Recording music is a lot different than it was over the last few decades. No question things have improved in many respects but a lot of the technology out there has encouraged people to do it on their own at the expense of collaborating. In my opinion this lack of collaboration has really hurt the creative process and the quality of the work.
Technology now allows people to do an album completely by themselves in their bedroom. Recording gear is relatively cheap now and there are instruments plugins that can sound really close to the real thing. While this can be useful, especially for low budget projects, it should not be used to replace other musicians playing on your project. When you have someone who's been playing their instrument for years and years lay down some parts on your song it can really help take it in a new positive direction.
I've been recording people professionally for 10 years now and I've seen it done and I've done it myself. One different drum groove, cool guitar riff or even a mixing decision made by someone else and a song takes a whole other direction that excites everyone in the room. This is something that was forced on artists in the past because there was no other options except have a bunch of people working together because of limits in technology.
The point of this posting is to encourage people to work together more. Whether it's professionals or friends there's a lot of people that can add something to your music and it doesn't hurt to get them to try. That's another benefit of technology. No limits of tracks and no diminished sound quality every time you press record. Don't be afraid to use that advantage in addition to your sea of plugins!
