"All of band vs. separate" recording techniques

I ask because I think it usually feels better if the band records in one big room communally rather than separately. It feels "warmer" the first way, IMO.

My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!

depends.

usually it's the latter even when it "feels" otherwise.

Randy

The "all together" technique tends to produce the best music. Look at Can, for example; all of their best work was recorded as a group. As soon as they got multi-tracking equipment (c. 1975, if I remember correctly), the overall quality of the music dropped.

It's impossible to generalize but recordings "all together" such as BBC ones give a very lively result cause there's no mixing process involved. It's "half" live.

The Timedivers new CD is just finished and being pressed as we speak! from experience, I would reckon that, out in the real world, there is virtually no difference (despite what you might imagine) to recording together or separately.

If you all record together, you maybe spark off each other. Sure. But you also hold back for fear of putting off the others. Whereas if you record separately, you know that your own mistakes are more easily corrected afterwards, which means you feel freer to really go for it. And that is what gives energy and excitement to the final mixdown.

And if you think you can hear a difference between people recording at the same time and people recording on different dates, you are probably just hearing the pros and cons of different producers and engineers.

The only exception is where the recordings are genuine jams which develop with an inner energy of their own. This may have been true of Can or Amon Duul or even recent King Crimson, but it sure doesn't describe anything Radiohead or Dream Theater or Genesis have recorded in the past 30 years.

Marcos wrote:

"Separate" is a nice option. All band together is good, but it's for great musicians.

And does your band record all together in one go, or separately?

I already did. Cool. Check out mine:-

www.timedivers.com

Thank you, Marcos. I am not sure either of our bands could be described as true "prog"!! Maybe blues-prog or metal-prog or similar? Even so, your music sounds well cool, so maybe we can exchange CDs? Let me know if your band members are willing to consider an international exchange of prog-related music.

Even though only the Bass & Drums were recorded at the same time!

Edited by paul.timediver - June 07 2007 at 07:09

Poll Question: Which one do you think ultimately leads to a better product?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
All of the band (minus vocalist, usually)	16	[76.19%]
Laying down guitar/bass/drum/etc tracks separately	5	[23.81%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted