We have so much more freedom in modern digital recording that it's almost like cheating, when compared with analog tape recording from 20+ years ago. Post-production quantizing, pitch correction, MIDI editing, groove detection, huge sample libraries, and powerful real time effects have all taken "the perfect take" completely out of the equation. It's no longer about your skill as a musician, or creating the perfect vibe/mood to capture a perfect musical moment on tape. Nowadays, it's all about your technical understanding, software budget (which doesn't need to be nearly as high as it used to be to rent the 8-track tape at your neighborhood studio), production training/choices, and most of all, your
patience to use all the above tools repeatedly until you make something that sounds "perfect", even if it didn't start out that way.
This is why I've moved away from performance based recording and have focused in recent years on post-production techniques and analysis. I admit that I like the new ear candy, and as a long time professional IT geek it suits my skill set as well. However, I do wistfully recognize that "the new way" of recording music has pretty much eliminated the need for musicianship and performance talent, and replaced them with increased needs for technical skill and patience.
It's also had the effect of raising the production bar, since everyone has access to the new digital process, so it's no longer acceptable for a song to be "flawed" in some way. For every flaw there is always a correction to be made, and if the producer doesn't make it then they're just being lazy. Nowadays it seems the hardest part of music production is deciding that you're finished with a song and stopping making revisions. :)