# Stems



## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

I have spent a fair bit of time this week getting my project template to a point where it`s really well organised, and so far it`s miles tidier to look at and to work around. I was just wondering what you would recommend for the final stem mixes? I think I have too many so feel free to suggest a more efficient way.

My stem mixes are:

Strings
Woodwinds
Brass
Percussion
Pianos
Synths
Nylon String Guitars
Steel String Guitars
Electric Guitars
Sound Design no reverb
Sound Design with reverb
Superior Drummer 
Booms
Impacts
Whooshes
Drones
Basses
Downers
Vocals

I`m aware there is a lot here, so any pointers I`ll be glad to hear them!

Cheers.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 8, 2017)

Actually I have a similar amount, just a little different.

High Strings
Low Strings
High Brass
Mid Brass
Low Brass
High Woodwinds
Low Woodwinds
Mallets
Drums
Keyboards (piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, etc.)
Synths
Electric Guitars
Acoustic Guitars
Lead Vox
Bkg Vox
Basses
FX sounds

And I always print them with only the FX on the channel strips that are intrinsic to the sound I want, no sends to verbs, etc. unless I am delivering them to a mixer who wants them with my FX.


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## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

Ashermusic said:


> Actually I have a similar amount, just a little different.
> 
> High Strings
> Low Strings
> ...




Hi Jay,

That`s useful to know, thank you. A question if I may...

I know some people split them like yourself (hi strings, low strings). What is the advantage of this? I know of people who have also split them as shorts and longs. Any thoughts on this too?


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## Ashermusic (Apr 8, 2017)

Smikes77 said:


> Hi Jay,
> 
> That`s useful to know, thank you. A question if I may...
> 
> I know some people split them like yourself (hi strings, low strings). What is the advantage of this? I know of people who have also split them as shorts and longs. Any thoughts on this too?




Just more control when I mix, in case I want to rethink my balances.


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## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

Ashermusic said:


> Just more control when I mix, in case I want to rethink my balances.




And, why do you print them without the reverb sends?


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## Ashermusic (Apr 8, 2017)

Smikes77 said:


> And, why do you print them without the reverb sends?



Once again, freedom to rethink them. my engineer hat sometimes fits differently than my composer hat


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## Ryan (Apr 8, 2017)

Right now, working on a TV-series I use this regime. This is as a composer's assistant. Would not use exactly this setup when working on my own stuff. 

PERK1
PERK2
PULS
FLYT1 (floats)
FLYT2 (floats)
BASS
SYNTH
EFFEKT
STRYK (instruments played with a bow)
MELODIC

STEREOMIX 
&
QUICKTIME

Best
Ryan


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## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

Ashermusic said:


> Once again, freedom to rethink them. my engineer hat sometimes fits differently than my composer hat



Fair enough! Thanks Jay, that`s all really handy to know.


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## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

Ryan said:


> Right now, working on a TV-series I use this regime. This is as a composer's assistant. Would not use exactly this setup when working on my own stuff.
> 
> PERK1
> PERK2
> ...




That is a little more unusual. Specific to the project would you say?


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## Ryan (Apr 8, 2017)

Smikes77 said:


> That is a little more unusual. Specific to the project would you say?



Absolutely. Like I said. This is as an extra composer- (ghost writer)/ assistant. But I think this setup is quite normal in series. As few stems as possible = less work/less mixing = more music made.

Also it's easier to change mood by simply modifying the volume of some of this stems. 
with movies we use a whole different STEM-setup.


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## Maxime Luft (Apr 8, 2017)

Well I bet that my list is a bit longer but I'm just doing so for myself and then mix them according to how the concerned label wants it to be.

Strings high shorts
Strings high longs
Strings low shorts
Strings low longs

Horns
Trumpets
Mid+Low brass (trombones, tuba, cimbassi)

Woodwinds high
Woodwinds low

Solo vocals
Choir 

Piano
Harp
Guitar
Bass guitar

Orchestral percussion pitched high
Orchestral percussion pitched low (mainly just the timps)
Orchestral percussion non-pitched high (cymbals / snare etc.)
Orchestral percussion non-pitched low

Ethnic percussion high/small (usually pretty busy)
Ethnic percussion low/big (typically not that busy)
Shakers
Metal hits

High-hats
Risers long
Risers short
Synth ambient
Synth pulses high
Synth pulses low
Drum snare
Drum toms
Kick
Downers
Sub booms


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## JohnG (Apr 8, 2017)

There are two (maybe three) main distinctions when you're listing stems:

1. Stems you send to dubbing mixer (not as many)
2. Stems you send to have engineer mix your stuff (a lot)
3. Stems you prepare for a recording session where an orchestra is going to sweeten / replace your tracks (many, many stems)

My list for the latter two -- *engineer mix / pre-live record stems* would be more like that of @Maxime Luft -- quite detailed ^^. I have nine stems just for percussion, for example, not including a drum kit. If the material _does _have a drum kit, there are even more.

The number and specifics of stems for the *dub stage* depend enormously on the situation:

a. the time they have to mess with music,
b. their inclination and ability to mess with music,
c. the type of material (guitar/drum based, or traditional orchestra, or hybrid / orchestra...)

Sometimes they don't want stems unless it's a crisis. I have worked on projects with practically zero time to dub and all they asked for were two: perc + "everything else"


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Apr 8, 2017)

I suggest breaking down the percussion into something like high/mid/low or and pitched/unpitched. It's pretty common to get asked for a "PBH" stem which is piano, bells, and harp so if you work the bells in separately you have the flexibility of creating that stem easily.


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## Smikes77 (Apr 8, 2017)

JohnG said:


> There are two (maybe three) main distinctions when you're listing stems:
> 
> 1. Stems you send to dubbing mixer (not as many)
> 2. Stems you send to have engineer mix your stuff (a lot)
> ...



In your stems to the dubbing mixer, how many is typical? (ball park - less than 10?) Do you ask them what they need?


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## JohnG (Apr 8, 2017)

Smikes77 said:


> Do you ask them what they need?



I always ask and they usually have pretty specific requirements / requests.

Sometimes they can accommodate a lot, sometimes not that many, or they don't want that many unless they run into a real problem. I am set up on my standard PT template to print 10 stems, but quite often my engineer prepares what they want in the very end anyway.

At a minimum you want to break out tracks that might, in a different room or against dialogue, get in the way of the film's overall sound, or just poke out too much. So you would always break out:

1. Percussion
2. Solo or major featured elements
3. Conspicuous effect / sound design elements that might stick out
4. Anything vocal

Beyond that, sometimes it's incredible how much detail people ask for, sometimes they really aren't set up to juggle much. It also can depend on whether you recorded live, with multiple mics for a 5.1 setup or something like that, in which case the number of stems can balloon.


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## jonathanprice (Apr 8, 2017)

If I'm delivering for advertising, I'll print as many stems as possible with no fx, since the music house will want to re-mix/edit the music, and the client has the time to spend on tweaking a 30-60 second spot. For film, my stems are:

WW
BR
PERC
KEY (includes harp)
SYNTH
VOX
STR
LFE (if used)
MIX

This can vary by project, but it's my starting point. My film template is set up so that my MIDI tracks are sent to stem-busses that each have effects on them (reverb, compressor/limiter, special). These busses are then routed to my master (no effects on my master) and my printed stems. So my overall mix is exactly what the sum of my stems would be.


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## goalie composer (Apr 8, 2017)

Here's a great reference I like to use when organizing / prepping stems for my engineer: http://www.mcgowansoundworks.com/Preparing_Cues_For_Mixing_Rev_1.3_0215.pdf


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## Tiko (Apr 17, 2017)

At the moment my stem list looks something like this:

Piano
Piano Surround
Strings Long
Strings Long Surround
Strings Short
Strings Short Surround
Brass Long
Brass Long Surround
Brass Short
Brass Short Surround
Winds Long
Winds Long Surround
Winds Short
Winds Short Surround
Choirs
Choirs Surround
Synths
Synths Surround
Pads
Pads Surround
High Percussion
Low Percussion
Low Percussion Surround
Mallets
Mallets Surround
Guitars
Guitars Surround

And then the occasional random stuff that isn't included in my template. My template is routed so that I can easily render stems of every instrument separately as well.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Apr 17, 2017)

My television mixers like 6 stems. So I give them Bass, Guitars, Percs, Piano, Strings, Synths.


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## sazema (Apr 17, 2017)

Here is my standard setup:

Main groups (folders)
Perc
Woodwinds
Brass
Strings
Elements (piano, harp, synths, choir, etc)

Aux groups (just for summing of all groups separately)
Perc AUX
WW AUX
Brass AUX
Strings AUX
Elements AUX

FX section
Rev1, Rev2... (it depends, mostly I'm using only 1 reverb, sometimes for each group separately with different pre-delay values)
Delay (for percussive stuff)

Final pre-master bus section
Dry bus (all dry group signals)
Wet bus (input from all FX channels)

With DRY/WET I have ability to balance rev(fx)/dry signal for example.
My latest stem was made even without group aux channels etc, just one reverb. I posted raw Reaper screen on YT.


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