NAMM “Bonzai Beat” Features Chris Lord-Alge
https://www.namm.org/blog/bonzai-beat/bonzai-beat-chris-lord-alge
In the latest installment of the Bonzai Beat, Mr. Bonzai chats with 5-time Grammy-award winning producer/engineer/mixer/musician Chris Lord-Alge. He started as an assistant engineer at H & L Studios in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where he worked on projects with The Stylistics, The Softones, Van McCoy and others. He soon moved on to become a staff engineer for Sugarhill Records working on The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message,” “White Lines” and others. He gained notoriety in the early 80’s for his engineering and mixing on James Brown’s “Living in America,” included on the Rocky IV soundtrack, James Brown’s “Gravity” album, Joe Cocker’s “Unchain My Heart” album, Tina Turner’s “Foreign Affair “album.
CLA also mixed and added production to many Singles and 12” remixes, including Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita,” The Rolling Stones’ “Too Much Blood,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” “Cover Me,” and “Born in the U.S.A.,” The Cars “Hello Again,” U2’s “3 Sunrises.” In 1988, he moved operations to Los Angeles and worked at A&M Studios, Skip Saylor, The Grey Room, Larrabee, Summa Sound and many years at Image Recording. The projects continued: Green Day (“Nimrod,” “American Idiot,” “21st Century Breakdown,”) Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Joe Cocker, Rob Zombie, The Replacements, John Prine, Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Jewel, Duran Duran, B.B King, The Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow, Pink, Courtney Love, Alanis Morrisette, Sum 41, U2 and many others.
In early 2009, Lord-Alge and Waves Audio began working together and released the Chris Lord-Alge Artist Signature Collection of audio plug-ins. In 2011, he started working with “Mix With The Masters” 1-week seminars at La Fabrique in St. Remy de Provence in Southern France. In 2012, he worked with Slate Digital and created a drum sample library and the Audio Legend series of videos. In 2017, CLA started his relationship with Avantone Pro and Black Lion Audio. They released the CLA 10 and CLA 10a speaker re-creations of the widely popular NS-10 studio monitor, which has become the biggest selling passive studio monitor in the world.
For more information on Chris Lord-Alge: https://www.chrislordalge.com/about
Mr. Bonzai is an award-winning photographer, author, and interviewer. He has written more than 1,000 articles for outlets in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has published numerous books, including Studio Life (Mix, 1984), Hal Blaine and The Wrecking Crew (Mix, 1992), The Sound of Money (Focal, 2000), Faces of Music (Cengage, 2006), Music Smarts (Berklee Press, 2009), and John Lennon’s Tooth (BookBaby, 2012). His photos and articles have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, Mix, EQ, Keyboard, Daily Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Magazine, Disney Channel Magazine, Sound & Recording, and Relix, among others. http://www.mrbonzai.com
NAMM’s Playback blog shares compelling stories to inspire innovation in and connection to the industry and member community. NAMM is a not-for-profit association with a mission to strengthen the $17 billion music products industry. NAMM is comprised of approximately 10,400 member companies located in 104 countries and regions. NAMM events and members fund The NAMM Foundation’s (https://www.nammfoundation.org) efforts to promote the pleasures and benefits of music, and advance active participation in music making across the lifespan. For more information about NAMM, please visit https://www.namm.org
