Any good reads OF "stems" or groups of tracks to Master

Aaron Acosta

New member
With regard to stems, the groups of drums, synthy parts, and chorus pieces. I want to know how to master them separately and effectively, being new to mastering.

Can anyone point me to some easy readings on the internet? (FREE)
Although I'm not expecting to pay for anything, if at all possible..
 
Going back a post or so -- I assume you're talking about mixing.

Mastering is taking a (usually) collection of finished mixes and creating a production master (for replication / duplication / distribution, etc.).

Occasionally, mastering might be performed from stems, but those stems together = the stereo mix.
 
Aaron, no offense, it might just be me. But every time you start a new thread and ask a new question, I can't understand what the fuck you're talking about. Mastering stems, stereo vs. mono to make songs quieter, and the list goes on. I don't know, man. I just don't get anything you're asking or why you're asking it.
 
Aaron, no offense, it might just be me. But every time you start a new thread and ask a new question, I can't understand what the fuck you're talking about. Mastering stems, stereo vs. mono to make songs quieter, and the list goes on. I don't know, man. I just don't get anything you're asking or why you're asking it.

No, it's me.
 
It might not be. Like I said, I don't get your questions. That doesn't mean they don't make sense to you. It might very well be me.
 
Massive is pretty much correct. Stems are for lame mix engineers who can't make a damn decision and want to let the mastering engineer finish their job for them. Don't be that guy.
 
The asking of questions that make no sense at all comes from the fact that nowadays everyone wants the answers instantly. With the internet today the answer to almost every question is there in articles. Do a search and read the articles, don't just post questions that nobody can understand. When you have finished reading and have some knowledge of the subject, if there is anything that needs clarification then ask a question using the correct terminology so others can understand it.

Bloody hell, all I had when I started out were books that I had to buy, now everything is at your finger tips, use the resource.

Alan.
 
What, you're posting my Seinfelds now?

I invented posting Seinfeld.

If it's anyone, it's Seinfeld.
 
I'd like to apologize. If I had known better and not posted an articulation for a question then there would've been no confusion. Sorry everybody. Thank you for posting.
 
I'd like to apologize. If I had known better and not posted an articulation for a question then there would've been no confusion. Sorry everybody. Thank you for posting.

No reason to apologize. :cool:

I think the best advice I can give you is to not try to run before you can walk. :)
 
Aaron,
There are some mastering houses that refer to "stem mastering".
I have actually had "stem mastering" done.
I needed it because I couldn't fix some sound issues in my mix. The ME could & did fix them in the stems before recombining them to their original stereo configuration to "Master" them.
Really it's a deep mix fix done by an ME and needing to have it done reflects poorly on the source material &/or mixer.
Decent recordists and mixer should have the issues fixed at the recording stage preferably or by the time the mix is done.
 
Because mastering is not mixing..

I've seen people speak the word stems when they actually mean tracks..
Can I send you some stems to master? sure. ..umm there's 27 tracks here..

How do I master a stem ≠ how do I mix a track

Sending stems to mix/master = mixtering?

Working with "actual" stems (stereo/mono sub mixes) of selected grouped tracks is not so bad.
Could mean the client is better at writing and recording than mixing, .. so they'd like your advice and help to make the final calls.
They might not trust their mixing instincts so much, ...but enough to get their feet wet.
Low end could be out of whack in their room (not uncommon)
Hip hop: acapella, instrumental, Tv mix, full mix
etc. etc..

There's a lot of reasons that people would prefer to hand off stems.

Coming from a mixing background myself, I don't discount it,..
but there's more work involved that while could be a big initial challenge can often bring a better end product
than if the client is left to their own devices if they haven't been doing it for years
because in my book, being "really" good at mixing is hard .. as hard as being really good as anything.
 
Yeah, as I understand it, a lot of times it's that the mix engineer knows that it's going to have to be interpreted a number of different ways, so he kicks a couple of the decisions down the road to the guy who had to actually present it in the various formats.

It is generally nice if those stem tracks just fall together and sound finished and leave the ME just a couple of volume fader tweaks to do before he masters it as though you'd sent him a stereo track. I think normally you get the mix to where you think it should be, and then render subgroups of that exact mix.

This gets all fucked up, though, if you have any non-linear processing on your mix buss. That is, if you get the mix bumping through your favorite tape sim, the sound of that distortion is completely dependent on everything hitting it at the time. It will not do the same thing if you run the vocals through seperately from the rest of the band and then try to mix them. So there's a decision to make again, and I think most folks kick that down the road again.
 
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