A coating apparatus having a first slot between its front and center edges and a second slot between its center and back edges, wherein a coating solution is extruded continuously from each of the slots onto the surface of a flexible support running continuously along the edge surfaces of the front, center, and back edges in that order.The front edge surface has a straight-line portion on at least the terminal end portion of the front edge so that the straight-line portion extends along the direction of movement of the support and is not longer than one mm, and at least one portion of the center and back edge surfaces protrudes from the extension line of the straight-line toward the support.The coating apparatus is suitable for preparing magnetic recording media.