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View Full Version : Playing a gig as a session musician - some tips



jpfeifer
August 17th, 2006, 09:48 AM
Hi Everyone,

Recently I had the opportunity to do some session work at a local studio. I don't play these kinds of gigs very often since most of these gigs are harder to get and usually go to the full-time pro musicians in the area. But when the opportunity comes along I usually jump at the chance to do them because they're challenging, often fun, and I always learn something in the process.

For this recent gig I was hired to play various electric guitar parts for a singer/songwriter for his demo of 5 tunes. This particular session was more intense than I expected. After I setup it was essentially 3 hours of non-stop tracking covering various kinds of parts, lots of sound changes, etc. They knew exactly what they wanted from me and didn't waste any time putting me through the paces.

I thought that it would be a good idea to write a little about this experience and pass along some tips for anyone else who might be considering this type of work. Here are my tips based on my own experience:

- Know your gear inside and out, and be ready to quickly dial up various tones that might be required. Have your sounds ready ahead of time so that when they say "give me a fat screaming lead tone" or "give me a chunky rhythm sound", or "give me a U2 Edge tone" , you know exactly what your settings will be and which guitar you will use. Also, you should be ready to give them a few different versions of each sound because they may not like your first choice.

- Bring a few guitars with different personalities. On some of the tracks certain guitars worked better than others. It really helped having a few different guitars to try on various tracks to find a tone that the songwriter was excited about. For most of the songs I was layering several different parts using different guitars for these parts. You might have one guitar with a very fat tone and one with a thinner sound. Each one would be used for different parts depending on what you're playing and the other instruments on the track.

- Concentrate, and listen, listen, listen! One of the hardest parts that I had to play was a very precise even-eigth-note rhythm guitar part that followed the bass line. It was suprisingly difficult to play in the pocket. The part was very simple, but staying right in the pocket on every beat took a lot of concentration and several passes. In contrast to that, I was asked to do some intro lead parts (much more difficult to play) but these took far less time to record. It was almost as it the "simple parts" were more difficult to track than the harder parts because of the aspect of timing and playing in the pocket being the most important.

- Speak up if your headphone mix is not right. If it helps you to play better by hearing certain instruments turned up in the mix, speak up and don't be afraid to ask the engineer to make a special monitor mix for you. They're accustomed to this request.

- Have a can-do attitude. I know this sounds corny but it's true. You will have a lot of things thrown at you for a gig like this. If you're easy to work with then they are more likely to hire you again.

- Don't overplay. This is one of the big lessons for this kind of gig. Often you are providing the foundation for the rest of the tune. You can't be wailing away on every track or the song will sound like sonic chaos and they won't be happy with your work. You will also make it harder for them to add things like background vocals, keyboard parts, or other tracks that need to live in the song next to your guitar tracks. Keep your parts simple and clean, in the pocket, with the best tone that you can deliver. But, when they do ask you to "go crazy on the outro to this song" for example, then pull out the stops and wail!

-- Jim

Mark
August 17th, 2006, 10:41 AM
Real interesting Jim. When you did this session do you record direct or use an
amp, or possibly a combination? Thanks for the insight.

jpfeifer
August 17th, 2006, 10:46 AM
Hi Mark,

For this session I recorded with an amp.
I used my Vox Valvetronix VTX120. (it was a lifesaver having access to a lot of sounds in one piece of gear!)

But they also ran a direct box from my guitar so that they could capture the raw signal out of the guitar and use that to drive plugins in Pro Tools later on, if they decide to.

-- Jim

6STRINGS 9LIVES
August 17th, 2006, 11:44 AM
Neat post Jim... especially the part relating to .." a can do attitude" i've been in the room before with prima donnas ..it made for long days and forgettable sessions ..what was in your mix ..i like a lot of drums , if i had a choice between bass or drums only in the mix it would be drums ..again interesting post...6S9L

Mark
August 17th, 2006, 11:58 AM
BTW I really like your Phatcat shuffle Jim. Well Im off to do a session right now "kitchen remodel in B#" LOL. Not quittin the ole day job just yet.

jpfeifer
August 17th, 2006, 11:58 AM
This was actually the 2nd session that I had with these same people. On my first session I made the mistake of trying to make do with a bad headphone mix, thinking that it was just me not being able to lock in the groove on a few tunes. When I started asking for special things in the mix, on my second session there, I had a much easier time locking to the groove of the songs.

For me, I need to clearly hear myself in the mix. This sounds obvious but in the first session they had my monitor level turned way down and the other instruments mixed very high. Secondly I need to hear the drums and bass since this is defining the basic groove. I kind of need to hear both since the drums will provide the basic meter but the bass helps to define what kind of groove is going on and where the accents are. It usually helps to have the vocals there too so that you can hear where the holes are in the vocal part, in case you're doing fills or something.

-- Jim

jpfeifer
August 17th, 2006, 12:08 PM
Thanks Mark!

Yes, I'm not quitting the day job either. I admire anyone who can make their living playing music. But it's nice to get paid every now and then for playing.

It helps fund future G.A.S. attacks, or at least justify them :-)
I remind my wife that it could be worse, I could have golf for a hobby instead of music, where I would be gone for several hours on a weekend, have to pay money to play it, and never get paid for doing it.

-- Jim

Nelskie
August 17th, 2006, 01:54 PM
Great post, Jim. I enjoy reading about things like this, mostly because about the closest thing I'll ever get to paying session work is the cold six-pack I can expect when my buddy (a drummer) lures me over to his garage to play old Humble Pie & Black Sabbath stuff on the guitar - his favorite stuff to jam along with. When I'm thirsty, I just announce, "drum solo", and away he goes! :D Actually . . . it's really a lot of fun.

Mark
August 17th, 2006, 07:47 PM
When I'm thirsty, I just announce, "drum solo", and away he goes!


Thanks Nelskie....I just blew soda out my nose reading that LMAO

Robert
July 18th, 2008, 03:35 PM
Reviving time - these tips are really good. Thanks for posting this, Jim!

:AOK:

aeolian
July 18th, 2008, 04:52 PM
Jim, this is a very interesting read, thank you. I'll never get close to being to be useful in sessions like this, but it is still great to be able to appreciate those who has the ability to do this.

jpfeifer
July 18th, 2008, 05:28 PM
Thanks aeolian.

Doing this kind of a gig can really make you appreciate how good the guys are who do this all the time. I'm still the new guy at this but there were some other guys on the session who have been doing this kind of thing for years. They are amazing players.

Every time I get a chance to do these gigs I always walk away feeling humbled, with a list of things that I need to work on. :-)

-- Jim

tot_Ou_tard
July 18th, 2008, 08:05 PM
Great post & a good read even for us neophytes.

Thanks for digging it up Robert!