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STEM MASTERING

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Purpose of Mastering

Why should you consider getting your project mastered? The primary reason is to enhance the sound quality. However, even more crucially, mastering elevates the listening experience and cultivates a stronger connection between the listener and the music, free from any abrupt interruptions.

Additionally, mastering serves to establish a cohesive thread and smooth flow across an album, ensuring it feels unified to the listener. Finally, it allows for the adaptation of the material for different distribution formats.

Our engineers pay special attention to the vocal levels within the mix, ensuring that each track on an album is balanced against the others, and maintaining consistent sound across all tracks. Their approach can range from minimal intervention (when the mix is already excellent) to making detailed adjustments for every individual track.

Methods to accomplish the above may involve equalization (EQ), compression, and/or limiting. Additionally, tweaking levels, incorporating pauses between tracks, and implementing fade-ins and fade-outs are essential components of the mastering process that enhance color, tone, and define the overall attributes and character.

What is stem mastering?

Stem mastering involves utilizing stems to master a song instead of relying solely on a stereo mixdown. This approach provides the mastering engineer with enhanced creative possibilities and artistic control over the mix. While stem mastering is not the same as mixing, it offers additional flexibility to address any artistic issues or balance concerns.

The number of stems utilized in the mastering process varies based on the project's complexity as well as the expectations and objectives set between the client and the engineer.

What are stems?

Stems consist of stereo mixes created from several individual tracks, provided without any master bus effects. For instance, you might have a stem for guitars, another for vocals, and one for synths—each group mixed down and consolidated with the specific processing applied to each track. This can encompass elements like reverb, EQ, and any dynamic processing tailored to the individual track.

When should you use Stem Mastering over Stereo Mastering?

When contemplating the choice between stem mastering and stereo mastering, there are several factors to take into account. If you are satisfied with your mix, traditional stereo mastering is likely the best option. It typically requires less time, is more cost-effective, and still provides that essential final touch to your mix.

What are the benefits?

Stem mastering enables our engineers to conveniently access and isolate specific elements of a mix, giving them the ability to adjust the EQ and dynamics of the music without any compromises. While the engineer might not need to modify every stem, this process offers the flexibility to do so if necessary.

Stem mastering can be straightforward, utilizing just two stems (such as vocal and instrumental), or it can involve multiple stems. The use of more stems provides enhanced flexibility and greater control over the sound.

How to bounce your stems for mastering

When sending files to an engineer for stem mastering and you are handling the bounce yourself, keep the following points in mind:

  1. Consolidate and bounce stems so the start and end times of each line up that way the engineer can just drop them into a new session and get to work.

  2. Label files accordingly. Whether you have 3 stems or 6, make sure the engineer knows which stem is which.

  3. Remove any overall bus processing such as limiting. As in a stereo mastering session, it’s best to let the mastering engineer add any limiting at the very end of the process.

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