Tom Lord-Alge
January 17, 1962
New Jersey, United States
Career[edit]
After doing live sound engineering for some time, Lord-Alge joined his brother Chris at Unique Recording in New York City in 1984. He began working as an assistant to Chris, who was then a staff engineer, and later became staff engineer until 1988.
Lord-Alge's first major project was engineering Steve Winwood's Grammy winning album Back in the High Life (1986) including its number one hit song "Higher Love". He went on to engineer Winwood's follow up Roll with It (1988) including its chart-topping title track. He then left Unique Recording to work as a freelance engineer and mixer.[4][5]
Lord-Alge's turning point as a mixing engineer was in 1993 after mixing Crash Test Dummies' God Shuffled His Feet, featuring their hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". Shortly thereafter he mixed Live's multi-platinum Throwing Copper, which to date has sold over eight million copies in the United States.[6] The success of these albums marked the beginning of Lord-Alge's professional career as a mix engineer. He mixed out of South Beach Studios in Miami prior to it closing,[7] and is represented exclusively by Global Positioning Services Management in Santa Monica.[5]
Like Chris, Lord-Alge is well known for his extensive use of compression in mix down as both a creative and functional technique.[4]
Personal life[edit]
Lord-Alge is one of four brothers, two of whom are audio and mixing engineers (Chris and Jeff Lord-Alge), and two sisters (Meg and Lisa). Their mother, Vivian Lord, was a jazz singer and pianist, while their father sold jukeboxes for a living. Tom Lord-Alge credits his brother Chris as being a strong influence on his early development as an engineer and mixer.[4]