The art & science of recording

It's all a fabricated fantasy.

^^^
Thanks for the extensive response. You would have seen and heard the lot with your career.

I always find playing with other musicians to be a mixture of joy, celebration and discipline.
And I love to hear it in recorded music that captures all that heart and soul.
Studio overdubbed perfection works in its own way, but we humans are, well human, and all that that entails. I like to hear it.

SOT, but this has started to really irritate me when I listen to myself play. "I can hear you thinking. Stop thinking - play it, feel it, be it, whatever, just stop thinking so hard that I can hear it from all the way across this room".

I watched a doco today on the band, 'Black Country Communion', called 'The Making of Afterglow'. All their recording is done as the band playing together, and the vocals and harmonies done together as an overdub.
Simple, exacting, but effective.
This is what kickstarted this thread.

If you like British 70's hard rock, then you'll enjoy the music.

Prince, as I understand it, did much of his early work himself. Of course, he's a really well rounded musician. (Even though one of his early appeals to me was as a soul guy who played good guitar, I'm nonetheless always kind of amazed on those rare occasions these days when he rips off a solo... he's very good.)

And I was always very drawn to Harry Nilsson's first album or two, where, I believe, he did all the voices. And, while it was hardly a DIY effort, I've always been hugely impressed by the wall of Freddie in "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- and I've never been a big Queen fan.


Now, all that said, I've done a LOT of recordings of bands tracking live (and then typically breaking that out to overdubs) as well as a large amount of work one or two tracks at a time, project-studio construction style.

When a good group of players who groove together are playing live, there is something really special that happens.

Special things can certainly happen when constructing music an overdub at a time -- I've heard some great stuff. And when it all comes together, sometimes it is a unique and really intoxicating exploration of the solo artist's musical life. And, other times, it's a mess. (Not unlike band recordings, come to think of it. )

;D

Under such adverse conditions sir, you're a bloody marvel...

Can we please hear some washing machine rhythms underpinning your next song.........

It's really all about your attitude as a recordist. If you are looking for perfection as a one man act then you can track until it's almost perfect, then tune the vocals, then cut up the bass notes and move them incrementally for a day or so..........

or.....you can play each track with feeling and capture the moment replete with all that makes it clear that it came from a human player.

Treat your DAW as if it was a tape recorder. Then employ just enough of that science in the mix stage to make sure you smile when you listen back to the finished product.

I can do that on the guitar. The problem is I'm not a strong enough vocalist, pianist or bassist to pull anything else off without comping or tweaking after the fact. I do make a concerted effort to leave in as many natural errors as possible, though.

Edit: I am getting better at getting genuine, usable live takes (and fragments) though, and I think it shows in recent stuff.