By Chuck Kirkpatrick

STUDIO MUSICIANS

I'm sure for many of us old-timers, it was a rude awakening; finding out that many of our favorite songs were recorded not  by the group members themselves, but by a group of faceless, relatively unknown musicians who just happened to have played on hundreds of other groups' recordings as well.  The same drummers, the same bass players, same guitar and keyboard players were playing the instruments on everything we all thought the group members were.  And it is for just this reason that the studio players were never credited on the records; the record companies and the group members didn't want  people to know.

In the late 90's, I became good friends with bassist Carol Kaye, the most recorded studio musician in history.  Most of you are familiar with Ms. Kaye's credentials and there is a ton of information available on the 'net for those of you interested. 

After our initial discovery of the existence of studio musicians playing on all our favorite Beach Boys, Association, 5th Dimension, Mamas & Papas, Grass Roots and dozens of other albums produced in Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 60's, my brother and I figured that it was a bunch of hip, young rock and roll guys who were doing all these sessions.  Carol burst that bubble when she told me and the rest of her fans that that group of studio players were all jazz cats and pretty much bored by the stuff they did on all those pop/rock hits.  They did it simply to make the money and to be able to still play their low-paying jazz gigs at night.

Wrecking Crew The "Wrecking Crew" has become the name given to that elite bunch of L.A. studio players.  And there is a very good reason why they were used on nearly every pop record made.  These people could walk into the studio, sit down and play a chart through perfectly on the first take.  In an era when so many records were being made - and with studio rates at a premium - things had to move quickly and efficiently.  A lot of the songs being recorded at that time were from professional writers and hand-picked by the producers and A&R men for the groups being recorded.  There wasn't the time for the groups to learn and rehearse all the material needed for an album, aside from the fact that the level of musicianship in most groups was nowhere near that of the session players.

As a recording engineer, I was witness to many countless hours of bands struggling with making their albums.  Many of these musicians were very talented and great live players.  But in the studio, some them just fell apart.  Perhaps it is the "under-the-microscope" syndrome; the fact that every tiny nuance of what you sing or play to tape or disc is going to be permanent and forever.  And when that red light comes on, many of them 'freeze'.  There are other factors.  Adjusting to what's necessary to make something sound good in the studio might be difficult for the guitarist who is used to playing on stage through a Marshall double stack, and who now has to settle for using one cabinet behind a baffle.  Same for the bass player who is used to having his pants flapped on stage by 2000 watts and eight 15" speakers.  You simply can't record properly with that kind of rig.  And then there is the time-keeping.  Tempo is probably the one thing that more bands and musicians struggle with than anything else.  On stage, one is given much artistic leeway and freedom to speed up or slow down to fit the mood.  And the visual stimulation alone makes this tempo shift virtually unnoticeable by the attending audience.  But on a recording, it's a different story.  The listener will be much more attuned to the tempo and feel and much more subconsciously aware of any shift thereof.  Many producers insist on the use of click tracks to maintain consistent tempo throughout.  Playing with a click can be very unsettling to all but the most seasoned studio players.

I was an engineer on a session by a very famous New York band that had many chart hits.  Their drummer was especially famous for his on-stage prowess and dazzling chops.  But in the studio, I found him to be quite 'stiff'.  Springsteen's drummer Max Weinberg has always been noted for his chops and endurance, but I found his playing on Springsteen's earlier albums to be somewhat 'uneven' and a bit busy.  Not to say that Bruce should have brought in a studio guy - that wouldn't have worked for the chemistry of the band.  This was just an observation of mine at the time.

I wanted to be a studio guitarist in the worst way, but my lack of reading skills cost me a bunch of sessions with a well-known local producer in the mid 80's.  He was getting alot of gigs doing the arranging and producing for unknown acts with limited budgets, and every minute it took me to learn the tune by ear instead of just reading the chart chewed up studio time and profits, not to mention test the patience of the other players who could sight-read the chart on the first take.

With the advent of technology, the disappearing of so many studios, and so many self-contained artists/groups who write their own stuff and play on a much higher level, the era of the studio musician is pretty much gone.  But I still marvel at the tightness, the execution, and most of all the magic of the sound of a track being recorded live with 10 or 12 musicians in the room all playing together.