CLA Mixes Hip-hop? King of Rock Gone Rogue

Jun 04, 2026 | 1 Views

Most people know Chris Lord-Alge for massive rock anthems, explosive guitars and his signature wall-of-sound mixes. But CLA’s connection to hip-hop runs deeper than many realize, going back to his early work at Sugar Hill Records on foundational tracks including Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s “The Message” and the Sugarhill Gang.

In this fly-on-the-wall look inside Mix LA, CLA takes on a modern hip-hop session, moving between his analog console and favorite plugins to shape the mix in ways many engineers might overlook.

Rather than simply balancing levels or relying on processing, he reveals a more fundamental approach to opening up the track before reaching for plugins.

  • 0:00 - Introduction
  • 0:12 – CLA and Sugar Hill Records, the story you may not know
  • 0:40 – First look at the session
  • 1:10 – Session organization
  • 2:49 – Beat and arrangement
  • 8:44 – Fine-tuning
  • 11:19 – Final playback

Song Credit: Song Title: "I'm Only Human" Produced by Larry Ohh, written and performed by False Alias.

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