Blue Sky’s Sky System One monitors were recently installed in a 5.1 configuration at South Beach Studios in Miami where three-time GRAMMY Award-winning mixer Tom Lord-Alge completed a 5.1 surround mix of singer/composer Sarah McLachlan’s forthcoming CD/DVD release, Afterglow Live. The mix is an occasion to remember for all involved: it was Tom Lord-Alge’s first surround music mixing project.
Lord-Alge, who has done highly praised mixes for artists including Avril Lavigne, Blink 182, Switchfoot, Marilyn Manson, and Weezer, to name just a few, took a unique approach to the surround mix. According to Joe Galdo, president of South Beach Studios and a well-regarded producer himself, Lord-Alge created multiple "stems" -- sections of each song -- on the SSL 4064 console in South Beach’s main studio. He then took these stems to the facility’s upstairs Pro Tools|HD suite where he assembled and mixed them.
Key to the process was the selection of the Blue Sky 5.1 Sky System One monitoring system. The system was recommended to Galdo by Mike Harris, of Miami-based Harris Audio Systems. "It was the moment that South Beach Studios and Tom were about to make the jump to surround music mixing, and I felt that the Blue Sky monitors represented exactly what both a studio executive and a great mixer want: they’re great-sounding speakers available at a very cost-effective price," remarks Harris.
