what do session players get paid to work on a record?

[dbl A]

say you're a guy in town that gets called to play guitar on recordings every few weeks & they are being done in a reputable studio by someone that's produced some great records & everyone's getting paid to work-what's a standard rate? I know it depends on the budget but if say the engineer who owns the studio & the gear is getting $500 a day what should a guitarist or a drummer expect? I'm fairly new to this getting paid to play thing but I can hold my own as a musician & these people want me to be there...what's a fair price to ask without being a dick? I don't want to offend any potential employeers but I want to be compensated for my time...

[Artur Meinild]

Asking the same as the engineer (say $500 per day) doesn't sound unreasonable to me... But of course this depends on a lot of factors - transport time, rehearsal, what are the exact demands etc.

[daddymack]

Call the union local and ask what the AFM rate is there. Expect about half of that at best.

If this is a recording session for a saleable project (meaning not a demo) you may want to consider getting a contract and pushing for residuals in lieu of up front money.

[BlueStrat]

Session players usually work for a flat fee of x number of dollars an hour. I don't know what the going rate is now, but back in the 70s the standard was 100 bucks for an hour or so.