These six, seemingly interrelated terms - recording, production, mixing, mastering, engineering, editing - all describe work that is done on the audio of an album. But what do they all mean? What are all the tasks performed by one who is credited for these roles? In what order are these jobs performed? How much influence do they have on the final product?

I'm guessing "recording" means setting up and tuning all the equipment (e.g. microphones) needed to record the album. Does it include tuning the instruments?

I have a hunch that "mastering" is done on each individual instrument track to affect how the instrument sounds, and "mixing" comes after that and entails merging all the tracks into one to form a song, selecting relative instrument volume levels etc.

I have no idea what production, engineering and editing mean.

They all mean different things, but can overlap.

Producing can cover all of them, and most producers can do some to all of these things. However, "Producing" an album can mean essentially becoming an extra member of the band. This can extend to assisting the band with songwriting or arrangements. A producer's job is to get the absolute best possible recording out of a band.

Engineering would cover stuff like setting up microphones, adjusting guitar amps to get the desired sound, tuning drums, all that kind of stuff.

Recording is just that. It can be as basic as just hitting record and stop on the computer. It's usually a bit more involved than that though, and it can include taking different takes of songs/solos/vocal parts. That does start getting into the realms of producing though.

Editing is tidying up the recorded audio. This could include nudging an out-of-time drum hit into place, taking out the vocalist coughing slightly before starting to sing, or choosing the best of three different takes of a guitar solo.

Mixing is the process of taking the multitrack session (that being all the individual tracks - you could have a tracklist like kick 1/kick 2/snare top/snare bottom/tom 1/tom 2/floor tom/hi-hats/ride/overheads 1/overheads 2/room mic 1/room mic 2/bass DI/bass amp/guitar 1/guitar 2/guitar solo/lead vocals/backing vocals 1/backing vocals 2) and mixing it all into one (usually) stereo track. Mixing includes setting levels of each instrument and balancing them all together, applying EQ and compression, adding in effects (reverb/delay/chorus/etc.) where appropriate, and almost infinite other things.

Mastering is the process of taking all the mixed stereo files for your album/EP/whatever, and making them all sound similar. This usually includes making it so that they all play at the same volume (or at least, the loud bits are all equally loud and the quiet bits are all equally quiet), general EQ and compression (usually fairly subtle), and can include things like harmonic exciters, stereo expanders, and a little bit of black magic. The difference between a mixed track and a mastered track is night and day, even if it's a fantastic mix. There's a reason top mastering engineers cost a lot, they can make the difference between an alright sounding record and a great sounding record.


Many people involved in audio production cover multiple roles. If someone has their own studio that they run on their own, they'll probably engineer, record, edit, mix, produce, and sometimes master as well. But, they can also work as one of those roles - it's often common for an external producer to come in to a studio, where the in-house engineer will engineer/record/edit under the direction of the producer.

Well said, Awlblaster. I'll offer my take on things.

A lot has changed in these roles over the years - mastering once meant taking a tape reel and boosting, equalizing, and optimizing it all the way into cutting the master for the vinyl pressing. It later meant doing the same for a master tape transfer to CD, and now the all digital process slims it down a bit more. Another factor is how simplified recording is - microphones and consoles are much better now, and audio can be manipulated a lot more once recorded.

Recording is a fairly new credit and often indicates that someone recorded a certain instrument separately from other things. Very common for modern digital recordings. Someone will handle the room/amp/mic setup and capture the sound on a computer, before passing it off to someone else. I mostly see this when albums were recorded in separate places. When it is all done in one studio, older recordings tend to credit the more important studio hands with "engineering" or something like that. Most studio assistants are not credited, but may handle this role.

Producer is the broadest credit of all, which can encompass everything, or very little. Rick Rubin is now known to a be a spiritual guide of sorts, helping with arrangements or songwriting. Devin Townsend provides great assistance and works with bands on songwriting/arrangements and handles engineering, too. Flemming Rasmussen was known to leave the songwriting to the band, but greatly handled the shaping of the sound, across all aspects of recording/engineering/production. Executive producers tend to be a step further up in hands-off production, but pushing the band and engineers in the way to get it done. "Production" could really mean anything.

Editing generally involves chopping multiple takes together and cutting out unwanted or undesirable sounds. Very common with vocal tracks. Many modern recordings will have multiple takes on certain tracks, and the editor will stitch together the best of those. This role is often absorbed into one of the others.

Engineering covers all of the above, aside from songwriting. Everything from putting the mic in front of the thing that makes noise, to getting the noise on tape. The role credit here, especially when it is an "assistant," often overlaps with techs. It isn't uncommon for a drum tech to handle everything from the setup and tuning of a drum kit to setting up mics. I've seen everything from a prog drummer's tech setting up mics and dialing in a rough mix on the board, to a do-it-all producer setting up boards across ladders to shield drum mics from noise from others.

Mixing is taking the recorded tracks and adjusting volume levels, equalization, and other sonic after-effects like compression in order to get them all into one track. Much more technically challenging with old mixer boards with a limited number of tracks, but perhaps more complicated with the infinite capabilities of digital audio workstations.

Mastering is taking the final mix and getting it ready for the consumer format. The easiest way to envision this is someone taking a 1/4" tape and digitizing it with compression, equalization, and volume leveling to sound best on a CD. Mastering engineers handle every aspect of the final CD, from ensuring gapless audio between tracks (or adding a gap) to adding the titles to the final product. Modern and/or lazy mastering engineers basically take a digital mix and run it through some compression, equalization, and maybe a bit of reverb to make it give a bigger, fuller, finished impression.

All of these roles overlap quite a bit and are credited very inconsistently.

Thanks guys. If you don't mind me asking, how do you know all this? Seems like it would take a long career of lots of studio work in order to be able to, for example, compare general trends over decades.