Services / Stem Mastering / File Prep
← Back to Stem MasteringFile Prep Guide
PREP FOR
STEM MASTERING.
Stem mastering gives me independent control over 4–8 instrument groups before the master chain. That means structural issues can be resolved at the mastering stage instead of bounced back to the mix. The trade-off: the stems have to be printed cleanly. A bad stem print costs more time than a bad stereo bounce because it compounds across every element.
01 / Why this matters
FIVE MINUTES NOW.
SAVES HOURS LATER.
Stem mastering is only worth the premium if the stems are usable. If they are not printed at unity, if the start times are inconsistent, if the bus processing was left on, the stems either sum incorrectly or force me into damage control instead of artistic moves. Spend an extra 15 minutes printing properly and you get the full value of the service.
02 / Pre-flight checklist
THE CHECKLIST.
Run through this before you hit bounce. Every item here is something I have seen go wrong on a real session.
- 01
Bounce stems at 24-bit WAV, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz
- 02
Each stem starts from the SAME sample 0 — drag in a DAW and they line up exactly
- 03
Leave 6 dB of headroom per stem — no individual stem peaking above -6 dBFS
- 04
Stem groupings: Drums (or kick / snare / hats / cymbals / drum bus), Bass, Synths, Guitars, Vocals (lead / harmonies / ad-libs), FX
- 05
Remove ALL bus processing from your master output
- 06
Reference tracks (1–3 commercial songs) + brief notes on your direction
03 / Common mistakes
DON'T DO
THESE.
The patterns that show up across every revision-heavy session.
Mistake 01
Stems printed at different levels
Every stem should be printed at unity gain — same fader position as the final mix, same routing. If you pull the drum bus down 3 dB before printing, the stems will not sum to the original mix balance. Bounce with all internal levels intact.
Mistake 02
Inconsistent start times
Every stem must start at bar 1 / 0:00:00, even if the instrument does not enter until later. Silence is fine. Inconsistent start times force me to manually align everything before I can begin.
Mistake 03
Bus processing left on the master
Take any limiter, glue compressor, or master bus EQ off before printing stems. You can leave processing on the individual sub-buses (drum bus comp, vocal bus reverb) — that bakes in the sound you mixed to. Just clear the master bus.
Mistake 04
Too few stems
If you send 2 stems (instrumental + vocal), you have effectively booked stereo mastering at a premium price. The minimum useful split is 4: drums, bass, music, vocals. 6–8 stems is the sweet spot.
Mistake 05
Too many stems
Past 10 stems we are doing a mix, not a master. If you find yourself printing each individual track, you actually need full mix + master, not stem mastering.
04 / File format
THE SPEC.
- Format: WAV or AIFF
- Bit depth: 24-bit
- Sample rate: matches your session (44.1 or 48 kHz)
- Channels: stereo interleaved per stem
- Each stem starts at the exact same timestamp (bar 1 / 0:00:00)
- Standard stem groups: Drums / Bass / Music / Vocals / FX / Lead
05 / Naming convention
NAME IT
LIKE A PRO.
Folder named `ArtistName_TrackTitle_Stems_v01/`, with stems inside named `01_Drums.wav`, `02_Bass.wav`, `03_Music.wav`, etc. Numbered prefix keeps them in order in any file browser.
06 / Reference tracks
SEND
REFERENCES.
Same as stereo — 1–3 references with one-sentence cues per track. For stem mastering, also flag any specific element you want me to push or pull. 'Bring the lead up against the drums' or 'tighten the low end without losing kick punch' are exactly the kind of notes the format lets me execute.
07 / Final check
BEFORE
YOU SEND.
Sum your stems back into a single bounce inside your DAW. Compare it to your original mix bounce. If they sound different, a stem is wrong — usually a fader position or bus processing inconsistency. Fix the discrepancy before sending.
Ready to book
PREP DONE.
LET'S WORK.
Pre-flight clean? Bounce ready? Send it through and lock the brief on the onboarding call.
Book Stem Mastering