Recording a great song is just the beginning of a long-drawn-out process of spinning out chart-busting albums. A finely crafted piece of art will need adequate technology-enabled processing before it is ready to dwell in the hearts of music fans. Through this article, we intend to take you through the journey of post-processing of music with easy-to-use tips, tricks, and best practices.

By the time you are done with the reading, you'll be convinced that the transformation of a finished song into a work of artistic elegance requires more than just singing talent and the right musical instruments.

This section is split into five sections, each section covering in depth a specific process leading to the creation of high quality, calibrated music.

1. The Mix Process
2. The Mix Itself
3. The Role of Compression at Mixdown
4. Software Mastering and Post-production
5. The Final Touch

We suggest that you approach this section with the curiosity of a kid solving a Rubik's Cube. The Cube is in your hands and the colors are all mixed up. Your job ends only when each face of the Cube is a single solid color. Initially, you may take longer to solve the puzzle. As you understand the workings of the Cube and practice often, you'll be able to reach your goal faster. The same principle applies to mixing as well.

This section describes the fundamentals of mixing and mastering, and presents the tools that are at your disposal to create the ultimate mix.

So what is mixing? In simple words, when you take a song, either finished or in the final stages of production, and with the aid of technology enhance the sounds emanating from various sources – musical instruments, orchestra, and so on – and neutralize all disturbances, you would have produced a stereo mix.

The process of creating a uniform stereo mix out of a multi-track recording includes leveling, equalizing, and finalizing any or all of the music components. Processing music is getting easier, cheaper, and faster everyday due to the multitude of software and hardware available. As a result digital recording is gaining in popularity, which is encouraging new musicians to learn the skills of mixing in a relatively shorter time. For the experts, technology has opened the doors for innovation by giving them more time to focus on the technical aspects of music. However, analog mixers continue to remain popular among the serious students of music.