session playing

[angrygiant]

hey i was wondering as i guess some of you are going to be session players i'd ask you. what do is it like and is it as good as it sounds ( im completely naive, i realise you have stuff you don't like) because it seems like a sweet career. also what skill level is required in general.

[JimmyM]

It's a sweet career for the .0005% of bassists who can actually swing it. And even they can't always swing it. Justin Meldal-Johnsen is out with NIN, Chris Chaney does live work as well. Some of the Nashville guys do well with it, but you pretty much have to wait for someone to die to even have half a chance to get the good work. Gone are the days of doing studio work 16 hours a day.

Skill level requirements are high in some circles, not so high in others. All depends what circle you want to be in.

[hentor]

Originally Posted by angrygiant

hey i was wondering as i guess some of you are going to be session players i'd ask you. what do is it like and is it as good as it sounds ( im completely naive, i realise you have stuff you don't like) because it seems like a sweet career. also what skill level is required in general.

To be a session player, it helps to live in a city that has a vibrant recording scene. You should be able to play a number of styles on your instrument and be handy on fretted, fretless and extended range basses. Being able to play upright bass and/or keyboard bass is also a plus.

Being able to sight read standard notation helps a lot, you may come across chord charts and/or create bass lines from lead charts. It helps to have big ears and be able to "pick things up" when listening to demos or live examples.

You should have thick skin and also be willing to set aside the need to show off your killer chops to give exactly what the producer/artist requests of you (even if it means sustained whole notes). You should also be flexible in dealing with a wide variety of personalities as not everyone in the music business is as stable or well adjusted as we bassists are <grin>.

You need to be punctual and be ready to roll and record (meaning instrument set up, tuned and your hands warmed up) at the time shown on the call-out sheet. Your instrument should be in good repair, well shielded and properly intonated and adjusted to suit your playing style. If it has a noisy jack or scratchy pots, get them fixed or replaced. If you have an active bass, ensure that you have fresh batteries or that the instrument sounds decent in passive mode.

You should know your instrument(s) well enough to know how to get a variety of sounds out of it or what instrument suits which purpose.

Oh yeah...for a good number of producers and recording engineers, if the headstock label on your bass does not say "Fender" they don't want to see/hear it.

Aside from that, you just need a willingness to work hard and keep a good groove.

[Michael Case]

I agree with everything except the the Fender thing. Back in NYC I never had a problem showing up for session work with a Pedulla thunderbolt.

[hentor]

Originally Posted by Michael Case

I agree with everything except the the Fender thing. Back in NYC I never had a problem showing up for session work with a Pedulla thunderbolt.

Please note I didn't say "all"....I said "a good number".

I know I'm not the only one still experiencing this prejudice/laziness. Despite the fact that my Jerry Jones Longhorn is a phenomenal bass, noise free and tracks well. Whereas my P-bass tends to sound muddy recorded and tramples over several frequencies in a mix. Producers still ask for the Fender.

There are still a few engineers and producers who have their blinders on to non-Fender brands. Thankfully these numbers are dwindling but they still do exist.

[Skywalker83]

if you got to the bassplayertv site , there is a clinic with marcus miller where he gives some advice on session playing.

[Rodriguez]

To be a session player, there has to be sessions!!! In NYC, they're nonexistent. Aside from that, clean shirt, professionalism, well setup equipment, good eyes, ears and feel... oh, good social skills don't hurt.

[DocBop]

Great area but you have to have a lot of skills especially sightreading and great ears. Know many musical and technical styles and be able come up lots of parts and not get hung up when they don't like a part and want something else. These days I would work on keyboard skills and be able to play KB bass. Have good recording basses for different sounds your Fender, slap, flatwounds, short scale for old school rock and etc. The key to busy studio players is having a great sound that engineer don't have to do much to record you. They technique is clean. sound full, gear is noise free, and play the song your seeing for first time like you have been playing it for years.

All that now realize studio work is drying up in the digital world even the top guys are working less and doing touring and other work. Also build up your recording skills and even consider setting up a good home studio. Some guys are doing session via the internet. Having a studio setup will help with studio technique, record direct and hear all the noises your hands and bass make that you don't hear when gigging with an amp. Also help find basses that record well and the EQ frequencies to cut/boost get the sound a producer wants.

So now get to work.

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by hentor

To be a session player, it helps to live in a city that has a vibrant recording scene. You should be able to play a number of styles on your instrument and be handy on fretted, fretless and extended range basses. Being able to play upright bass and/or keyboard bass is also a plus.

Being able to sight read standard notation helps a lot, you may come across chord charts and/or create bass lines from lead charts. It helps to have big ears and be able to "pick things up" when listening to demos or live examples.

You should have thick skin and also be willing to set aside the need to show off your killer chops to give exactly what the producer/artist requests of you (even if it means sustained whole notes). You should also be flexible in dealing with a wide variety of personalities as not everyone in the music business is as stable or well adjusted as we bassists are <grin>.

You need to be punctual and be ready to roll and record (meaning instrument set up, tuned and your hands warmed up) at the time shown on the call-out sheet. Your instrument should be in good repair, well shielded and properly intonated and adjusted to suit your playing style. If it has a noisy jack or scratchy pots, get them fixed or replaced. If you have an active bass, ensure that you have fresh batteries or that the instrument sounds decent in passive mode.

You should know your instrument(s) well enough to know how to get a variety of sounds out of it or what instrument suits which purpose.

Oh yeah...for a good number of producers and recording engineers, if the headstock label on your bass does not say "Fender" they don't want to see/hear it.

Aside from that, you just need a willingness to work hard and keep a good groove.

+1

Well said,even the "Fender" part.

Even if I do most of my recording career on a Custom 5 strings, I ALWAYS bring as well a modified P-Bass , a Fretless and my own Tube DI, pencil and music paper!

Sylvain

[Earthday]

I don't mean to shoot your dream down, but you should definitely have a backup career in mind. You can work as hard as you can possibly work, and network the best you possibly can, be an amazing player with amazing skills, and still not find work. The fact is the world economy is very poor right now, and all around the world there are doctors, nurses, engineers, and plenty of brilliant minds who can't find work. You have to realize that in comparison music jobs are unimportant.

That's not to say you can't get a music job, but a session player, and the recording businesses in general are not realistic places to set your aim because the economy points to them becoming obsolete. Consumers are willing to spend less money on music, especially since you can get basically anything for free if you dig. Bands barely make any money on recorded media these days. Also personal recording devices, combined with the computer are becoming very good ways to record. If someone can buy an 8-track recorder on ebay for $200 and download an editing program for free, it seems unlikely for any rational band to spend the money on a recording studio, and ESPECIALLY on a session player.

I don't want to steer you away from the music field, I just think you should learn about the economic crisis and think for yourself what the future implications will be on the job market. It is VERY real.

[Michael Case]

Originally Posted by Earthday

I don't mean to shoot your dream down, but you should definitely have a backup career in mind. You can work as hard as you can possibly work, and network the best you possibly can, be an amazing player with amazing skills, and still not find work. The fact is the world economy is very poor right now, and all around the world there are doctors, nurses, engineers, and plenty of brilliant minds who can't find work. You have to realize that in comparison music jobs are unimportant.

That's not to say you can't get a music job, but a session player, and the recording businesses in general are not realistic places to set your aim because the economy points to them becoming obsolete. Consumers are willing to spend less money on music, especially since you can get basically anything for free if you dig. Bands barely make any money on recorded media these days. Also personal recording devices, combined with the computer are becoming very good ways to record. If someone can buy an 8-track recorder on ebay for $200 and download an editing program for free, it seems unlikely for any rational band to spend the money on a recording studio, and ESPECIALLY on a session player.

I don't want to steer you away from the music field, I just think you should learn about the economic crisis and think for yourself what the future implications will be on the job market. It is VERY real.

Yes, but it doesn't hurt to work on the skills needed to be a session player anyway. That's self improvement if nothing else.

[doctec]

My (albeit limited) experience in this area is that getting a gig as a session player depends 99.99% on being tight with a producer.

If your band is doing a session at a studio, let the engineer/producer/owner know you want to do session work. If he/she likes your style and gets involved in a project that requires a bass player, hopefully your name will come up.

Like many other things in the professional world, getting the gig is more about *who you know* than *what you know.*

To even be considered, you have excellent technical and personal skills. And *really* excellent personal skills combined with *just* excellent technical skills will get you further than the other combination :-) But if you don't have both, you need to look for another line of work.

Most entry level gigs involve playing a track "pro bono" or for maybe $100 max. Or maybe "points" on a CD project. Don't expect to make a lot of money right out of the chute.

FWIW, I live in the Portland, OR area and I don't know of any bass players who make a living doing studio work. Please correct me if I'm wrong :-)

Having said that, studio work is a lot of fun, IMHO and "good work if you can get it."

[slybass3000]

I would like to add that one of the best way to start doing sessions work is by doing demos for other people. It is the best way to learn how to play for other musicians, artists and or songwriters. It is actually the path that most studio cats have taken. Eventually you can make your name or reputation out of it,


Good Luck,


Sylvain

[JimmyM]

Ya, go to medical school. We'll always need doctors and nurses

[willgroove2]

Originally Posted by Rodriguez

To be a session player, there has to be sessions!!! In NYC, they're nonexistent. Aside from that, clean shirt, professionalism, well setup equipment, good eyes, ears and feel... oh, good social skills don't hurt.

One thing I have found useful is to invest the time and money to put together a quality home recording set up.Much of the recording I do these days is over the internet so I have a Logic pro 8/pro-tools rig with some quality pre-amps.I have worked with many people that I have never met in person and I had to work out a still evolving system of getting paid but I have managed to still keep some money coming in from sessions.

[angrygiant]

yeah the next few years don't look to be too pleasant, but don't worry the rich will still get richer it's just us that'll get poorer. anyway enough cynicism thanks for the advice guys. Just a note, i want to expand my arsenal and learn as many instruments and styles as possible.

[capnsandwich]

All really good advice so far. One thing I've learned in my limited career as a part time session player is that it really helps to be easy to work with. The more you know about music and your instrument, the easier it is to nail exactly what the producer wants. I've learned that a professional attitude and a willingness to humble yourself and do what you're told is a great benefit to getting another phone call or email to come back. I've got 2 studios that use me and I've only been doing this for a few months but I'm getting a little reputation and I owe it more to my social skills and work ethic than my chops, though that helps too.

Oh, and a big +1 to doing some demo work for people. You can never get enough studio experience. Practice makes perfect, and that's what they want.

[peterpalmieri]

Originally Posted by Earthday

I don't mean to shoot your dream down, but you should definitely have a backup career in mind. You can work as hard as you can possibly work, and network the best you possibly can, be an amazing player with amazing skills, and still not find work. The fact is the world economy is very poor right now, and all around the world there are doctors, nurses, engineers, and plenty of brilliant minds who can't find work. You have to realize that in comparison music jobs are unimportant.

That's not to say you can't get a music job, but a session player, and the recording businesses in general are not realistic places to set your aim because the economy points to them becoming obsolete. Consumers are willing to spend less money on music, especially since you can get basically anything for free if you dig. Bands barely make any money on recorded media these days. Also personal recording devices, combined with the computer are becoming very good ways to record. If someone can buy an 8-track recorder on ebay for $200 and download an editing program for free, it seems unlikely for any rational band to spend the money on a recording studio, and ESPECIALLY on a session player.

I don't want to steer you away from the music field, I just think you should learn about the economic crisis and think for yourself what the future implications will be on the job market. It is VERY real.

WOW! Glass half empty kind of guy I guess. Stock pile your weapons and fill your bomb shelter with canned goods.

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by peterpalmieri

WOW! Glass half empty kind of guy I guess. Stock pile your weapons and fill your bomb shelter with canned goods.

I can see his point about not putting all your eggs in one basket but yeah, don't kill a man's dreams because of a slow economic season. Things happen in cycles and we just happen to be on a downturn right now. One thing I know is that no matter how bad, how hard, or how poor people get, everybody loves music.

[iceberg]

+1 on the tough skin
+1 on big ears/writing great parts quickly
+1000 on being tight with a producer

I think there's plenty of room for optimism in the studio circuit. Yes, it's incredibly demanding and takes a lot of luck, but there is ALWAYS a creative way to make it work. Those with the drive have it way over those with the just talent.

From my experience, the studio scene is all about taste. Taste in your parts, your time, your phrasing, your implications, your SOUND. Listen more than play and feel more than think. This is vague, but IMLE accurate. Any of these areas could have libraries dedictated to them.

Studio player have a different skill set than most player are practicing to attain. It's all about taking the core stuff and solidifying it to perfection.

As far as it's relation to the economy, I find most of my friends that are working players are doing great right now in spite of Wall Street. All the more reason to chase your dreams.