6 Tips For Working With Online Session Musicians

Jacob Benjamin Fite
3 min readFeb 27, 2023

As the popularity of online gig platforms continues to grow, finding and working with session musicians has always been challenging. Read on to discover six tips to help you make the most of your musical collaborations.

The first tip is to envision what you want from your session player. This will ensure that the process of creating your track is as efficient as possible.

One of the most important things to do if you’re planning on working with online session musicians is to have a clear vision of what you want. This will help you set goals to get you where you want to be.

This is especially important if you’re going to be working with pros. Pros have a specific way of hearing music and can often hear dissonance in their tune.

A production playlist is a great way to help the online session musicians you work with understand the overall vibe and style you want to achieve. This will help them make better choices in instrumentation, sound design, and other creative elements.

It can also be helpful to create a few shorter versions of the song for short video segments, like commercials and music videos. Having a guide track for each version can also be helpful when selecting the final performance tracks.

A clear communication plan can differentiate between a good session and a disaster. Whether you’re sending emails, text messages, or a Skype call, knowing what you want to communicate when it should be sent, and why it’s being sent is essential.

It’s not uncommon for misunderstandings or assumptions to arise when working with online session musicians. This can lead to the project’s results disappearing from what you had in mind.

In the music industry, patience is critical. It’s a long game, and building your reputation as a session player can take time.

This doesn’t mean you have to sit around and wait for the work to come, but you should be willing to take care of the things that need to be done immediately.

Being patient is a virtue that can help you make the most of your life. Studies have shown that people with patience are more hopeful, satisfied, and less depressed.

In the age of music gig platforms and online musician networks, finding and hiring session musicians has always been challenging.

When working with a session musician, it’s essential to be open to feedback. Having your musician listen to something they haven’t heard before can help give you a fresh perspective on your work.

It’s also important to be specific when requesting feedback. If you’re unsure what you’d like changed, include time codes on your session player so your musician can quickly identify where changes should be made. This will save them time and ensure you both are on the same page.

Honesty is a core virtue that promotes trust, fosters healthy relationships, strengthens organizations and societies, and prevents harm. However, honesty has been largely neglected in recent decades.

As a result, it is essential to consider ways to improve one’s honesty. For example, it may be helpful to seek out exemplars of honesty who can model how an individual should behave.

--

--

Jacob Benjamin Fite

Ohio musician Jacob Benjamin Fite. Jacob Benjamin played guitar since he was 10 years old. Jacob plays guitar, keyboard, and drums.