Music coursework.
C7 Task 1 - Job Roles.
Role 1 – Session Musician.
Their main purpose is to help other musicians and producers to make or perform records, they mainly spend their time in the recording and broadcast industry recording for commercials, soundtracks, TV and music for radio.
What Skills do Session musicians need to have?
1- Adaptability: The music industry is constantly changing, session musicians need to have the skill to be able to adapt to new concepts and ideas from what they are told to do, in a studio many unexpected things like melody changes, location changes and similar situation where something changes can happen, being able to adapt to these situations and still deliver professional work is very valuable and important to possess as a skill, for example, a musician that usually plays jazz would have to adapt to the new material that producers are wanting to be able to keep up in the scene.
2- Communication skills: Session musicians are expected to follow musical directions and be able to communicate professionally with other musicians is also really important for a session musician, this would save a lot of time and make things more efficient as a lot of the time is spent discussing about new ideas and propositions.
4- Performance skills: A good session musicians should be able to perform well in studio and live settings in case they are required to perform live, they should be able to adapt to any type of audience, to be able to show your experience to future clients you can show recordings and videos.
5- Dependability: Good sessions musicians are also reliable, they show up to recordings and gigs on time, they are always prepared, always have the right gear to work with and do their job right every time. This is good because it shows they can be relied on and they will deliver a good job when even if they are contacted last minute.
What are the benefits of being a session musician?
2- Variety of music styles: Since you’re able to choose who do you work with, you can find a lot of different styles of music which can help you develop your skills, knowledge and shape your own style of music.
3- Skills development: Playing with different artist and people allows you to gain experience and knowledge from the individuals you are playing with.
4- Reputation: Playing with lots of other musicians can build a good reputation on your name giving a good impression to other record labels and producers, this means better organisations might contact you to work for them for higher income
2- Different ideas: Not everyone will like your ideas and even some people would not like to work with you because of your style, this may result in critics towards you and potentially create problems.
3- Not a fixed salary: Musician don’t have a fixed salary, this is because their salary depends on the contract, they get from their record label, they might get hourly paid or have a wage.
4- Inconsistent work: There might be times when the demand for session musician is high which can be good, but it is not consistent which makes it difficult to track income.
Master your instrument: Whether you are a guitar, bass or drums player, you are expected to have full control of your instrument and be able to complete any request the producers wish, this can give you a good reputation among the industry potentially giving you more opportunities.
Find your field: In the music industry there are various fields session musicians can investigate and participate in, such as, advertising, theatre, film and studio music, understanding your interest will help you to develop the right skills for the right field, example, if your area of interest is the advertising field you might want start looking at other examples of musical advertising work to get a sense of the style that is desired.
Market your service: When you have all the required skills to be a session musician you can start by looking at position and opportunities which fit your skills and niche, if you’re looking in the recording records field you might want to look for record labels and production companies.
Home studio: Being able to work from home is great, it takes away cost and time for you, which is very important, there will be times when you might need to add details to a project, but the band meeting is already up so having a home studio will allow you to do it, having a home studio also means you can help other upcoming musicians with recording projects which financially help you as well.
Types of contracts.
It's always recommended to musicians that they obtain written confirmation of all engagements. The MU produces Standard Contracts for engagement.
MU Standard Contract provide evidence of the conditions of an engagement if a dispute should arise.
Transfer of rights: These types of contracts are usually between a solo artist and external musicians, and they usually last for a long a project continues, when session musicians are hired, they are advised to sign a contract that allows for the transfer of rights, this will regulate the profit sharing and fees. The transfers of right must be completed in a written form, and it must clearly demonstrate the artist intention to transfer material, the main purpose of this contract is to ensure that they have the permission to use and reproduce the record without any problem.
Record label contract: These types of contracts are most of the time between an musician and a record label company and they initially last for as long as one year but offers ranging 5 to 10 years are also possible, when musicians sign a contract, they are transferring the rights in the recording to the record label, the contracts are usually very complex but it ensures that the label takes care of the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of the track and also states the percentages the musician will receive out of the revenue.
Guest performance contract: This type of contract usually happens between a promoter and a musician or artist, their duration is for how long the performance lasts, it can be 20 minutes or 2 hours. At concerts or gigs, the purpose of the contract is to prevent any misunderstanding and disagreements from occurring when performing, these contracts, as mentioned above, can be extremely long and full of special requests and expectations, they also guarantee that the musician performs and is paid accordingly to the contract.
Carol Kaye.
Carol Kaye (born March 24, 1935) is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bassists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 65 years. Kaye began playing guitar in her early teens and to began to perform regularly on the Los Angeles jazz and big band circuit, in 1957, she realised she could make significantly more money with session work than playing in jazz clubs, so took it up as a full-time career.
She began working with producer Phil Spector, playing the electric guitar various records and albums along with other musicians, such as, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine. Her work with Spector attracted attention of other record producers which made her an ''in-demand'' session player.
In 1963, when a bass player failed to show for a session at Hollywood, she was asked to fill in on the instrument. from that session she discovered she preferred playing bass, and found it was a key component of a backing track and allowed her to play more inventively than the relatively simpler guitar parts she had been playing until then, furthermore, it was easier to carry a single bass to sessions instead of swapping between three or four guitars depending on the song. Kaye became the most in-demand session bassist in Los Angeles
Kaye's main instrument during the 1960s was the Fender Precision Bass. She uses Thomastik-Infeld JF344 flatwound strings. Kaye primarily uses a pick, on both guitar and bass. She also typically muted her bass using a piece of felt on top of the strings in front of the bridge.
Most famous tracks.
- Good vibrations (The beach boys).
- The Batman theme.
- La Bamba (Ritchie Valens)
- Somethin' Stupid (Nancy and Frank Sinatra)
- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Nancy Sinatra)
Something to learn from Carol Kaye.
Carol Kaye is a great example for people that think they are not capable of achieving their dreams and even though someone might not be famously recognised, the effect and impact they are capable of making can be huge.
King Curtis.
Curtis Ousley (February 7, 1934 – August 13, 1971), known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer.
Curtis started playing saxophone at the age of twelve in the Fort Worth area. He took interest in many musical genres including jazz, rhythm and blues, and popular music. As a student pursuing music, he turned down college scholarships in order to join the Lionel Hampton Band. In 1952 Curtis decided to move to New York and became a session musician, recording for such labels as Prestige, Enjoy, Capitol, and Atco.
From the 1950s until the mid-1960s, he worked as a session musician, recording under his own name and with others such as The Coasters. In 1965 he moved to Atlantic Records and recorded his most successful singles, "Memphis Soul Stew" and "Ode to Billie Joe". In 1966 he recorder 3 songs with Jimi Hendrix, ''Linda lou'', ''Baby how about you'' and ''I can't take it''.
Something to learn from Curtis.
Playing with various musicians can expand your knowledge in music and make you very good in other styles and raise interest in different genre too, as well as, wanting to play other instruments in order to be a better musician
Normal day of a session musician.
Session musicians can get a call from their producers to come in for a session, the session can be 3 hours long, for example. Musicians bring their gear for the session, its usually with cars and transportation since some musicians have a lot of heavy gear. When they arrive (usually an hour before) they start to set up to have everything ready for the time the session starts. When the session start each musician starts jamming to make sound and equalise the instruments so everything sounds at the same level, after that the musicians head up to the control room to see what they will be working on. They start playing the record they are working on but the first few times is too get a start and a feel of the record, musicians usually play simple riff and melodies that can be refined later on, after they have finished they can listen to the record and comment on it, session musicians the pack up their gear and head back home
Role 2 - Producer
The producer's roles can include gathering ideas, composing music, choosing session musicians, proposing changes to song arrangements, coaching the performers, controlling sessions, supervising the audio mixing, and, in some cases, supervising the audio mastering.
What skills are required?
Skills producers needs
Tech skills: According to IPR College of creative arts ‘’a music producer will not only work with a lot of different recording equipment, but they will need to be fluent in software like Pro tools’’. Being flexible and having the ability to quickly learn new technology is an important skill of a music producer. Moreover, different studios may have different software's which can be problematic for some producers, so it is required for producers to be able to quickly adapt to potentially waste less time.
Communication: a good music producer needs to be able to clearly express what ideas they would like to have in the projects because most of their job is talking to individuals like Technicians, artists and musicians, a producer must be a good communicator. They should also be good listeners because if they don’t know what is being said they will not respond properly.
Organisation: Being an organised producer is essential, they must have different individuals focused on different parts of the project, so everything goes out smoothly and in order, having a set of goals and objectives is also important because it gives a clear idea of what it is aimed at, this allows to use resources available to the fullest.
Patience: Records are not done the first time, almost never, it takes many tries and lots of scrapped and failed attempts, this can be very tedious and tiring for producers but it is important that they keep their attitude and motivation because a bad attitude can also affects the attitude of the other people in the team making the relationship worse and production level go down because no one is motivated
Pros
Flexible: Since this type of job is a passion, you can put as much time as want into it, to gain experience one might want to start off small and manage all the type of aspects of music production on their own and choose what they work on.
Comfortable: To start on this business, music producers do not need a physical office or store, as long as they have the right equipment and space at home, they can start having session and gain experience and contacts from them.
Collaboration: According to Indiloop website: ‘’As a music producer, you get to work closely with talented musicians, singers and songwriters’’. This is true, being a producer allows you to work and collaborate with many rising stars which can potentially be a complete success.
Production costs: Having an own studio and knowing how to produce is a very valuable skill, this is because other studios ma charge you a lot for a session and the price could suddenly change, this change is because (according to ‘’Share PRO’’): ‘’You will be paying for engineer, producer and session musician, hiring so many people is expensive’’.
Cons
Financial instability: When starting out income can be irregular and not consistent, this can depend on factors such as: Project availability, royalties and streaming revenue (According to Indiloop). It is recommended to set up stability through sales, lessons or live performances.
Long work hours: being a full-time music producer can be hard and mentally exhausting, the pressure to consistently having to deliver high quality material, meet deadlines and keep track of other factors of you career can be mentally challenging, finding a healthy work life and finding balance is especially important.
Neglecting priorities: having to balance your work life with other aspects of your life can be hard, leading you to over compromise in some things and neglecting other important stuff like family, education or work, or vice versa, it can lead to less time on music production potentially making you miss out of good opportunities.
Lack of benefits: Unlike other professions, being a session musician does not give you advantages like health insurance, retirement plans or paid leave, that is why is important to manage income and finances and considers other options for insurance and savings.
1- Musical knowledge: It is essential for a music producer to have this skill, without it, it makes it very difficult to be able to listen and offer ideas to other musicians, as a producer you must know about frequencies, notes, chords, mixing and what can work together in a song.
2- Tech experience: Music production mainly involves a technological process, having experience using technology will make you faster at delivering records and produce song for labels which is very good, in addition, if something suddenly needs change, experience with computers is good because it allows you to quickly fix things.
Type of contracts
1- Producer and remix contract: This type of contract can be between a producer and a record label and the duration can differ but it is common to at least be 12 to 18 months. Producers are in control of the production process and this is determined by the production contract they receive with their agreed reward; the payment can be in the form of one-off payment or a share in the profit from royalties. This contract is also good if you want the producer to produce and create a song of your choice and if the recording a success you are able to set the share every participant gets.
2- Mechanical license: Is an agreement between the producer and the recording company which states the rights that have been granted. This contract focuses on the distribution and marketing of the recording and some of the main factors controlled are duration, exclusivity and production volume. The duration of the contract can vary but it is mainly for as long the recording goes on and producers may get a percentage of the share revenue gained from the recording.
3- Transfer of rights: This type of contract can happen among the members of project and it is used to regulate the fees and revenue sharing, including the type of rights related to the project that are granted to individuals, it can lasts as long as the recording goes on and the amount of money that someone will receive can depend on the revenue produced.
Opportunities and threats in these contracts
Contracts can be very beneficial and a good opportunity for producers, especially for the ones that are starting out, it can give them a boost in their career and boos in motivation which directly affects their creativity and productivity, however, there are also things that might not be beneficial but it might be things that they have to go through because it is part of their agreement. One of the main one is that Labels might give a small share of the revenue to the producer, this means that other members of the teams will get more even for contributing less, this will be seen as unfair for the producer and it may hard to accept but revenues shares are most of the time stated at the initial contracts so you are able to decide. Furthermore, producers may also get asked to produce a record in a certain way which means they cannot express their creative mind in the record, this can be very restrictive and tedious for the producer which can decrease the amount of motivation a producer has on certain project. Lastly another drawback is that producer may have to spend a lot of their time in a certain project, even take some of their free time so they are able to meet a deadline or deliver a well-done project, even though the reward can be high it can be very mentally exhausting. However, there are also advantages like money, depending on the success of a project, a producer may receive a big share of the revenue made from a project which can allow them to buy better equipment, hire people for them and for their own life, they might also get recognition from the public a start to build up a good reputation which potentially gives them more opportunities when they are looking for a job. Finally, these contracts can offer them experience, the more they work and spend time producing the better they will get and the better record they will make which will be incredibly good for their career as a Music producer.
George martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. Martin's formal musical expertise and interest in novel recording practices facilitated the groups rudimentary musical education and desire for new musical sounds to record.
Martin's career spanned more than six decades in music, film, television and live performance. He produced comedy and novelty records in the 1950s and early 1960s as the head of EMI's Parlophone label.
Martin joined EMI in November 1950 as an assistant to Oscar Preuss, 5 years later Oscar retires as head of Parlophone leaving Martin to take over the label. His work transformed the profile of Parlophone from a "sad little company" to a highly profitable business over time. Martin recorded classical and Baroque music, original cast recordings, jazz, and regional music from around Britain and Ireland.
In November 1961, new Beatles manager Brian Epstein travelled to London to meet with record executives from EMI and Decca Records in the interest of obtaining a recording contract for his band. Though charmed by the Beatles' personalities, Martin was unimpressed with the musical repertoire from their first session. "I didn't think the Beatles had any song of any worth—they gave me no evidence whatsoever that they could write hit material" stated Martin. The Beatles also re-recorded "Love Me Do" and played an early version of "Please Please Me" and despite Martin's doubts about the song, "Love Me Do" steadily climbed in the British charts, peaking at number 17 in late November 1962.
What to learn from Martin?
Upcoming producers can take George martin as an inspiration, his versatility as a producer, composer and arranger gives a good reference to look up to and what can a producer is able to accomplish. Taking the Beatles success and the many albums they have produced is heavily influenced by the producer's work, Martin in this case. His work was so influential that he was considered the ‘’Fifth Beatle’’
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