Should We Record Together or Separately?
Whether you are a solo artist or a band, the question usually comes up as to whether you should record your group of musicians together or separately? We are equipped to do either. However, we have found that unless your group of musicians are top ranked studio musicians or your band has been playing together for several years and is extremely tight, then recording separately is the best option.
I know it may seem confusing as to why recording parts separately would be more efficient. I can understand that it seems that a song that is 5 minutes long should only take 5 minutes to record where if everybody plays their parts separately, then it will take at least 5 minutes per part. But let me explain some of the reasons why recording together often takes longer.
First of all, setting up the session so that everybody plays together is a lot of work. It takes about 2 hours to set it all up properly (assuming live drums). Even then, it is nearly impossible to make sure that everything is just right for every single player. Doing this would require even more time.
Second of all, keeping control of the session is more difficult. For example. Every time somebody makes a mistake, it usually influences somebody else which then eventually becomes a train wreck. Then taking the time to explain to everybody where you are going to start from and punch in and etc. now requires 5 people to understand instead of just one. So starting and stopping takes much more time and since you now have the potential of any of the 5 players making a mistake that will mess up others, there are usually way more starts and stops throughout the song.
Third, after the tracks are recorded, in almost every instance I have had at least three out of the 5 players ask to listen through their part and make sure they didn’t make any other mistakes which then usually leads to punching in and out at various spots. At this point, it would have just been faster had they recorded their part separately anyways.
Fourth, because the parts were recorded together, there are almost always timing issues between instruments. So now the editing process is way more complex. Instead of fixing the timing of one player per timing spot, it now requires to fix the timing of 5 players per timing spot requiring far more time editing.
Now contrast that with playing the parts separately. Each player gets full attention as they perform their part. The very first instrument (usually drums) is recorded and time corrected to create a rock solid foundation for all other instruments. Therefore, as instruments record on top of the drums, it isn’t only easier for them, but if a mistake is made, we can instantly stop, back up a few bars and punch in very quickly. Then the next instrument, then the next, then the next and etc. By the time everybody is stacked on top of each other, it is tight and everybody likely happy with their part and no further editing is needed. This process is easily controlled, fast and effective and usually ends up with better results.
