I'm a jammer, plain and simple. Download anything that appeals. Many hundreds sitting there. They are opened in Audacity at some time in the future (never immediately!) When opened I can only see the number of the track and hit record and start playing after a few notes and hope that I've got the key, feel etc. sorted or remember the track from whenever it was downloaded. Often I don't remember. The second take usually fixes the beginning. If unsatisfied there will be a third take. If I haven't got it by then I go on to the next template. The recording process seldom takes more than 15 minutes. It's then saved and never edited immediately. Editing is a total pain and I hate it. For each saved file I've got from one to three tracks that I've usually played way too much on that have to be sorted in terms of which sections of the recordings work, then cut and paste the lot into a cohesive track.
Many of you play electric instruments...set it up and record. The sax is acoustic and it has a huge dynamic range. a lot of editing time is spent adjusting the dynamics to fit the template. Last touches are to try and match the reverb/delay of the track so that it sounds like we were all playing in the same room. The track is then once again saved, sometimes with a WAV for the sax part on its own, plus the MP3. The saved track joins around 50 others to sit until I post it. I generally only post 2 tracks a week. More than that and nobody listens (the sax is a minor instrument with limited appeal). There are tracks gong back years that haven't been edited or posted. Occasionally I just take them out of the queue and recognize that I'll never post them.
When I go to record (once or twice a week) I'll go through up to 30 tracks in a sitting and record from 1 to 12 that get saved. Editing happens anytime when I think I have the patience. It takes between 20 minutes up to two hours per track to edit...and I hate the process, but hopefully am OK with the result.
I have no interest in being first to jump on a track. The music remains and will be just as fresh when heard in a few months or years. For me it's all about trying to play as though it's a live gig with the challenge of playing an unknown tune spontaneously.
Kudos to those who have the patience and drive to work out their parts and especially those who start templates. You are loved, needed, and the backbone...I'm just a jammer. If you all lived next door, I'd never record anything, we'd just play.
You're only as old as you smell