We're getting close to wrapping up the third album with Sizable. A lot of my time this past week has been spent on that.
I tend to focus on the arrangement and execution of each song. It is partly because I write the fewest number of songs for the group, but also because my training in college prepared me for this role.
These duties include: offering suggestions that make each section of the song sound unique by adding or subtracting parts selecting between different performances of the same part in order to find the one that fits the best editing a part further to be more accurate / more musical / groove harder
I do record my parts, and I often try to use different instruments I own, even if I don't really know how to play them. Even after taking a week off to learn the pedal steel, I still don't really know how to play it.
Often my parts are recorded in small fragments and stitched together. It's not ideal, but it's likely the only way that it would ever get done.
Recording the ~1 minute of steel guitar on my only song on this upcoming album, "Time to Write My Country Song," probably took around 6 hours.
My process for laying down steel was pretty simple. I started by deciding which parts of the song should have the instrument. Then I tried to imagine in my head what it might sound like. Finally, I found a way to execute my idea on the instrument. The last part took the longest amount of time. Often, it takes 10, 20, or 50 attempts of playing the few notes or chords that comprise the idea before I don't royally screw it up.