Session Playing

[Chad.mundt]

Hey Janek,

You know we all very much appreciate your time and effort here. Having someone who is as competent and experienced as you be willing to help us normal folks out is a great learning tool.

I have a few questions about studio and session playing. One, what sort of gear do you bring to every studio gear. I know you need a DI, a Fender (at least one), cables, etc, but what do specifics do you recommend?

Secondly, how do you get into this sort of work? Do you just happen to know the right guy? Do you offer to work for free or did you get a job as a janitor at a major studio so that, if some session guy pooted out, you could be there to save the day with some low-end-holdin' skills? I'm only about a year out of having to actually make a living in music (preferably studio/session), and I want to figure out what city I need to go to and what I need to do to get my beak in.

Finally, what sort of skills should I have? Sightreading and time-keeping, of course, but what else? Do I need to know every style of groove out there or how to make myself sound like Duck Dunn or what? Can you recommend a book on the studio situation and professionality? Thanks for reading my long post!

BTW, P.K. is one of my all-time favorite tracks...

[janekbass]

Chad,

the studio scene/life is a very strange one, and is one that doesn't really exist anymore for young or new players to the scene. First of all you have to live somewhere where people are making records. You then have to be around other musicians that are already playing on records or around producers who might book you to play on records. When you look at the two cities I spend most of my time in (NYC and LA), you have the following bass players who take ALL the gigs.

NYC:

Will Lee
Anthony Jackson
Tony Levin
James Genus
Tim Lefebvre

LA:

Lee Sklar
Nathan East
Neil Stubenhaus
Marcus Miller
Tim Landers
Jimmy Earl

Then don't forget about the few players that still get called for sessions, but don't live anywhere near either of those two cities.

Pino Palladino - who does as many sessions in NYC as Will Lee but lives in London

Steve Bailey - who still plays on record dates all over the place but lives in Myrtle Beach

Then there are bass players like me, who get the occasional session from time to time, but I would never consider living from that income alone, as there just aren't any record dates anymore, and when there are the producer will wait for the cats like marcus and Will to be around and do it.

The way I work in the studio as much as I do, is because I produce records as well as play on them. In fact one of the album I'm producing right now I'm not playing any bass on at all. I hired the incredible Orlando Le Fleming to come and play acoustic bass.

So if you're thinking about being a studio player I would really consider thinking again. it's not a feasible way for a musician to make an income from anymore, you have to branch out and be a producer/programmer/writer/touring musician etc...

If you do get to go to the studio and make an album you'll find that the most important things you'll need to have together are your sound, and your ability to communicate with other people. Playing in the studio as a sideman is about serving the song, and making the artist and the producer happy.

You can't learn that from any book (although there are many great books that musicians have written that include stories about studio work), all you can do is learn from experience.

My suggestion would be to get your own home studio setup of some kind, and start learning the technology of music. Write songs, record yourself a lot and see where you can improve.

Easy,

Janek