My reply to a drummer who asked about becoming a studio player

Skitch

Pioneer Member
I get emails from time to time asking "How do I become a studio player...I really think that I can do it!" I get some others but this is usually the most common.

Here is my reply:

"My first inclination is to ask why you want to be a session player in the first place? If your answer is fame, money, notoriety of having your name on the credits then you are seeking it for the wrong reasons. There isn’t as much studio work these days as technology has taken its toll on demos which is where the bulk of recording used to take place. This means that even the master session players are hurting and trickling down into the demo and jingle sessions. It’s a common misconception that the recording session world is like it used to be back in the days before drum machines, loops and DAWs – it’s just a plain false assumption. Watch the movie “The Wrecking Crew”. When they say that those days are over, they do know what they are talking about. There are more “hobbyist” bands in the studios these days, paying for the time themselves and they want to use their own drummer.

So, let’s say that you really have your mind made up to try anyway which is fine. You have to be brutally honest with yourself regarding your playing first and foremost. You have to be critical of what you’re playing and use discretion.

Your time with a click track has to be immaculate. I was on a session recently with a bass player who rushes and he complained that I was dragging. We went into the control room and the merciless playback showed that he was rushing. If you can’t play to a click or are all over the place with your time, then that is one of the first areas you will need to improve upon.

Do you notice any “habits” when you play such as crashing on the downbeat of nearly every bar? Here again you must be honest with yourself as the “tape” doesn’t lie and shows no mercy; when it sounds good, it sounds good. When you sound bad, it sounds bad.

Can you copy drum parts of songs note for note quickly? One of my mainstays used to be a Karaoke studio which copied the songs note for note. This was each week for whatever songs were climbing the charts. So, can you take a listen to music that you don’t like playing and copy those parts? Modern country is one of the last bastions where real musicians are still used in the recording process.

Also, don’t try to get your foot in the door by offering to work for free. No producer or studio that I know of will hire someone who sees no value in their own work. This simply a mental thing; the thinking is that if you don’t charge anything for what you do, then you must not be very good and why waste their valuable time finding out. A good way to look at it is like this; would you let someone who claims that he is a car mechanic work on your car for free? Would you trust him to do the job right over someone who is really qualified?

Now, the music world has really changed, especially in the last ten years. Songs used to be recorded for consumers to buy/purchase. The record labels would invest in artists and studio time and, being a business(s), they rightfully expected a return on their investment. Since the advent of “file sharing” and “free music” this means that the record labels are less willing to risk their capital for little or no return on investment which means that they are not using as much studio they used to which trickles down to the studio players having less and less work.

Speaking of charts, do you read charts and how many different kinds of notation do you read? Being a session player is much different than being in a band. A session player usually has very little time to come with a part whereas being in a band means that you have probably played the arrangement over and over and know what to expect. The session player has to read because there is time and money involved and this means there is time for 6 hours of rehearsing or learning by rote. Just think of it like this; let’s say you’re paying for the session at $120/hour and taking 6 hours for the guitar player to learn a song. That’s $780 to just record the song; not master it or press it.

How many different styles can you play like it is the only music you ever play? You probably won’t get called to play exactly what you like to play very often. Being a session player is about professionalism as much as anything else and this means that you have to be professional enough to handle anything thrown at you.

Who are the drummers that you admire and aspire to sound like? John Robinson, Jeff Porcarro, Lonnie Wilson, Paul Leim, Chris McHugh along with Rich Redmond and Kenny Aronoff are all highly regarded session drummers. Yes, there are some phenomenal drummers out there but they don’t get the session work. When I first arrived in Nashville, I replaced a guy who sounded as though he expected Dave Matthews to call at any second. I guess that he didn’t really that he was playing a Stevie Ray Vaughn shuffle song. And this means that the end product has to be bigger than you.

So, I don’t mean to dissuade you but you, along with many others, do need to be informed that they golden age of being a session player is diminishing greatly and the competition out there isn’t going to stand idly by. You just need to be aware of what is fact versus what has been romanticized and is in the past.

Best regards,

Mike"
 
Skitch:

Great reply !

I'm retired and I play drums for enjoyment and maybe a little cash if I'm lucky.
It's more of a hobby for me; but still your reply depresses me.
I wonder where will the music industry end up in a few years.
Where will the opportunities for drummers be found?


.
 
Skitch:

Great reply !

I'm retired and I play drums for enjoyment and maybe a little cash if I'm lucky.
It's more of a hobby for me; but still your reply depresses me.
I wonder where will the music industry end up in a few years.
Where will the opportunities for drummers be found?


.
The music biz goes back and forth from year to year. Like now, you have the whole 80's revival thingy going on. Wouldn't be surprised if there will be a grunge revival in some years. Then people will crave the human drumming again.

Like the great Curt Bisquera said: Sometimes you go into the studio and record some hihats over a programmed loop, which is both good and bad. The bad is that I won't be a big part of the record, the good is that I can go home and be with my family and pets.
If you expand your drumming capabilities to for example looping and programming, you will always have a job in the studio(that and have good time).
 
An excellent reply, and all true from where I sit in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of (former) recording meccas in the world. And that world has become smaller with the advent of players recording parts at home for a band/client in another location, whom they'll probably never meet. But as stated, bands "want to use their own drummer" and many of today's drummers are sufficiently competent to play on their bands' recordings, so home recording services are also on the wane. Compare that to the half-baked drummers and other players 40+ years ago who could write a catchy song, but couldn't play it well enough to be radio-ready. Hence, the proliferation of studio musicians back in the day.

But that's a romantic era that is all but gone. Certainly there is still a need for studio players, such as for solo artists who don't have a band and can't play/program everything themselves. But it's a fairly small niche these days, and it is incumbent upon wiser, experienced musicians to educate up and coming hopefuls about the realities of the music business. And while that business is not finished changing yet, it's obvious that the need for hired guns in the studio is dwindling.

Bermuda
 
As someone mentioned with the wrecking crew movie, the studio band died in the 70's. If Hal Blaine was skint after a divorce with his back catalogue I think the rest of us are in trouble!

When I was at uni I always dreamed of being a session player but then reality hits home. I spoke to my drum teacher who is a top session player and he said there was a very small niche of players who producers used and they were all older guys who'd been around for years since studio bands were used.

I think you can also trace the problem back to ground level. Good musicians have nowhere to cut their teeth anymore and haven't for about 20 years and get thrown in with the mediocre ones.

Plus there's no music scenes anymore for good musicians to come out of other than the bedroom or youtube scene, I get seriously envious of my old man when he goes on about the local scene on the doorstep in the 60's/70's we had the likes of Sabbath, Moody Blues, ELO, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Carl Palmer, Steve Winwood and of course the mighty Slade to name a few all coming from a 20 mile radius, same with London/Liverpool/Manchester.
 
I loved reading the OP's reply. Studio work has always appealed to me, but I also have really begun to enjoy teaching high school kids. I find it much more rewarding to see them take to an instrument, with some of them now looking at colleges with music programs and degrees. While still a young guy myself, I was lucky enough to have teachers that encouraged me to become proficient in almost every style. This has thankfully lead me to become more or less the "on call" drummer on my college campus. It also reminds me of a funny moment a few years ago.

My freshman year I auditioned for the University Jazz Ensemble (big band stuff). I was going up against one other guy, a junior. This guy was always making it known that he was going to go to Nashville and get into studio work as soon as he graduated. At the audition we took turns sitting in with the band. To my surprise, he couldn't read a chart to save his life, and when asked to play a shuffle, no joke, his answer was "How do I do that?" Guess who made chair? ;)
 
I recall a round table interview in Modern Drummer around 89/90 with all the big names at the time. Even then they were talking about how there was less overall studio work then there had been previously.

It was either JR or Mike Baird said at the time you have had a better chance of writing a #1 hit song than making it as a studio drummer.
 
Interesting points. I've also noticed that more hobbyist bands and bands just starting are good enough to play on the recording. I've played with many players that were in touring rock bands in the 60s and 70s, and almost all of them had studio musicians record their album(s). Part of this is that recording isn't that expensive anymore, it's fairly cheap to record a high quality 10 song album at a local studio and get it mastered. Of course singers/solo can just hire the engineer to program other instrument parts in as well.

One thing I have noticed (in the North East US at least) is that the live music scene is growing exponentially. Since I started playing professionally, I've seen the amount of bars/clubs that hire live bands go way up, and the number of competent bands has gone up as well. The pay, on the other hand, has remained steady (and probably has since the 1920s).

I've done some session work for some solo artists at local studios, but there's less and less work in the studio every year. Conversely though, there seems to be more and more live music work to make up for it.
 
Interesting points. I've also noticed that more hobbyist bands and bands just starting are good enough to play on the recording.

I think there's a few reasons for this, and I feel compelled to answer as I'm a hobbyist drummer myself.

Three things happened around Y2K.

1: Cheap "quiet" recording interfaces became available. Studio quality preamps used to cost a fortune.

2: The internet demystified much of the workflow and techniques used in studios.

3: The release of the digital DAW, like the Roland VS-880, completely annihilated older commodity home-recording offerings in terms of performance and features. (Fostex R8 as an example of old tech).

Studios in the 80's would have killed for the power we now have for free with Garageband. I can sit in my basement, and spend 5 hours to get a perfect take without wasting anyone else's time. I can record far beyond my actual ability level and nobody will ever know.

Personally, I think it's a good thing. More music. More ideas getting out there. More experimentation. Etc...
 
I think there's a few reasons for this, and I feel compelled to answer as I'm a hobbyist drummer myself.

Three things happened around Y2K.

1: Cheap "quiet" recording interfaces became available. Studio quality preamps used to cost a fortune.

2: The internet demystified much of the workflow and techniques used in studios.

3: The release of the digital DAW, like the Roland VS-880, completely annihilated older commodity home-recording offerings in terms of performance and features. (Fostex R8 as an example of old tech).

Studios in the 80's would have killed for the power we now have for free with Garageband. I can sit in my basement, and spend 5 hours to get a perfect take without wasting anyone else's time. I can record far beyond my actual ability level and nobody will ever know.
.

Indeed. The availability of high quality home studios are eroded the need for people to go into a studio, which has in turned eroded the need for studio players.

Another aspect is places like PIT, Berklee, and other music schools that either sprang up or adopted op/rock to their curriculum and turned out thousands of players who are at least some what competent in the studio, if not more. Add in youtube lessons over the last 10 years, music school grads going out and teaching privately, and we have a larger population of drummers who are skilled enough to cut basic tracks. Sure, the top guys still do the top jobs, but the bread and butter basic sessions aren't there because most bands don't need a Hal Blaine to secretly fill in for the guy on the album cover.

I'd also say I've noticed, on average, drummers born post mid-80's generally have a better ingrained sense of time. For better or worse, they grew up with electronic music; rap, hip hop, new wave, dance, industrial, etc, as part of their culture. So a machine like perfection is part of how they are used to hearing music. Unlike those of us who grew up on a steady diet of Keith Moon and other 60's/70's bands who rarely/never used click tracks. In Hal Blaine's hey day, a drummer who can play to a click was a rare thing. Nowadays, so drummers grow up playing to click perfect music, it's no longer such a specialty.
 
This was my response to someone asking about it.

Session work is one of the toughest sides of the industry to get involved in. Sure, you're going to need to have all the technical aspects of your playing down, but it's more about convincing a producer that you are the one person they should turn to.

Session work becomes available for two reasons:

1. The client has no idea who would be good to work with for their current project

2. The musician that is currently working on the project for the client is not living up to the standards necessary

You need a producer to believe you are the one person that can save them. That does not happen with resumes being sent and websites being shown. That happens by previously working with the producer in band situations, perhaps sessions that the band you're in even paying to work with this particular producer. It's at that point you need to show this producer you are not only technically proficient to get your tracks done within a reasonable time, but you are easy to work with, follow instructions, and can do new ideas on the fly. Then MAYBE they will remember who you are enough to think to call you when they are in that spot.
 
Great replies all around. You have got to be an octopus to be a good studio player. Not in terms of "having eight limbs" but really in being able to "change color and texture to fit the surroundings". Blending is the key. Not hitting things with eight limbs. But that would be cool, eh?
 
My response? Sure! You can be a studio player! Here's how.


1. Pick a room in your house, and treat it for sound.

2. Buy some decent mics and preamps.

3. Buy a Mac (I think this is still industry standard).

4. Find people that would like some drum tracks and charge a small fee.

Don't want to invest in the equipment to be a studio session player?

If you don't want to invest money in yourself, why in the world would you expect someone else to???
 
Just to add another slant to the thread I would ask them "Why a studio player?"

My joy in music has always been in the push and pull of playing with others, live. With all the studio tech now available, no matter how well you play on a track, it can be modified. Quantised to be perfectly in time, different drum sounds added, parts looped or discarded so in the end it may sound nothing like you played. So why bother? If the producer wants a sound and style let them get it from the software and programming available, and you work on being the best "Live" drummer you can be and enjoy playing in the moment with other musicians.
 
Great post! Having lived in Nashville for around 8 years it all rings true. I did studio work here & there and it's certainly less and less as time goes on. I ended up mainly doing demos & small album projects for friends. Money? What money?

Now I've got the home studio all dialed in and it sounds great! Who needs big studios anymore? And playing together? Like, in the same room at the same time? What's that all about? :)
 
Just to add another slant to the thread I would ask them "Why a studio player?"

My joy in music has always been in the push and pull of playing with others, live. With all the studio tech now available, no matter how well you play on a track, it can be modified. Quantised to be perfectly in time, different drum sounds added, parts looped or discarded so in the end it may sound nothing like you played. So why bother? If the producer wants a sound and style let them get it from the software and programming available, and you work on being the best "Live" drummer you can be and enjoy playing in the moment with other musicians.

I think it's the money; although I agree that I much prefer playing live. Playing in the studio just doesn't give you the creative interaction that you get live.

I was lucky enough to get hooked up with several local studios in the New England area and I would get calls fairly often for work, although I see less and less studio work now. Most of the work that I was getting was for non-union singer-songwriter types that wanted a full album but didn't have a band. I even recorded several singles for solo artists that went to Berklee and needed a backing band on some of their recordings for school. It was a nice little side hustle for a while, but it's so easy to record at home and program background tracks that the work is drying up.
 
I think what you do now in a place like Portland, where I live, is be able to play anything, or at least be a very capable, mature, pop drummer-- being able to play functional piano, guitar, and/or bass is also a good idea. And just try to have a normal career as a musician, while getting very into recording, paying special attention to forming relationships with recording engineers-- especially ones who are doing a lot of producing. And with songwriters and bandleaders, and people involved with TV, film, and advertising. You try to get involved in a lot of people/projects, write and record your own music, and do a lot of things on spec. This isn't my thing, but with the people I know who do the most studio stuff, their careers look like some variation of this. Some of them did high profile gigs, and their interest in recording (and talent, and personability) led them to strike up solid relationships with producer/engineers, or to get into producing themselves. One guy just had a long running gig with a dance company, and lucked out when it naturally led to some commercial where he was doing a lot of recording at home.
 
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