Here at Real Status Masters we charge standard mastering rates for projects that fit this criteria. Sending a beat or an instrumental stem with just one vocal stem is standard practice now. This can be as broad as an instrumental stem or as concentrated as different instrument sections. Now let's consider larger stem sections that may need work for final mix balancing. Isolate the problematic section or single stem to print down for stem mastering treatment. I am talking about the sonic and dynamic quality of the track and how it fits in the mix. That is something that will need fades or rerecording. To be clear, this is not the pops and clicks of a performance. This can be a single instrument or singled out section that has an issue with clarity and blending.
When considering how to designate stems, problematic elements are a great place to start. These two ideas will help organize on deciding your stem master prints.
Such sections are strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion. These each belong to larger instrument families which can be separated into sections. For large arrangements such as orchestras you’ll find trumpets, flutes, violins, and timpani to name a few. Instruments sections: When composing a song you have instruments of some sort to create sound. These are things that need to be treated for the sake of a song's listening quality but are not accomplished by the artist or mix engineer. Problematic elements: Regarding the mixing session there can be audio elements that are unbalanced or unclear. With all the layers of performances and time based processing in a session you will need to consolidate your mix session printing down performances based on larger groupings than just single instruments.īefore explaining any more let’s consider two things, as it concerns stem masters. Although you can send a single stem based on a problematic element in your song for standard master, any more than that we start delving into stem mastering territory. As mentioned before, stem mastering is done with only 3-5 stem masters.
But this series of individual track stems alone are not going to cut it for stem mastering. Following this practice for all your mix session tracks is the beginning of stem mixing. The audio file you will receive is your stem. Instead of leaving it as a heavily processed track I can take the performance and record it down to a new clean track to print that processing. For example, I’ll take a vocal performance and tune it, EQ it, compress it, give it the works. A stem is a track that has been recorded to print down the processing of the track prior. Lucky for you I can share with you the best way I know how to break down and organize your mix session for stem mastering.įirst let’s talk about what a stem is. If your session’s track number is up in the 20-30+ range, it may seem impossible to break your song down into simply 3-5 master stems. On the other end there is the issue of large sessions filled with tracks of mixed sounds that need a little more treatment to become cohesive. Dan Worral goes over this beautifully in his video “ In Defense of Stem Mastering”.
More often than not though, an artist that is looking for an expertise in mastering for seemingly impossible fixes deems for a better viable option to ensure their songs quality. This can yield a mastering engineer to request for stems. As a mastering engineer, after pushing back to mix, one can still find themself with a problematic snare. Although for musicians and beginner engineers it can be tough to pocket vocals or other prominent instruments in a mix (snare or lead guitar for example).
So how do you know if you need stem mastering? I want to say that more often than not a necessity for stem mastering can be fixed in your mixing session. Giving your mastering engineer stems I’m any case gives you a sense of security that your song or project will be ready to stream upon its initial return. This practice can be a game changer in your songs quality especially for track heavy mix sessions. This gives your mastering engineer the proper control your song may need. By breaking your song down into 3-5 stem masters you allow for more accurate processing to be done to your song or project. These will be mastered instead of one 2-track stereo bounce. Stem mastering begins with the process of creating 3-5 stem masters. The process of stem mastering however can change this broad stroke narrative. My article “ Making Great Masters” covers this. Any focus on individual elements, as far as single tracks, should be left for the mixing stage. The truth is that mastering is done with the entire mix considered. Do you ever send out your final mix, in 2-track stereo form, wondering how the mastering engineer is going to be able to treat a certain element of your song accurately.