Studio owners—who are frequently former recording engineers and musicians—are the professionals responsible for establishing, constructing, and running the recording studio as a business.

Music production is the creative process of composing, recording, arranging, editing, mixing, and mastering audio to create a final piece of music. Music production can be done in a professional studio setting or at home with digital audio workstations (DAWs) and virtual instruments.

Because some major recordings may take months and hundreds of hours in the studio, producers make sure the atmosphere is comfortable for the musicians. Most producers work closely with the recording engineers to get the most desirable sound quality during the session.