Playing a live show is an amazing feeling. The energy, the hype, the rush - it's all exhilarating. Everyone is vibing off of each other and the mood and feeling can be perfect. But playing in the studio to make a professional recording is very different. Many bands and musicians go into the studio with certain misconceptions. It's important that you know what to expect when you step foot into a recording studio so you can save yourself time and money. The topic of this article is whether your band should to play live off the floor when recording in a studio or record each instrument separately. This is an area where there is a lot of mythology and a lot of misconceptions.
First of all, for live performances it is extremely importantly for players to have line-of-sight and be vibing off of each other. No one disputes that is an important part of live music at a live show. And, indeed, there are some situations where it's necessary to replicate that in the studio. For example when recording orchestras or jazz ensembles it is very important. But for other styles of music (rock, pop, etc.) it is less important. Even though when creating or writing music together as a band it is a similar sort of vibe, and even historically musicians played live off the floor during the "golden-era" of recording, it is done less so nowadays. The majority of recordings in recent history have not been recorded live off the floor.
An important question to ask is "Is the recording process in the studio similar to jamming or playing a live show?" And the answer is no, in most cases, it is not. Yes you do want a good vibe between musicians and it is a producers job to help replicate that in the studio. Normally, certain instruments will be tracked and recorded separately from each others. For example one day may be drums and the next may be guitars and then finally vocals, layering them on top of each other. You have to be able to trust in your producer to recreate a vibe in the final recording that is similar to a live performance while at the same time using modern recording methods. You may end up being surprised that a number of different recordings when layered and produced professional have an amazing vibe to them and lock together in a certain groove. But for modern recording you need to adapt your playing to a studio environment and develop those techniques to give yourself the best possible final product.
Andrew Yankiwski is a professional audio engineer and owner of Precursor Productions, a Winnipeg Recording Studio.
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