Stages Of Studio Production.

As an audio engineer starting your career you will realize that production breaks down into 4 stages. Planning, recording, mixing and mastering.

- Planning: it is one of the most important steps. If you plan your studio session properly , I'm sure you will not waste your time in the studio. You should figure out and plan what microphones you want to use. Search for a good technique for example to record guitar amp. Write down how the sound you want to hear look like so you plan how to set it up. Planning these things trust me will save you a lot time during your studio session and move into the next stage smoothly.

- Recording: If stage one is done properly then recording should go smooth and easy. Lets say we are recording guitar amp and you already planned it before, you just preform what you planned and start recording.

- Mixing: Mixing will not take time and effort if your instrument were recorded very well. You might not even EQ anything if it's recorded and sounded good. However, mixing is important and the mix engineer should talk and listen to the master engineer how much headroom he wants for example.

- Mastering: mastering is the final stage of any type of production. Keep in mind, mastering engineer might not do anything to the song only a few adjustments since all previous stages were done perfect and smooth. Mastering engineers get paid a lot for their knowledge and listening skills. Other than that, if the mix is bad the master engineer will send the mix back again or charge you extra money if he mixed it again.

The four stages are all connected and related to each other, if one stage wasn't done in the proper and good way, you will waste a lot of time, money and effort.