Preferred Way to Record a Chorus

There's been a lot of chorus going on and I've been a few of them that have been done different ways, but I was wondering how everyone preferred to sing their part in a chorus? Do you like to only sing parts that were assigned to you for less recording and or do you prefer to sing the entire song knowing only certain parts will be used and chosen by the mixer. What are your opinions on this? I'm organizing a few choruses myself and wanted to know which way people prefer.

"Record the whole song, and let the mixer choose parts to use and mix together" ;DD Since, the mixer is the mixer, he or she would be the one to also choose the parts which sounds good and which does not. And which more blends in, and which doesn't. 8D

When we record the full song, the mixer can choose which part is the best. I find it better.

Personally I hate the doing the scripted choruses, but that's just me.

Sure it's less work for the mixer but in the end, there's more good that comes out for everyone in the long run.

Choruses where the mixer actually mixes has more benefits. The singers get to sing the entire song which they can post as their own personal cover, and be featured in a chorus. The mixer also gains mixing experience, and also it's a surprise to the singers in the end on what parts they get.

Just my 2 cents

It kind of depends. :O If I wasn't familiar with people's voices in the chorus, I'd go and do the recording the whole song, because then I can choose who did well where and whatnot. If I did know them well enough to know who blended well with who, and who's range fits which part, then I would code. Either ways, it's still hard on the mixer, because a crappy code would mean a lot of clashing in voices and if you didn't know how to choose good part from what people sang, then it wouldn't sound good either. XD

Ok thanks for the comments so far. I was just wondering since I tend to like scripted since I don't have very much recording time compared to other people so I can focus on the parts I need to do, but as a mixer I also like picking the best parts too.

As a mixer, I personally think that either way has pros and cons.

Pros to scripted:
- Easier to record for singers - you only have a few lines, which means less time is wasted recording the whole song, and more time can be spent perfecting it, with minimal effort.
- Not so much brain power required from mixers, i.e. the mixer doesn't have to listen to everything and think what blends with what and how to mix it.

Cons to scripted:
- If it's done badly, it can result in really really bad blends.
- Apparently, less lines doesn't always necessarily mean people spend more time singing them right =_=

Pros to reverse-mixing (using the whole song):
- Allows the mixer to decide the best blends possible, including thinking about microphone quality, and who sounds best singing solos, things like that.
- For singers, it's a good way to feel like you're singing a whole song rather than being only a small part of it

Cons to reverse-mixing:
- Using whole solos almost always means impossible to break up lines properly - people take breaths at different places, people do slightly different rhythms etc.
- Very very very very tiring on the mixer...and their CPU!
- A LOT of people halfass their lines when they're expected to sing everything with the thought of "If it's bad the mixer can just cut it out" leaving the mixer usually with a whole lot of mediocre lines.




As you can tell, I'm more pro-scripting 8D;;

I'm more pro-scripted myself just because as the leader, if their parts are not that good... I'll just make them redo that part instead of the whole song~ >abuser<

Well as someone who tends to have a had time with singing, it can be a lot easier if I only have to worry about certain lines. (I've done choruses where the mixer picked my worst lines to use!"
Besides, when writing a script beforehand you can make sure you evenly share the lines a little better...

I actually don't mind both but it gets tiring using the unscripted one when all the people don't really sound alike and it's hard figuring out which part should go where. Also, it takes a lot more patience and effort to time everything perfectly. Too many overlapping lines. =A=;;

Personally, I like scripting cuz it saves me time and effort. I know where each track should go and what I should do with them from the very beginning. I prefer being the scripter and the mixer because when I do script, I take into careful consideration what each singer would sound like with another and how I can make their mic qualities better. That way the chorus wouldn't sound as bad as a randomly scripted one.

With a script, you can start animation while you wait for singer to record their lines. o3o)b

Exactly! You can get everything done quicker.