when I record my own stuff it's usually like 7-8 hours for a 4-5 minute song, punch in everytime i go up/down the neck, tune every chord and then slip edit everything to death.
some clients I've had though... "PUNCH IN? wtf is that?", I explain and they go "that's fucking cheating, I'm a tight player.."
you'd probably brush your teeth before banging a princess, I mean.. it's only about making the music sound it's best, and it does so without mistakes and rough edges
but I fucking LOVE this new wave of kids though! they come to me and say "we want to sound like Miss May I, no matter what", and I tell them how the recording is going down.
"alright guys, it doesn't really matter how you perform, all you are providing is raw material for the software and me to refine. no pressure, here's a click, play to it"
"yeah, sure, if it'll make us sound like MMI I'll do anything, but I've never even played to a cl... *DIP DOP DOP DOP DIP DOP DOP DOP* *the guy plays some weird groove lars ulrich's 5 year old son could do better* WTF, I wasn't ready, it wasn't tight le's do it 10 more times just to be su... *the drum groove is played back perfectly quantized 100% slate sample replaced* OMG, I MUST BE.. NO! I AM A GOD!"
then a guy comes in carrying his crappy solid state amp on his shoulder, "hey! where do I set up? what mics are we using? heard one of those 50-somethings are pretty geewd"
*load pod farm with diamond plate and hand the guy a cable* "here, try this.."
then some cool dude with a hip haircut steps up to my precious SM7B and try to put an upper harmony on a melody that was already 2 octaves out of his vocal range. it sounds like a guinea pig on fire, overdubbed with the sound of a baby bird falling out of it's nest. then he goes "that was OK right?", and I gently lower my face into my palms, swallow all my pride and supress an impulse to hurl a 16 lbs KRK RP5 monitor at his face and say, "y-yeah.. sure". VocAlign the crap together, tune it R2D2-style and play it back to him. he smiles with pride and I die a little inside.
BUT IT'S FUCKING EASY, SO THANKS JOEY! REMIND ME TO KISS YOU WHEN I GET THE CHANCE