I'll start off, with the reason that I thought of this thread:
I recorded with the metal band I play in over the weekend - in a relatively new studio in town. The last recording I did was in the most established studio in a punk band, and was quite a different experience.
With the punk band, the entire band ran through the set as a scratch track, and only the drums were recorded (everything else was layered on top afterwards). Setup was relatively quick. We recorded about 5 versions of each song, then the producer cut them all up and used the best bits of each one.
With the metal band, I went in with 1 guitarist (the band has 2) and no-one else - only the drums were recorded (everything else to be layered on top). Setup took half a day (the kit's biggger, of course, but this guy really did work on the sound - we spent about an hour getting the bass drum sound alone) but only played through each song 2 or 3 times, then the best take was used without editing or anything.
The metal recording is good (it grooves, it's got plenty of energy, and all the rest), but I can't help feeling that it is 'conservative': it's certainly not the best I've played, I've dropped a lot of fills and flash that I would normally play live. But was working on the principle that I'm there to serve the song, so should probably reel it in a little bit. Although I'm still a bit anxious about how it will sound.
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