Session

"Session"
Song by Linkin Park
from the album Meteora
Working title:	Session
Recorded:	2002
Length:	02:24
Time signature:	4/4
Tempo:	98
Key:	F Minor
Samples:	Beside - Change The Beat (Female Version)
Live debut:	February 23, 2003
Last performed:	August 22, 2009
Writer:	Linkin Park
Producer:	Don Gilmore, Linkin Park
Label:	Warner Bros.
Meteora tracklist
Foreword Don't Stay Somewhere I Belong Lying From You Hit The Floor Easier To Run Faint Figure.09 Breaking The Habit From The Inside Nobody's Listening Session Numb

"Session" is the twelfth song on Linkin Park's sophomore album Meteora. It is entirely instrumental, consisting primarily of Joe Hahn's sampling and scratching. It is the second instrumental on the record, counting the intro track "Foreword".

Background

In March 2003, Mike Shinoda did a track-by-track of Meteora for ShoutWeb. About "Session", he said, ""Session", is an instrumental track. I did all the beats. Joe did all the scratching. Brad and I manipulated Joe's scratching on the computer. We used digital effects on it that basically make it impossible to play! It starts out as just this piano and this beat and then beat starts kind of disintegrate then the piano starts disintegrating then the guitar comes in. It's just this nice evolution of digital simplicity to complete chaos and two and a half minutes later, you've been thrown off a cliff."

In an interview with MusicOMH on August 3, 2005, Mike explained further the role of each band member on the track: "I probably got Sessions about 85 percent of the way and something needed to be added. The other guys knew what it was. Brad came in with some guitar, Phoenix with bass and Joe with scratching. It’s very fluid, and the digital elements are very chopped up and harsh. I think it’s cool. That electronic element has always been there in the band – it’s just that sometimes we bring it closer to the front."

On the Meteora booklet, the band wrote, "Mike created the majority of this instrumental song in the back of the bus in Pro Tools recording software. It felt unfinished for over a year...Until Brad, Phoenix and Joe put their finishing touches on it while in the studio at NRG, months later, the band and mixer Andy Wallace added a new dynamic to the song with quick panning accents in the turntable solo, most noticeable when listening in headphones."

"Session" samples the song "Change The Beat (Female Version)" by Beside, which was also sampled on "Cure For The Itch."

The manipulation of the beat in the track is something Mike later reused on Fort Minor's "In Stereo."

The song appeared on the soundtrack of Matrix Reloaded. "It's actually an instrumental song, which is really unusual. We were really excited to be able to put that kind of song in the movie, and it starts off the soundtrack as well, so it's a great thing," said Mike. The band attended the movie's premiere in Los Angeles on May 7, 2003 to catch their song in the ending credits. Joe said, "We're big fans of the first movie, and we heard that the directors topped themselves with this one. So we're pretty excited to see what they've done."

The inclusion of "Session" in the film resulted in a Grammy nomination for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" to which Chester Bennington responded, "I personally feel that this record is better than 'Hybrid Theory'. I think there are certain songs that definitely exceed the quality of even 'Crawling'. And to not even be nominated for a track that was an album track - I mean it was an instrumental, like an interlude — personally, I'm kind of insulted. I think I'd rather be not nominated for anything than to be nominated for a track that's not even a band track. I definitely was thrown off a little bit, but who cares, really."

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Studio

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Session	Meteora The Matrix Reloaded: The Album Meteora - Instrumentals	2:24	2002	March 25, 2003

Live

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Session (Live In Nottingham 2003)	Meteora (20th Anniversary Edition)	1:13	March 03, 2003	April 7, 2023	Shortened. Not present in the original radio broadcast.

Live

"Session" has had a brief lifecycle throughout Linkin Park's live career. The song first appeared at the dawn of the Meteora touring cycle, a shortened version of the song being used as the show opener on the LP Underground Tour. After the tour, the song was dropped and did not return until 2009, where a newly shortened version of the song yet again served as a show opener on the band's International Tour.

Samples of "Session" were used for various new live-only tracks on The Hunting Party World Tour. It first appeared in Joe's solo amongst many other samples, and later used in Mashup Intro #2.

In the initial draft for the 2014 set, a shortened form of "Session" was considered for inclusion, transitioning into "Cure For The Itch".

Variations

Type	Description	First Played	Last Played
Alternative	2003 Version	February 23, 2003	March 25, 2003
Alternative	Shortened	July 19, 2009	August 8, 2009

Awards and Nominations

Year	Award	Category	Status
2003	Grammy Awards	Best Rock Instrumental Performance	Nominated

Personnel

Linkin Park

• Chester Bennington: vocals
• Rob Bourdon: drums, backing vocals
• Brad Delson: guitars, bass, backing vocals
• Joseph Hahn: records, sampling, backing vocals
• Mike Shinoda: emcee, vocals, beats, sampling
• Phoenix: bass

Production

• Don Gilmore: producer
• Andy Wallace: mixer

Gallery

• 

  The Matrix Reloaded: The Album with Parental Advisory label

• 

  The Matrix Reloaded: The Album Non-PA

In Other Media

• "Session" is featured in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded and was included in its soundtrack album.
• "Session" is featured in the 7th episode of Season 5 of the TV series The Sopranos, titled "In Camelot".