Can someone here please list the steps in a typical recording
for me, and clear up some terminology?

I had thought it was something like

1) multitracking
2) mixing to two-track -- the 'raw' stereo version
3) mastering of the two-track -- the 'reference', original master tape(s)
4) subsequent copying and re-mastering of the OMT
for a particular format -- e.g. LP

But I'm being told that #2 and #3 aren't separate; that the
two-track mixdowns *are* the original masters.
I'm trying to get a handle on what is meant by the term
'original master tapes'. Are these these the same as
two-track mixdown tapes made from multitrack masters?
Or has further processing been done to them? And what
is the difference between the original masters, and
a 'production master'? And what exactly is 'pre-mastering'?

Is there an original master tape for each track, or
is the entire album contained on one or two original master
tapes?


--

-S.

"They've got God on their side. All we've got is science and reason."
-- Dawn Hulsey, Talent Director