So I want to get in the habit of making stems of every track I finish from now on. For those unfamiliar that means printing each track(or sometimes a group of related tracks) to audio so if you need to change certain things you can just go back to these files and the session will still exist even if you are missing plugins/samples three years down the line.
Now here's what i'm confused about: I like to put Limiters/Compressors on the master to do a bit of squashing and get rid of the clipping. When I print my stems should I have the mastering effects(like t-racks) bypassed? If it's Active i suspect it won't accomplish much because when you combine all the stems later on they'll still need a mastering effect to keep them in check with clipping.
Anyone thought about this?
Making Stems - Master Effects Bypassed or Activated?
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- Tunesmith
- 2889 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from Toronto
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- KVRAF
- 9600 posts since 17 Sep, 2002 from Gothenburg Sweden
Leave it off. That way you keep the stems sounding like they should.
And when/if the times comes to redo the whole thing your mastering skills will be better and hopefully your plugins as well.
Plus if you change anything you'll need remastering anyway.
And when/if the times comes to redo the whole thing your mastering skills will be better and hopefully your plugins as well.
Plus if you change anything you'll need remastering anyway.
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- Tunesmith
- Topic Starter
- 2889 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from Toronto
One can only hope! Also do you do the print in 24 bit or do you just leave it at 16?jupiter8 wrote:And when/if the times comes to redo the whole thing your mastering skills will be better and hopefully your plugins as well.
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- KVRAF
- 13446 posts since 14 Nov, 2000 from Hannover / Germany
In case the source material is 16bit, there's no need to change that.
Just stick to the source format.
And no, of course no mastering FX. I'd probably even turn the individual compressors and EQs off.
Just stick to the source format.
And no, of course no mastering FX. I'd probably even turn the individual compressors and EQs off.
There are 3 kinds of people:
Those who can do maths and those who can't.
Those who can do maths and those who can't.
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- KVRist
- 255 posts since 13 Apr, 2005
I leave the master buss settings off, but note them EXACTLY in a text file in addition to saving my own presets. These stay in the project folder.
Stems are a really smart thing to do, I commend you for doing it. If you are doing in Cubase/Nuendo someone has made a tool to do all your tracks at once instead of one by one.
Stems are a really smart thing to do, I commend you for doing it. If you are doing in Cubase/Nuendo someone has made a tool to do all your tracks at once instead of one by one.
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- Tunesmith
- Topic Starter
- 2889 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from Toronto
Thanks for the replies. Jason; I own a program called Silverspike Tapeit2 which might be very similar to what you mentioned. I also know people are using Tobybear's program.
Here's where it might get more confusing - sometimes I'm asked to deliver stems but they will be used in a fasion where it's supposed to be mixed. For example a film producer wanted my stems so they could gradually bring in instruments to fit the picture. In this situation I wanted the mastering effects on but was worried that when they import the stems into Final Cut that they would still clip cause the mastering effect wasn't dealing with all the tracks at once. What to do in this situation?
Here's where it might get more confusing - sometimes I'm asked to deliver stems but they will be used in a fasion where it's supposed to be mixed. For example a film producer wanted my stems so they could gradually bring in instruments to fit the picture. In this situation I wanted the mastering effects on but was worried that when they import the stems into Final Cut that they would still clip cause the mastering effect wasn't dealing with all the tracks at once. What to do in this situation?
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Muzik 4 Machines Muzik 4 Machines https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=9550 - KVRAF
- 7829 posts since 6 Oct, 2003 from Quebec
what_tool_for_cubase
i_definately_eb_interested_in_that!
i_definately_eb_interested_in_that!
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
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- KVRist
- 382 posts since 6 Apr, 2005 from Fair NJ, the Garden State, US
"Stems" are submix busses, just to avoid confusion. Was talking to a mastering engineer in a session yesterday, and he was telling me that he's had people walk in with all their tracks and calling it "stems."
When I print stems, which I actually never do, for a normal rock song, I'd print drums (w/o kick), kick & bass, and vox. Route them all off the 2-buss, take any fx off the 2-buss, and print that too. So you'll have 4 stems -- drums, kick & bass, vox, and everything else (including reverb returns etc, unless there's a special snare verb or vocal verb you want to route its respective stem).
The real benefit of stems is it can help the M.E. bail you out if you really screw something up.
For preserving tracks for the future, just RENDER each track with a separate instance of TapeIt or whatever, and keep that for future generations. I never do that either.
When I print stems, which I actually never do, for a normal rock song, I'd print drums (w/o kick), kick & bass, and vox. Route them all off the 2-buss, take any fx off the 2-buss, and print that too. So you'll have 4 stems -- drums, kick & bass, vox, and everything else (including reverb returns etc, unless there's a special snare verb or vocal verb you want to route its respective stem).
The real benefit of stems is it can help the M.E. bail you out if you really screw something up.
For preserving tracks for the future, just RENDER each track with a separate instance of TapeIt or whatever, and keep that for future generations. I never do that either.
Grist for the glamour mill.