About Open Sessions

What are Open Sessions?

Have you ever seen this Snarky Puppy video? Have you heard of KEXP in Seattle? Open Sessions work kind of like those. Come in with your group and perform at the studio like it's a gig, and we'll record a free demo for you to hear how your group sounds in the space. What's in it for us? We'll be able to promote your live sessions on this very website so that our hardworking engineers have a place to showcase the work they're doing for your group in the studio. Be sure to promote your Open Session like it’s a gig, we encourage anybody in the community to come in and view the Open Sessions as they’re happening!

Why do Open Sessions exist?

Open Sessions serve two purposes:

1. To allow student engineers to gain experience in the studio and obtain content for their portfolios as aspiring Audio Engineers.

2. To provide local musicians with a free recording experience in the Gavett Recording Studio.

Who owns the session?

Both the artists and the engineers will have ownership over the sessions after they are done being recorded. This being said, the “ownership” of the sessions for the engineers is much more limited than the ownership of the sessions for the artists.

Engineer Ownership

The engineers are free to mix, master, and release the sessions through Band Camp (which ultimately gets archived on this website under the “Archive” tab). Our engineers are NOT allowed to release the sessions for a profit, as they do not own the content of the recording, just the recording itself.

Artist Ownership

Artists are free to release the session as is, request to have it mixed to taste, break it up and release different tracks from the session or keep it in the vault- whatever they feel is best for what they want! Artists may profit off of their music, however the engineers who record the Open Sessions are not responsible for registering any unoriginal music played by the artists with the proper music publishing companies (such as ASCAP or BMI).

Artists and Engineers participating in an Open Session must sign the Open Sessions waiver before the date of their session. If you still have further questions about Open Sessions ownership or the Open Sessions waiver, please contact Open Sessions Executive Producer, Stephen Roessner.