Knowing what stems are and how they’re used is important, especially when it comes to mixing and if you’re collaborating with other producers or studios. Here’s a quick video of what they are and how they can be used:
There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what stems actually are, even amongst those who have been professionally working in the industry! They’re often mistaken for individual multitracks. So, let’s clarify a few things.
Stems are a stereo file of sub-mixed/grouped, processed sounds, having some degree of EQ and compression, or effects, mixed together – like a drum kit for example.
Multitracks are the raw, unedited and mostly unprocessed individual tracks. The bass drum, the snare, hi hat, etc.
There are many instances when it might be applicable to send stems, especially when collaborating with other musicians or producers. In the case of sending your files to a mastering engineer, or a producer who is to remix your song, you need to know how to quickly get these key elements and groups of sounds from your DAW to theirs. You can export one stem at a time by soloing/selecting tracks, but this can be quite time consuming. Luckily, most DAWs now contain features which allow you to swiftly make choices in the preferences tab of your export panel. Here’s an example from Cubase:
There are lots of other instances when it may be necessary to produce stems, so make sure you know what the process is all about and organise your workflow accordingly.
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