Why would you pay for something and leave it behind? Don't Forget Your Session Data!

Why would you pay for something and leave it behind? Would you go to a game store and buy a video game and leave with just the receipt? Thats whats your doing when you leave a recording session without your session data. Quite often I get artists who want me to edit their songs by making a clean version or want me to mix it, but all they have is the rough mix from the studio. The rough mix in a way is like your receipt from the store. It shows what you purchased as a rough mix shows what you did at the studio that day. So when your friend says bring the game over so we can play, you have to say well its at the store. Same as when I ask “do you have the session data?” And the reply is “it’s at the studio.” When it comes time to do more with the song and you don’t have the session data, then you ultimately have to re-record the song, or as in my analogy you have to repurchase the video game again. When you leave the session there should be at least two people who has your session data, and one of them is you as the artist. If you have a personal engineer then they should keep a copy as well. If you’ve hired an engineer that works at the studio then the studio should keep a copy on file. Most studios will have you sign an agreement saying they will keep your session on file for X amount of days, months, etc. If you decide you don’t want to work with that engineer or studio anymore you can bring your session data to another studio and pick up where you left off. And you should never pay extra for your session data from a studio. If a studio tells you they can’t give you the data and try to charge you for it I would not do business with that studio. I have not seen this happen but I can see a studio doing it to make sure they keep your business. If they are the only ones with your session data then you have to go back to them to record. I wouldn’t be surprised if a studio has attempted to pull that off. Bottom line you should always get your session data before leaving a recording session. I know everyone is happy to get the rough mix of what they did but the session data is far more important. Its yours, you paid for it, so don’t leave it behind.