JAMES Z. PRODUCTIONS

Single
Genre: Ambient Metalcore

Each time Exanimate refine and evolve their style, I evolve my mixing to match as well, and this track is the latest example. The reason why I listed three tracks from Exanimate created at different times is to show how a long-term collaboration with me can significantly benefit the artist. After several years of working together, Exanimate and I have developed a chemistry, where I can easily grasp their visions and deliver the results with much less revisions. They also take my feedback as the audio engineer into account when they write music, creating a magical “engineer-artist optimization,” which results in fantastic final results.

Single
Genre: Ambient Metalcore

After their debut record, Luminous, Exanimate continued to refine their unique style. With “Wither,” they presented me a much more developed style of composition, which included the addition of more layers of programming—sound effects, synths, strings and so on. As their audio engineer, I knew I had to craft a new and better sound to match. The end result is a mix that highlights their ambient wall of distorted guitars and fast drums while creating an atmospheric feel to the track via the programming.

Album: Luminous
Genre: Ambient Metalcore

This track is something else. It’s full of emotions and soul. It’s authentic. It’s a mixture of beauty and grit. I crafted a sound that is unique to Exanimate, that is both heavy and beautiful, both chaotic and refined. While the punchy, crystal-clear drums drive the groove of the song, the guitars create a huge soundscape for the vocals.

Album: Now Or Never
Genre: Modern Metalcore

An extremely catchy yet heavy modern metalcore song with melodic leads and soaring choruses. To do the music justice, I crafted super punchy drums and beefy guitar tones for the song. You can almost feel that snare drum slam on your chest during the breakdowns!

Album: Mortal Comedies
Genre: Djent

A groovy, djent-style metal song from Epiphany’s album, Mortal Comedies. Its trendy composition called for a modern djent sound with huge sounding snares, so I gave it heavily saturated guitars and a big drum mix.

Album: Gone with the Wind
Genre: Symphonic Metal

An incredibly epic symphonic metal song from Silent Elegy’s debut album. The band’s style is very close to Nightwish, but I wanted to help them distinguish themselves, so I gave them a rather modernized symphonic metal mix. Huge and punchy drums, prominent symphony, and epic female opera vocals. Despite the sheer amount of tracks in the song, my mix maintained great overall balance among all the elements. Additionally, most of the orchestral elements, such as strings, brass and woodwinds, were sampled with my collection of orchestral sample libraries.

Album: The Mechanical Deity
Genre: Deathcore

One of the heaviest songs I have mixed. This deathcore song features super low-tuned guitars, pig squeals, low growls, and heavy-hitting drums. I gave the mix really beefy guitars and cold, mechanical-sounding drums. The result is a brutal mix that does the song justice and brings out the soul of the song, which is heavy.

Album: Leap of Faith
Genre: Progressive Rock

One of the most progressive and dynamic songs I’ve worked on here at JZP. The progressive geniuses from Derev created a track that musically conveys a narrative and never ceases to captivate me every time I listen to it. Featuring intricate drumming, African percussions, Middle Eastern melodies, and unconventional song structures, the track called for a natural and dynamic mixing style with plenty of automations to highlight different elements of the song at different times. The result is a mix that responds to and enhances the intricacies of the track. By the band’s request, I also created a master that preserves all the dynamics of the track, so be sure to turn it up when you listen!

Single
Genre: Modern Metalcore

A low-tuned, pissed-off heavy-hitter of a modern metalcore banger. I crafted a super gnarly rhythm guitar tone and a huge drum sound that gave the song a highly aggressive energy.

Album: Time Capsule
Genre: Electronic Metalcore

A groovy modern metalcore song with breakdowns that incorporated lots of snazzy EDM elements that make you want to shake up the dance floor and headbang at the same time. I gave it really punchy drums and thick guitar tones, so you can truly feel the impact of the breakdowns, but I also brought out the EDM elements, so you get the amazing experience of an EDM-metalcore eargasm.

Single
Genre: Metalcore

A genre-blending instrumental metalcore banger that has a Japanese/samurai theme. The song features not only trap music elements, but also traditional Japanese folk instruments. Adding killer riffs and breakdown on top of that, this song is quite an experience to listen to. For the mix, I selected a ENGL guitar tone to make the guitar sound massive, and gave it a larger-than-life drum sound while creating space for the Japanese folk instruments.

Album: Endless Warfare
Genre: Metal

Fast riffs and drums, soaring choruses—fans of As I Lay Dying will love this song. For this style, I made sure to not over-polish, and keep the mix natural yet aggressive and in-your-face. I crafted tight and punchy drums, and a traditional metal guitar one with lots of bite and mid-range.

Single
Genre: Deathcore

These Michigan metal heads surely know how to create riffs and melodies that make you feel like doomsday is imminent. To convey such a feeling of doom, I created a mix with beefy guitar tones, a clanky bass tone and cold, hard-hitting drums.

Single
Genre: Rock

An emotional and heartfelt rock song touching on mental health. The vocals are the key of the song—I carefully mixed them so they stand out and flow well with the dynamics changes in the song, without being disconnected from the other instruments. I also employed various vocal processing effects, such as Vocal Synth 2, to make the vocals sound bigger than life yet intimate when needed.