Hey, that's an awesome way to record. Mix it live and then track it. That's how it was done in the old days. Doing that forces musicians to play within their skill level and it forces them to be very aware of the finesse they put into their instrument. It really healthy to record.
I've hear good thing about Audacity. I've only used Garage Band on iPhone. Before that I was using desktop software like Digital performer, logic, and pro tools. I once worked in a local recording studio. I took clients as a sub for my friend and I had some clients of my own. Eventually I got tired of the type of clientele I was introduced to. Now I record myself as much as possible in the simplest way possible.
Technology has changed a lot and I find it very easy to get a nice sound with the majority of the digital equipment that's out there.
I guess playing something over and over again does take up a lot of time, but I believe in the benefits of healthy repetition.
We practice every Monday, and we record our practices so we can return to them and listen to things we liked and disliked. It has also helped us focus on specific problem spots and things like that.
Thankfully, the recording studio on campus that we have access to is only for non-commercial purposes, so we won't be able to sell our album, but we're still super excited to have an album produced even though we just got started two years ago.
I didn't think about how musicians in the past had to rely on the live mix for recordings. I'm sure there have always been elements that could be tweaked, but it usually doesn't take us that long to get a recording right.
Maybe you can give Audacity a shot. It's pretty simple, and it works great for what we use it for. Digital equipment is very nice, especially since we're all graduate students so we don't have a lot of money to throw at recording equipment, haha. Thanks for your thoughts.