You have to put in the extra effort to make your material sound professional. Nothing worse than an out of tune or poorly playing instrument ruining a recording (especially when the musicians are talented).
Very true. You'd get a laugh out of the last record I mixed. Not only out of tune riffs, but looped, so every time it's out of tune on the exact same notes, the exact same way. Same deal with string noise and overtones. Looped over and over.
Most of the time I will give them and their tech the benefit of the doubt on the first day and see what they come in with. Usually it leads to having to re-intonate the guitar when they come in, but at point you're on the clock, so you're actually getting compensated for the time.
I try to outsource as much stuff to techs as possible during tracking, because I don't like my mind being divided between all the technical issues, and still needing to retain the broader production perspective. Two entirely different areas of the brain, and it's possible to stretch oneself too thin.
@CFH13: Some of those read like horror stories. If someone brought out the religion card and somehow related it to my work, that would be the cue for glass to find its way into their face.
As far as the whole spirituality thing goes, I never needed it when I did my own tracking. I will try to make the place somewhat dim and vibely (and cool, finally, with the air con) but anyone needing to hang up idols, start lighting candles etc. That's the point at which you shut the hell up and just play. So much of music is an absolute wank... most musicians live in it, and are indulged in it by their fans every day of their lives. It gives someone a pretty skewed view of reality. The last thing we need is for the sensible, technical minded folk (engineers) to indulge in the same nonsense. Producers, yeah, they're meant to relate to the artist, so whatever it takes, but the project needs at least one grounded individual that isn't so coked up and tripped out as to release 50 minutes of white noise sliced into rhythmic patterns.
Recording sessions are days at work. They aren't vacations for the artist to drown in their ego. I can't stand those that try to arbitrate some fake spirituality to a process that is inherently technical, and in many ways formulaic. The same thing goes for some engineers. It's why I can't get cover to cover through 'Mixing with your mind'. I feel like I haven't done enough tonnes of LSD to relate to any of it.
