TIER 3: Stem Mix and Master

TIER 3: Stem Mix and Master

$500.00

Sometimes a stereo master just isn’t enough to maximize a tracks potential. Working from stems allows our engineers to rebalance, clean up, and make the most out of your track. From making drums punchy to adding weight to your basslines, this allows for the most flexibility and ultimately the best results. 

*Package includes 2 hours of work on your track. Additional time will be billed pro-rata at an hourly rate of $175.

**Any additional requests for composition or production may result in additional fees and/or backend compensation. Additional work beyond the scope of this package is always pre-approved by the client.

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If ordering a Stereo Master or Stem Mix & Master, please read below;

Requirements for Stereo Master

First, render/bounce your track as a 16 or 24 bit .wav file with any master buss processing left on. This will serve as a “reference” mix for us to compare to while working on your new master. It gives us a better idea of what you are aiming for sonically and should help us get your mix they way you like it quicker.

Now for the Pre-Master, remove any master buss processing that has been added solely in the interest of Loudness. This includes aggressive compression, limiting, and saturation/clipping. EQ or gentle compression that is critical to the sound you have achieved in your current mix may be left on. Ensure that your mix doesn’t clip or peak over 0 dB and, if it does, reduce the gain to a suitable level before rending to a 24 bit .wav file. If you have multiple versions, you would like mastered (such as an extended or instrumental mix) repeat the process until you have all pre-masters ready for delivery.

Requirements for Stem Mix/Master

First, render/bounce your track as a 16 or 24 bit .wav file with any master buss processing left on. This will serve as a “reference” mix for us to compare to while working on your new master. It gives us a better idea of what you are aiming for sonically and should help us get your mix they way you like it quicker.

Now for the stems, remove any master buss processing that has been added solely in the interest of Loudness. This includes aggressive compression, limiting, and saturation/clipping. Multi-band compression should be removed as well. EQ or gentle compression that is critical to the sound you have achieved in your current mix may be left on.

Solo the track(s) for whatever group you would like to render. For example, if you are creating your “Drum” stem this may include snare/clap, hi-hat, loops, etc. If any of these elements are being bussed together and processed, leave that processing on. Render/bounce the stem as a 24 bit stereo .wav file and title it “SongName_Drums”. Repeat this process for all stems.

If an element has effects such as reverb or delay that are being sent to a bus, those effects should be printed to the main stem. A “Reverb” or “Delay” stem is not useful as it will likely contain many elements from different stems.

Most tracks can be condensed down to 6 basics stems: Kick, Drums, Bass, Synths/Music, Vocals, and SFX. However, it can be helpful in some instances to further breakout your stems if you are unhappy with the current balance and wish to provide more flexibility. Some examples of this would be multiple “synth” stems for chords/sustained synths and a lead synth.

Once you have run all stems for you track, open a new session in your DAW and import all stems. Give your track a listen to make sure you haven’t left anything out and that your mix sounds generally as you would expect it to. You will likely find your mix will peak over 0 dB as you no longer have compression/limiting to limit peaks and that is okay.

Once you have checked that all the above procedures have been followed, please place your files in a folder titled “SongName_Stems_xxxBPM” and compress it to a .zip for delivery.