love u jordan i have only been getting better at mixing and crediting it to you even though we mix completely different genres, thats how helpful youre mindset has been to me
Great stuff, dude! 3 reading recommendations for anyone really digging in with the last tip: So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport Deep Work - Cal Newport Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport
Jordan I just moved over to the ssl uc-1 plug-in controller and not only am I not looking at the screen as much but my mixes are sounding waaaaaaay better from just using the knobs and my ears. Great vid as always. -Glaves
Your very first tip is one of the most validating things I've ever heard. Almost every producer I know mixes on studio monitor speakers - but I don't have those - and I've always felt like I didn't need them? To me, I can better hear things on headphones - listening on external speakers I feel like the room ambience is effecting my listening. And I listen to music almost exclusively on headphones. Obviously I'm careful not to use headphones with bass boost or anything - but yeah.
For the past 3-4 projects, I haven’t used a single visual plugin, only Analog modelled stuff like Virtual Rack by Slate Digital or SSL Channelstrip and my mixes have improved tremendously. I do this for EQ, compression as well as limiting. The benefit of not having visuals has been a major improvement in critical listening. Also, the tendency to go surgical with EQ with visual feedback was a big struggle for me. Nowadays, I spend 95% of the time I mix on plugins with no visual feedback and a short test to see if anything bothers me too much(200Hz range mostly). I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from you is to not be afraid to do something major, like a huge EQ Boost or massive or even no compression at all. I’ve really learned a lot from your videos and your efforts have helped many like us get better at the craft. Thank you!
Dude I love when you make videos like these because it’s very non-genre specific and just great advice in general. I realize most of your stuff is geared toward rock and metal engineers, but just know that there are singer-songwriters and pop producers who are getting a lot of value out of these videos as well. You’re really getting to the core of what makes a music production great.
Great tips -- I've been making a concerted effort to not use plugins with visual tools and I can honestly say it's improved the sound of my mixes and the workflow. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Amazing tips! Especially the last one. We're constantly driving our attention to things that aren't getting us anywhere (IG, FB, etc), and the sooner we change that, the better. I know people that are stuck in life because of social media, and it's scary. This was for me the best piece of advice in this video. The others are great too, for sure haha
The visual cue response is very powerful. I was once EQing a guitar track. Probably spent 15 minutes on it and could physically hear the changes as I visually looked at my EQ plugin. After all that time, my EQ was in bypass mode so my eyes had tricked my ears. The EQ changes I had thought I had made had no real affect on the sound whatsoever ☺
That first quote, and a lot of these ideas, are in Atomic Habits. Great book, but the way you've applied the general ideas in it to specific mixing practices is even better. Great video!
Such great tips Jordan, I’ve been doing most of these things (the mistakes!) myself!!! Mixing is seriously involved I’m beginning to find this out the hard way!!
Number 3 hit me right in the chest. I'm just a guy trying to do everything myself with my own music, cuz I can't find bandmates who want to do what I want to do. So nobody else ever holds me accountable for anything. I need that DEADLINE, and I set them myself and it's better than not setting them at all... but it's still not nearly as effective as a REAL deadline that others would hold me accountable to. I guess the best thing I could do is make big social media announcements (to all of my 150 followers) that the new LP is coming out on X date.
I agree, the visual tools are great and allow for some super surgical EQing but I love to mix with my 4-band analogue EQ first because it makes me use and develop my ears when there are no visual cues to go by, and I think as audio engineers our ears are the most important tools or assets we have. Thanks for your awesome videos too, you have helped me improve and grow more than anyone else in this space.
i was just about to say i deleted all social media off my phone 3 yrs ago, but literally deleted my accounts for everything bc social media is useless anyway, and my phone is never in my mixing room, but then you showed your phone and youve gone to the same extreme as me except i dont even have social media. all you need is calls and texts. it is so free knowing that i can mix, not even having an account on any social media.
These tips are great. I’ve been using my old over-ear Beats Studio 2 headphones a lot. I’ve also been making big EQ moves by looking down at my keyboard or to the side. That way I stop boosting when I feel it’s right.
Your last Point reminded me of a quote by Swami Vivekananda "The Difference between great People and ordinary People lies in the degree of Concentration." Best Regards
1 - I still enjoy doing the "car test" because ... driving can be fun =]. But I have also found just listening to my stuff on an iPhone using the speakers or with headphones I know pretty well will also help in it. 2 - I would agree and disagree. Yes, you should definitely move forward on what you are making. In fact, to dovetail on what you said, you get into "analysis paralysis" where you start evaluating everything you have and you just get lost in choice. The disagreement will come if you are working along on the mix and you are still dissatisfied with some element of it. I think there are instances where you should go back and re-track a part if you think you can make a better result. In fact, doing "last-minute overdubs" *can* be a bit easier because you are really doing a very specific thing for a very specific purpose. It's not like "starting over" completely. Hopefully, this will mean other adjustments are more manageable or, at least, more focused. 4 - Something I try to do is to close my eyes when making EQ moves (to some extent compression too). I have even done this with the so-called "simple plugins" because seeing frequency markers can also make it seem like I'm mixing to numbers rather than mixing with the source.
One of my biggest issues is when I mix anything listening to my monitors, and another thing completely different is mixing using my headphones, my monitors are a Thonet and a Vander (yes, I KNOW,), that have three knobs: low, hi and vol. The volume knob is more than clear that I raise or lower it, but the other two I don't know in which position to leave them so that they are "decently"
Track simply, arrange smartly, commit on the way in, use just a few plugins, uninstall the rest, spend TIME PREPPING/EDITING/TUNING/TIMING. Keep your project obsessively neat and ordered. Bounce everything to audio. Import to a new mix session. Do all this and mixing is usually a productive, enjoyable and all around much simpler experience! Oh yeah, turn off your phone.
Jordan, when do you typically use your earpods, meaning in what stage of mixing? In the level balance and panning, or mixing individual elements like drums for example?
When you're happy is when you should swap, if you set your static mix on your monitors and you like it, then it's time to change to buds and reappraise!
Good morning, Jordan! Quick question for you in regards to your monitoring solutions. Are NS10s still at your primary monitoring method, while mixing, or have you switched over to the AirPods as your primary listening device while mixing?
So it make maybe sense to buy an Plugin (for example the SSL G-Channel????) and use this instead of all the EQ`s and compressors in the DAW? I use Cubase, there are a lot different EQ`s and compressors, but all with a lot optical feedback.
What are your thoughts on the whole “spatial audio” processing and its impact on mixes? I use AirPods as you recommended for 30% of my mixing, but when I check the mix in Spatial Audio, it loses all life. How do we plan for that?
about mixing with your eyes... even if you don't have graphs for frequencies a fancy gui (or even better.. made by a manufacturer that pros use) does exactly the same. i swear that my waves ssl bus comp sounds so much better than the reaper stock compressor, therefore giving me a much more professional result! (kidding of course!)
Once I started trusting my gut and not worrying about specific frequencies, my mixes got 10x better.
love u jordan i have only been getting better at mixing and crediting it to you even though we mix completely different genres, thats how helpful youre mindset has been to me
Great stuff, dude!
3 reading recommendations for anyone really digging in with the last tip:
So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport
Jordan I just moved over to the ssl uc-1 plug-in controller and not only am I not looking at the screen as much but my mixes are sounding waaaaaaay better from just using the knobs and my ears. Great vid as always. -Glaves
Your very first tip is one of the most validating things I've ever heard. Almost every producer I know mixes on studio monitor speakers - but I don't have those - and I've always felt like I didn't need them? To me, I can better hear things on headphones - listening on external speakers I feel like the room ambience is effecting my listening. And I listen to music almost exclusively on headphones. Obviously I'm careful not to use headphones with bass boost or anything - but yeah.
This guy is one of the few good teachers on RUclips. Cherish him! and start applying.
Jordan, you have helped me overcome so many fears when it came to mixing, I had no idea how much it was holding me back. Thank you so much.
For the past 3-4 projects, I haven’t used a single visual plugin, only Analog modelled stuff like Virtual Rack by Slate Digital or SSL Channelstrip and my mixes have improved tremendously.
I do this for EQ, compression as well as limiting. The benefit of not having visuals has been a major improvement in critical listening.
Also, the tendency to go surgical with EQ with visual feedback was a big struggle for me.
Nowadays, I spend 95% of the time I mix on plugins with no visual feedback and a short test to see if anything bothers me too much(200Hz range mostly).
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from you is to not be afraid to do something major, like a huge EQ Boost or massive or even no compression at all.
I’ve really learned a lot from your videos and your efforts have helped many like us get better at the craft. Thank you!
Dude I love when you make videos like these because it’s very non-genre specific and just great advice in general. I realize most of your stuff is geared toward rock and metal engineers, but just know that there are singer-songwriters and pop producers who are getting a lot of value out of these videos as well. You’re really getting to the core of what makes a music production great.
Great tips -- I've been making a concerted effort to not use plugins with visual tools and I can honestly say it's improved the sound of my mixes and the workflow. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Amazing tips! Especially the last one. We're constantly driving our attention to things that aren't getting us anywhere (IG, FB, etc), and the sooner we change that, the better. I know people that are stuck in life because of social media, and it's scary. This was for me the best piece of advice in this video. The others are great too, for sure haha
The visual cue response is very powerful. I was once EQing a guitar track. Probably spent 15 minutes on it and could physically hear the changes as I visually looked at my EQ plugin. After all that time, my EQ was in bypass mode so my eyes had tricked my ears. The EQ changes I had thought I had made had no real affect on the sound whatsoever ☺
Can't even begin to say how SPOT ON you were with this video! Perfectly stated and explained. Well done!
That first quote, and a lot of these ideas, are in Atomic Habits. Great book, but the way you've applied the general ideas in it to specific mixing practices is even better. Great video!
Such great tips Jordan, I’ve been doing most of these things (the mistakes!) myself!!!
Mixing is seriously involved I’m beginning to find this out the hard way!!
I love that quote you said “I wouldn’t try to judge a painting with my ears!” Awesome!!!
You’re right big dawg thank you 🙏🏿 for this you’ve helped me improved my mixes
Jordan that’s brilliant haha I did the SAME THING recently. Putting my phone on black and white was such a powerful hack.
Number 3 hit me right in the chest. I'm just a guy trying to do everything myself with my own music, cuz I can't find bandmates who want to do what I want to do. So nobody else ever holds me accountable for anything. I need that DEADLINE, and I set them myself and it's better than not setting them at all... but it's still not nearly as effective as a REAL deadline that others would hold me accountable to.
I guess the best thing I could do is make big social media announcements (to all of my 150 followers) that the new LP is coming out on X date.
I agree, the visual tools are great and allow for some super surgical EQing but I love to mix with my 4-band analogue EQ first because it makes me use and develop my ears when there are no visual cues to go by, and I think as audio engineers our ears are the most important tools or assets we have. Thanks for your awesome videos too, you have helped me improve and grow more than anyone else in this space.
i was just about to say i deleted all social media off my phone 3 yrs ago, but literally deleted my accounts for everything bc social media is useless anyway, and my phone is never in my mixing room, but then you showed your phone and youve gone to the same extreme as me except i dont even have social media. all you need is calls and texts. it is so free knowing that i can mix, not even having an account on any social media.
These tips are great. I’ve been using my old over-ear Beats Studio 2 headphones a lot. I’ve also been making big EQ moves by looking down at my keyboard or to the side. That way I stop boosting when I feel it’s right.
Your last Point reminded me of a quote by Swami Vivekananda
"The Difference between great People and ordinary People lies in the degree of Concentration."
Best Regards
You are selling pure gold my friend.
Great advices 👍thank you, Jordan
1 - I still enjoy doing the "car test" because ... driving can be fun =]. But I have also found just listening to my stuff on an iPhone using the speakers or with headphones I know pretty well will also help in it.
2 - I would agree and disagree. Yes, you should definitely move forward on what you are making. In fact, to dovetail on what you said, you get into "analysis paralysis" where you start evaluating everything you have and you just get lost in choice. The disagreement will come if you are working along on the mix and you are still dissatisfied with some element of it. I think there are instances where you should go back and re-track a part if you think you can make a better result. In fact, doing "last-minute overdubs" *can* be a bit easier because you are really doing a very specific thing for a very specific purpose. It's not like "starting over" completely. Hopefully, this will mean other adjustments are more manageable or, at least, more focused.
4 - Something I try to do is to close my eyes when making EQ moves (to some extent compression too). I have even done this with the so-called "simple plugins" because seeing frequency markers can also make it seem like I'm mixing to numbers rather than mixing with the source.
So good, thanks for your work Jordan
Thank you Jordan for these simple tips!!
Really cool tips ! Thanks Jordan
Grab your free Mixing Cheatsheet to learn the go-to starting points for EQ and compression in heavy mixes: hardcoremusicstudio.com/mixcheatsheet
One key thing, connected to the first tip: Know your speakers/headphones.
Tip #4 is great!
Tip #5 is great for every day life!
Good staff!
One of my biggest issues is when I mix anything listening to my monitors, and another thing completely different is mixing using my headphones, my monitors are a Thonet and a Vander (yes, I KNOW,), that have three knobs: low, hi and vol. The volume knob is more than clear that I raise or lower it, but the other two I don't know in which position to leave them so that they are "decently"
Track simply, arrange smartly, commit on the way in, use just a few plugins, uninstall the rest, spend TIME PREPPING/EDITING/TUNING/TIMING.
Keep your project obsessively neat and ordered.
Bounce everything to audio.
Import to a new mix session.
Do all this and mixing is usually a productive, enjoyable and all around much simpler experience!
Oh yeah, turn off your phone.
good stuff brother!!
Awesome. Thanks!
Loved the video, thanks
Good Stuff! Thanks
Jordan, when do you typically use your earpods, meaning in what stage of mixing? In the level balance and panning, or mixing individual elements like drums for example?
When you're happy is when you should swap, if you set your static mix on your monitors and you like it, then it's time to change to buds and reappraise!
Then do the same with planning and prep and polish, repeat, repeat.
great tips
Uh, that clean DI sound was actually REALLY nice. What preamp/DI box were you plugged in to?
Tape Head -> What company makes this? I saw it used on Adele's vocals for Rolling in the deep and really want it now
Good morning, Jordan! Quick question for you in regards to your monitoring solutions. Are NS10s still at your primary monitoring method, while mixing, or have you switched over to the AirPods as your primary listening device while mixing?
The final tip alone is what I have been trying to tell people for years.
So it make maybe sense to buy an Plugin (for example the SSL G-Channel????) and use this instead of all the EQ`s and compressors in the DAW?
I use Cubase, there are a lot different EQ`s and compressors, but all with a lot optical feedback.
"make it easy to do the right thing" sounds like the recent interview with the Nickelback engineer. Great interview.
What are your thoughts on the whole “spatial audio” processing and its impact on mixes? I use AirPods as you recommended for 30% of my mixing, but when I check the mix in Spatial Audio, it loses all life. How do we plan for that?
and the other question, when BSA it's when you're gonna release an EQ plugin?
Waves fairchild and neve eq UAd impressed me they are so musical
Great video.
In general, I don't listen to music on consumer gear because I hate how it sounds.
Fantastic
Great advices! Been following similar ideas for years now.
I use Slate VSX that thing is a game changer
great video
So good
familiarity with consumer listening device will play devil's joke with mix engineer anyway, just my exp
about mixing with your eyes... even if you don't have graphs for frequencies a fancy gui (or even better.. made by a manufacturer that pros use) does exactly the same. i swear that my waves ssl bus comp sounds so much better than the reaper stock compressor, therefore giving me a much more professional result! (kidding of course!)
Smart Phones should be renamed as Moron Phones
it makes sense to me #calidisanti
yup yup yup yup yup
👍👍👍
cool
Or get some ATC monitors with a sub and you’ll never have to car test again.
I always listen to my airpods as my ref after using my aura tones
thats becouse i use UC1... dont look the screen and use more my ears
My mixes sound amazing in my DAW on $700 headphones. Then I crunch it to MP3 and listen on my iPod and it sounds like trash.
Well I listen to 95% through my monitors so I guess I'm good
Get ADHD. You’ll acquire hyperfocus and a plethora of skill sets.
You’ll just need help with any deadlines….