins a track.. it's rather about making the right decisions. There are enough ways to ruin this recording, if you really try hard enough and spend hours on it without pause.
What we have here is top level. Remember the source of everything being mixed is at the highest quality. This includes the band performance, vocalists, pre-mix production/editing. Only then does it arrive at the Rolls Royce of a board and kit along with the master driver CLA. What an eye opening video!
That was great that they actually showed his hand and the way he sweeps frequencies. Very helpful
It took me like 1-2 snare hits to recognize the signature CLA sound. Even on Carrie Underwood. Absolutely amazing.
Just love it how he bring that vocal to life and blend it with the music, absolute genius 💯
I used to always compress before EQ on vocals. CLA tutorials turned me around on that one. I love how the boosts tend to add frequencies mostly to the quieter parts. That's THE SOUND I was shooting for all along.
Buddy, as a song writer, singer ,rapper , music producer and mixing engineer ,just I want to say God blessed you with your skills . Indeed the knowledge of the music industry sounds.
Videos like this really show you what you do and don't know in this craft
From Nigeria, Chris and Mix With The Masters, thank you. I've gotten better and better with seeing your videos.
You're a true legend Chris. You always get the job done! You're my favorite mixing engineer! You always keep the mix real. Dynamics have punch and just the right amount of shine and pizzazz. Many over process nowadays. You never do. Many other engineers mixes will cause you to go snow blind just listening to the mix😂😂. They sound transparent and way over processed. Your mixes never sound like that. Green Day is the standard of measurement for any mixing engineer. That is in my opinion the greatest recording and mix of any! Every track you mix sounds real.
Chris is a master I swear
Without doubt. Even if you don't like his style (as quite a few people claim not to) you have to acknowledge he has mastered the art of rock mixing.
We are so lucky to have this kind of resource. I started recording and mixing in 1991 and would have killed to get a look at what the big name mixers were doing. The best we had back then was vague magazine interviews.
What an amazing glimpse into how a real pro does it! Learned quite a bit from this, thanks.
Not sure how there can be any thumbs down on what you just showed us, thanks so much. As simple as the limiter on top of compression and EQ is music to my ears. Very inspiring and it gives me arsenal for my vocal mixes. Greatly appreciated Chris and your mixing production is excellent.
what a lot of these mixing tutorials fail to explain is that these top dudes aren't receiving stems recorded on a tiny interface with a $200 mic with no pre, performed by an aspiring artist/producers lol
The most important thing is that they're getting tracks produced out by some of the best producers, writers, singers/artists and engineers. AND a huge bonus is that it gets tracked through some amazing equipment, but that isn't the most important thing.
so if you're starting out, try focusing on making great content and making it sound great through your system by any means!
cheers.
Yeah, but you don't need amazing top notch equipment to get something sounding good
If you watch MWTM with that in mind you're only gonna get stressed out. Watching guys like Chris do the mixing it's not really about their consoles, gear or whatever: it's about their mindset and how they approach a mix. I had access to the MWTM video where CLA mixes a country song called "Let Her Know", and it blew me away. The way he sees the big picture and specially when he starts automating was the biggest lesson. I don't have an SSL, but I sure can do my best to learn how these guys THINK.
@@itslucid3662 You don't but its certainly alot harder and more tedious. Skill aside, good gear is a time saver. I'm in the cheap mic and interface boat and wish I had the money to at least get a channel strip so that I could get better recordings from the start so that I'm doing less editing and pre-effects fader riding before mixing.
That is not true. I watched this guy and he said that he can hear the track is mixed on laptop or something like that. Ofc you need good equipment in order to record amazing track, but far away from the truth that every track is recorded by 50 people and in premium studios.
If you know what you’re doing and understand your gear and what you can do with it, you don’t need the most expensive gear. Just practice. I had a crappy dell computer with an Mbox going into protocols with some ok mics. But I made that sound good.
This is by far the best mixing video I've watched on your channel so far in the other ones their using some complicated terms it's like their speaking different version of English. This man is telling you what he's going to do before he does it, in steps and he's also telling you what the outcome might AND he's also giving advice god bless him he's a great engineer
CLA knows what he is doing. Always fun to watch. And great to hear :)
Learning what to listen for takes years of training skill. CLA always amazes me at how quickly he can begin tailoring his approach in thought before actually doing anything.
Great video! Enjoyed watching him mix and his thoughts or theories behind it. Thanks!
I've watched this guy dial in vocals a hundred times and I still learn something new every time.
That raw lead vocal is ace 👌🏻👌🏻
Forget the edits and the tune. The body and tightness of the vocal sound already mixed to me. I've been engineering for a long time, I think this whole thing was staged and not real. No disrespect to the legend CLA
lots of auto-tune on it
Epic Terry sounds like Lydian over the major scale. I hear it to.
@@Awthentik it's not staged. I've watched many MWTM tutorials.
@@KamuBodohYaKan So have I lol.
CLA is actually cool in person too. Much respect to this legend. 🤘
When he solos all the vocals in acapella, I wish they would release a version of the song like that, sounds sick!
EQing into the dynamics (compressor and limiter) is a pretty good thing. I use it a lot and it really makes a difference
agree, i usually always EQ before compression.
But what kind of compressor or limiter do you use in pro tools as a plugin?
Mix engineer Studio22 I use the pro tools stock compressor, the 1176 and the EL distressor
CLA is a ninja. He knows that desk inside out.
CHRIS is indeed a LORD in mixing!!
CLA’s Muse video inspired me to enroll in the Los Angeles Recording School for a BS in audio production. Cheers to you Chris.
Axenic Second Im thinking of going to the same school brother. I hear a lot of good things from that school.
You got a BullShit in music production?! I've met plenty of your type in the industry
Ann Other shut the fuck up. if you want to get into the industry you need a college education. a studio isn't just going to pick up some hack off the street who claims he can mix.
@@lizziedanger4271 what do you think of cla then?
Chris Lord-Alge just seems like an overall intelligent/charismatic person... you can always tell this just by the way somebody talks/carries the way they speak...
I just became a Carrie Underwood fan: well done!
His speed of decision making is so mind blowing. I can’t wait to be skilled like this.
I wish there were closed captions so I didn't miss anything important because, occasionally, I miss what Chris is saying due to accent or music drown-out. BUT, having said all that, this information from these guys is gold dust. You can learn more from watching a 10 minute video than you can from reading for an hour. Brilliant.
I love your theory in the way you attack the vocals perfectly
What I like about CLA is, he always seems to be more of a craftsman....but with such an artistic approach...bang!
Watching him eq the magic✨ into her lead vocal was awesome
Good lord. Those harmonies are so freaking great.
This guy is a genius you can tell he knows his job👏👏👏
Holy shit this sounds amazing! My jaw dropped before he even added any effects
Can watch this this forever. Amazing
CLA is the Goat. I've decided this morning...
Watching Chris is just incredible, absolute technique gold right here! The quick decisions and fast process is so vital. I love the way he just slams EQ's and just follows his ear! Really great!
If you notice when he says the background are "all like recorded the same way"... He just drop a jewel. He figured out long ago that same mic, same studio equal same EQ as lead.. Key to sitting them together! No matter who is singing it!
The chain of excellence here is amazing: the song is great, the singer is great, the band are great, the recording engineer is great, the producer is great, the gear is great, the mix engineer's assistants are great and the mix engineer is great. Only the lyrics and his hat let the side down...
It looks really nice to have that board. Quite a difference from doing it all digitally like I am for my tracks. Chris definitely knows his way around it and manipulating the mix to get what he wants out of it.
Great example of ‘ducking’ (for Chris’s voice)
CLA Legend! Great work always.
Thanks for the tips, let's work!
Astounding subtle mastery there
Damn THAT BACKLINE behind him is "New York" -style...these great engineer dudes, like Chris, are real artists!
I have blue balls (ears) from not hearing a finished vocal chorus.
Top quality mixer mixing top quality stem tracks. Sounds nice!
Exlent! The limited talk was worth the price of admission!
Yes, I agree with the last post. My passion is to be the absolute best in audio mixing and mastering that I can possibly be!,
I didn't understand a single word he said because I was too busy staring at that massive soundboard
Ha ha very funny 😂😂😂
Could watch you all day! 💯
It would be cool if we got to see what the assistant does to the mix before Chris gets his hands on it.
Carlos Rivera most likely timing/tuning everything as well as routing everything as far as the sends he’s familiar with using and other Pro Tools session stuff.
I know Chris is very set on mixing with the SSL plus hardware and I’m pretty sure those 1176’s in the back have settings that haven’t been touched for years. So for the most part it’s just tedious things the assistant does so that when Chris gets the song he can
Just start mixing!
@@CaptainPlanetMoo The producer and recording engineer probably edited and tuned the vocals before they even got sent to CLA.
On top of that, they almost certainly tracked with compression and maybe EQ.
The assistant doesn't really make decisions like that.
....from an article in Sound on Sound I read:
'Welcome To The Black Parade'
Writer: Gerard Way • Producer: Rob Cavallo
"This song came in on a Pro Tools file with 159 tracks. After we get the file in, I review the possible comp scenarios with my two assistant engineers. They then prep the file, getting rid of all the crud, hums and noises and so on, and they also comp with the balance they think I'm after. When you clean up the audio files you have to make sure that you cut and tail things off in a musical way. There's no global leakage clean-up plug-in; you have to manually go through things, and that can take time, although most of the time the engineers of the producers of the tracks that I mix are really good and they will have prepped the file well.
Yeah I don’t think they actually do much
Almost evrything ;)
This dude is amazing!!!!! He knows his stuff!!!!
This part of mixing, just listening and balancing, is overlooked by far too many!!!
Also his Sony PCM3348 48 track recorder is adding some of that 16bit 80s crunch, especially them converters in that machine as well.
dude, you are such an artist, freakin' hell, what an awesome breakdown video
6:17 "A liittle bit of 3k boost...." funny to see him boosting +15db. But it sounds right in the mix.
Yeah, he was being a lot more aggressive than I expected. I think that illustrates why he was EQing into the compressor and not vice versa. The compressor then acts on the EQed signal to tame it back down a little.
*limiter not compressor.
But yes
And the ssl you can actually kind of do that. I’m sure the hardware sounds warmer than the plug in but yeah you can boost 7-8 dB on the plugin and drive it and it doesn’t give you a harsh sound it gives you a good sound. So in some applications I can see why going the whole 15db might be dope
@@maxreaper25 i'm curious what limiter was he using.. the ssl chanel strip has only compressor, and the attack is kinda long
Teobong - i presumed it was something in the shot at 1:01 but i cant tell
he's not leaving a 15 DB boost of anything he's spiking it so he can hear the difference and then dialing it back to something reasonable.
Awesome stuff. Makes it look so effortless 🙏
Wow so cool to hear the song stripped down into the different vocal parts
There are probably better teachers in the world, but boy, can CLA sure can do his job. I know what my voice needs at this point, and I know what some of my friends’ voices need, but getting a new voice or five every single day and immediately making the exact EQ moves to make each shine is the perfect example of mastery. It’s simple, sure, but the way seasoned engineers can just hone in and make lightning fast, accurate moves is always a pleasure to see.
Wow! I'm blown away!!!
super smooth eq's on those desks!
Blessing Chris !!!!! Your So Amazing Brother !!!!!! Thanks For The Lesson !!!!!
Chris and Tom Lord-Alge are heroes!
He's fucking fearless. He just goes and doesn't second guess. A lot to learn from that approach!!
Learned a lot from this vid. Seeing a master actually at work on a real track and hearing their though process...priceless.
He is not a master. He is just a guy who doesn't have a Mac.
C. L. Alge is a FANTASTIC Eng.
Just wanted to say it sounds AMAZING here. Cheers.
Illuminati mixing confirmed
Dan there's definitely a universal formula for mixing every genre.
Mark Hembry LMAO!
na you talk ham ooo lol you think so
Who cares.
you caught that too ! Why not wear an LA Dodgers baseball cap ? No.....its gotta be a baseball cap with a pyramid........dude yes you are signaling to your luminated bros who you are but are you so effing stupid to think those of us filled with the Holy Spirit cant see your crap ? ha
That was AWESOME ! ADVISE !
Very cool tips/bits. Thank you.
When I first heard the vocals, they were great but I wasn’t feeling it. CLA did his magic and all of a sudden there’s emotion there. Never underestimate the power behind the boards.
Real lesson here: If your source material is superb, it's not really magical. You're putting some icing on a delicious cupcake.
Very interesting!
The real Question is how are they spreading those background vocals wow insane.
To my ear, sounds like they're doubled and hard panned, and then maybe chorus or H3000
How many felt NOOOOOOOOO I WAS NOT READY when the video ended? =P
I'm enjoying every single second of this this
Thats the beauty of analog. Specially the 1176's You can push eq into them hard and still sounds musical. The problem with this kind of videos is ppl still think they can do the same with plugins and it sounds horrible.
Isaac Pizarro Well CLA does the same in his ITB mixes for MWTM, and they sound really good.
if you dont clip the plugins it can sound good.
The dry recording is the bomb. I honestly would buy the class if I get access to the file
sounded amazing raw. the vocals though. damn. that wasn't a sm58.
for Carrie Underwood?? Probably a u87 or something
Lol you guys already making excuses for why your singer can't sing
It would still sell records if she sung on a 58
More work to get it to cut but you'd deffs be all good
So nice to see thanks
2:55 watch his body language. This is a critical element to art...and mixing is an art as much or more than it is a science. Get "into" what your mixing. Feel it. When you start putting heart into it you'll start hearing what it actually needs beyond what what you know it needs.
You "know" it needs the low-end rolled off, you "feel" how much presence it needs.
One of my dreams is to meet with CLA. You always inspire me
Wow! I understand now!! You have to add,tons of effects to drown out,the "Artifacts" left behind. This is Crazy! 👐👏👏👏💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪
To be fair, most of the fx are pretty subtle
Chris Lord замечательный человек и профи в своем деле
Love how he cranks everything right up and reverse engineers it
Really cool documentaries!!!!❤️
That vocal track is incredible to begin with
Chris is an amazing engineer.
what is that reverb, ursa, slap and channel 4 | 2 ?? 3:28
There’s no real tutorial to learn what CLA knows. It’s just his ears, good gear and saying “fuck, what was I thinking” about 50,000 times over 30+ years before you can come close to getting the results that this guy does.
I believe you're right. I also think he's provided with tracks that were recorded very well. Chris is able to add that aggressive sound with his gear, but he doesn't have to "fix" a lot. Or maybe if he does, his assistant engineers do it before it ever makes its way to the SSL ;)
Genius that simple.
Amazing value!