Tom Lord-Alge has been working in the recording industry since 1984 (Discogs, 2023). And was his older brother’s (Chris Lord-Alge) assistant at Unique Recording in New York (Tingen, 2000). His first major project was with Steve Winwood, “Back in the Highlife” (Winwood, 1986). This would be the first of his three Grammy wins (Linear Management, 2023).
He has mixed for a lot of artists including P!nk, Blink 182, Wheezer, The Rolling Stones, Ellie Goulding, Crash Test Dummies, and Marilyn Manson, and Korn, to name a few.
Tom has a similar workflow to his brother Chris Lord-Alge Tom generally works with hybrid setup, preferring to use an SSL console and analog outboard gear along with digital multitrack recorders (Tingen, 2000). Tom has a few signature techniques including utilising extreme compression, and to this end, has a collection of around 40 outboard compressors to help with mixing (ibid.). The work does not begin with the technology but with a talk with the client, from there he looks at the whole picture, not just individual stems. His main goal is being “really concerned with the artist’s integrity and vision and don’t want to put my own stamp on it.” (ibid.).
Interestingly he places the instruments that he wants the most control over in the centre of the console, “I want the instruments that are most important to be in easy reach, near the centre of the console. The faders for channels 17-24 are close to my left and 25-32 are close to my right. Tambourines can live on channel 1. I don’t want to have to move over there all the time” (Tingen, 2000). This is something that I have done while in the studios, so I am not rolling back and forth to make small adjustments. In that way he is mindful of being efficient during the process.
References
Discogs (2023) Tom Lord-Alge, Discogs. Available at: https://www.discogs.com/artist/232766?sort=year%2Cdesc&limit=25&page=69 (Accessed: March 29, 2023).
Linear Management (2023) Tom Lord-Alge, Linear management. Linear Management. Available at: https://linearmanagement.com/index.php/tom-lord-alge/ (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Tingen, P. (2000) Tom Lord-Alge: From Manson To Hanson, Tom Lord-Alge: From Manson to Hanson. Sound on Sound. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/tom-lord-alge-mix-engineer (Accessed: March 29, 2023).
Tingen, P. (2015) Inside Track: Tom Lord-Alge, Inside track: Tom Lord-Alge. Available at: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/inside-track-tom-lord-alge (Accessed: March 30, 2023).
Winwood, S. (1986) Back in the highlife [vinyl recording]. New York, NY: Island Records.