Overdub: A story of session musicians
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- Опубликовано: 16 ноя 2012
- Overdub takes a look at session musicians and how digital technology changed their work. Starring Lenny Castro, Kenny Aronoff, Bill Schnee and Mark T. Jordan.
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Toto: the living representation of session musicians.
Steeley Dan as well!
Indeed!
Massive respect to these guys. Seems these days everybody wants to be the rock/pop star first but it's great to see that there's always a place for the real musos who simply enjoy playing (and happen to be bloody good at it). The stars get the fame & adulation and all the crap that goes with it but these fellas get the real satisfaction of doing a job they love and can still lead regular lives. Real musicianship - irreplaceable.
but they're not rock stars; it's sad actually
computers
I have no idea how this lays, but if they’re not, shouldn’t all of these session musicians be in the rock, blues, Jazz & country music hall of fames?
This is why Joe Chambers did so much to create the MUSICIANS Hall of Fame - to honour these superb musicians.
Session musicians are the back none of the music industry. These are the unsung heroes that make make the “talent” sound good.
The unsung heroes of modern music's success.
my teacher is making me watch this for homework.
same haha
The percussion is like the spices in cooking.
There's no digital musical source that can replace real musicianship. Support live music in your nieborhood.
Midi 2.0 was just released. Game on
To borrow from the great ‘70’s studio guitarist Dean Parks, “before Pro Tools, there were pros”.
Well said. The irony is that there are millennials hunting high and low for old vinyl whilst downloading free shit from the web and wondering why the market for session players is shrinking fast.
I love this one. So SO So much difference working with a real studio musician that really wants to make the best of what you want , rather than the one that believes he should make your music what he wants. I have dealt with both. These guys are KING in my minds world.
There’s a bunch of guys from the 70s/80s that played on everything. Jeff Porcaro, Steve Gadd, Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton, Nathan East, Pino Palladio, Greg Philangines, everything they do sounds great. I’d buy an album just to hear theses guys.
then there's Dann Huff and Mike Slamer guitarists who played on lots of 1980s and 90s hit songs from different genres
Unsung heroes that make the music come alive!
Bill Schnee! I met him when I was in college in the late 1960s and he was starting out in a little studio in Glendora, CA - Mark Records with Marlin Jones. Bill engineered a lot - his "bread and butter" - but he knew music forward and backwards. You could go into the studio with Bill and come out with a record, the music on which would be a couple levels of better than when you started. And from what I've seen and heard since then, Bill is still doing that! He has his own studio now - he still can get it out of musicians!
I'm sitting here thinking, i would love to sing with these guys, but my timing is not perfect - alot, but by the end of the video, i understood that the human side of this business is what makes it real
Years after this was filmed, Music was completely lost with producers.
Session musicians are doing fantastic because none of these "producers" on Fruity Loops can actually play music.
Didnt see that coming did yall?
😂🤣😂
The session musicians at Motown Records were what really made Motown Records!
Funk Bros...great film, must see for all
Just to clarify, the documentary about the Funk Brothers is called Standing In The Shadows of Motown. ~ Peace!
Awesome players... Earl Van Dyke, James Jamerson, Bob Babbit, Benny Benjamin, Pistol Allen, Joe Hunter, Joe Messina, Robert White... The unsung heroes behind The Temps, Tops, Supremes, Contours, Smokey, Stevie Wonder - although Stevie is an amazing musician and worked on sessions as a studio musician, too, as did Marvin Gaye. Standing In the Shadows of Motown is a must-see if you want to to know the real source of the Motown magic. Other must see docs are The Wrecking Crew, and Muscle ShoalS.
FWIW
Not without the amazing songwriters, though
however the Wrecking Crew studio musicians on the West Coast also cut some of those records attributed to Motown session players
Cool documentary!
Brings me back to the early 90s when I played some session music.
I had the most fun, that was after having puked my stomach empty from the nerves of being asked to play on on one of our country's biggest rock names =)
That first session the producer and the artist asked me if I was feeling ill; I was pale. So I told them I hardly had any sleep and I actually felt sick from nerves. The laughed and told me not to worry.
The artist in question did the coolest thing. He put his arm around me shoulder and walked with me to the studio floor and he said: "I heard you play your swinging rhythm guitar; almost like a drummer. So you can do this with your eyes closed, I'm not asking something that you're not comfortable with. You just play like you do onstage only the chords are different. Just let it flow kid! You'll do fine!"
Raymond Doetjes Thanks for sharing! Thats a story. ❤️
I heard a similar thing where John Mayer was invited to play on a Herbie Hancock album, and John was p nervous cuz he was a big fan of Herbies.
But then he realized, wait a minute, if Herbie is asking me to play, then he probably just wants me to just be me 😊
"One of our country's biggest rock names", yet you don't share the name of the musician. Probably not so big.
Oh, and musicians are musicians, artists are artists. I happen to be both.
These are not interchangeable terms.
No one ever refers to an artist as a musician, nor should they, and neither is a musician complemented on the "art" in their latest recording.
Get it?
@@NickNicometi no,actually,,,what you are, is an ignorant/arrogant WIND-BAG......got it?
My limited experience of these guys is that they are so advanced in their playing that there's a tendency to overcomplicate. That's part of why Ringo was a great drummer for the Beatles, he never did to much, everything was measured to the song. That in itself is a real skill.
Uknow not Riingo but a professional session drummer did most of the beetles album studio drum work right!
@@sunsetlights100
No I don't know that.
And I don't know anyone with an ounce of common sense who thinks that.
Drummers like Bernard Purdie played on lots of Beatles songs. Even McCartney said in " Musician " magazine in an interview in the 80's that they had to show and even play all the drum parts for Ringo. It's all part of the hype and bullshit of the music business. You want to know what the music business is really all about? It's selling electric guitars. The music business is over, it's dead. You can't even go out anywhere anymore and see a live band. At 66 it's a major effort to even touch my instruments. I've saved myself a major amount of psychological pain by accepting reality.
@@andyokus5735
There is a jazz/ prog rock guy called Andy Edwards who has talked about these subjects. Definitely on Ringo, where he explains why Ringo is a brilliant drummer, and also on the music business. I think you'll hear a very interesting take on how it is now, with the coming of social media, a business geared around the personalities and how albums are part and parcel of an audience buying into that individual. So you get the album for free but when he tours you pay £100 for a ticket and buy a load of 'merch'. But there is still an album, a tour and concerts, so, work for musicians. It's a very interesting channel for musician types.
Beautiful it is about the people playing together and feeling the groove.
Great stuff here. The best musicians I know are rarely seen. The best music out there today is being done the old way. We're due for a resurgence in great musicianship, I think.
Wow, Lenny is the man. "It always comes back to the players."
Remember hearing him live with Toto, once with Jeff. Unforgettable! ❤🙏
It's always the player. Same instrument sounds different in other hands.
Looking forward to the Porcaro:Band of Brothers documentary..They deserve their own doc as much if not more,than anyone...I'm sure Bill Schnee and Lenny Castro would agree...One recorded them and Lenny owes his career to Jeff for getting him on The Boz Scaggs "Silk Degrees"Tour.....Anticipating this film very much....
Wanted to do this years ago...let us know when it comes out or info!!!
Just as important, along with the Wrecking Crew, there was the The Funk Brothers, and don't forget about the female session vocalists (The Andantes) that did most of the back up vocals for some of the best of the best Motown songs. With the Andantes, think about Jackie Wilsons-- "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher) or any of the Four Tops tunes as an example of their contribution to that Motown sound not to mention they did back up vocals for many other artists.
“Like the whole band performing together like they did on analog ”
Amazing... brings back a lot of memories of working in Cali in the '90's. Great stuff!
Great seeing my friend Mark Prentice in this. Fabulous musician /producer and all round great guy. Working with people like Mark, I learned the importance of creativity on the fly. Things happen quick in the studio these days. And he's a master.
That jam at the end !!!!!
These guys pay their dues, not just with time practiced, but with all the ups & downs that come with truly honing their craft. I watched a Doc, called 20 ft from stardom about back ground singers & essentially they had the same story. Few become stars, but even for them, what do they do In the mean time ? How can they pay their living expenses ? One way is as a session musician, but once your plugged into it, you quickly find a comradary, a community with a mutual passion. Having a band is time consuming, expensive & finding & keeping the right fits is difficult. A popular Session studio networks everything you need, & you get to collaborate with players that understand your all pieces of the puzzle & you get paid for doing it. Even without a huge pay day, it's enticing.
George Benson's album Breezin' was recorded and mixed by Bill Schnee at his studio in two days. Was in the charts for years.
We'll never see the heyday of big artists using the best players taking time to get the right sound however long it took! Plus the calibre of those great artists is not around today!
What a lovely warm human being is Lenny Castro! What he says about every musician having something to offer is, in my view, so wise and so true. All this stuff about X is better than Y and A sucks, but B is superb is completely pointless.
Very enjoyable video - I would have liked to have seen and heard from some of the studio regulars with Steely Dan. I'm one of many who feel that SD have taken the art of the session musician to an all time high.
Thanks for uploading.
Excellent presentation, thank you !
Bill P.
One of the most interesting videos that I have ever seen. These guys and also some ladies are so talented. And also saints, working with the industry like they apparently do.
The groove at the end is what it's all about, spontaneous creativity.
Even though I've "played" on 3 albums, I've never had the opportunity to record on an acoustic set of drums.
The first time was close, I played a Roland electric kit. First time I had ever played an electric kit and it was a recording session! The producer had the kit programmed for heavy metal players and I'm a jazz player, so a lot of my stuff was not picked up because I didn't hit the pads hard enough.
The next two times I recorded were a drag. We would rehearse the songs on our instruments, then go into the mixing room where the producer mixed everything digitally, but was redoing everything with pro-tools. Since the guitar, bass and keyboards were plugged into the system and recorded digitally, he just cleaned some stuff up.
He couldn't duplicate the drum parts I played as he was attempting to replicate each beat by listening to the tape. Obviously, this was not in a high dollar studio environment, and the producer did not have years of experience with the software.
I wasn't happy with the different drum sounds he selected as it didn't fit the sound of the songs, it distracted.
Fortunately, he was very open to accepting suggestions and help, so I sat at the monitor with him, selected each drum and cymbal and programmed the drum parts.
For me, as a player, it sucked. I was dying to go into the studio with the other players, sit down and spend as much time as needed, playing the songs, or individual parts, until we got the sound we wanted.
In the early stages, I kept pleading with them to allow us to just sit down and play a song, record it, then go back into the mixing room to polish it up. This guy wasn't open to having more than one instrument playing at a time. Very frustrating as it is when musicians are playing together that the real creativity occurs.
+James Eginoire This makes me so sad! So much is lost when music is turned into "production" rather than "performance!" Thanks for your comment!
I take it a step beyond; For me it's never a performance. I feel every single note and all the notes in between, so when I play, it's my passion that people hear.
I'm the guy that drives everyone around me crazy because I feel the rhythm in everything and am constantly tapping out a beat, no matter where I am.
In fact, I was picking up a prescription one day, tapping away as I waited for the pharmacist to ring me up when all of a sudden, with both hands, he held my hands down on the counter and calmly said, "please stop!"
There are other videos about session musicians that include Glen Campbell that are very inspiring. Thanks for your vote of confidence.
I'm not a session player, but would love to do it.
My experience in studios was as a member of two different bands, one a blues band, the other a post rap-core band.
In both bands, I had to use an electronic kit due to the expense of recording on an acoustic kit.
As of yet, I've not achieved what one would consider a successful career as a drummer, but I've not put forth much effort either.
Sorry if you were mislead.
my experience in the beginning of session work..was I played on many demo records..was playing in clubs and was sort of 'Discovered by Arrangers or producers who liked my style...
TOTO Rosanna...end groove
“Fear no situation”...my new mantra.
The 16th note percussion/piano thing just felt so sweet. Moments of joy just so fine. Thanks for it. Session people are the blood of real music. My take on it is, if you can hold still, you ain't doin it right.
10:00 that's a perfect performance on percussion and serves the song
thank you for posting this ... it is wonderful!
Love their attitude and lack of ego
I'm very thankful there is the internet, most of the scores of session musicians are out there, in the past these were just known in a small part of the world. Or not at all. Immense respects for these art makers. Till this day, where digital samples and techniques are more and more the new normal, which we also use, and the art slips away, unfortunately. The recent producers are a team, from 5 and more peeps who write a song, it's like making a jigsaw puzzle, I hate it.
You"ll always need musicians to make music, but you may not need as many.
Good video! Just a good inspiration for players. Nice seeing Jim Keltner, whom in my early days on bass I would sub with the house band at Art Laboe's Oldies club on Sunset. And Kenny Aronoff, whom I got to play with at the Ultimate Jam at the Whiskey, recently. Kenny is a great studio drummer and a "beast" live. Man what an inspiration. And he said he still puts in many hours a day practicing. It was a hint. I'm taking that advice.
The story of people who never forget "It don't mean a thing If it ain't got that swing!"
Awesome documentary!
3:28 Kenny Just nails it!
+DJ1812 You're right man. Well said by Kenny
Everybody's got something that somebody else doesn't have... :)
Being a drummer myself for many years. I know what Kenny is talking about. You should leave your ego at the door, not just in music but in whatever your true passions are. Keep preaching Kenny, cause I hear you.
Jam Camp which means that nobody is equal, actually. This no-ego-equality blabla is spread so massive amongst artists because most of them are extremely lousy economical thinkers.
These guys understand music. Selflessness is important.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Jeanette for Posting this.... :) Thumbs Up on these Guys
A WONDERFUL VID..............🎸💚
Jeanette Castillo !! I See at the end, during The Credits, that YOU Wrote & Produced This! AWESOME Work..I LOVE These Guys and This Video Jeanette. Thanks very much. God Bless Yous. :)
That was SO good! Thank you!
Sitting here, enjoying the documentary while plucking away at my bass. Great doc, really helpful and informative.
What'll save music will be guys and gals getting together and playing pubs and clubs, then people will come to listen thus creating a following. 'If you build it, they will come'.
Great video.. excellent musicians and a real take on the state of the music industry..
Thank you for sharing this very insightful look at music production today. I would reiterate the sentiments at [19:33] "The good thing about Daw's is they make music creation available to 1000's of 1000's" (I'm excited about that.) " the bad thing about Daw's ..." well if it sounds good it is good and some of us just need to develop their ear and learn to listen to the difference. Then we will have lots of good music from lots of good musicians.
Thanks for posting. Great documentary.
"Bless their hearts" right after 20:00. You gotta be from the south to know what that meant.
"The Musical Family" as Lenny says and The "Love" as Kenny says and what Larry Shell says in Hoping that Every Artist and musician will have the Freedeom of making any Music they Way they want to and Mark says; "To Share and Stiving for the same thing together" and later in here He says that The MUSIC is to take Priority Over the Technology in The Creation process in which which HUMANS ought to be making Music and NOT The Computer which I agree with...and Russ says that Session Players are; A RELIC...But with Dyan & Grant Olsen they had The HONOR of having Lenny Castro come and Play on Their Project...and yet like Russ says; most people can Not affod to Hire a Studio Session Musician...LOVE The Jam Session of Lenny & Kenny doing the Drum & Percussion Track and then Mark 3 days later in the Studio joining the Track with His Awesome Keyboarding...
I fell into doing sessions in the late 70's.
There's a quote about comparing the musicianship of today to the golden age era of session musicians 60's/70's/80's ... "Before Pro-Tools ... there were PRO's ... I'll leave it at that ..."
I loved this documentary Ms. Castillo . you gained a new subscriber!
The song is everything.
i remember seeing lenny castro on those early toto music videos.
thanks for share this one, awesome!!!!
my dad was a session musician for 45 years
I just looked at the credits for Bridges to Babylon, at AMG and those for Kenny Aronoff say: "Unknown Contributor Role" (irony?), but his story here explains what his role was (or should have been).
What he says at 3:28 is very meaningful and maybe should be taken to heart by all those at a place like YT, who's main subject seems to be who's "better" or "best".
A major issue in pop music today is that instruments don't really matter anymore. Listen to mix of most pop songs today. It's 95% percussion (usually programmed) and vocal. 5% harmony instrument (acoustic guitar or keyboard) providing the chordal coloring. No solos. When Uptown Funk came along, it was a revelation. It topped the charts for months, but it didn't change music. So whaddya need session guys for?
Andrew James I'm an musician composer producer and I bring back the 80s production
Mark Jordan especially nailed it about how over use of technology breeded a plethora of mediocre wanna be musicians that never should of been there in the first place! Technology is meant to enhance not be a musician's oxygen tank! Love the outro jazzy playing towards the end segment with Lenny,Kenny & Mark. Example: real live musicians..interacting!
16:38 - The memorial plaque references Studio B being purchased and restored by the Mike Curb Family Foundation. The Mike Curb Congregation sang the theme song, "Burning Bridges," for the movie Kelly's Heroes.
God bless these people
Someone once said the bass players in Nashville who get the most work have good bass fishing boats and are fun to be with. C&W bass is harder than it looks but it looks really easy. Doesn't require a Ron Carter for most tracks, so extra musical considerations are up there...
GOOD ENJOYABLE VIDEO...
Wow... there's a song byte starting at 10:30 about "gathering clouds"... I love that. THat song available for purchase? Awesome vid. TY!
Yessssss, and Thanx.
Nice video, and interesting observations about the recording scene (in 2012). How come it was only about percussionists, though? Or did I miss something? I'd love to see the same thing done about, say string or horn players vs synths, and maybe about background singers. Having said that, many thanks for the show!
awesome vid...
Excellent.
I love this
Good Video Seams That its hard to Get some one to play in the Background musicians all try to be the Star and out Front Then you end up with A loud Mess This is why you Track each one at a Time For Adjustments Recording and music needs to work Tougather and Fun make it Sound Great !
"It's not about the notes that you play, It's about the force of your personality on the notes that are already there."
This is definitely a musician's video
CHANNEL IS USEFUL
Nicky Hopkins is my favorite session player. Too bad he didn't get much credit/money from his contributions but that's the life of a session musician.
The Foo Fighter's Wasting Light, recorded analog on tape in garages. 4 Grammy awards. Tech is awesome but not always necessary
Mark prentice Hi from your old friends in Watertown
The session musician phase didn't end in the 1960's. It continues all the time even today.... doubles in every band out there ... even double lead singers ! Sometimes they don't use doubles they swap somebody else out .there is more to the music industry than meets the public guy it is very very cutthroat and controlled
I believe the business has always been cut throat.
But if you can find your peaceful spot.
And you realize you don't have to compete.
All you have to do is produce a quality sound.
That the majority will like and feel.
I guess the thing is.
Is that everybody has an ear for something different.
Keith Kuhn
KK Motion Pictures
Also on RUclips
@@KTHKUHNKK Life is competition.
@@NickNicometiAccumulating the means to survive is competition. Once you have the proper means, life should not be a competition.
@@bg357wg I believe you are clueless of life.
@@NickNicometi I believe you are narrow-minded
Lenny is awesome! Toto Randy Crawford George Benson Boz scaggs Christopher cross Mike McDonald the list is endless!
6:00-6:30 good Kenny / Mick moment
These guys were indeed the last class of studio guys....now we have computers. Shame....some of the best musicians in the world got together this way. Listen to Aja from Steely Dan.
There should be a quantize grid in every DAW that's just called "Lenny"
Lenny Castro!!!
Fidel's son!
I've noticed celebrity musicians offering musical instruction on the internet
That API console at 19:00
Mick J is a subtle cowboy.
Anybody knows the piece of music plays in the background on 16:35?
about ten minutes in to the video there is a song playing as Lenny is doing his percussion thing. It's a female vocalist singing "I live beneath the shadows". Who is that and what is the name of the song? Thanks
I enter here beacause I thought he was Kurt Russell, lol.
Nice.
Let's see, there was that other song they put me way out in front in the mix, what was it again......oh yes! Don't Fear The Reaper! The producer kept asking for more cowbell!
Loved the video and I get the lament about technology replacing real musicianship. However, since I'm a piano technician for over 40 years I couldn't help noticing, sadly. there was not an acoustic piano in sight. I tune in the NYC area for 3 recording studios. Each has a great acoustic piano. It's good to remember all the piano sounds from a digital keyboard start with an awesome acoustic piano sound. Which, like great musicianship, can only be replicated digitally, not produced organically. I guess it's like the guys that made the best buggy whips lamenting about the dawn of the automobile age.
Can't top the sound of a real piano
Mellencamp's "Scarecrow" should have been titled "Kenny Aronoff & Friends" or something of that order.
Robby Gaume Yes! He absolutely tore it up on Mellencamp's Uh Huh too...one of the most raucous recording sessions ever by all accounts.
I moved to Atlanta in 1980 when I was 23. I met and played with some famous sidemen. I had already played with Seinfeld, Billy Crystal, Dennis Miller, etc., etc. Once I found out these guys touring for $50 a week opening for Chicago and other Super-groups the wind was blown out of my sails. If I had really pushed myself and my music I had a good chance to " make it ". The only thing is I didn't want to play bass for Jr. Walker for $250 a week living on a broke down old Greyhound bus. So I went through life saying I was a musician but the only real success I had was as a private pharmacy to the " Stars ". In the end who cares? What's a voodoo lounge anyway?
Trivia: Which session musician did Elton John ask to join his band after working with him in 1972 for a few days in the studio?