I've had the experience of breaking in to three studio scenes with different degrees of success: Dallas, Miami, and Nashville. In this column, I'll go over all of the experiences and how the environments have changed in each area. Dallas (large urban area but not a Music Center): I broke into sessions and work for hire in this environment by going into several studios with groups I was playing with at the time. They ranged from Top 40 bands to original projects. As I made friends with the studio owners (and left business cards and made strategic phone calls) I gradually started doing some Country Records and Soundtracks for Educational Films and other projects. These were usually off-the-card (non-Union) dates, which a lot of the first studio work you'll get in any town is. One session generally led to another. At the time, Dallas was a hotbed of studio work for Jingle Production. Over the years, that whole scene has drastically reduced in size due to the advent of Home Studios and sequencing and looping.

The main lesson here is to find some of the work-for-hire studios in your area (most medium and larger cities will have a few of these) and try to establish contact with the owners/staff (often the same thing in this sort of studio). I would usually find that such a place would have a bulletin board where you could post your business card. As I said earlier, one way you can get into this sort of place if all else fails is to hire it for a demo session, either with your band or to prepare a demo tape for yourself. As a client, be on time, have your gear in good working order, get a great sound quickly and generally be an all-around Nice Person. Then, see if there's a bulletin board where you can post your card. Give a few to the Engineer as well. No doubt he's already got his favorite players, so at that point the name of the game is patience-you have to wait until all of his other favorites are booked and he takes a chance on you. If this sounds familiar, it's the same concept I outlined in my Freelancing column several months back.

Miami (larger city: secondary Music Center):
While I was in Graduate School at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, I did some work with the Concert Jazz Band at the then-hopping Criteria Studios. At the time, the Bee Gees were recording all of their work there, as well as Eric Clapton, Pat Travers, and an assortment of late 70s-era Rockers. Needless to say, a 24 year old graduate student from Texas did not get called for any of those sessions - they usually brought in folks from New York or LA for those dates. The one local bassist who did do well was "Chocolate" Perry who played on all the Bee Gees dates at the time. It was a harbinger of things to come in Nashville: he used a Fender Precision, got a great thick tone, and was incredibly consistent in his time. At the time, they were even doing "looping" by creating physical tape loops of the drums and playing along with 4 bar phrases (check out some of the late 70s-early 80s Bee Gees records to hear this).

What I did find were lots and lots of aspiring Rockers, Folkies, and Latin Acts. I would usually end up doing recordings with them after rehearsing and playing a few gigs. I was not really a band member in most cases, but a paid sideman. Usually, this would happen via Word of Mouth from other students at the U of M School of Music. Sometimes these were really low paying sessions, but I was sharpening my skills for Nashville and I didn't even know it at the time. Because of the burgeoning scene and the excitement of Major Label acts recording there, there were a lot of aspiring Artists to record with who thought the Magic would happen for them. Often it didn't, of course, but Leland Sklar parlayed his similar relationship with a scuffling singer-songwriter named James Taylor into a launching pad for an incredible career as a recording and touring bassist. In a way, this is sort of like panning for gold in that you just never know when you'll get lucky.

When I look at the music scenes in places like Seattle, Minneapolis, and Austin, it reminds me of Miami at that time. The lesson from this scene is to create work by establishing working relationships with aspiring Artists without getting tied down to a "band member" status. It's tricky, but it can be done. Of course, if the Band hits and you're still a paid sideman things may reverse and you may want to renegotiate your status. Good Luck!

Nashville (major Music Center):
Toto, I don't thing we're in Kansas anymore . . . When I moved to Nashville in the winter of 1980, I had to totally relearn how to break in and market myself. Instead of competing against 70-80 bassists, I found myself competing against 700-800 of them that all wanted to be on the A Team (at the time that was Joe Osborn, Bob Moore, Jack Williams, Joe Allen and a young upstart from LA named David Hungate). I had to do a few sessions for free even to get in the door of a studio (these are often called "spec" sessions, as in I don't ever "spec" to get paid for them).

The main thing that changed was establishing relationships with a few songwriters either by touring with them or doing local shows with them. I would then get called to do songwriter's demos. When these songwriters ended up working with Producers, I did my best, worked quickly, got the best sound I could, and tried to be a Genuinely Nice Person. In that way, a few demos for a writer named Rudy McNeely turned into a relationship with a producer named Owsley Manier and recording with Jonelle Mosser, Angela Kaset, and the late Mickey Newberry for their album projects.

The main lesson here is to establish relationships, if possible, with the songwriters. These days a lot of these folks own home studios and you will likely spend a great deal of time working on songs in someone's basement or rec room plugged into a DAW or computer recording interface. The Big Guns don't need you, they've got the A Team. The up and coming aspiring Hit Songwriters, Country or CCM Artists, and Producers need you, they can't afford the A Team. Establish a relationship with them and when the tides change you'll be the A Team. Just ask Mike Chapman who recorded demos for a scuffling Artist and Boot Salesman from Oklahoma named Garth Brooks.

Once you're in someone's rotation, don't tour, ever. If you miss one call they'll probably call again, but if you miss the second call you'll be off their list. Now, of course, the whole business here is much smaller and everyone - even the A Team folks - tour on occasion. Like every other market, the scene is in a state of change, with less work to go around and more players to do it. You have to be incredibly versatile and driven as well as a little thick-skinned to pull off being an active Session Player in Nashville these days.

So there you have it - a tale of 3 cities and how I managed to break into doing sessions in all three. Pay attention to the main lessons of all three places and try them where you live. Good Luck!

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