I get it-like someone handing you the key to a toolbox, giving you a stack of parts, and a working engine than saying "Take these parts and make that engine" and no more. Most would find that not only daunting but also frustrating, discouraging and possibly hopeless. So let me just say right off -I want to encourage you to try anything and if it helps , USE it. I am a firm believer that putting something on paper as it were , can help you organize your thoughts, workflow, whatever. Also I don't think anyone meant to bust on your ideas, we're just people who are passionate about something which makes us opinionated. So let me just expand a bit on Rob's points: Each of the boxes in this map, as well as the map are processes,"tools" used in recording, creating, mixing, mastering audio. In order to use these tools(including most vehemently , the chart itself), as would be engineers we must know A: What is this? B:Why is it used/needed? C: How is it used/needed? The chart ostensibly only shows "when". What many of us are arguing is the "when", because it should flow naturally from the why. So that if we understand why we are using something it will point towards the when to use it. IMHO we are all constantly learning and when doing any sort of creative endeavor there is an infinite amount of information, but also something very special- while building a mix or an engine, skipping steps, omitting parts, adding unknown parts can not only cause a disaster(and a learning experience) but also we might come up with something great. So learn what your tools are, why they are used, how they are used and when they are used then throw out all those rules and try everything you can think of cuz the more you do this stuff, the better you get. And have fun. Music should be a joy.