May 30, 2024 • 17 mins
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
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Theme Music: inter.ference
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I've been working as a professional recording engineer in mixer for 18 years, and over
that time I've gone from getting food orders as a runner at Capital Studios to
working on projects for some of the biggest artists in the world. As an engineer,
I've had four billboard number ones, multiple gold and platinum records, and
over 1 billion streams. And I attribute almost none of that
success to my skills as an engineer. So in this episode, I'm going to share
(00:22):
with you what I've learned over the last 18 years. And as a
bonus, what I wish I knew before I started.
So the goal today is to hit you with as much information as I can
(00:45):
in a fairly rapid fire format. And I've divided things up into the
following sections. What I've learned about the art of engineering and mixing and this
is not a tips and tricks section. This is like a big picture perspective
on the mindsets that will help you have a long career in audio. What
I've learned about networking and getting gigs, or not getting
gigs, what I've learned about the music business and what I've learned about
(01:08):
people, both myself and others. And finally, what
I wish I knew before I started. So I'm going to be moving quick. If
you want me to deep dive on anything, just drop a comment down below and
I'll try to put together a video or a newsletter on it. So let's get
into it. The art of engineering and mixing these are the mindsets that you
need to have a career as an engineer. First, be the most
(01:30):
prepared person in the room at all times. You must be prepared for
anything and willing to try anything. The worst thing you could
possibly do is be a barrier to someone's creativity. One of the reasons I
excelled at engineering writing sessions is that I was set up so that anything
the writer or producer wanted to try was doable with the press of a button.
There'd be a mic for vocals in pretty much every room. Di setup, mini
(01:52):
keyboard, ready to go. If there was a piano in the room, it was always
mic'd. Ideas happen so fast that you have to be able to capture them
quickly, which leads me to the next point, which is the music
is what matters more than anything. There will be times when you
have to record an instrument or a vocal with a less than ideal microphone or
without the chain that you want. It doesn't matter.
(02:14):
If the performance is great, then the recording is great. End of
story. And while supporting the artist's creativity and enabling them to try anything,
you are also responsible for setting expectations and educating people
on the limits of the technology. The best example of this is recording
multiple people in the same room. If the artist wants to record piano
and sing at the same time, it is your job to explain to them what
(02:37):
will be possible and not possible later in the process.
Assuming that everybody in the room is as experienced in the recording studio as
you are, is eventually going to lead to problems. This is another reason
that session preparation is so important. Everybody needs to
understand what the intentions of a session are so that it can all run
smoothly. And when things don't run smoothly, you have got to be able
(02:59):
to troubleshoot. It doesn't matter whether you are working in a classic studio like
Abbey Road or a local project. Studio time is money,
and I guarantee that downtime will be one of the top reasons someone does not
want to come back to work with you. So to properly troubleshoot,
you have to first remember not to lose your cool.
Everything is solvable. You just have to work through things in
(03:22):
steps. Don't try changing multiple things at the same time. That won't
identify the issue and can sometimes even make things worse. So
be methodical and you can pretty much solve anything. Next up,
be a team player, and along with that, respect the work
of everybody that has come before you. The goal of the project is to put
out the best final product possible and drastically changing
(03:44):
something because you think you know better than somebody that came before you in the
process is going to work against that. Ego should be
left at the door when you're working on a team, and this goes for people
early in the process as well. If you are frustrated that you are
recording something but not mixing it, do not get rid of all your
processing before you send it off. If you sat in the room with the artist
(04:06):
and shaped the tone of something using plugins, then people expect
that sound to be the same on the next round of the project. The
role you play in a project may not always be the one that you
want, but you still have to play as a team member. You've got to
practice. Engineering is a skill that can be practiced just like an
instrument. If you have downtime, mix something, download some multitracks,
(04:28):
or redo something you did years ago. Train your ear. Do stuff like try
to identify the frequencies you want to take out before you go sweeping around and
looking at the analyzer. Or compare different plugins, right? We all have
like 14, 11, 76 plugins. Put them on the same source
material level, match them and listen. What do you like about each one?
What do you not like? You can never stop getting better. This industry is far
(04:50):
too competitive to get complacent. And lastly, the
mixtape. To rule over all mixtapes, the sooner you
identify the most important element of a song, the quicker you can
carry the listener through the journey that the artist intended. Now onto what I've
learned about networking and getting gigs. First up, there's good
networking and then there's bad networking. I used to go to these post college
(05:13):
networking events for where I went to school, and even as an unemployed
22 year old, I could see how much of an absolute wank these
things were. It would break down like this. 90% people looking for a job
and 10% people with a job. And those poor employed souls
would get bombarded with business cards. The desperation was
crazy. And that's bad networking. Good networking
(05:35):
is being yourself, meeting people authentically in real life.
The relationships that you make at these events are likely just going to
be transactional and fleeting, right? Everybody is just looking to get
something real. Collaboration comes about naturally
from real relationships. The best relationships you make are with
people that you're working with. My network is made up of people that I've
(05:57):
come up with or spent a lot of time with, either as friends or coworkers.
So what if you don't work in a studio or live in a music hub?
Don't let that be an excuse for not having a network. Reach out to
people via email or social media. Try to foster connections with
people that you think you'll resonate with. Don't reach out to
bands begging to work together. A good network is not necessarily
(06:19):
made up entirely of clients. It's important to have just music
friends, whether you work together or not. That has been the biggest
benefit of this podcast for me. I've met so many awesome people,
many of which I now get to call friends. Having a network of like
minded and supportive people around you is super important to your journey.
Since I mentioned social media, it is a necessary evil. And I know so
(06:41):
many engineers and producers absolutely hate posting on socials, but
I think they are missing an opportunity, and it's not the opportunity that you might
think. When I started in this industry, there were a lot more people
going in and out of studios. You were interacting with people every day and
it was easy to get to know someone. Now everybody's in their
home studio like this, and we're all by ourselves.
(07:03):
Social media has become an opportunity for people to get to know who you
actually are and to determine whether you might be the type of person they
would click with. Which is why when you post on socials you've got to
be authentic. You cannot make a fake version of your
life just to make you feel better because that eventually that will
backfire. When it comes to getting gigs, the best gigs you get will be from
(07:25):
word of mouth. It is also the hardest way to get gigs because it is
dependent on doing a lot of work. You have to spend years doing
great work for people before you will be anywhere close to a calendar
full of word of mouth referrals to speed that process up. The most
underestimated and misused tool is the follow up. Most people
think of following up as an email that says, loved working together, let's do it
(07:48):
again. But getting more work from someone is not necessarily the purpose
of following up. If you made a record with someone, you're probably
somewhat friendly with them. And like I mentioned earlier, a network of
like minded and supportive people is key to your success.
So fostering those music friendships will go a lot further than
asking for more work. Remember, somebody may never hire you again, but
(08:10):
they could be talking to someone else when they get your text and say, oh,
you should work with this guy. Y'all would really click and that could be the
gig that changes your life. The last thing to know about networking in this industry
is that it is not a big industry. If you're outside
a music hub like La or Nashville, you might feel like the industry is huge
and that your town is the only place that the community is small. But that
(08:32):
is definitely not true. When you're in it, you realize that pretty much
everybody knows everybody else or is only one degree of separation away.
So you don't talk shit. Don't be dishonest, world get around
next up, what I've learned about the music business and just business in general. So
first off, if you're a music freelancer, you are an entrepreneur and a small
business owner. If you are looking at yourself as anything else, you're never actually
(08:55):
going to get ahead. The whole I'm an artist and business is the devil vibe
is just not going to work. The brutal truth is that you cannot have a
career in something if it doesn't pay your bills. And that's not to
say there's anything wrong with having a normal day job and recording bands on the
side. Lots of people do that. But if you ever want your passion side
hustle to sustain your living expenses, you're going to have to learn about the
(09:17):
business of it. Next up, since you're an entrepreneur now, you have to be confident
in the value of your time and only you can set that I did a
whole episode about how to best calculate your rate, which I'll link down in the
comments. But in short, you need to understand how long an
average project takes so that you understand what to charge. If you're
paying your bills or would like to pay your bills engineering and mixing then you
(09:38):
have to be sure that you're making a living wage from your work. The only
way to do that is to understand how long a project takes. That also
allows you to understand how many projects you can actually do. Having
any amount of accountability in this industry actually goes a long way. I've
heard hit songwriters complain about hit producers taking forever
to finish something. When you have the cloud of number ones, you might get a
(10:00):
little slack, but if you're working with independent artists and consistently missing deadlines,
you will be losing clients. People are probably going to hate hearing this next one,
but you've got to understand contracts don't ever sign
something unless you've read it and understand it. Should you have a
lawyer read it? Yes, but remember that a lawyer sees
this stuff every day, and there's probably something in there that they expect to
(10:23):
see and might assume that you also expect to see that you
don't. So what I always tell artists I work with is the most important part
of any deal you sign is the shitty part. It's great to look at your
pub or record deal and see your vance, but what are you trading
for that money? You have to understand all of the bad parts of everything that
you sign along the lines of contracts. Do not leave conversations
(10:45):
about money, publishing, splits, or royalties until after a project
is done. You should not work on something without determining the rates
first. If the artist doesn't want to talk about it, then you have to get
with their team and have the conversation. Telling someone how much they owe
you after you do the work is going to be a disaster, I
promise. And likewise, going back to workout splits or points
(11:07):
after the fact is also not going to work out in your favor. You need
to become comfortable talking about business. Next don't be afraid
to outsource things. Engineers tend to micromanage and
refuse to let parts of the process go, but that can definitely hold us back.
If you absolutely love mixing and tuning vocals and editing is preventing
you from mixing an extra couple songs a month, why would you not
(11:29):
outsource that to someone you trust so that you can do more of what you
love? So as long as you're able to generate more money
with the time you gain than it costs you to outsource the task,
then you have a positive ROI and you should go for it. And speaking
of return on investment, gear is fun. Plugins are
fun, but what's the real ROI? Does buying a piece of gear actually
(11:51):
make you more money? If it's a rack of mic breeze that allows you to
do remote recording, then yes it does. If it's a vintage
1176 that you'll use on a mix insert on one track. As much as
I would love to encourage everyone to buy a vintage 1176, it's not
actually going to make you any more money. So before you spend money on gear,
just think about whether it's going to actually be a good investment. And lastly,
(12:12):
there's almost no one in this business that I know that does not have
good months and bad months. Just the nature of the way payments are
processed by labels. You can work a whole month and not get paid for two
more. And this is why you have got to be aware of your cash flow
in and out, and plan accordingly. Try as best you can to
save and invest. Remember that as freelancers, we are the
(12:35):
ones that are responsible for our retirement. So the earlier in your career you get
that mindset in place, the better off you'll be. So engineering is
about people as much as it is the technical details, if not more
so. This last section might be a bit touchy feely for some of you, but
I think this is actually the most valuable stuff so far. So stick with
me. In order to show up as your best self for the other people involved
(12:56):
in a project, you have to understand yourself. And that takes
reflection. It also takes time. It might take getting
a little bit older as well. Stuff I've learned about myself over the years is
one I'm a perfectionist and it's definitely held me back plenty of times.
Putting something out into the world that I didn't think was perfect was super difficult.
But ultimately, perfectionism is related to confidence and fear.
(13:18):
Either you're too afraid of failure to move forward, or
you aren't confident in your own work. And what helped me was
starting this podcast four years ago and releasing something every
week. So if you're a perfectionist, I suggest finding a creative
hobby. Make some stuff, put it out in the world. The confidence that you gain
will branch into everything else that you do. I also found that I love learning
(13:40):
new stuff, and I also believe that people are just happier when they're exploring their
interests and learning. I had a period in my life that I was often uninspired
and pretty burnt out. And it was probably four or five years into my
career, I'd been fortunate in the fact that I was doing a lot
of engineering for pretty big projects. By the time I was 25, the first song
I had a mixed credit on was a number one album. And I think that
(14:01):
early success made me feel like I knew what I needed to
know already. And then if I just did the work, I'd become a huge
mixer. Which wasn't true, obviously, but that period of
uninspiration definitely quickly came to an end when I started exploring
new stuff, started getting into production, I started making music again, and
I started this podcast. So I now know that I thrive on learning new
(14:23):
things and applying non music concepts to my music career. Next up is setting
boundaries. There's a belief in the music industry that we all have to be available
at all times. And while that can definitely help you early in
your career, it will also eventually lead to burnout. For
more than a decade, I kind of just viewed myself as a service provider
and not as a collaborator. Because of that, I felt the need to
(14:45):
serve at all times and putting up boundaries with
clients was just not going to be an option. But once you start thinking
about the value that you bring as a collaborator and the downtime that you need
to be the best for those people, then you'll become okay with
setting boundaries. And you know what? Your clients will
respect them. I know that you think I'm lying and that they won't, but
(15:08):
they will. When my daughter was born, I took four weeks off, and every single
job that came my way during that time waited all four of those weeks. I
didn't lose a single gig. So try boundaries
next. Youve got to prioritize health. For most of my career, the number
of hours I worked was like a badge of honor. I think thats the case
for a lot of us. And I even got to the point of having a
(15:29):
doctor tell me the solution to my elbow pain was a surgery to move a
nerve. And I didnt do that. Nor did I stop working 16 hours a
day. I just put up with the pain and moved on. Now
I exercise. And guess what? All of those aches, as well as a
great deal of stress, magically gone. The
hectic lifestyle of the recording industry does not make it easy for us to take
(15:51):
care of our physical and mental health. So if you want to perform at
a high level for a long time, you have got to take
that stuff seriously and make time for it. And lastly, I struggled
with believing that I was successful. Some
classic imposter syndrome I was trying to fit into some
predetermined mold of what success as an engineer meant instead of
(16:13):
setting my own definition. And once I realized that I was
going to make my own path and that my journey would never match any of
my heroes or any of my peers, that's when I felt good about
what I was doing, and I became truly confident in my work and
ultimately more successful. So, as promised, a quick bonus
section of things I wish I knew before I started working in
(16:35):
studios. One, you've got to be an advocate for yourself.
When I started at Capital Studios, I thought if I worked hard, then I would
just magically be taken up through the engineering career hierarchy.
But hard work is simply not enough. Nobody else is going to put
you in a position to succeed except for you two.
Positioning matters, and what I mean by that is you have to be aware
(16:57):
of what your goals are and reflect to be sure that you're in a position
to be able to hit those goals. If you want to be a film composer,
don't go on the road doing live sound. If you want to record pop songs,
don't work at a scoring stage. I've quit great gigs because they were not
in line with where I wanted to go, and it's hard, but you will
bounce back and you'll be happier for it. Number three, have
(17:19):
patience. It's going to take a lot longer than you think it will. There is
no overnight success. It just looks like there is because we don't see all
the hard work it takes to get there. And four, you
cannot quit. I've said this on the podcast so many times, the music industry is
about being the last person standing. Eventually you will
be busy because you'll be good and you won't have quit.
(17:41):
And if you've been at this for a while and you're feeling totally burnt out
right now, check out this video about how my burnout actually saved my
career.
I've been working as a professional recording engineer in mixer for 18 years, and over
that time I've gone from getting food orders as a runner at Capital Studios to
working on projects for some of the biggest artists in the world. As an engineer,
I've had four billboard number ones, multiple gold and platinum records, and
over 1 billion streams. And I attribute almost none of that
success to my skills as an engineer. So in this episode, I'm going to share
(00:22):
with you what I've learned over the last 18 years. And as a
bonus, what I wish I knew before I started.
So the goal today is to hit you with as much information as I can
(00:45):
in a fairly rapid fire format. And I've divided things up into the
following sections. What I've learned about the art of engineering and mixing and this
is not a tips and tricks section. This is like a big picture perspective
on the mindsets that will help you have a long career in audio. What
I've learned about networking and getting gigs, or not getting
gigs, what I've learned about the music business and what I've learned about
(01:08):
people, both myself and others. And finally, what
I wish I knew before I started. So I'm going to be moving quick. If
you want me to deep dive on anything, just drop a comment down below and
I'll try to put together a video or a newsletter on it. So let's get
into it. The art of engineering and mixing these are the mindsets that you
need to have a career as an engineer. First, be the most
(01:30):
prepared person in the room at all times. You must be prepared for
anything and willing to try anything. The worst thing you could
possibly do is be a barrier to someone's creativity. One of the reasons I
excelled at engineering writing sessions is that I was set up so that anything
the writer or producer wanted to try was doable with the press of a button.
There'd be a mic for vocals in pretty much every room. Di setup, mini
(01:52):
keyboard, ready to go. If there was a piano in the room, it was always
mic'd. Ideas happen so fast that you have to be able to capture them
quickly, which leads me to the next point, which is the music
is what matters more than anything. There will be times when you
have to record an instrument or a vocal with a less than ideal microphone or
without the chain that you want. It doesn't matter.
(02:14):
If the performance is great, then the recording is great. End of
story. And while supporting the artist's creativity and enabling them to try anything,
you are also responsible for setting expectations and educating people
on the limits of the technology. The best example of this is recording
multiple people in the same room. If the artist wants to record piano
and sing at the same time, it is your job to explain to them what
(02:37):
will be possible and not possible later in the process.
Assuming that everybody in the room is as experienced in the recording studio as
you are, is eventually going to lead to problems. This is another reason
that session preparation is so important. Everybody needs to
understand what the intentions of a session are so that it can all run
smoothly. And when things don't run smoothly, you have got to be able
(02:59):
to troubleshoot. It doesn't matter whether you are working in a classic studio like
Abbey Road or a local project. Studio time is money,
and I guarantee that downtime will be one of the top reasons someone does not
want to come back to work with you. So to properly troubleshoot,
you have to first remember not to lose your cool.
Everything is solvable. You just have to work through things in
(03:22):
steps. Don't try changing multiple things at the same time. That won't
identify the issue and can sometimes even make things worse. So
be methodical and you can pretty much solve anything. Next up,
be a team player, and along with that, respect the work
of everybody that has come before you. The goal of the project is to put
out the best final product possible and drastically changing
(03:44):
something because you think you know better than somebody that came before you in the
process is going to work against that. Ego should be
left at the door when you're working on a team, and this goes for people
early in the process as well. If you are frustrated that you are
recording something but not mixing it, do not get rid of all your
processing before you send it off. If you sat in the room with the artist
(04:06):
and shaped the tone of something using plugins, then people expect
that sound to be the same on the next round of the project. The
role you play in a project may not always be the one that you
want, but you still have to play as a team member. You've got to
practice. Engineering is a skill that can be practiced just like an
instrument. If you have downtime, mix something, download some multitracks,
(04:28):
or redo something you did years ago. Train your ear. Do stuff like try
to identify the frequencies you want to take out before you go sweeping around and
looking at the analyzer. Or compare different plugins, right? We all have
like 14, 11, 76 plugins. Put them on the same source
material level, match them and listen. What do you like about each one?
What do you not like? You can never stop getting better. This industry is far
(04:50):
too competitive to get complacent. And lastly, the
mixtape. To rule over all mixtapes, the sooner you
identify the most important element of a song, the quicker you can
carry the listener through the journey that the artist intended. Now onto what I've
learned about networking and getting gigs. First up, there's good
networking and then there's bad networking. I used to go to these post college
(05:13):
networking events for where I went to school, and even as an unemployed
22 year old, I could see how much of an absolute wank these
things were. It would break down like this. 90% people looking for a job
and 10% people with a job. And those poor employed souls
would get bombarded with business cards. The desperation was
crazy. And that's bad networking. Good networking
(05:35):
is being yourself, meeting people authentically in real life.
The relationships that you make at these events are likely just going to
be transactional and fleeting, right? Everybody is just looking to get
something real. Collaboration comes about naturally
from real relationships. The best relationships you make are with
people that you're working with. My network is made up of people that I've
(05:57):
come up with or spent a lot of time with, either as friends or coworkers.
So what if you don't work in a studio or live in a music hub?
Don't let that be an excuse for not having a network. Reach out to
people via email or social media. Try to foster connections with
people that you think you'll resonate with. Don't reach out to
bands begging to work together. A good network is not necessarily
(06:19):
made up entirely of clients. It's important to have just music
friends, whether you work together or not. That has been the biggest
benefit of this podcast for me. I've met so many awesome people,
many of which I now get to call friends. Having a network of like
minded and supportive people around you is super important to your journey.
Since I mentioned social media, it is a necessary evil. And I know so
(06:41):
many engineers and producers absolutely hate posting on socials, but
I think they are missing an opportunity, and it's not the opportunity that you might
think. When I started in this industry, there were a lot more people
going in and out of studios. You were interacting with people every day and
it was easy to get to know someone. Now everybody's in their
home studio like this, and we're all by ourselves.
(07:03):
Social media has become an opportunity for people to get to know who you
actually are and to determine whether you might be the type of person they
would click with. Which is why when you post on socials you've got to
be authentic. You cannot make a fake version of your
life just to make you feel better because that eventually that will
backfire. When it comes to getting gigs, the best gigs you get will be from
(07:25):
word of mouth. It is also the hardest way to get gigs because it is
dependent on doing a lot of work. You have to spend years doing
great work for people before you will be anywhere close to a calendar
full of word of mouth referrals to speed that process up. The most
underestimated and misused tool is the follow up. Most people
think of following up as an email that says, loved working together, let's do it
(07:48):
again. But getting more work from someone is not necessarily the purpose
of following up. If you made a record with someone, you're probably
somewhat friendly with them. And like I mentioned earlier, a network of
like minded and supportive people is key to your success.
So fostering those music friendships will go a lot further than
asking for more work. Remember, somebody may never hire you again, but
(08:10):
they could be talking to someone else when they get your text and say, oh,
you should work with this guy. Y'all would really click and that could be the
gig that changes your life. The last thing to know about networking in this industry
is that it is not a big industry. If you're outside
a music hub like La or Nashville, you might feel like the industry is huge
and that your town is the only place that the community is small. But that
(08:32):
is definitely not true. When you're in it, you realize that pretty much
everybody knows everybody else or is only one degree of separation away.
So you don't talk shit. Don't be dishonest, world get around
next up, what I've learned about the music business and just business in general. So
first off, if you're a music freelancer, you are an entrepreneur and a small
business owner. If you are looking at yourself as anything else, you're never actually
(08:55):
going to get ahead. The whole I'm an artist and business is the devil vibe
is just not going to work. The brutal truth is that you cannot have a
career in something if it doesn't pay your bills. And that's not to
say there's anything wrong with having a normal day job and recording bands on the
side. Lots of people do that. But if you ever want your passion side
hustle to sustain your living expenses, you're going to have to learn about the
(09:17):
business of it. Next up, since you're an entrepreneur now, you have to be confident
in the value of your time and only you can set that I did a
whole episode about how to best calculate your rate, which I'll link down in the
comments. But in short, you need to understand how long an
average project takes so that you understand what to charge. If you're
paying your bills or would like to pay your bills engineering and mixing then you
(09:38):
have to be sure that you're making a living wage from your work. The only
way to do that is to understand how long a project takes. That also
allows you to understand how many projects you can actually do. Having
any amount of accountability in this industry actually goes a long way. I've
heard hit songwriters complain about hit producers taking forever
to finish something. When you have the cloud of number ones, you might get a
(10:00):
little slack, but if you're working with independent artists and consistently missing deadlines,
you will be losing clients. People are probably going to hate hearing this next one,
but you've got to understand contracts don't ever sign
something unless you've read it and understand it. Should you have a
lawyer read it? Yes, but remember that a lawyer sees
this stuff every day, and there's probably something in there that they expect to
(10:23):
see and might assume that you also expect to see that you
don't. So what I always tell artists I work with is the most important part
of any deal you sign is the shitty part. It's great to look at your
pub or record deal and see your vance, but what are you trading
for that money? You have to understand all of the bad parts of everything that
you sign along the lines of contracts. Do not leave conversations
(10:45):
about money, publishing, splits, or royalties until after a project
is done. You should not work on something without determining the rates
first. If the artist doesn't want to talk about it, then you have to get
with their team and have the conversation. Telling someone how much they owe
you after you do the work is going to be a disaster, I
promise. And likewise, going back to workout splits or points
(11:07):
after the fact is also not going to work out in your favor. You need
to become comfortable talking about business. Next don't be afraid
to outsource things. Engineers tend to micromanage and
refuse to let parts of the process go, but that can definitely hold us back.
If you absolutely love mixing and tuning vocals and editing is preventing
you from mixing an extra couple songs a month, why would you not
(11:29):
outsource that to someone you trust so that you can do more of what you
love? So as long as you're able to generate more money
with the time you gain than it costs you to outsource the task,
then you have a positive ROI and you should go for it. And speaking
of return on investment, gear is fun. Plugins are
fun, but what's the real ROI? Does buying a piece of gear actually
(11:51):
make you more money? If it's a rack of mic breeze that allows you to
do remote recording, then yes it does. If it's a vintage
1176 that you'll use on a mix insert on one track. As much as
I would love to encourage everyone to buy a vintage 1176, it's not
actually going to make you any more money. So before you spend money on gear,
just think about whether it's going to actually be a good investment. And lastly,
(12:12):
there's almost no one in this business that I know that does not have
good months and bad months. Just the nature of the way payments are
processed by labels. You can work a whole month and not get paid for two
more. And this is why you have got to be aware of your cash flow
in and out, and plan accordingly. Try as best you can to
save and invest. Remember that as freelancers, we are the
(12:35):
ones that are responsible for our retirement. So the earlier in your career you get
that mindset in place, the better off you'll be. So engineering is
about people as much as it is the technical details, if not more
so. This last section might be a bit touchy feely for some of you, but
I think this is actually the most valuable stuff so far. So stick with
me. In order to show up as your best self for the other people involved
(12:56):
in a project, you have to understand yourself. And that takes
reflection. It also takes time. It might take getting
a little bit older as well. Stuff I've learned about myself over the years is
one I'm a perfectionist and it's definitely held me back plenty of times.
Putting something out into the world that I didn't think was perfect was super difficult.
But ultimately, perfectionism is related to confidence and fear.
(13:18):
Either you're too afraid of failure to move forward, or
you aren't confident in your own work. And what helped me was
starting this podcast four years ago and releasing something every
week. So if you're a perfectionist, I suggest finding a creative
hobby. Make some stuff, put it out in the world. The confidence that you gain
will branch into everything else that you do. I also found that I love learning
(13:40):
new stuff, and I also believe that people are just happier when they're exploring their
interests and learning. I had a period in my life that I was often uninspired
and pretty burnt out. And it was probably four or five years into my
career, I'd been fortunate in the fact that I was doing a lot
of engineering for pretty big projects. By the time I was 25, the first song
I had a mixed credit on was a number one album. And I think that
(14:01):
early success made me feel like I knew what I needed to
know already. And then if I just did the work, I'd become a huge
mixer. Which wasn't true, obviously, but that period of
uninspiration definitely quickly came to an end when I started exploring
new stuff, started getting into production, I started making music again, and
I started this podcast. So I now know that I thrive on learning new
(14:23):
things and applying non music concepts to my music career. Next up is setting
boundaries. There's a belief in the music industry that we all have to be available
at all times. And while that can definitely help you early in
your career, it will also eventually lead to burnout. For
more than a decade, I kind of just viewed myself as a service provider
and not as a collaborator. Because of that, I felt the need to
(14:45):
serve at all times and putting up boundaries with
clients was just not going to be an option. But once you start thinking
about the value that you bring as a collaborator and the downtime that you need
to be the best for those people, then you'll become okay with
setting boundaries. And you know what? Your clients will
respect them. I know that you think I'm lying and that they won't, but
(15:08):
they will. When my daughter was born, I took four weeks off, and every single
job that came my way during that time waited all four of those weeks. I
didn't lose a single gig. So try boundaries
next. Youve got to prioritize health. For most of my career, the number
of hours I worked was like a badge of honor. I think thats the case
for a lot of us. And I even got to the point of having a
(15:29):
doctor tell me the solution to my elbow pain was a surgery to move a
nerve. And I didnt do that. Nor did I stop working 16 hours a
day. I just put up with the pain and moved on. Now
I exercise. And guess what? All of those aches, as well as a
great deal of stress, magically gone. The
hectic lifestyle of the recording industry does not make it easy for us to take
(15:51):
care of our physical and mental health. So if you want to perform at
a high level for a long time, you have got to take
that stuff seriously and make time for it. And lastly, I struggled
with believing that I was successful. Some
classic imposter syndrome I was trying to fit into some
predetermined mold of what success as an engineer meant instead of
(16:13):
setting my own definition. And once I realized that I was
going to make my own path and that my journey would never match any of
my heroes or any of my peers, that's when I felt good about
what I was doing, and I became truly confident in my work and
ultimately more successful. So, as promised, a quick bonus
section of things I wish I knew before I started working in
(16:35):
studios. One, you've got to be an advocate for yourself.
When I started at Capital Studios, I thought if I worked hard, then I would
just magically be taken up through the engineering career hierarchy.
But hard work is simply not enough. Nobody else is going to put
you in a position to succeed except for you two.
Positioning matters, and what I mean by that is you have to be aware
(16:57):
of what your goals are and reflect to be sure that you're in a position
to be able to hit those goals. If you want to be a film composer,
don't go on the road doing live sound. If you want to record pop songs,
don't work at a scoring stage. I've quit great gigs because they were not
in line with where I wanted to go, and it's hard, but you will
bounce back and you'll be happier for it. Number three, have
(17:19):
patience. It's going to take a lot longer than you think it will. There is
no overnight success. It just looks like there is because we don't see all
the hard work it takes to get there. And four, you
cannot quit. I've said this on the podcast so many times, the music industry is
about being the last person standing. Eventually you will
be busy because you'll be good and you won't have quit.
(17:41):
And if you've been at this for a while and you're feeling totally burnt out
right now, check out this video about how my burnout actually saved my
career.
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