diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
index cb52aea9607d..ffb94a8339b0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-record.c
@@ -2958,11 +2958,11 @@ static int __cmd_record(struct record *rec, int argc, const char **argv)
 		rec->bytes_written += off_cpu_write(rec->session);
 
 	record__read_lost_samples(rec);
-	record__synthesize(rec, true);
 	/* this will be recalculated during process_buildids() */
 	rec->samples = 0;
 
 	if (!err) {
+		record__synthesize(rec, true);
 		if (!rec->timestamp_filename) {
 			record__finish_output(rec);
 		} else {