Travis Ference (Imagine Dragons, Bush, Skylar Grey)
Travis Ference is a Grammy-nominated mixer, producer, and recording engineer based out of Los Angeles. With nearly two decades of experience in the record business, he has worked on multiple number one 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 worldwide and over one billion streams.
Tell us about your current studio setup.
I'm currently working out of my new studio outside of Los Angeles, which I designed with Isoclear Acoustics. It's a fully treated and isolated mix room built in what was my garage. I decided to keep the setup very minimal, so I'm using a small footprint sit/stand desk to hold just my Artist Mix faders, monitor, and keyboard.
There are almost no reflections at all coming back to you in the mix position so the stereo image and depth of the sound field is pretty amazing. It reminds me of my days on staff at Capitol Studios, except in my backyard.
I’d suggest to anyone coming up to invest in monitoring and acoustics first. If you can hear correctly then you can easily make any tool do what you want.
For monitoring, I’ve been using ProAc Studio 100s with a McIntosh MC2105 for more than a decade. They are my rock. I also have a pair of Avantones and a Star Wars toy Tie Fighter speaker that I use as auxiliary references.
My mix setup is also pretty minimal these days (if you exclude plug-in count, lol). I’m running Pro Tools Ultimate, but using a Universal Audio Apollo x16 Interface.
For years I was working with a hybrid setup and swore by my analog mix buss chain, but with today’s need for quick recalls and bouncing around between projects, I’ve gone all in the box.
As a result, I’ve been able to automate parts of my workflow when it comes to delivery and I’ve also started to switch more plug-ins over to oversample mode to improve the final bounce.
If I had to pick some desert island plug-ins they’d probably be all the FabFilter and Soundtoys stuff. Other favorites would be Acustica El Rey, the whole UAD lineup, Soothe2, and all the Plugin Alliance stuff, especially the SSL channel strips.
Having worked on so many songs over the past few years, how do you stay fresh and excited about mixing music these days?
The most exciting thing for me about mixing these days is trying to bring the journey of the song to life for the listener. Most of the projects I do come to me already sounding great, so taking something from 90% to 110% has become the new challenge.
That’s the stuff that keeps me excited to show up to work and start mixing every day.
How do you approach the mixing of a song?
When I start a mix, the first and most important thing I do is to prepare the files and session before starting the mix. I like to be sure any non-creative tasks are handled a few days before I sit down to mix. This includes matching the balance of the rough mix so that when I start mixing I can focus on my instincts.
The first couple hours of a mix are the most productive for me and I definitely don’t want to get bogged down by anything that takes me out of the creative flow state.
When I’m actually mixing, my process will vary, but most of the time I’m very quick to get to the vocals. If there are no vocals, then I quickly identify what element is the “lead.”
At every point in a song there is always something that should pull the listener in. If it’s not the vocal, it might be a guitar or keyboard. Identifying those elements quickly helps the overall journey the listener should take through the song come to life much quicker.
I A/B with the rough mix a lot while I’m working. Even though the rough could at times be “wrong” in some technical way or another, there is often an energy there that cannot be lost.
If I switch to the rough mix and there is something that makes me more satisfied in any way I’ve got to identify and try to recreate whatever is conveying that feeling.