Master Session Question

Walter Bowden · From: Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

I have seen a lot of players talk about doing Master Sessions here on the forum.
My question is what differentiates a Master Session from other studio sessions?

I appreciate any educating you might share with me.

Best wishes, Walter
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Emmons S10, p/p, Nashville 112, Zion 50 tele style guitar, Gibson LP Classic w/Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe De Ville and a Rawdon-Hall classical

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

My definition of a master session would be recording on a recording by a star. Other sessions to me might mean doing session for songwriters so they can pimp their songs, and not big names, like some locals here that can pay to have studio players play on their recordings that don't make it any farther than selling them at their gigs. This is just my take. Others may have a different take on it.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Larry Weaver · From: Asheville, North Carolina, USA

In some circles, this can refer to a post production session, "Audio Mastering" that gets track ready for duplication and distribution. It deals with super critical listening that puts a final tweak on levels, eq, compression, etc. It's generally done in a completely different studio than the recording by people that specialize in mastering and is generally considered as important as the original recording session.

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

This is my idea of a master session:
Hermann Lammers Meyer and Buddy Emmons & Jimmy Day
I think it's like modern art or porn, I don't know what it is but I know it when I see it.
To me, it's a session where the depth of talent is so tall that everybody's on their toes and learning from it.
In this case, the recording could go directly to mastering without further over-dubbing, requiring minimal post-production. (IMO, of course.)

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

Master session had nothing to do with mastering or players being considered masters.
It's about union pay scale and release rights. Richards answer is close. I only know the union master session thing from NYC . It may be different in Nashville.

There are:
jingle sessions
Demo sessions
Limited release sessions
Vanity sessions
Master sessions... Record label recordings for major distribution.
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Bob

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

i always assumed a master session was one for an artist who actually had a credible contract in the commercial music business. it would be intended for radio and media exposure.
not to be confused with the millions of local acts whose album is 'about to drop' as they start their
'west coast tour' through modesto and redding in their parents' minivan.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

I think the perception has shifted a little away from the union scale thing, although that was a definate scale class.
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Carter D10 8p/8k, Dekley S10 3p/4k C6 setup,Regal RD40 Dobro, Recording King Professional Dobro, NV400, NV112,Ibanez Gio guitar, Epiphone SG Special (open D slide guitar) . Playing for 54 years and still counting.

Walter Bowden · From: Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

I appreciate everyone's reply. It definitely has nothing to do with the audio mastering process.

Maybe it isn't relevant in today's music scene but I remember Bobbe Seymour and other pros who used to post here about getting calls for doing a master session with other well known Nashville studio players and producers a la Buddy Spicer, Hank Garland, Pig Robbins, Larrie Londin, Charley McCoy, Owen Bradley, Chet Atkins et. al. Steelers included Buddy Emmons, Lloyd Green, Pete Drake, Hal Rugg, Jimmy Crawford, Sonny Garish, Jimmy Day, Jeff Newman and a BUNCH of other A list steelers and musicians.

Usually, one of the musicians served as a "leader" who gave out the charts and would deal with the producer's requirements.

They were usually booked in the major studios in and around Nashville in the 60s and 70s and the phrase "time is money" was why you paid for the best pickers.

Inquiring minds want to know.

Best wishes y'all. Walter
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Emmons S10, p/p, Nashville 112, Zion 50 tele style guitar, Gibson LP Classic w/Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe De Ville and a Rawdon-Hall classical

Fish · Posted 14 Nov 2015 2:33 pm

If someone says they are doing a "master" session, it simply means they are being paid master union scale, which is currently $397.36 for a three hour session.

The session could go nowhere or it could lead to a number one hit. The outcome doesn't matter: "scale" means you are being paid $397.36 for three hours of your time, whether the bill is being paid by a major label or by "Tex Nobody (as Buddy liked to refer to artists with a backer)."

http://www.nashvillemusicians.org/scales-forms-agreements

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

....tex nobody! hyar hyar...that's funny!
i met him once or twice.

mtulbert · From: Plano, Texas 75023

At the time I was in Nashville a "Master Session" as others have mentioned meant that the scale paid to the musicians was at a higher level.

Also one musician was indeed dubbed the "leader" and he got double scale for the session.

The other limitation was the number of minutes you could have recorded. At the time I believe it was 12 minutes of material. I am a little hazy on this I don't think that it was strictly enforced. Normally we tried for 4 tunes at a session. Now there was no limit to the number of takes that could be done on a tune.

Demo sessions were different. The scale was a lot less and there was no limit to the amount of tunes you could record in a 3 hour session. The union did require that the material be recorded at 7 1/2 IPS mono as that quality would not be good enough for producing a high quality record. We did on occasion use a multi track machine to record demos and if anything off of that recording went on to be a record the musicians were paid again at master scale and the studio also billed at the master rate.
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Mark T

Infinity D-10 Justice SD-10 Judge Revelation Octal Preamp, Fractal AXE III, Fender FRFR 12

Travis Toy · From: Nashville, TN, USA

As others have said, "master" is a reference to the scale being paid for the recording session. Typically, even though there are other factors at play, a session being a master has to do with how many units the song/album is expected to sell. When you do a session at a lower scale rate, and it sells more than X amount of units, the session will be upgraded to a master and the players will get a check for the difference. Here are links to all of the scales for 2015...

http://www.nashvillemusicians.org/scales-forms-agreements

http://www.nashvillemusicians.org/sites/default/files/AFM%2BRECORDING%2BSCALE%2BSUMMARY%2BSHEET-2015%20%281%29.pdf

Frank Freniere · From: The First Coast

Gotta love this inside baseball stuff...

John Macy · From: Rockport TX/Denver CO

And don't forget one player on the session is designated as leader and gets double scale--if you are overdubbing by yourself you're supposed to get double as you are leader, too. There are many ways to stay on the card and get around some of this....And on some projects, some players get double scale regardless of leader, though they are getting rarer...
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John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar

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