Music Production vs Mixing vs Mastering - What’s the Difference?
In modern music production, the phrases ‘production’, ‘mixing’, and ‘mastering’ are often incorrectly used interchangeably. They are inextricably linked in that one directly affects the other, but they are three distinct technical stages in the creation of a professional record.
Each stage has a different objective, workflow, and skill set, and confusing them often leads to compromised results. This article explains the technical differences between music production, mixing, and mastering, and why separating these processes is essential for optimal results.
What Is Music Production?
Music production is the creative and structural phase of a record. It focuses on what the song is, not how loud or polished it sounds.
Technical Focus
Composition & Harmony: Chord progressions, melodic development
Arrangement: Song structure (intro, verse, chorus, bridge), dynamic development
Instrumentation: Guitar parts, drum parts, bass parts, etc
Sound Selection & Design: Instrument choices, sonic decisions, loops & sampling
Creative Processing: Distortion, modulation, colouration
Key Technical Characteristics
Levels are not finalised
Frequency masking is often ignored in favour of creativity
Processing is creative, not corrective
Loudness is irrelevant
“A great arrangement will mix itself.”
At this stage, a track is being built, not polished. Decisions are made about emotion, energy, and identity. A great production can survive a mediocre mix; a poor production can not be fixed by a great mix, regardless of processing.
What Is Mixing?
Mixing is the technical process of blending and balancing all the recorded elements, the multi-tracks, into a cohesive stereo mix to be delivered as a stereo file. The goal is clarity, impact, and translation across all sound systems, not loudness.
Key Mixing Objectives
Gain Staging
Frequency Management
Dynamic Control
Spatial Placement
Automation
Phase Coherence and Mono Compatibility
Common Mixing Techniques
Gain Staging:
Clip gain
Monitoring meters to avoid clipping and accumulative volumes
Equalisation:
Subtractive EQ to reduce frequency masking
Additive EQ for tonal shaping and separation
Compression:
Dynamics control
Transient shaping and management
Parallel processing for texture, colour, and weight
Stero Imaging:
Spatial placement of parts, side-to-side, and front-to-back
Creating depth with reverb and delays
Phantom centre focus and mono compatibility
Automation:
Level riding to prioritise parts
Level riding for dynamic development
Level riding FX sends for ear candy, and movement
“Fix it in the mix” is a lazy attitude and guarantees poor results.
A mix engineer works inside the record, shaping individual elements, maintaining headroom, punch, and emotional intent, while ensuring the track translates across playback systems. The mix is not intended to be loud—it is intended to be balanced and expressive.
What Is Mastering?
Mastering is the final quality-control and optimisation stage. Unlike mixing, mastering engineers work on a stereo (or stem) mix, not individual tracks.
Mastering Technical Goals
Spectral Balance:
Broad EQ moves (often <1 dB)
Correcting mix-wide tonal issues
Dynamic Integrity:
Macro-dynamic control
Glue compression
Limiting with minimal distortion
Loudness Optimisation:
Competitive LUFS level
Platform-appropriate LUFS targets
Translation Assurance:
Consistency across playback systems
Phase correlation
Low-end control
Mono compatibility
Delivery Formatting:
Sample rate conversion
Dithering
Encoding checks
Metadata preparation
File delivery preparation for distribution; streaming, CD, vinyl, etc
Mastering Is Not
Fixing bad mixes
Re-balancing instruments
Adding effects like reverb
Heavy corrective EQ
Creative sound design
You can’t mix a master…
(read that again!)
Mastering is not about fixing problems in the mix—it is about enhancing and validating a mix so it performs reliably across all formats and environments. Think of it as the final 3-5% quality improvement.
Why Production, Mixing, and Mastering Should Be Separate
Each stage requires a different mindset. Separating these stages introduces critical objectivity. Fresh ears are essential for identifying tonal imbalance, low-frequency issues, excessive dynamics processing, or translation problems that are difficult to hear when you’ve lived with a track too long. Plus, a third-party set of ears will always hear something you haven’t.
Music production defines the song
Mixing communicates it clearly
Mastering ensures it translates everywhere
Understanding the difference between these stages helps artists make better decisions, allocate budgets effectively, and achieve results that stand out in a competitive, streaming-led industry.
If you need links and connections to producers or help with mixing and mastering, get in touch here.
