What 15 Years of Mix Progression Sounds Like 

Dude, i shamelessly love you for all the content you offer to this community. THANK YOU! (from all of us)

Dude, thanks for showing this progression. Truth is, yes, the first tracks sound "raw" ... And yes, that's an aesthetic that's pleasing to some, especially in the scene, especially around that time... But that wasn't your intent. You wanted polish... And you spent a career finding and mastering that. I think this is phenomenal work. At 2016 you just begin to soar... And it's evident.

That Intervals mix saved my life at the time. 🙌

Just so you know: you mixed the best-sounding Silverstein record. I threw that on my car stereo and from the first hit I was like, holy cow, this is GREAT. Super dynamic and punchy, and the production choices on that opener with that really gated guitar sound bring me back even all these years later.

This might be cap but there’s a nostalgia to that sound that I still like. The 3rd song with the hella poppy snare and the gang vocals is SICK!

Start: not enough compression Middle: too much compression (block waveform) Recent: considering compression the right amount each time

Really appreciate the level matching.

nobody else online teaching mixing or recording shows their first to recent mixes for US to hear. Thank you for keeping it REAL!

16:03 OH SICK. That Intervals album was MY FAVORITE and was my workout music for a year or more, still perhaps my favorite program metal album.... Small world that I end up getting to hear from the engineer. Love that.

When I clicked this video, I was super skeptical. Then I found out you mixed the only Intervals record with vocals. I'm a huge fan of that record so I was geeking when you mentioned it. Anup Sastry is a monster!

Aspiring studio guy here. This serves as some great inspiration for me. Ive been at it for a few years and ive seen my progression go from that raw sort of slop to some actually decent sounding mixes. Im no pro yet and no clients, just my own band, but im at a point now where im finally getting some of the main concepts and confidence in my ability. Anyways, thanks for the insights!

Thank you for sharing. Awesome progression to where you are now. I look forward to hearing more of your great work.

The emery mix at the end! Hearing those old nostalgic songs with a fresh modern mix, melted my heart. Awesome progress man!

This is beyond inspiring! Thank you so much--I've noticed some strides in my mixing, and I have a long ways to go, but progress is key.

Thanks for showing your growth! It's inspiring to see how much time and being patient contributes to getting better. It's easy to forget making good art just takes time

this was super motivating Jordan; thank you so much for this video.

Originally discovered you from A Voice Within and been following your content for a couple years. This has been my favorite video so far. Thanks for the encouragement.

This is the most encouraging video I've ever seen. Thank you for this.

really awesome progress on the mixes btw!

Dude, this came up on my recommended and I'm sitting here loving the vid when you mention u mixed NJ's REMARKABLY HUMAN!! One of my all-time favs!! So good dude

Definitely needed this video, my confidence has just been boosted. I'm just over a year into mixing, still a child in the mixing world lol.

I can't believe how many of tge band and albums that you recorded that impacted my life. And now I'm learning to improves my mixes from you. Bottom of my heart, thank you.

I am addicted to Binary Garden. Great music content and I still can't get enough of the mix. I still listen to it almost everyday.

I love your channel man, just watched a handful of your video's, super insightful.

Love your content man, all of the talent, none of the pretentiousness and hubris. Keep it up!

mixing and learning takes time learning more from mix engineers will make you progress....I'm learning the progress since 2016 on my own ,learning from scratch....thanks for this video

I'm on the waitlist, hoping I can get in!

You’re one of my favorite mixers Jordan and you teach so well and offer so much to us. I’ve loved your work for years and have your book and you’ve helped me a lot! Keep it up! Much thanks Also, one of my favorite mixes of yours is the Forevermore album you did. It’s THICCCC, been jammin that one for years now

Lots of love man thanks for the motivation

You are a great mix engineer, and perhaps overlooked in my opinion, thank you for what you do, and for your down to earth personality that makes learning from you easy and eager to watch the next video!

That one has been very helpful. Thanks

Thank you, Jordan! This is a great video idea! It is very helpful and encouraging being able to see your progress like this over the years. I think more content like this is super valuable. Maybe a video idea could be to have certain transitional moments from your career that you go more in depth with. Like taking a microscope into certain portions of this timeline.

You have probably the most helpful videos on RU-vid that I've found. Since I subscribed and started watching my mixes immediately started getting better.

Thank you. This was very encouraging

only been home recording and mixing for just over 2 years but I can tell a big difference in that time thanks to guys like you and Bobby over at Frightbox

I am from brazil and your videos have totally changed my mixes,thank you very much for sharing your knowledge!!!

Dude it's so interesting how OUR perception of our ability changes... Both of those mixes sound great, and I don't notice any problems with either of them. Keep going and keep progressing, by all means, but remember that every mix/record you make is the BEST you could do at the time--that fact is worth something on its own. Loving your videos today! You share great insight and new perspectives on things that have really helped me view/approach some things differently. Hats off brother!

Such an important video man and inspiring to see your journey.

It's great that you show your progress over time. I wish that more songwriters and producers did something like this. To a lot of people succes seems to come overnight, but they never see the years long struggle and the investment in the craft. Something you did not cover, but what is also essential is to learn to really listen. Taking time for some audio/ ear-training can also save you some years. Personally, I think Logic from Apple makes it much easier to step into the world of audio production than Pro Tools. I made a big leap in queality when I switched from Pro-Tools to Logic, somehow it's more intuitive when everything is still new. The channel presets are a great guide to get an idea what to do.

Man, this is really an inspiring development. I've also found myself needing a break after many years of mixing music. And I starting developing other business too. But now, just like u, I want to get back to mixing some music. I'm not so goot and consistent as u in mixing, and haven't got contracts with labels... But still, that's a lot of similarities to our lifeways. Thank u

I listened THE SHIT out of that Counterparts album back then. Super cool to be at this stage, getting into production and finding the guy who friggin' made the album sound so clean! Super cool to see the progress - thanks so much for the inspiration. Gonna stop procrastinating and go work on my mix. Cheers!

Great content! I find when you're mixing you have to be happy with the small mix-to-mix improvements! It's a HUUUGE learning curve especially when you're working in non-professional situations, which nowadays many of us are! As long as each mix is a bit better than the last you're on the right road! I always focus on what's wrong in my mixes over what's right but it makes me try harder next time round and improve! One thing that I seriously struggled with was getting the snare right... I could get the crack but never the ring! Turns out I was just terrible at rim shots and should definitely been having using a better drummer, haha!

My jaw dropped after you explained the break through you had with the second Silverstein record, then played On Brave Mountains We Conquer. You sir, are the man!

Thank you so much for this video!

omg i always loved counterparts especially that song. thats mad cool ! Thanks for sharing

awesome. killer mixes. i do have a freakin passion for the early raw. somethin about it. wish i had some of these bands to look up! thanks for the vid, man.

So goood!! I think I'll do my own too to see the differences! Thanks!

hey dude, didn't know you were on RU-vid. Cool video...great throwback to a simpler time!

I started working as soon as I got my first interface. I recorded and mixed in first 2 months of getting the interface, recorded drums with only 4 mics and learned with shitty equipment. You really learn the most trying to make bad recordings sound decent. Year after I recorded drums with 8 mics and undrestood much more about mixing, thanks to the wonderful knowledge source of youtube. I did live sound engineering for half a year, I was 18 at that time. Now I'm 2 years in and I can really hear the difference in my mixing, I'm still no way as good as professionals, but I keep mixing covers and small projects for friends, because sadly I dropped my recording project. I still haven't started uni and I don't know if persuing sound engineering is a great Idea especially now, but learning all this really makes me appreciate great mixes. Stay safe everyone

love your videos thanks alot for this :)

This is literally how long I have been on this journey too. Goddamn. Thanks for putting this out there for all to see and hear your progress.

This is very comforting. I am about to open up a studio and start recording bands. The Am I good enough mindset has plagued me for long enough but I am pleased to report I am willing to as you say get my hands dirty. Thanks for everything Jordan

Great video, very interesting !..

This is so inspiring for someone like me who's still incredible amateur like with both recording and mixing my own stuff. Been going for 1 year and a bit and feel like I'm always going to be crap but this shows I can get there if I keep going

this is such a cool and awesome video

Proud of you man 🤙🏻

I heard the counterparts track and my ears perked up haha

Damn you’re the dude who made my favorite and IMO the best Silverstein record, good shit

I actualy dig your old mixes

Dang Emery I loved pony tail parade then lost track of them when tooth and nail went through that rough patch with fsf (going with another singer), project 86 and stavesacre all leaving or going to big label. It's good to hear new (old) stuff from them.

Very cool jordon!

I found this channel 6 months ago because I run a home recording studio and just found out that you mixed one of my favorite records of all time (Silverstein This Is How the Wind Shifts) That's really cool.

This is really interesting because especially for heavy music on a diy level, the mid 00's were very "raw" sounding in general. That's kind of what made it special at the time, but watching your journey and (to my ears) growing mid area EQ control is fantastic.

Ah so it's the drums that make all those old analog recorded albums sound live. I honestly never knew they were using drum samples in metal production/engineering until I started watching tutorials. Even though I mostly do hip hop, I like to try to learn stuff from people working on rock/metal projects to. I'm only in this about 2 years and on my new setup for about 4 months. There's much to learn but I'm glad I spent all that time using the FL demo before getting a bunch of hardware and other stuff. It kind of helped me gain an understanding of what different things do.

One thing I noticed was just how much better the vocals started to sound more "in the mix" rather than sitting on top like the earlier songs did

Thank you for sharing that, we so often get in our own way by believing "we are not good enough"

omg you did the structures EP

bro, i've been admiring your content already and now you just tell me the you did Forevermore's song Wormtongue. Huge inspiration!

dude, thank you for this video

I think there is a lot of value in first time mixes. It shows what someone liked without having the technical knowledge to fully achieve it, so hearing little sparks of familiarity are cool. I'm a big fan of old demos anyway as I think that's a band at their purest, so I like a raw mix as well as a really polished one.

You're earliest Mixes are better than almost all of Mine. Funny enough i Had some lightbulb Moments (Not only) in your course on pma. Also i feel i learned a whole Lot from Tuning my Recording skills.

Love Silverstein man!

Very cool way to track improvement, maybe we don’t realize our improvements mix after mix, it’s cool to see the big picture, I recently did the same thing and I feel it’s really a motivation booster to do more and more mixes 💪🏾💪🏾

respect bro. i can relate.

Had no idea you mixed Dead and Divine that band slays!

I highly recommend listening to Vektor's 'Terminal Redux' if you want some pointers on how to mix metal music in the 2020's.

Had no idea you mixed remarkably human. Legitimately one of my favorite albums

Oh shit you did that neck deep mix, i really love it! :D

Man, I love the 2006 mixes. They sound awesome

Hey, great content. I was a little mean to u in the past, but I can actually see that I was an idiot. U r a real nice guy who had a great experience in the industry and mixing. It's a pleasure to take a sip of ur experiecnce

Ngl I Hella fw the "old bad mixes" those went So hard

Man I wish I could send my mixes to ya and see what you think. I feel like theres some magic missing from my progression in all of this.

Hey man, would appreciate to know the story of how you reached out to bands and pitched your services. That would totally helpful. I know you kinda glossed over it by saying you had a network, but would love to know how those conversations worked. Thanks!

I would love to hear a whole Jordan remix of Emery's I'm only a man album! Sounded great. I also remember when my friends and I found those old 2010 era structures and counterparts albums and really enjoyed them.

so you worked with nick johnston !!!!! thats great man i appreciate your work

Honestly, considering you had just started -- that first mix from '06 is not bad,...at all. The performance,.....not so good. Was fun to listen to the progression,....great stuff, thanks for sharing.

"No one is gonna get there overnight" Me: ... soooo 2 nights? 😂 Awesome video man. I've been watching since your first counterparts mix video! Wish I could afford your course but I greatly appreciate all the help you've been with the free videos you give us here.

that counterparts record blew us all away back in the day that is still one of the heaviest drum intros ever lol

Very cool video

Where do you live? a lot of cool music happening, id say thats worth a mention. This is a great video. Thanks!

so having grown up in the late 80's early 90's hardcore/straight edge world, those old recordings are fun and interesting. yeah i understand the point where objectively the later mixes sound brighter, more forward and competitive (which is important) but those early recordings have their own personality. honestly i'd rather listen to the "start today" by gorilla biscuits than most current hardcore. but. yeah, there's no way a recordings like that would be acceptable in today's world. Which is fine, there's a lot to be said for bright modern super punchy recordings, that's what people prefer, and fighting that is, i think, useless.

The 2006 mixes sound like classics, though not horrible, just nostalgic

What mic boom do you have? I have the SM7b also but all the ones I see on amazon people say they can't support heavy mics

Structures, All of the Above? Amazing ep.

Uff that Nick Johnston is still one of my favorites!

I'm shamelessly commenting on this 3 years after the fact but DUDE.... you produced Antimacy by Dead and Divine? That album is sick!!!!!!!!!

Interesting. One thing that would be nice to hear your perspective is how did loudness changed in your mixes all these years

Great video, if not your best.

Your counterparts record sound killer .. what a difference in your tone from project to project

“I started here,” *shows good mix* “and now I’m here,” *shows an also really good mix* Long short: be good at mixing