How long does it take you to record a song?

[Speed Demon]

I find editing and mixing to be far more time-consuming tasks than actually playing tracks for a song.
Could take several weeks before all is sung and done.

[Hook]

It's different for each song, at least for me. I would say about 4-6 actual hours go into a song if I'm producing a track up but sometimes much faster if I'm in the zone. I rarely get that much time in a single block so some songs get spread out over a few sessions & others get rushed. If I'm feeling really creative I tend to work a bit faster so I can get onto the next one. At this point I still enjoy the writing part more but since incorporating my iphone into the mix the production side is more fun & sneaking into the writing itself.
Rock On!

[bruno]

What's interesting is that for me the recording process is part of the writing. I'm not one of these people that hears the complete thing in my head, rather than I write in layers. First the guitar, then the fills, keys and finally the melody. One thing leads to the next. Chords and progressions is what I like - that comes first, and the song subject matter comes from how the song feels. Because of that, I think it tends to be a faster process. You end up with good and bad, and sometimes repeating yourselve, however the good stuff floats to the top. This method (for me anyway) sounds somewhat fresher, as you are recording when inspired - rather than on the 20th take trying to get something perfect - but often frustrating as you rarely know the song when you playing it - and I'm sure that I could play it better on a second take. Most of the stuff I do is in 1 or 2 takes. I always intend to re-record everything and never do. No easy answers.

[Burtog]

I would say I'm like Bruno plus add an evening for mixing and tweeting drum tracks.

[IanR]

Every time is different.  However, I mostly only have the basic idea when I start recording and I use the recording process to experiment and write further. 

It depends upon how fussy I am being and how hard it is to learn and play. Sometimes I give myself a challenge so that I have to learn something new.  Other times, I might be trying out a new recording technique.  While other times I might be happy with a 3 chord structure and leave it at that.  It whatever the song needs.  Then you have to know when to stop.  That's usually when I'm getting sick of the song.

Lately I have been getting ideas down as demos and then rerecording an "improved" version once I know what I want.

The writing of the basic song structure is usually fairly quick - maybe a day. The recording can take a few days - usually 2-3 hours per day after work or on a saturday or sunday afternoon.  But it could also take weeks.  Also, I might do a few demos because I get lots of ideas.  And then I might go back to one and try to finish it off.  Who knows?

Ian

[Ferryman]

Elapsed time or actual working time? Elapsed time for me typically varies between 3 months and 1 year! Two reasons: 1) I have limited spare time, 2) I am very obsessive (definitely bordering on OCD), so I spend a lot of time fiddling with stuff.

Actual working time? Probably 10 to 20 hours spread over a long time composing and writing plus finding the right effects and sounds. Recording? Probably 10 to 20 hours at the low end up to 40 hours at the high end depending on the number of tracks. I would say I spend on average about one hour on each track trying to get the sounds right, the take right and the recording right. The recent thing I posted (Weird Science) has 20 tracks and I know I spent 90 minutes one evening just trying to get a decent take of the drums! Mixing? Could be fairly quick if I did the recordings well, perhaps 3 to 5 hours, but could easily be 10 to 20 hours if I am adding lots of post processing.

Told you I was OCD......... The opposite to Henwrench I think.

I forgot to add that of course once a song is done, about 6 months later I will go back to it, re-record various tracks and remix it because I wasn't happy with the finished result. So you can add another slug of time on top of that!