# Delivering 'stems' to a 5.1 mixing pro



## Rob Elliott (Mar 1, 2008)

Hi there,

This film I just finished the Director has upped the budget to allow a mixer to put everything in 5.1.


This is new to me so I was hoping someone could advise on a couple items:


1. I will provide 'stems' (strings, ww's, brass, etc.) to him. He has Altiverb XL (5.1), so I give him 24 bit / 48K stems (without any AV here)?

2. I am using SvK's (3 ER's and 3 tails on send/return template on Todd AO - which I love). The mixer said he could use those same instances. What is the best way to send him those settings? AV presets of each instance?


3. I am a little nervous of him having all that 'final mix' capability on my music. He is suppose to be real good. But any advice here of things I should tell him?


--any other advice would be appreciated. He did say if I wasn't happy with the first cue he did this way that I could just provide him with Stereo mixes like I have now (with my doing the AV) and he would wash just a little 5.1 IR over it (if I understood him correctly.)


Many thanks in advance for any help / advice you may have.

Rob


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## Christian Marcussen (Mar 1, 2008)

The one thing I can think of now is to supply him with a stereo mix of how you feel the track should sound. That will give him a better idea of what levels you think the different sections should have. 

I understand your fears


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## Cinesamples (Mar 1, 2008)

Rob,

I would print the mixer a Stereo Mix Demo of what you are comfortable with.

Then from their I would bounce down to the individual elements as wav files. If possible I would also bounce the reverb for each element to a separate track. A simple formula is to stick the music in front L/R and the verb in rear L/R. And maybe pan a few elements to the .1 sub or the rear surrounds. 

Depending upon the project and what is going on in the scene they will either use that formula or do it more fancy.


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## jeffc (Mar 1, 2008)

I would MIX your music and deliver it as a finished mix. I wouldn't leave the reverb up to the scoring mixer. They always generally add a bit more at the dub, but I've never heard of anyone delivering things DRY (basically an unfinished mix) to the dub stage.

As far as the 5.1, even if the final mix is in 5.1, which most are these days, you can still deliver your normal stereo stems. They will then just fold these into the 5.1 matrix at the dub. OR you can deliver 5.1 stems - where each of your stems would be 6 channels, instead of 2 for stereo. If you recorded things (i.e. an orchestra) in 5.1, then mixing and delivering your music stems in 5.1 makes sense because the 5.1 info is there. But if all your music (samples, or acoustic recordings) are stereo, them I'd just mix your music in stereo, and let the dubbing mixer put it in the 5.1.

Think about this, every source song in a film is from a stereo master (CD usually). but the mixer can still make it sound like 5.1 in the dub.

For me, on Tv (a CSI:Miami dub for example) I just deliver 5 finished stereo stems - 4 splits and the stereo reference. The mixer will take care of putting things into 5.1 at the dub. On a film where we recorded the orch in 5.1, well do the music mix in 5.1 - delivering 4 5.1 split stems and a 5.1 full mix stem - so it's 30 channels wide. Kind of nuts, sometimes the stems have more tracks than the original sessions!

But in any case, I'd never leave things dry for the mixer to take care of the reverb. They've got a million other things to worry about - dialogue, SFX, music. Their job is to mix all the elements together in the best possible way. Not to mix the individual elements.

Just my opinion, of course.


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## Rob Elliott (Mar 1, 2008)

jeffc @ Sat Mar 01 said:


> I would MIX your music and deliver it as a finished mix. I wouldn't leave the reverb up to the scoring mixer. They always generally add a bit more at the dub, but I've never heard of anyone delivering things DRY (basically an unfinished mix) to the dub stage.
> 
> As far as the 5.1, even if the final mix is in 5.1, which most are these days, you can still deliver your normal stereo stems. They will then just fold these into the 5.1 matrix at the dub. OR you can deliver 5.1 stems - where each of your stems would be 6 channels, instead of 2 for stereo. If you recorded things (i.e. an orchestra) in 5.1, then mixing and delivering your music stems in 5.1 makes sense because the 5.1 info is there. But if all your music (samples, or acoustic recordings) are stereo, them I'd just mix your music in stereo, and let the dubbing mixer put it in the 5.1.
> 
> ...





Thanks Jeff - this entire score is samples (VSL primarily) and I really feel ucomfortable (he being in CA and me up here in UTAH).


So in summary- I'll send him the cues (fully mixed here in Stereo and he puts them into 5.1 at the dub.)?


Many thanks


Rob


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