Why Big Credits Won't Change Your Life

Travis discusses the myths that people believe about big credits and how you should actually think of them.

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Credits:

Guest: N/A

Host: Travis Ference

Editor: Travis Ference

Theme Music: inter.ference

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If I could get that one big credit, just one hit,
that would change everything, right? Right.
Welcome back, y'all. My name is Travis Farrantz, a Grammy nominated recording engineer mixer with
nearly 20 years of experience. And today I want to talk about what I've

(00:20):
learned from working on hits. More specifically, some of
the myths that I used to believe about having big credits. For the context of
this video, we should first define what is a hit. Younger
me would define a hit as being directly related to commercial success.
Did it go number one? Did it go platinum? Has your grandmother heard it on
the radio? Etcetera? Now, older me would define it a bit differently, but we'll get

(00:42):
to that later because the definition I just laid out is definitely the way
99% of us are going to think about this. The first myth is how
you get hits. A lot of people believe that once you work on one big
record that you just work on more and more of them until you're amongst the
ranks of the engineering greats. And although that is true to a
certain extent, it's not having the big credit that's going to

(01:03):
get you more big gigs. Because, for one, nobody can just make something
a hit. Nobody knows whether an artist or a song is going to resonate with
people. As much as labels and producers like to think they can make a hit,
it's just not possible. You can only set yourself up for
a chance of having a hit. And that is the secret to
working on big records positioning. The only way to work with big artists or get

(01:26):
big credits is to give yourself the opportunity to do so. When I started out
in studios in 2006, the obvious choice was to get a gig at a major
studio. Someplace you know is going to have big artists coming through
it. And although my early days as a runner at Capital did not get me
any big credits, they did get me the opportunity to land a gig
engineering for a producer. I remember the day he asked me to work for him

(01:47):
full time. He said something along the lines of, everything I do goes
number one. And initially I thought, wow, this guy's super
cocky. But I also thought, yeah, let's do this. So,
obviously, everything we did did not go to the top of the
charts, but most things we did at least hit the charts.
And I ended up getting my first number one album at 25 with a mixed

(02:08):
credit on the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack. Now, whether you think that's cool
or not isn't the point. The point is that it was a big deal for
me at the time. I was fully expecting to keep riding the hit train
long after that. And although I worked on a lot of fairly big projects, I
wouldn't see another chart topping album until four years later when I
recorded a few vocal lines for yours truly from Ariana Grande. So

(02:30):
I went from mixing to barely engineering. Definitely
not the progression 25 year old me was expecting. So to return to this
idea of positioning, the only reason I had any of these
opportunities is because I navigated myself to working
for or with people were working on projects for major labels,
big artists, movie studios, et cetera. That Ariana Grande album was her

(02:52):
breakthrough album. When we did those vocal fixes, nobody knew it would be a
hit, but all the right pieces were there for the potential. And
if you want to work on big records, that's the only thing you can do.
The second myth is built around what having big credits says about you. You see
it on Instagram profiles and websites, right? Platinum recording engineer or
Grammy nominated, and you think, wow, they must be so busy. Or damn, they

(03:13):
must be so good. It's nonsense. It's
just marketing. I did it at the top of the video to get you to
watch this far. And if you have watched this far, you should hit the subscribe
button. And while you're down there mousing around, try the like button out as well.
I can't. I can't. I can't do that. Seriously. Anyway, so
people advertise big credits because it serves a dual

(03:34):
purpose. For one, it is essentially marketing for new
clients, but new clients that are primarily not what I'm gonna
call music industry insiders. And I hate to divide
the industry like that, but it's the truth. A decade ago, I could
have said major label and independent artists, but these days there are so many
indie artists who are killing it that I had to come up with something else

(03:55):
to say. So that's what I chose. And by insider, I'm
referring to people that are in the major music scenes and are familiar with
a lot of the people in those communities. So if you're not an insider, say
you're a rock band from Nebraska, you recorded your own album and you want to
work with a really experienced rock mixer. Then you're going to go credit
surfing and you're going to find people that worked on records that you love. Now,

(04:17):
that doesn't mean that your record is going to sound like those records. So
this idea that a credit is going to somehow define the result of what you're
going to get is an absolute myth. What credits actually say about
you is way more in line with what the industry insiders take away from big
credits, which is that you can be trusted to work at a high level and
deal with pressure, deadlines, etcetera. These people know that everybody plays

(04:40):
a role in a project, so they aren't expecting your sound to be the sound
of your credits. They instead expect you to work with the team
to serve the music. Because big credits say way more about your integrity
and your personality than they do about your skill. And that is why engineers and
producers will and should advertise them onto our third
myth, big credits change your life. Now,

(05:02):
this is a tough one for me. As much as I want to say no,
I want to say yes as well. Because if you are positioning yourself
to have opportunities to work on big records, then I do think your career is
going to have the potential for an amazing upward trajectory which would for
sure change your life. But I still don't think that's going to be
guaranteed. Which brings me to kind of the point of this video.

(05:22):
Big credits don't get you big credits. People
get you big credits. So if you're doing great work and building trust with
great people who are all working towards the common goal of making an impact with
music, then I think you'll find yourself having some big credits.
And I air quotes that one because I think this is where we should redefine
what a hit is. Like I mentioned earlier, older middle aged

(05:45):
me has a different definition of hit. I wanted to get into recording and
mixing because I wanted to make music that people would hear and react to
the same way I did when I was a kid with a Walkman. And it
is likely that a percentage of those songs will be commercially successful.
But I guess that the bulk of them would not be billboard number ones or
Grammy winners. So for me today, a hit is something that has

(06:07):
an impact on people. It's a song that might exceed an artist's normal reach
or step them up a level. Maybe it gets them a label deal or a
huge sink. It could be a whole number of things, but the point is that
it resonated with people. So if you can define what career
changing big credits would be for you, and you're willing to work to
position yourself for those opportunities and then be accountable and follow

(06:28):
through when they arrive, then I think the myth of big credits changing your life
will be true. So if you thought this twist on big credits was interesting and
you want more recording studio career advice, then check out this video where I
break down every mindset and idea that has helped me in my career so far.