Pre-production
During the pre-production phase, the producer and the other professionals present in the studio not only cover the roles of critics, but favor the development of a song on the basis of the possible contributions of the various musicians who will be recorded. The pre-production includes the study and performance of the song together with the band, when present, to work on any parts that are still not working well and evaluate the final draft of the song (intro, chorus, etc.).
Recording
By recording, or ``tracking`` is meant the transport of audio or MIDI of musical instruments used in a DAW (``Digital Audio Workstation``) or, in studios that use analog technology, on tape. The audio tracking phase takes place under the guidance of the sound engineer who is responsible for generating the basic ``sound paste``. The producers and arrangers, at this stage of the production of a piece, stand alongside the artists to assess that the spirit of the piece being produced is respected, providing advice on how to improve the performance.
Post-production and mixing
The term post-production refers, in general, to the mixing and editing phase of recorded audio. This phase follows that of the recording and sees the artist involved together with the producer and sound technicians to create the ```` magic of a song. Usually, in the post-production phase, the audio and MIDI tracks are rearranged for the final arrangement, the tracks are edited to make them more precise or to correct rhythm or intonation defects, and the audio files that are no longer needed are eliminated.
Finalization and mastering
The last phase of the production of a piece is that of mastering, i.e. the adaptation of the frequencies, the compression and the correction of the different volume levels present within a track to make it harmonious in listening and well reproducible on the different speakers audio that listeners can use (car radios, smartphones, vinyl, radio, television, cinema) keeping listening as close as possible to those that the artist and producer have established in previous stages of production. You can think of mastering as a phase in which to ``smooth`` the final sound of our product by means of compression effects, equalization, limiter, changes in the stereo panorama and others.