Installment 2
SECTION 1 - THE PEOPLE
SESSION MUSICIAN (PLAYER) - A session musician (player) is one who spends a large portion of his working time, if not all of it, playing in the studio. He may or may not also be involved in stage playing. A session player must have a high level of ability in various styles of music. He can play a country groove one minute, a blues groove the next and a bluegrass groove the next. He must also be completely comfortable with the Nashville Number System as used on the song charts (see CHARTS). Since there is no time to really learn each song as such, you need players who are able to invent "on the fly". They will play your music as if they had played it hundreds of times even though they have only heard it for the first time at the session.
Session players are able to play as a team even if they have never met until the day of the session. They instinctively know when to play and when not to play. They are not there to show off their individual skills, even though they could. They are there to create a "bed" of music that is suitable for each particular song while keeping in mind that ultimately the vocals are the most important thing in any Gospel song. A good team of session players is able to "hand off" the musical interest within a song, keeping the listener's ear, but never getting in the way of the vocals and the lyrics.
WARNING - It is easy to overuse session players because of their outstanding abilities. While this may sound great in the studio, it may bite you later. They are there to serve you and will play as much as you ask them to, but, keep in mind that unless you are recording an instrumental album, the purpose of your project is to present your voices and your lyrics to your listeners. A good session player always knows that in most cases less is more. Don't make them overdo.
WARNING - I can't stress this warning enough. I have lost count of the times that a group has asked if they can bring in a friend who plays an instrument at church or is a friend of a friend who says he is great. Ninety-Nine out of One-Hundred times you will find yourself in the midst of a disaster. Either, the friend won't know how to read charts, will be unfamiliar with the team dynamic involved in a session or will just absolutely "freak out" when he sees how good these other guys can play. I have a standing rule when I produce - he who hires is he who fires. Of course, the artist is in charge and has a right to bring in anyone he wishes. But keep this in mind - the project will never be any better than the weakest link in the chain. God has gifted these session guys and gals with amazing abilities. Let them do what they do and your project and your listeners will be the winners. Besides, you don't want to be the one to have to fire your second cousin's favorite nephew, now do you.
MYTH - Session players are super-human creatures from the planet Groovus and can play for 15 hours at a time without rest. They only have to eat once a week and never have to go to the bathroom.
ENGINEER - The job of the engineer is to make certain that everything on the project, whether it be instrument, vocal, percussion, click track, etc. is recorded as well as it can be recorded. The engineer must be constantly aware of input levels, output levels, compression levels, equalization settings and more for every instrument and voice that is being recorded. In the present day studio control room, you will see not only the proverbial console with banks and banks of buttons and switches but also there is usually at least one, and usually three or four, computer screens. Since the introduction of digital hard-disk recording, the engineer not only must be able to hear with accuracy what is being recorded he must also be able to interpret visually what is being recorded. The engineer, though no more or less important than any one else in the musical chain, is the one called on to multi-task at a feverish rate. The fact that most engineers are also musicians and producers at some level enables them to be better able to enter into the creative process and give input as needed as to what is happening as well as what needs to happen to insure the best possible results at the end of the project.
WARNING - An engineer lives and dies by what he can hear. The control room is not the best place in the world to carry on loud and continuous conversation. I have always been amazed that a small group of people can drown out state of the art control room monitors with a "gazillion" watts of power each - but they can. A part of the studio cost is to assure that a competent person is engineering. Let him do his job. Shhhh!!!
MYTH - An engineer is another super-human creature. He hails from the planet Digitus and has the amazing ability to "fix it in the mix". Also, he alone holds the formula, handed down through the eons, for the all-powerful elixir called studio coffee.
David Kight
A complete booklet may be obtained by contacting David at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Goldmine Studios.
Author: Daniel Riley
| Author's Website: http://www.goldminerecordingstudios.com
Written: 08/15/2003
| 
Category: Monthly ArticlesRecording Tips and Tools
Comments: 3
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Great article Daniel, informative and interesting. I'd be curious to know what a session player might earn. I suppose they are paid by the hour. I ask because of a project I have in mind for a local musical show. I know the level of musicians you are talking about are above what I might be able to find within our area but would like to know an idea of what a true pro might recieve if it's not too personal. Thanks for any comments
My entire booklet, "Recording a Gospel Music Project", will be avialable by Tuesday night at NQC. Look for me at either Gold City's Booth or Jim Hamill's booth. God bless and travel safely. David Kight
Danny I agree with you 100%. One thing I will tell a potential client, if they wish to use any of their live players, we will use NO studio players. The mix just never works. It is either 100% session players, or 100% road players. Overdubs and sweetening is a different matter though. Good article. Say hello to my buddy Tim Sidden!
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