18 Years of Music Career Advice in 18 Minutes - Progressions: Success in the Music Industry

Episode 117

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Published on:

30th May 2024

18 Years of Music Career Advice in 18 Minutes

From making coffee and sweeping floors to credits with Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, and Ariana Grande... Travis breaks down the mindsets that have helped his career so far.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

  • The Engineering Philosophies that Get You Hired
  • How to ACTUALLY Network
  • The Importance of Business
  • Avoiding Perfectionism
  • Defining Success
  • What He Wishes He Knew Before Starting in Studios

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Credits:

Guest: N/A

Host: Travis Ference

Editor: Travis Ference

Theme Music: inter.ference

Transcript
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I've been working as a professional recording engineer in mixer for 18 years, and over

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that time I've gone from getting food orders as a runner at Capital Studios to

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working on projects for some of the biggest artists in the world. As an engineer,

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I've had four billboard number ones, multiple gold and platinum records, and

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over 1 billion streams. And I attribute almost none of that

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success to my skills as an engineer. So in this episode, I'm going to share

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with you what I've learned over the last 18 years. And as a

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bonus, what I wish I knew before I started.

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So the goal today is to hit you with as much information as I can

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in a fairly rapid fire format. And I've divided things up into the

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following sections. What I've learned about the art of engineering and mixing and this

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is not a tips and tricks section. This is like a big picture perspective

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on the mindsets that will help you have a long career in audio. What

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I've learned about networking and getting gigs, or not getting

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gigs, what I've learned about the music business and what I've learned about

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people, both myself and others. And finally, what

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I wish I knew before I started. So I'm going to be moving quick. If

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you want me to deep dive on anything, just drop a comment down below and

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I'll try to put together a video or a newsletter on it. So let's get

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into it. The art of engineering and mixing these are the mindsets that you

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need to have a career as an engineer. First, be the most

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prepared person in the room at all times. You must be prepared for

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anything and willing to try anything. The worst thing you could

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possibly do is be a barrier to someone's creativity. One of the reasons I

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excelled at engineering writing sessions is that I was set up so that anything

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the writer or producer wanted to try was doable with the press of a button.

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There'd be a mic for vocals in pretty much every room. Di setup, mini

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keyboard, ready to go. If there was a piano in the room, it was always

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mic'd. Ideas happen so fast that you have to be able to capture them

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quickly, which leads me to the next point, which is the music

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is what matters more than anything. There will be times when you

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have to record an instrument or a vocal with a less than ideal microphone or

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without the chain that you want. It doesn't matter.

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If the performance is great, then the recording is great. End of

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story. And while supporting the artist's creativity and enabling them to try anything,

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you are also responsible for setting expectations and educating people

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on the limits of the technology. The best example of this is recording

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multiple people in the same room. If the artist wants to record piano

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and sing at the same time, it is your job to explain to them what

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will be possible and not possible later in the process.

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Assuming that everybody in the room is as experienced in the recording studio as

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you are, is eventually going to lead to problems. This is another reason

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that session preparation is so important. Everybody needs to

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understand what the intentions of a session are so that it can all run

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smoothly. And when things don't run smoothly, you have got to be able

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to troubleshoot. It doesn't matter whether you are working in a classic studio like

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Abbey Road or a local project. Studio time is money,

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and I guarantee that downtime will be one of the top reasons someone does not

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want to come back to work with you. So to properly troubleshoot,

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you have to first remember not to lose your cool.

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Everything is solvable. You just have to work through things in

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steps. Don't try changing multiple things at the same time. That won't

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identify the issue and can sometimes even make things worse. So

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be methodical and you can pretty much solve anything. Next up,

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be a team player, and along with that, respect the work

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of everybody that has come before you. The goal of the project is to put

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out the best final product possible and drastically changing

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something because you think you know better than somebody that came before you in the

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process is going to work against that. Ego should be

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left at the door when you're working on a team, and this goes for people

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early in the process as well. If you are frustrated that you are

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recording something but not mixing it, do not get rid of all your

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processing before you send it off. If you sat in the room with the artist

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and shaped the tone of something using plugins, then people expect

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that sound to be the same on the next round of the project. The

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role you play in a project may not always be the one that you

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want, but you still have to play as a team member. You've got to

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practice. Engineering is a skill that can be practiced just like an

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instrument. If you have downtime, mix something, download some multitracks,

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or redo something you did years ago. Train your ear. Do stuff like try

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to identify the frequencies you want to take out before you go sweeping around and

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looking at the analyzer. Or compare different plugins, right? We all have

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like 14, 11, 76 plugins. Put them on the same source

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material level, match them and listen. What do you like about each one?

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What do you not like? You can never stop getting better. This industry is far

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too competitive to get complacent. And lastly, the

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mixtape. To rule over all mixtapes, the sooner you

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identify the most important element of a song, the quicker you can

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carry the listener through the journey that the artist intended. Now onto what I've

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learned about networking and getting gigs. First up, there's good

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networking and then there's bad networking. I used to go to these post college

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networking events for where I went to school, and even as an unemployed

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22 year old, I could see how much of an absolute wank these

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things were. It would break down like this. 90% people looking for a job

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and 10% people with a job. And those poor employed souls

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would get bombarded with business cards. The desperation was

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crazy. And that's bad networking. Good networking

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is being yourself, meeting people authentically in real life.

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The relationships that you make at these events are likely just going to

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be transactional and fleeting, right? Everybody is just looking to get

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something real. Collaboration comes about naturally

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from real relationships. The best relationships you make are with

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people that you're working with. My network is made up of people that I've

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come up with or spent a lot of time with, either as friends or coworkers.

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So what if you don't work in a studio or live in a music hub?

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Don't let that be an excuse for not having a network. Reach out to

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people via email or social media. Try to foster connections with

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people that you think you'll resonate with. Don't reach out to

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bands begging to work together. A good network is not necessarily

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made up entirely of clients. It's important to have just music

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friends, whether you work together or not. That has been the biggest

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benefit of this podcast for me. I've met so many awesome people,

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many of which I now get to call friends. Having a network of like

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minded and supportive people around you is super important to your journey.

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Since I mentioned social media, it is a necessary evil. And I know so

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many engineers and producers absolutely hate posting on socials, but

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I think they are missing an opportunity, and it's not the opportunity that you might

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think. When I started in this industry, there were a lot more people

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going in and out of studios. You were interacting with people every day and

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it was easy to get to know someone. Now everybody's in their

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home studio like this, and we're all by ourselves.

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Social media has become an opportunity for people to get to know who you

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actually are and to determine whether you might be the type of person they

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would click with. Which is why when you post on socials you've got to

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be authentic. You cannot make a fake version of your

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life just to make you feel better because that eventually that will

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backfire. When it comes to getting gigs, the best gigs you get will be from

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word of mouth. It is also the hardest way to get gigs because it is

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dependent on doing a lot of work. You have to spend years doing

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great work for people before you will be anywhere close to a calendar

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full of word of mouth referrals to speed that process up. The most

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underestimated and misused tool is the follow up. Most people

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think of following up as an email that says, loved working together, let's do it

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again. But getting more work from someone is not necessarily the purpose

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of following up. If you made a record with someone, you're probably

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somewhat friendly with them. And like I mentioned earlier, a network of

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like minded and supportive people is key to your success.

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So fostering those music friendships will go a lot further than

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asking for more work. Remember, somebody may never hire you again, but

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they could be talking to someone else when they get your text and say, oh,

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you should work with this guy. Y'all would really click and that could be the

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gig that changes your life. The last thing to know about networking in this industry

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is that it is not a big industry. If you're outside

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a music hub like La or Nashville, you might feel like the industry is huge

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and that your town is the only place that the community is small. But that

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is definitely not true. When you're in it, you realize that pretty much

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everybody knows everybody else or is only one degree of separation away.

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So you don't talk shit. Don't be dishonest, world get around

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next up, what I've learned about the music business and just business in general. So

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first off, if you're a music freelancer, you are an entrepreneur and a small

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business owner. If you are looking at yourself as anything else, you're never actually

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going to get ahead. The whole I'm an artist and business is the devil vibe

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is just not going to work. The brutal truth is that you cannot have a

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career in something if it doesn't pay your bills. And that's not to

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say there's anything wrong with having a normal day job and recording bands on the

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side. Lots of people do that. But if you ever want your passion side

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hustle to sustain your living expenses, you're going to have to learn about the

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business of it. Next up, since you're an entrepreneur now, you have to be confident

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in the value of your time and only you can set that I did a

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whole episode about how to best calculate your rate, which I'll link down in the

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comments. But in short, you need to understand how long an

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average project takes so that you understand what to charge. If you're

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paying your bills or would like to pay your bills engineering and mixing then you

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have to be sure that you're making a living wage from your work. The only

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way to do that is to understand how long a project takes. That also

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allows you to understand how many projects you can actually do. Having

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any amount of accountability in this industry actually goes a long way. I've

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heard hit songwriters complain about hit producers taking forever

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to finish something. When you have the cloud of number ones, you might get a

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little slack, but if you're working with independent artists and consistently missing deadlines,

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you will be losing clients. People are probably going to hate hearing this next one,

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but you've got to understand contracts don't ever sign

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something unless you've read it and understand it. Should you have a

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lawyer read it? Yes, but remember that a lawyer sees

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this stuff every day, and there's probably something in there that they expect to

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see and might assume that you also expect to see that you

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don't. So what I always tell artists I work with is the most important part

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of any deal you sign is the shitty part. It's great to look at your

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pub or record deal and see your vance, but what are you trading

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for that money? You have to understand all of the bad parts of everything that

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you sign along the lines of contracts. Do not leave conversations

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about money, publishing, splits, or royalties until after a project

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is done. You should not work on something without determining the rates

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first. If the artist doesn't want to talk about it, then you have to get

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with their team and have the conversation. Telling someone how much they owe

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you after you do the work is going to be a disaster, I

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promise. And likewise, going back to workout splits or points

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after the fact is also not going to work out in your favor. You need

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to become comfortable talking about business. Next don't be afraid

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to outsource things. Engineers tend to micromanage and

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refuse to let parts of the process go, but that can definitely hold us back.

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If you absolutely love mixing and tuning vocals and editing is preventing

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you from mixing an extra couple songs a month, why would you not

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outsource that to someone you trust so that you can do more of what you

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love? So as long as you're able to generate more money

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with the time you gain than it costs you to outsource the task,

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then you have a positive ROI and you should go for it. And speaking

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of return on investment, gear is fun. Plugins are

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fun, but what's the real ROI? Does buying a piece of gear actually

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make you more money? If it's a rack of mic breeze that allows you to

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do remote recording, then yes it does. If it's a vintage

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1176 that you'll use on a mix insert on one track. As much as

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I would love to encourage everyone to buy a vintage 1176, it's not

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actually going to make you any more money. So before you spend money on gear,

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just think about whether it's going to actually be a good investment. And lastly,

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there's almost no one in this business that I know that does not have

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good months and bad months. Just the nature of the way payments are

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processed by labels. You can work a whole month and not get paid for two

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more. And this is why you have got to be aware of your cash flow

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in and out, and plan accordingly. Try as best you can to

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save and invest. Remember that as freelancers, we are the

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ones that are responsible for our retirement. So the earlier in your career you get

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that mindset in place, the better off you'll be. So engineering is

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about people as much as it is the technical details, if not more

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so. This last section might be a bit touchy feely for some of you, but

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I think this is actually the most valuable stuff so far. So stick with

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me. In order to show up as your best self for the other people involved

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in a project, you have to understand yourself. And that takes

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reflection. It also takes time. It might take getting

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a little bit older as well. Stuff I've learned about myself over the years is

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one I'm a perfectionist and it's definitely held me back plenty of times.

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Putting something out into the world that I didn't think was perfect was super difficult.

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But ultimately, perfectionism is related to confidence and fear.

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Either you're too afraid of failure to move forward, or

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you aren't confident in your own work. And what helped me was

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starting this podcast four years ago and releasing something every

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week. So if you're a perfectionist, I suggest finding a creative

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hobby. Make some stuff, put it out in the world. The confidence that you gain

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will branch into everything else that you do. I also found that I love learning

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new stuff, and I also believe that people are just happier when they're exploring their

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interests and learning. I had a period in my life that I was often uninspired

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and pretty burnt out. And it was probably four or five years into my

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career, I'd been fortunate in the fact that I was doing a lot

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of engineering for pretty big projects. By the time I was 25, the first song

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I had a mixed credit on was a number one album. And I think that

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early success made me feel like I knew what I needed to

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know already. And then if I just did the work, I'd become a huge

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mixer. Which wasn't true, obviously, but that period of

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uninspiration definitely quickly came to an end when I started exploring

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new stuff, started getting into production, I started making music again, and

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I started this podcast. So I now know that I thrive on learning new

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things and applying non music concepts to my music career. Next up is setting

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boundaries. There's a belief in the music industry that we all have to be available

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at all times. And while that can definitely help you early in

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your career, it will also eventually lead to burnout. For

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more than a decade, I kind of just viewed myself as a service provider

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and not as a collaborator. Because of that, I felt the need to

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serve at all times and putting up boundaries with

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clients was just not going to be an option. But once you start thinking

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about the value that you bring as a collaborator and the downtime that you need

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to be the best for those people, then you'll become okay with

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setting boundaries. And you know what? Your clients will

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respect them. I know that you think I'm lying and that they won't, but

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they will. When my daughter was born, I took four weeks off, and every single

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job that came my way during that time waited all four of those weeks. I

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didn't lose a single gig. So try boundaries

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next. Youve got to prioritize health. For most of my career, the number

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of hours I worked was like a badge of honor. I think thats the case

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for a lot of us. And I even got to the point of having a

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doctor tell me the solution to my elbow pain was a surgery to move a

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nerve. And I didnt do that. Nor did I stop working 16 hours a

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day. I just put up with the pain and moved on. Now

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I exercise. And guess what? All of those aches, as well as a

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great deal of stress, magically gone. The

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hectic lifestyle of the recording industry does not make it easy for us to take

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care of our physical and mental health. So if you want to perform at

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a high level for a long time, you have got to take

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that stuff seriously and make time for it. And lastly, I struggled

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with believing that I was successful. Some

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classic imposter syndrome I was trying to fit into some

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predetermined mold of what success as an engineer meant instead of

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setting my own definition. And once I realized that I was

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going to make my own path and that my journey would never match any of

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my heroes or any of my peers, that's when I felt good about

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what I was doing, and I became truly confident in my work and

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ultimately more successful. So, as promised, a quick bonus

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section of things I wish I knew before I started working in

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studios. One, you've got to be an advocate for yourself.

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When I started at Capital Studios, I thought if I worked hard, then I would

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just magically be taken up through the engineering career hierarchy.

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But hard work is simply not enough. Nobody else is going to put

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you in a position to succeed except for you two.

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Positioning matters, and what I mean by that is you have to be aware

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of what your goals are and reflect to be sure that you're in a position

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to be able to hit those goals. If you want to be a film composer,

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don't go on the road doing live sound. If you want to record pop songs,

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don't work at a scoring stage. I've quit great gigs because they were not

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in line with where I wanted to go, and it's hard, but you will

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bounce back and you'll be happier for it. Number three, have

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patience. It's going to take a lot longer than you think it will. There is

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no overnight success. It just looks like there is because we don't see all

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the hard work it takes to get there. And four, you

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cannot quit. I've said this on the podcast so many times, the music industry is

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about being the last person standing. Eventually you will

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be busy because you'll be good and you won't have quit.

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And if you've been at this for a while and you're feeling totally burnt out

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right now, check out this video about how my burnout actually saved my

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career.

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About the Podcast

Progressions: Success in the Music Industry
Host Travis Ference chats with music producers, engineers, mixers, artists, musicians, and songwriters about the tips, tricks, mindsets, and ideas that helped them define their careers.
Conversations exploring creativity, productivity, and career growth in the music industry. Join in each week as Travis sits down with some of the industryโ€™s best and brightest to discuss the mindsets and strategies that they use in their careers every day.
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Travis Ference

Travis Ference is a Grammy nominated mixer, producer, and recording engineer based out of Los Angeles, CA. With over a decade of experience in the music business he has worked on multiple #1 albums, several top 10's, numerous RIAA platinum and gold certified records, as well as hit TV shows and blockbuster films. His work can be heard on more than 15 million albums sold and billions streams worldwide.

The inspiration for his podcast came from his journey over the last 5 years to redefine what success is for him, to take control of his time, and to ultimately live the life he wants while making the records he loves.