Hi, im a producer and im working with a artist on their E.P . The project is very nearly finished and i am planning to send the tracks off to be mixed next week.

ive got a few questions regarding stems, and i hope you guys can give me a bit of clarity.

I know the usual process would be to export stems relatively unprocessed and leave it up to the mix engineer to apply fx and processing, but the fx and processing are part of the sound in this case. for example, pitched down distorted ambient background vocals...


- so my first question is, what level of processing is acceptable to leave on the stems? what should i definitely NOT leave on? My A&R suggested i just export all my stems wet, as they are now. are there times when its acceptable to send all the stems processed, or does that make the mix engineers job impossible?

- second question, all my drum sounds that make up the beat are always on individual channels on the mixer, should i export each sound as separate stems or do you think that will annoy the mix engineer?should i leave compression on my kicks, reverbs on my snares?

-i have applied high pass filters and other processing on certain sounds out of habit, done some things that would usually be done in the mix, its just the way I've always worked. but now if i take off all the eq ect that I've done, the master fader may start clipping... so should i, export the stems with my eq? take Eq off and turn down the faders until its not clipping? or export the stems without eq but not worry about the master output at all as the mix engineer can adjust it?

Ive never sent my tracks to someone else to be mixed, so i have no idea where to start. it feels like a overwhelming job and any tips you guys have would be appreciated

 

this topic interests me too..someone who has the experience please elaborate..

 

i think its best you contact the person who intends to mix the project to ask what he wants.

typically stems is everything all packed up like

drums

bass

synth

etc but with the drums the kick and snare separated.

but you would benefit more from emailing them and having an understanding of what they want i assume you've already made contact with them.

 

Usually you should export all channels and leave -8db or -10db of headroom, you have to remove everything from your channel strips unless they are really important and change the sound...
Each sound as to be export separately.
Btw a good mix engineer knows is work and let him to that ;)

 

Send 2 copies 1st copy of all stems Dry, 2nd Wet etc as you hear it.

 

i do mastering for living, and i recommend my clients to deliver stereo tracks with a peak of -6dBFS and for stem mastering -10 to -8dBFS. -8dB if you have less then 4 stems, -10dB for more then 4 stems. That means, not all stems must have a peak of -8 or -10dB, but the loudest stem should.


Happy music making

 

usually headroom isn't that important, this is something we inherited from the pre-digital century,
without clipping there is nothing that gives the signal a downgrade in quality.

every mastering engineer should know how his faders work don't they? its just most are lazy, I find this only understandable if it's free
so if you pay for it this shouldn't be a required, if a engineer really needs this (witch some want for starting with clean ears),
he should use his own resources or his own guy to watch over this things (really for the amount of money is involved he should be able to handle the the pre mastering mix on his own don't they?)
especially if this is something that is to much to grasp u can eventually pay him or someone in his network to handle this

in your case I would prefer to have all tracks wet and dry and a wet master track, this would give me a good understanding about what you want,
if there are some mind gobbling effects a third half wet processed track would be useful.

 

Is the mixing engineer going to sum your stems or is he making a whole new mix??
How much room do YOU want to give the mixing engineer?
I would just send all busses (unprocessed) to let him sum your mix.

If you want him to make a better mix out of your samples/sounds, then send all your stems separate, exporting a dry and wet version.

Either way, Don't forget to include your original mixdown.

 

Thank you everyone for your comments, its a great help. after reading your comments and asking myself some questions, ive come to the conclusion i actually dont want the 'sounds' to change, i just want a cleaner better mix of my mix from a professional who understands the 'science' - of audio.

I think that having composed/written alot of this ep with the artist has actually made it harder to see how simple this part of the process should be. from creative careless freeflowing artist, to analytical precise and controlled producer, its hard to wear both hats sometimes..

I still havent decided exactly what that means for exporting the stems/sounds, lol but i definitely feel a lot less in the dark about it. ill post up my process when i export everything.

 

One question - should I do the volume automation or should I ask the mix engineer to do it? Also if Panning is used as an effect should I Pan it accordingly or should I give directions to the mix engineer so that he can Pan it 'by the book' ?

 

The best thing you could you is to give him the session itself. The mix engineer will have acces to all your automations and everything. That includes of course, you both have the same DAW.