Session Work: the Recording Freelance Business

One of the many careers available to performing musicians is that of becoming a "recording session" player. There are several cities around the world that have an active recording climate and if one is fortunate enough to work into the situation it can mean a moderate to lucrative career that can be filled with fun, challenges, and excitement. Probably the two most active cities are New York and Los Angeles, with Chicago, Nashville, Vancouver, Montreal, Seattle, San Francisco, London, Munich, Budapest, Orlando, and Philadelphia following behind. Let us define session work as a situation where music is recorded for Motion Pictures, TV background, commercials (jingles), Broadway musical soundtracks, and jazz-pop-classical projects with major & minor artists, and free-lance symphonic orchestras.

The statement that studio work is "90% boredom and 10% sheer terror" is not just a cute line. It is quite accurate give or take a few percentage points. Those 90% times are when the music given the player is quite simple and offers no demanding challenges. Often a producer makes endless musical changes with the composer and the full orchestra might just sit waiting the better part of an hour. Other times the music might only need 3rd flute on 2 of 15 pieces of music. Of course the musician is still being paid. Those 10% terror-times are the ones that quickly separate the marginal player from the high-quality professional. The demands might be technical, transposing, replaying and replaying a delicate high register solo with the "red-light" on. In some regards it is like the first class fireman who might not have a major emergency for weeks, and then suddenly he faces losing his life in seconds of terrorizing action.

The following is a simplified outline of the way a studio recording session evolves. In this case let's make believe John Doe is producing his movie "BAT-THING MEETS BAMBI". After the producer has his script he starts the process of funding the movie. Getting investors depends on many things, but among the most important are the quality of the story, the actors chosen to star, and often the composer (either big name or no-name). John Doe gets his $10 million funding and confirms with Bill Mozart (Hollywood's hottest film-scorer) that for $300,000 (+ studio cost, music copyist and musicians) he will compose the music for "B-M-B". Mr. Mozart meets with Mr. Doe to discuss the time frame of shooting the film, editing it, recording the music, and mixing the music with dialogue for the final edited version.

Mozart will have two months to write the music. He initially only knows the plot of the story line and some of the scenes the producer plans to use. He might start jotting down musical themes and ideas but his real composing won't begin until they get together again for a "Spotting Session" At this meeting the composer brings his music editor. The editor is in charge of making sure all of the timings are correct and understood before the composer begins writing the score. At the "spotting", the producer and film editor have all of the segments of the movie separated out to show exactly where music is needed. For example the opening credits might require 2 minutes and 25.5 seconds of music. The first action scene might only require 15 seconds of music. The total amount of music (average) for most full-length features is from 40 - 80 minutes of music. Included will be 25-50 "starts" (separate segments of music) In many instances the producer has already inserted pre-recorded music (temp-tracks) from other movies or recordings, to give the staff and composer an idea of the kinds of music he might be looking for. The composer, armed with a good load of video taped segments heads for his studio to begin composing.

After working with the video segments at his piano or synthesizer, Bill Mozart decides he will use a 60-piece orchestra + 2 keyboard synthesizers. He calls his "contractor" (also called the orchestra manager in the credits at the end of the movie) and gives his specific needs for the sessions. This includes specific players in key positions and the exact instrumentation. The project will require 5 days of double sessions (10 to 1 + 2 to 5 PM) on specific days, probably six weeks in the future. Where the composer hasn't asked for a particular player the contractor uses his or her priority list to fill in the spots.

In most cases the players don't know what to expect at the scoring session, it's a matter of being a very good sight-reader in addition to playing technically well. In some instances (an example was "Far & Away" scored by John Williams) the composer will meet with a player or two to more clearly determine some of the unusual instruments and their limitations that he might use. Many current sound tracks are employing many non-standard instruments, including penny whistles in all keys, recorders, pan-flutes, and Irish traditional instruments. He commences writing the music and on the first day of the series of sessions the musician walks into to find all sorts of surprises, sometimes requirements that the unusual instruments cannot fulfill.

A TV scoring session is similar in many ways but there are some marked differences. Most TV sessions are for either episodic TV of movies made for TV. A weekly show requires 1-2 sessions (a single or a double), depending on the style of the show. Some shows have as little as 6 minutes of music for a 30 minute show, whereas others have up to 20 minutes. Most TV series have the same instrumentation (from 5 - 30 musicians) and the sound of the score is similar each week. However there is a requirement that original music be used each show. In movies made for TV the orchestra might be larger but many scores (for weekly and specials) are produced by the composer working alone or with a couple of musicians in his home studio.

The scoring stages in Los Angeles are used for both TV and Motion Pictures. Among the most popular are Warner Brothers, Twentieth-Century Fox, Sony (formerly MGM), TODD A-O, and about 100 others. For Motion Pictures the musicians work in a very large room about the size of a small gymnasium. Smaller studios are used for both television and pop recording projects. Jingle sessions are not too plentiful in the past two years, but occasionally 1 - 5 live players might be included with a synthesizer player who has pre-recorded bass, string orchestra, percussion and piano parts for a 30 second commercial.

Are synthesizers replacing the acoustic musician? Yes & No. Many of the second and third echelon players are working much less because most Television producers feel that synthesizers do a reasonable job for the type of background music they need. For the past two years Motion Pictures have been using full orchestras much like they were before the advent of the electronic/digital/midi explosion. On many TV and motion picture sessions one will find a wind synthesist (a wind-blown midi instrument set up with either 3 buttons + octave key or a flute/saxophone type key structure), 1 to 3 keyboard synthesists, and one percussion synthesist in addition to the acoustic players on the date.

There are two groups of flutists who can be found in the studios: straight flute players and woodwind doublers. In the past there was a more obvious distinction in quality between the doublers and the regular flutists. Recently however, many of the doublers are wonderful flute players and in most cases today, the listener would be very hard pressed to distinguish between the classical symphonic flutist and a great doubling flute player.

What skills should a young ambitious player develop if he/she desires a career in recording?

Try these 5 abilities:

1. Great sight-reading
2. Intonation (flexibility to quickly adjust)
3. Beautiful sound with complete control (especially in pp)
4. Multi-style player (classical, jazz, pop, etc.)
5. Political-business ability (don't be above it in your artist's tower)
Below are some methods of acquiring the necessary abilities:

1. Play chamber music with other woodwind and string players a lot to learn about intonation and blend.
2. Sight-read etudes with other flutists (with metronome on)
3. Practice home recording (with cassette or high-tech equipment) to get used to performing with "red-light" pressure.
4. Listen, listen, and listen to many past and current recordings to absorb styles. Then try to imitate those styles and sounds.
5. Play in as many orchestras as possible.
6. Play in a jazz band at the High School or College level to develop reading skills and "feel" in contemporary rhythms.
7. Learn basic improvising to develop more comfort with your instrument and to overcome the fear of chord changes.

When young college graduates of professionals ask for advice about moving to Los Angeles these are the points I like to mention.

1. Develop patience! It is tough to break in.
2. Give yourself at least 5 years to get your foot into the door.
3. Play in every community orchestra available.
4. Organize as much chamber music as possible.
5. Make a great demo tape (only 10 minutes of a variety of music).
6. Put together a clean/succinct resume sheet with a nice picture.
7. Send semi-annual packets of your materials to all contractors and composers.
8. Be willing to donate your playing to young aspiring composers who just might carry you along for the ride when they make it.
9. Continue to improve. Study with the successful pros. You might get on their list of substitutes.
10. DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, & DIVERSIFY.....

It is extremely tough to break into studio recording these days. Recording opportunites in Los Angeles are not what they once were as costs have increased and recording opportunities have moved to other cities. In reality, only a few of the top people in Los Angeles make a real living solely from studio recording anymore. That said, the opportunities afforded by the "studios" can be wonderful. A lot of musical variety, tasty financial rewards, independence (if you accept it), the excitement of being a part of one of the most interesting industries around, and in the case of Los Angeles, all the nice weather and smog you can handle. The studios are a lot of fun, but not for the feint of heart or the impatient.