When making tiered cakes do you use shallow pans and make 2 separate cakes to stack or use the deep 4inch pans and cut it into to layers?

Also, how do I know how much batter to make for the pans?

Thanks for the help, I'm brand spanking new to all this!

I use 2 inch pans and bake 2 cakes.Some say the 4 inch pans are a pain...The batter should come to 2/3 of the pan..Wilton has a batter chart in most of their yearbooks...otherwise just eyeball it.Most of us have been at this a long time you just get to know how much batter one mix will make to fill certain pans.HTH

There are a number of posts on this site that will tell you how much batter for each size.
Don't measure it That is sooooooo messy and inaccurate If you are using boxed mixes know that one mix is the perfect amount for one 10" round; OR one 8" sq OR one 12x8x2 layer OR (usually) one Wilton shaped pan OR 3 6" rounds.
What Kiddiekakes said is right on Fill your pans 2/3rds full and you won't go wrong. Also bake them at 325 degrees.

I always weight the pans to see if I have the same amount of batter in each one. Before I started doing that, one pan always had more than the other. My scale is a simple electronic kitchen scale, measures in pounds and grams.

I have weighed also when it has been extremely important to me that they are even, otherwise I eyeball the 2/3 full. I agree with don't measure. Too messy and surprisingly enough...inaccurate. Weight is the best way to go to be accurate IMO.

Thanks Ladies! You've been very helpful, I really appreciate it.