Does ANYONE use session musicians anymore??

[Coldbricks]

So just seems to me that it is being replaced with ProTools, samples, and the like; and the artists that suck can be fixed using the assorted digital technology. I am friends with guitarist Steve Lukather, and we have talked numerous times about how the session scene these days is pretty much dead. That is really sad..but I believe it...has anyone here ever done a session? I have done a few back home in Albany NY at different places, including home studios; and they've been very rewarding and fun. Just curious if anyone knows any good resources for people trying to get into the art.

I have had a number of amazing opportunities to work as a session player, and will also be doing session work on Sundance Head's new album (hopefully). But i wanted some real opinion! thanks


CGS

[shanabit]

No opinion here but Ive always been a fan of Steve Lukather. Fine git fiddlin

[roostert]

A lot of us do it here in Nashville, 5-6 days a week. I track 6-8 piece bands regularly. We'll knock out as many as 5 songs in a 3hr (union standard) session. On masters, we will generally get 2-3 songs in 3hrs. If you haven't experienced it, you need to. These guys are truly amazingly talented, creative players. The best in the world IMHO.

[Greg Curtis]

We are getting calls for 72-piece orchestras, all well-paid AFM Union members, and have some 50-62 piece (again, all Union) gigs on the books already before we have even installed any cable.

So the answer is a resounding, "yes!," at least here in Los Angeles....

Greg

.

[thermos]

Originally Posted by Greg Curtis

We are getting calls for 72-piece orchestras, all well-paid AFM Union members, and have some 50-62 piece (again, all Union) gigs on the books already before we have even installed any cable.

So the answer is a resounding, "yes!," at least here in Los Angeles....

Greg

.

Yep, alive and kicking in LA.

[Ben B]

Mini-hijack...

Luke and the other surviving members of Toto should be "special guests" here. They've accomplished some truly remarkable things in production, and there's probably not a group of musicians anywhere with more studio experience. As someone who has been a hardcore Toto fan since the beginning, I know there are lots of questions I'd love to ask them.

If anyone agrees with this, start a new thread so that I don't permanently hijack this one.

Thanks!

-Ben B

[gongbass]

I'm a session drummer in the NYC area that has fortunately been able to segue into the composing and licensing music for TV/Film/Radio/Industrials etc...

I was working about 3-4 days a week as a drummer/percussionist/programmer @ 2000 in and around NYC. Some jingle stuff, some soundtrack stuff, a lot of singer songwriter stuff and quite a few bands that had spec and production deals (where majors would pay 10-15 grand to test the waters with a new band). As the years have passed the production deals have all but vanished and jingle and soundtrack stuff has become more of a home studio thing, unless its a orchestral date and most of those are in LA on sound stages.

90% of the session work I do these days (and now its 1-2 sessions every couple weeks) is either in glorified home studios, simple home studios or through in E-session fashion (where I record drums in my studio and email a peaked stereo track for approval, once I get approval and $ paypal'd I upload individual tracks). Once in a blue moon I get a call from an artist with a budget that at least wants to cut drums in a pro studio in NYC. But I'm not making the $400 for 3-4 hours I used. Now its more like $250 per day and that day is usually 11-8. Couldn't make a living off that, even if I was working 6 days a week.

I know guys like Shawn Pelton are still really busy but even those guys are doing stuff for less than they should. Nashville and LA is the place to be for union session guys. NYC is obviously active but unless your A level name you'll get laughed at demanding hourly rates, scale, etc...

[lord_bunny]

I run a larger room in a small town and even I use session musicians on a regular basis. Despite what people think protools can't do everything and as you work with better and better musicians you understand that stuff that you think is protooled to death is actually just an accurate recording of some very good players playing together.... with room bleed and everything!

+1 on experiencing 6-8 great musicians live-off the floor. There's nothing like getting the sound of the record through the speakers in realtime.

[James Lugo]

I still use session guys all the time. But honestly sometimes I grow tired of working with session guys, it sometimes feels like a day at the office and not creating art. The other thing that's weird about those guys to me is they are all programmed the same way, to spend half the session telling you about all the wonderful gigs they are doing, first off like I care and second it can make the client feel second rate, like their gig isn't as cool as all the other gigs they do.

[gainreduction]

I do frequently. thumbsup

[microwave]

I do, on anything where the budget barely permits. I'm lucky to be friends with some excellent session musicians so I always work with the same people or people that they recommend.

[David R.]

Yup. I have my list of who to call for what.

Do a good job and they sometimes refer work to you.

You never know what can happen.

[Surbitone]

On the 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th of December, I'm recording all session musicians apart from the front man / guitarist. The drummer, bassist, backing vocalist, brass etc are all session muso's and I'm looking forward to a nice, well planned & hassle free session

Nb, this is a rarity though & I couldn't agree more with the OP.

[Coldbricks]

Originally Posted by Ben B

Mini-hijack...

Luke and the other surviving members of Toto should be "special guests" here. They've accomplished some truly remarkable things in production, and there's probably not a group of musicians anywhere with more studio experience. As someone who has been a hardcore Toto fan since the beginning, I know there are lots of questions I'd love to ask them.

If anyone agrees with this, start a new thread so that I don't permanently hijack this one.

Thanks!

-Ben B

Hey Ben, PM me!

And thank you for the replys everyone; inspiring! now to get INTO the scene! hahaha

[Bob Olhsson]

Only great session players can coax me out of the mastering room.

If it feels like a day at the office, either the material or the players aren't good enough!

[Subversounds]

yep. here in brasil is quite common in mid to big studios.

My studio has a "house guitar player".

But we usually call pro musicians for percussions and brass.

[Dan]

There's a studio not too far from you in Zionsville that uses session musicians all the time, but it's a pretty tough deal to break into, because it's been mostly the same guys for the last 20 years.

I also use musicians/singers pretty regularly here, and in LA, but again there's only about 20 different people I need on a regular basis, and I'm happy with guys I know. Not to be a downer, but it's a big world, with many talented people!

[Rednose]

Originally Posted by James 'LA' Lugo

I still use session guys all the time. But honestly sometimes I grow tired of working with session guys, it sometimes feels like a day at the office and not creating art. The other thing that's weird about those guys to me is they are all programmed the same way, to spend half the session telling you about all the wonderful gigs they are doing, first off like I care and second it can make the client feel second rate, like their gig isn't as cool as all the other gigs they do.

I know what you mean by that!
I had a session drummer come in (with great credits) and he spent an hour telling us what made him the greatest drummer in the world!

[bgrotto]

I use clients as session musicians. Makes for a nice, friendly, familiar, and potentially profitable atmosphere. Keep it in the family, as they say...

[mikecorwin]

Done session work here in Los Angeles as a guitarist, and have also hired session musicians for my own projects.

[RCM - Ronan]

Originally Posted by James 'LA' Lugo

I still use session guys all the time. But honestly sometimes I grow tired of working with session guys, it sometimes feels like a day at the office and not creating art. The other thing that's weird about those guys to me is they are all programmed the same way, to spend half the session telling you about all the wonderful gigs they are doing, first off like I care and second it can make the client feel second rate, like their gig isn't as cool as all the other gigs they do.

James, I gotta turn you on to some cooler players.

I use session guys/gals fairly often. But its a pretty small stable of players I use. I found a group of musicians that are cool, creative, talented and willing to work with the budget at hand. Its almost always a joy to have them around, and they help me make better records.

[chrisso]

From my experience the session scene has greatly receded.
Caveat: I haven't worked a lot in America.
Also, this might be a factor of age, I'm no longer 25 and neither are most of the studio musicians I talk to.
The guys I talk to absolutely feel the scene is dead.
In my heyday I replaced a lot of band drummers who were deemed not good enough.
I was talking about this with a couple of engineers.
They said both they and the record companies prefer to fix 'unacceptable' drum performances with editing and sound replacing.
Back in the 80's a lot of bands blew up after the drummer was ejected from the session.
that's no longer the case.
I moved from drumming to film & tv scoring.
I rarely had any budget to use real musicians. I relied on software and sample libraries to do the work. All but the top Hollywood guys I knew were doing similar.

[Gretschman]

Originally Posted by roostert

A lot of us do it here in Nashville, 5-6 days a week. I track 6-8 piece bands regularly. We'll knock out as many as 5 songs in a 3hr (union standard) session. On masters, we will generally get 2-3 songs in 3hrs. If you haven't experienced it, you need to. These guys are truly amazingly talented, creative players. The best in the world IMHO.

Nice looking studio .

[jrt12]

technology has also greatly changed the game. i'm an independent startup musician in LA working on my first "pro" recordings. i've utilized a drummer in Michigan, a bassist in Australia, will be mixer by a producer in Australia and mastered by a studio in Sweden. i think technology has torn down the walls between musicians in small towns vs the big music cities, and opened up opportunities for people to easily collaborate on projects, while still keeping it affordable and achieveing a pro sound.

[flanagan]

I often call in a percussion player. I recommend it to some bands.
Just for the vibe. A bit of tambourine or shaker. Better than a machine. thumbsup

[bigbone]

For the last 2 years, i'm doing more session from my studio and sending tracks( drums ) , then going into a major studio..... studio scene have change, you got to adapt, for better or worst.

[JJAM]

It's been quiet this year, unfortunately, though I kind of get session work in a roundabout way as a producer (I know it's mainly for the fact that I can do all the instrument playing/BVs, thus being more budget-friendly to a label). The only session fixers I know of deal with live stuff mainly (another area where earnings have decreased dramatically).

Shame, as I really love doing sessions and just wish that I had more of them to be honest!

[bryancook]

Originally Posted by CuminGingerSpice

So just seems to me that it is being replaced with ProTools, samples, and the like; and the artists that suck can be fixed using the assorted digital technology. I am friends with guitarist Steve Lukather, and we have talked numerous times about how the session scene these days is pretty much dead. That is really sad..but I believe it...has anyone here ever done a session? I have done a few back home in Albany NY at different places, including home studios; and they've been very rewarding and fun. Just curious if anyone knows any good resources for people trying to get into the art.

I have had a number of amazing opportunities to work as a session player, and will also be doing session work on Sundance Head's new album (hopefully). But i wanted some real opinion! thanks


CGS

in LA there are all levels of session players. there are the Lukather/Landau/Tim Pierce/etc level but there are oodles of people willing to work for half to 1/3rd of what those big guys charge.

short answer, lots of session work going on here still, but a lot of it is personal connection and repeat work with the same producer/engineer instead of union contractors/etc....

i think most or a lot of the people that still hire the big time famous session dudes are foreign projects from Japan/Italy/etc. me personally, i can't justify it when there are so many good and hungry younger players available.

[chrisso]

Originally Posted by bryancook

i think most or a lot of the people that still hire the big time famous session dudes are foreign projects from Japan/Italy/etc.

Good point.
I've seen that too.

[Musiclab]

Like Ronan, I have a crew of players I can count on who are all great and who all care about the music