Music Producing & Engineering
Course 16: Session Players

Session players are crucial to the recording process because they can come in with little to no direction and bring a track to life with what they contribute. A good, live element on a record can mean the difference between cutting a decent track or a generational anthem. In this course, we’ll uncover how to work with a session player so that you can draw upon all they have to offer your project.

Pro session players are virtuosos and specialists who are expected to be able to come into a session and do what’s needed in a timely manner. Part of knowing when to hire a session player is knowing what a song or demo needs and then finding the player to fill that void. In this course, you’ll learn how to research session players, know what to ask prospective session players, and how to communicate your needs.

The objectives for course 16 are to understand the role of session players in the production process, when to hire session players, and how to choose session players. Much of this will come with experience, but you should know what you’re looking for and how to find them after this course. You’ll also finish a course review, blog post, quiz, and a session player listening list to see what they can bring to a production.

Objectives:

• Understand the role of session players in the production process.
• Understand when a session player is needed.
• Make an informed decision on what to look for in session players.
• Be able to use the techniques in this course to make an educated decision when choosing session players.