I'm playing guitar for about 30 years, but it happened only ten years ago that I started writing music myself. At that time, personal computers where about to become powerful enough to serve as a recording studio in a box. I'd always been interested in recording and sound engineering stuff, so I'd hop on that wagon pretty soon. Today, all my recordings are 100% DDD (purely digital). It never stops to amaze me that you have more power at your fingertips today with an investment of let's say EUR 10.000 than a professional recording studio would have been able to offer only 30 years ago. What a blessing to live today!
I've labelled my music "alternative" because that is probably what comes closest. I've had a lot of different influences over the years though. It happened in phases, so I'm not one of these persons that don't ever change their musical preferences. I think you can hear the different influences in my songs, for example a lot of the guitar playing probably smells like Neil Young. A lot of the (harmony) vocal work probably reminds of R.E.M. (I've turned my back on Young many years ago, and while I still enjoy the music of R.E.M., I'm afraid their best days are over.) The music I listen to today very often is from the UK, mainly Radiohead. The funny thing here is that I don't think my songs sound very Radiohead . . . maybe it'll take a few more years until they start to shine through. As I wrote on the main page, in the recent past I've discovered a few very interesting and promising artists through the internet.
The recording process: I do it all by myself, I usually don't write lyrics myself though, so I depend on collaborations with lyricists. I'm a big fan of abstract lyrics (a la Michael Stipe) . . . the old saying applies: if you got a message, send a telegram. Music is non-linear, and lyrics should be that way too in my opinion.
I record songs one by one. I'm not recording an entire batch (= an album) at once, that is. That way they come out one after the other, and it's a form of life-long meditation on music, life, and everything.