It's in the can

Got through about 3/4 of our recording session last night. Drum track was first, then rhythm/lead guitars, and some harp and vocals. Still need to finish up slide guitar as well as remaining harp and vocals.

As you can see, unlike a live gig, there's a fair amount of sitting, listening, and waiting. You can record an all-piece performance (imitating a live performance in the studio) but then you don't get the flexibility and the magic that the sound engineer provides. What's really well hidden in the final product are various mistakes made during recording. The engineer can often move stuff around ("oh, you didn't like that end chord there? it didn't line up with the cymbal crash, no problem"). Within reason of course. You still have to have the person play the piece in the first place, but there is a good deal of "fixing" employed. It's cool how the layers stack up, however. It starts with the drum track; your basic substitute for a metronome (and in my case less steady than what a metronome or drum machine could provide :) Then you add in guitars, bass, etc. It ends up sounding pretty good. Could it have been done with all pieces playing at the same time? Maybe, but this way is also cleaner: no cross-talk between instruments. I think perhaps all in all a lengthier process this way, but more polished. We'll have to wait to hear the final product...