I do enjoy reading this forum, but never posted any of my own problems because of fear that it could cause drama in life, but I am indeed curious about this particular situation, so let's say that I'm asking for a friend here...
Let's say that a songwriter writes a song and brings it to a band. The band loves it, the band learns it, it becomes part of the live set, and then eventually, the band decides to record it. Now, the songwriter has always had specific ideas on how the song should sound, but didn't ever insist on playing that way live because live performance is more about energy than about specific notes, anyway.
But during recording time, songwriter decides, the live arrangement isn't going to be recorded because it's too simple. Hence, now, there are specific parts that nobody in the band has learned yet that need to be played a certain way to make this new arrangement work. What is the etiquette for recording those written parts?
Should the songwriter offer to give other band members the opportunity to learn these parts exactly and then to record them? What if the player doesn't want to learn them or if they are too technically advanced for a particular player? Is it then OK for someone else to record the parts? And if all this just seems like a huge waste of time to get a result that's probably not going to be better than just doing it by oneself in the first place, is it OK not to ask at all? What if the songwriter has tried to get the band to play a certain way in the past, only for the effort to fizzle out, and compromised on a working live arrangement which has kind of taken off in its own way, but still wants to record it the other way? It's not so much that the live version is bad, it's that it's not true to the vision of the song.
If you were the person in the songwriter's seat, having to deal with band members who can play a decent version of a song live, but isn't looking like they'll get you that note-for-note perfect take for your perfect vision of that song, but you know that you can do it in half an hour, what would you do? (Billy Corgan says hi.)
If you were the person who is the one who has learned a song, only to learn that another band member doesn't really feel like whatever you learned is worth recording, what would you do? Would you insist on trying to learn note for note an entirely new part? If it wasn't you on the recording after all, but the overall result is better than what you could have done, would that take your enthusiasm for the output down a notch, nonetheless?
If you learn that a band member's parts are replaced by another band member, would you consider that a sign of a band's weakness, or is it a strength that band members can check their egos for the sake of output?
Once again, asking for a friend.
Let's say that a songwriter writes a song and brings it to a band. The band loves it, the band learns it, it becomes part of the live set, and then eventually, the band decides to record it. Now, the songwriter has always had specific ideas on how the song should sound, but didn't ever insist on playing that way live because live performance is more about energy than about specific notes, anyway.
But during recording time, songwriter decides, the live arrangement isn't going to be recorded because it's too simple. Hence, now, there are specific parts that nobody in the band has learned yet that need to be played a certain way to make this new arrangement work. What is the etiquette for recording those written parts?
Should the songwriter offer to give other band members the opportunity to learn these parts exactly and then to record them? What if the player doesn't want to learn them or if they are too technically advanced for a particular player? Is it then OK for someone else to record the parts? And if all this just seems like a huge waste of time to get a result that's probably not going to be better than just doing it by oneself in the first place, is it OK not to ask at all? What if the songwriter has tried to get the band to play a certain way in the past, only for the effort to fizzle out, and compromised on a working live arrangement which has kind of taken off in its own way, but still wants to record it the other way? It's not so much that the live version is bad, it's that it's not true to the vision of the song.
If you were the person in the songwriter's seat, having to deal with band members who can play a decent version of a song live, but isn't looking like they'll get you that note-for-note perfect take for your perfect vision of that song, but you know that you can do it in half an hour, what would you do? (Billy Corgan says hi.)
If you were the person who is the one who has learned a song, only to learn that another band member doesn't really feel like whatever you learned is worth recording, what would you do? Would you insist on trying to learn note for note an entirely new part? If it wasn't you on the recording after all, but the overall result is better than what you could have done, would that take your enthusiasm for the output down a notch, nonetheless?
If you learn that a band member's parts are replaced by another band member, would you consider that a sign of a band's weakness, or is it a strength that band members can check their egos for the sake of output?
Once again, asking for a friend.
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