From the days of Thomas Edison's first phonograph (mono) to modern day computers, capturing musicial performances has evolved for the better and worst....

 

Brief "Technical" Background: Let's go back to the days of the 1960's, when phonographs were being replaced by multi-track tapes (stereo).  Many rock bands were recording on either four-track machines or eight-track reel to reel machines up until 1975 when computers became introuduced to the making records.  The recordings were either placed onto cassette tapes (whatever those are, right?) or vinyl.  Around the 1980's, the walkman (soundabout cassette player) was invented, however, to be shadowed-up by the first CD in later 1980's. Thanks to the invention of the CD, bands were able to place more songs onto CDs than a single cassette (both front and backside of the cassette). 

 

Following the success of CDs up into the later 1990's, home computers were becoming popular for be the main staple of recording studios. However, home "bedroom" studios weren't born until the early 2000's, replacing older "professional" studios. In addition, home computers brought a mini-revolution on how bands record their music.  This, in turn, brought the question, "do we need all this analog technology to record band performances and to get great quality recordings?"

 

The answer is a complicated one...

 

-------Modern Guitar Players------

 

If you're musician in 2013, you should know how a computer works and what it's purpose is.  Many musicians try to turn their home computers inside their bedrooms into recording studios (including myself ;)), this can give them recording experience.  Usually, a home studio set-up consists of the computer, DI box (Line 6 makes real good quality ones), 1/4" cable, guitar, and the shredder (YOU).  Most DI boxes have inputs for both microphones and instrument cables.  Musicians would use software programs like Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), such as FL Studio, Pro Tools, and Cubase, when recording music.  The average budget of these studios cost thousands of dollars cheaper than a "professional" analog studio.

 

One of the positive parts of these home studios isn't just the pricing, but it's ALL digital.  You don't have to deal with bulky tape machines that have a limited amount of space, unlike digital is unlimited and only made up of 0's and 1's (this is only important if you're a computer junkie).  You record into your DAW and instantly hear back what you just played, good way of having a "third ear" resources if you make any mistakes in your playing, you can go back and correct it.  Having instant feedback on your playing is great when you're away from a  professional guitar teacher, whom you should be taking lessons already with, if not, finding a local professional guitar teacher in your area should be on the top of your priority list.  Despite having the option to do infinite retakes, when recording, don't take 1000 bad takes on a single section of a song then pick and choose the best one.  This may seem to be quick fix--when in fact it's litterally cheating yourself. Pick and choosing can dangerously prevent you from being a great long term player, you'll be subconsciously tricking yourself into being unable to keep time and play the whole section through again.  Before DAWs and home computers, bands put the blood and sweat by practicing their parts for hours on end with/without their bandmates.  That's what makes a great guitar player.  Even though the temptation is there to "cheat yourself", you're still being exposed to other roles that a recording studio has ranging from being the recorder to mixer and/or master, having these can make you a better musician in the long run.

 

------Old School Guitar Players------

 

If you're a musician from the pre-2000's, then you should be familiar to practicing guitar without a computer.  Musicians from this time may of not had the luxury of a home studio, but they did have cassette and muti-track recorders (today's equalivanet of the smartphone and it's many apps).  On cassette and muti-track recorders, they're able to play the guitar and have instant feedback. Many cassette players were under $100, while muti-track recorders cost well over $100 (and still have significant use in studios today). Unfournately, rock bands before the invention of home cassette players and multi-tracks, needed feedback from those around them to improve on their playing (the worst scenario was feedback from someone who didn't know anything about their instrument), but having a local professional guitar teacher was their only chance to be successful in music. 

 

"Limitation is the mother of creativity” ~ DJ Harvey

Being limited is one of the most beautiful things to happen to a musician.  How? You may ask.  Old School musicians, especially before the cassette player, didn't have a lot of options when it came practicing and their feedback, so if they wanted to record an album they'd have to nail their parts in one take.  This forced the musicians to work for extended hours on end to become better, using only the metronome.  Listen back to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and any bands before the 1990's, the production wasn't just different, but the performances feel very natural.  All these bands worked very hard to learn and play their parts down to perfection.  In the recording studio enviornment, they only had one shot at "nailing" their parts done.

 

As technology increases, so does the ways you make music in the recording studio.  It's not forbidden to try and change the ways you may record your performance by "cutting" a part and then "pasting" somewhere else.  Just keep in mind that you may see if as a fair solution to a bad performance, except it's cheating the listener on the other end.  The vast majority of fans will not ever hear of this dark method from their favorite bands, but before foreworn that your favorite band might be exaggerating on how good they really are....