To become a session musician you must not only be highly skilled at your instrument but also be very good at networking with others. In Q on Producing by Quincy Jones Louis Johnson talks about how his band, the Brothers Johnson, were becoming famous and yet he spent more time in the studio for other people’s recordings. Through making an album with Quincy Jones he had started to meet loads of people which then provided a list of contacts. So in many ways it was getting lucky, but he had to be competent enough as a player for people to want him. His album gave him credibility and so he could enter the profession.
Once you are in you need to be flexible with how you work in a range of different contexts. You will meet so many different people that you need to create lasting professional relationships with, otherwise no-one will work with you anymore. Again in Q on Producing by Quincy Jones a range of musicians speak about leaving your ego behind. You have entered a situation where you should be aware of the producers vision; in the best case they also give you space to create authentically within that. It is important to have the versatility to read music or to go off chords or to go off what the other musicians are playing. Sometimes you might need all three.
Beyond this, most people will have an awareness of different parts to the process, like the way producing works or writing a song. By having a wider knowledge base you can then interact with more people, yes building your contact book, but more importantly this helps them communicate to you what the vision for the project is. At the same time do not assume to know everything and take specific instructions from the producer or director with the upmost commitment.
Now your typical day of work can vary hugely at the moment. Websites like https://soundbetter.com/ provide an easy way to get recordings from top professionals. More often than not they will record this remotely and then send in the parts that can be added with ease to the recording after everything else. Meanwhile, working on a film can be completely different. Henry Lowther spoke about how full orchestras would spend days in the studios creating a complete sound track, or at least have a long preparation time before hand because it is harder to co-ordinate a larger group of musicians. Furthermore, everyone needs to have a microphone to be heard. However, it is worth noting that for smaller budget movies today everyone can record remotely, and this is a shift in the way things are done.
At the moment you could have a day as a session musician where you don’t leave your remote recording studio and put together loads of smaller bits for a variety of projects. On the other hand, larger scale projects have budget for you to be alongside other musicians, and more importantly provides that space to interact with them which fuels creativity. It is worth saying that you could be asked in for a medium sized project which takes roughly three hours of your time. Henry Lowther reminisced about how these could end up filling your day and you would go from one to the other. So in essence, due to the easy access to recording technology your days can vary considerably. It is something that you need to be on top of organising to get yourself work.
You must also be organised in the way you look after your finances. As you are self-employed you need to decide a method of accounting that keeps track of how much you earn. In cash basis accounting you record the money as in a specific tax year depending on when it was paid to you. However, in traditional accounting you go off when you sent the invoice. You keep records of all of this to help figure out specific details on your tax return and also encase HMRC asks for them. It is important that you can provide evidence to back up your documentation, such as bank statements or invoices from the last year. It is worth noting that if you use traditional accounting you also need to state things like what you are owed but have not yet received and also what you have committed to spend but not yet paid out. All in all it is a lot to keep on top of alongside your regular day job so you need to stay proactive in dealing with it. Particularly if you are earning enough to pay tax as you should be putting money aside so that you can pay it at the end of the tax year.
It is important to say that you can earn money from projects in more than one way. Yes you have the rates for the in person recording session which vary from £97.20 for two hours to £130 for three hours to £194.40 for four hours as stated by Musicians Union. If recording remotely you have a say on how much, depending on your credentials, though this has far more variety in how many hundreds of pounds you ask for, if any. Now you might also be put down as an unfeatured or featured artist on a record. In this case PPL is an avenue for you to earn money from. They are free to join and do all of the administrative and legal processes, with regards to licensing music for venues and broadcasts, that collect you money. It is also worth mentioning PRS which you do pay to sign up for. This is to do with compositional and songwriting credits, which if you say came up with a distinctive lick in a song you could then ask for your name to be put down. Please note that MCPS carries out the same job as PRS just in the context of physical media like CDs. In short you earn money direct from doing studio work but also in the form of royalties.
Now in today’s age of technology you need to consider how you market yourself online. Platforms like Instagram make it easier than ever to find other musicians. Take two examples, Tom Richards and Louis Dowdeswell. Tom Richards is a saxophonist who has played for Hollywood movies such as Barbie but also spends his time composing and arranging music for orchestras that he conducts. There are then specific artists he works with in a greater capacity, namely RAYE and Jamie Cullum. In all of this he posts things that relate to where he spends his time. Yes he has done work as a session saxophonist for Hollywood but it’s not all of what he does so you will see his feed filled up with posts about other things he does. Being a session musician is not his main selling point so he will not dedicate time to fully documenting it.
On the other hand, Louis Dowdeswell who spends more of his time as a session trumpeter, with a bit of arranging and producing on the side, has a completely different feed. There are multiple videos of him preparing to go into a studio, ones where he is actually recording, memories of previous projects such as remote ones from the coronavirus lockdowns, and so many more. This clearly indicates that he is around and spending a lot of time in studios thus providing evidence for him being a desirable session musician.
Both of these individuals have their own websites listed in their Instagram bio. This provides a wider sense of credibility as it demonstrates another way of getting to know more about them. It creates space for them to focus in on what they have to offer in a concise manner.
I have already mentioned the fact that you need to be flexible when working with others. Beyond this, you should be likeable. That is actually far harder than it sounds because it relates directly to who you are as a person. Quincy Jones wrote about each of the musicians he worked with in Q on Producing, and there is a personal touch to how he regards each of them. If you are going to spend a load of hours with someone you want to be able to enjoy it. Not just have someone who you can work with who is easy to be around, but someone that you look forward to spending time with in that context. Be accommodating to them and be willing to engage with the more social aspect.
People with everyday office jobs have social spaces, like the pub, where they can go and relax with colleagues. You need to be able to do the same with your fellow musicians and creatives. Even though you might only work together once, it will leave an impression of who you are, and you should be consciously aware of what that is. This in turn requires a high level of self-reflection that is a huge intellectual challenge if you are not used to it, or are simply not likeable in the way you need to be. This becomes very opinionated very quickly and yet you also need to take a step back and be honest with who you are. Henry Lowther mentions this in passing at various points in his interview as when you are a session musician you rely on bandleaders and producers taking an interest in your life and becoming friends.
From all of this you can then progress so much further. Bigger names like Quincy Jones will immediately indicate that you are worth your time, not just as a player but also a person. However, it requires people to talk about you, which in turn provides a sense of energy about you when mentioned. You cannot force that to happen, you can only continually give others reasons to do so. Namely in the way you present yourself in projects that you work on.
There are other ways in the form of winning awards, such as Grammys, but this relies either on you putting yourself forward or being known to a particular group of people. This in turn requires dedication and is more likely to just happen as a result of all the other incredible things you already do. Nevertheless, awards cement your position in the industry in an undisputable way that is collectively agreed upon. The credibility will just last and so you can always rely on it to open doors to new projects. It is critical to remember that this will not happen at the beginning of your career but rather it could be a result of all the work you put in.
In conclusion, you need to be a highly skilled musician from the start and try to build up your list of contacts in whatever way works. Whether that be getting in touch with producers or going to specific social events to talk to people, it is all required. You then need to be flexible in the way you work and be likeable. People need to want to spend time with you. If you have a very prominent ego then go and sort it out. In a typical days work you could be in the studio or recording remotely or a combination of the two. The level of organisation needed is important to pay attention to as your diary could become very hectic. The same goes for your finances, as being self-employed you should remain aware of any tax you will end up paying. Finally, you will progress by building your credibility from the projects you have worked on. These in turn cement your position in the industry as a desirable session musician.
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