# Logic pro x: stems



## Tobias A. Ratka (Feb 10, 2020)

Hey guys,

so I'm currently supposed to bounce my stems for a production company. Honestly, so far I've either mixed & mastered on my own or bounced dry stems for mixing. Now, they want mixed GROUPstems for mastering. But I'm facing two issues:

1) My reverb(s) are running over seperate channels, routed through busses. The channels are in my timeline, not just in the mixer. The problem is that my short strings AND my long strings (for example) run into the same bus, but need to be bounced seperately. If I solo only the long strings together with the reverb track, then the reverb track doesn't bounce. But if I unsolo everything and choose the option to "bounce my selceted regions as audio files", then the reverb includes the short string reverb, but not the actual short string midi data. Is there a solution to my problem? Other than creating a second bus-channel for the short strings?


2) Since they want grouped stems, I can't just bounce every channel as an audio file, but I have to bounce the region as audio file. If I do that, I can't tell logic to end each stem at the end of the project, which means the stems have different lengths. That is also a big problem.



I'd need help asap, since this must be done within the next days and I have been literally trying anything already.



Thank you in advance
Toby


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## gsilbers (Feb 10, 2020)

the way logic is trying users to do stems is by making folders with the stems you wantt o bounce. then create a region using the pencil tool the area u want to bounce. its an empty region. then select that empty region on the folder track and do bounce in plance. 

or you can create a set of new tracks. assign busses and inputs with names. then on the tracks you have to bounce, you change the output to one of those new tracks. then press record and bounce all stems in one pass.


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## charlieclouser (Feb 10, 2020)

Here is how I do it:

- Create a Marker exactly where you want the start of all the bounced files to be, and another one exactly where you want those files to end. If timecode is important, go into the Marker List and type in the exact timecode points. Lock the Markers so they won't move.

- Turn Cycle on, and make sure the left and right boundaries of the Cycle range are exactly on those Markers. I have key commands to do this. 

- If you have multiple Instruments / Audio Tracks that hit the same effects but need to be separate bounces, in the Main Window select all of the regions that you want in the first bounce pass. You do not need to select Tracks, only the REGIONS that you want in the bounce.

- Turn on Object Solo. Not the solo buttons on the Track Headers, the little "S" in the square box in the Control Bar. I have a key command to do this. Now only the selected Regions will play - it's as though you've muted or deleted everything that wasn't selected before you hit solo. All audio pathways are still open and functional.

- Do the bounce. 

- Repeat the process for each set of Regions that are part of each stem.

Your bounced files will be exactly the length of the Cycle, provided you did not enable "Include Audio Tail" in the Bounce dialog. You can also skip the steps involved in setting the Markers and Cycle length if you just want to bounce to a length in bars+beats - you can type in the start and end of your desired Bounce directly in the Bounce dialog, but you'll need to do it every time and you can not type in timecode numbers, only bars+beats, so setting Markers at exact timecode points and using them as the boundaries for the Cycle range ensures that you are bouncing a precise range. The start+end points in the Bounce dialog are initially whatever the Cycle range is, if a Cycle range is set.

This process requires bouncing each stem as a separate pass, but if you've got a bunch of elements sharing an effect or audio path, using Object Solo will ensure that only the desired elements will produce sound, but that all audio pathways, busses, effects, etc. are open and functional.

When I don't feel like booting up my ProTools rig to print stems, or I only need to bounce three stems or whatever, this is the process I use. The resulting bounced files will all be exactly the same length and include only the Regions that were Object Solo'ed. I sometimes use color coding of Regions to indicate which bounce they should be a part of - select a bunch of Regions by shift-clicking until I have the ones I want in the first bounce, then color code them all to the same color, then Object Solo, then Bounce. Un-solo, select the next bunch of Regions (but none of the ones I just bounced), make them a different color, Object Solo, bounce. Repeat.

One great feature about doing it this way is that you can have two Regions on the same Track each be part of a different bounce. Say you have a single VI track that has a cinematic boom and a high drone at two different points in the cue - select the first region and make it part of one bounce, then include the second region in a different bounce.

I've done it this way for 16 years or so. Perfect every time.


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## Tobias A. Ratka (Feb 10, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> Here is how I do it:
> 
> - Create a Marker exactly where you want the start of all the bounced files to be, and another one exactly where you want those files to end. If timecode is important, go into the Marker List and type in the exact timecode points. Lock the Markers so they won't move.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much! I'll try that out as soon as I'm back in the studio


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## charlieclouser (Feb 10, 2020)

Another neat trick if you are using color-coding of Regions to indicate what stem / bounce they should be a part of:

There is a key command called "Select Equal Colored Objects", so you can select one orange region, hit this command, and all orange regions are selected. Turn on Object Solo, and boom - the orange stem is ready to bounce. Since Regions inherit the color of the Audio Object they are assigned to, you can do all sorts of quick things this way.

That command also works in the Environment and elsewhere, so if you're diligent with color-coding you can think of lots of useful applications for it.


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## Tobias A. Ratka (Feb 11, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> Here is how I do it:
> 
> - Create a Marker exactly where you want the start of all the bounced files to be, and another one exactly where you want those files to end. If timecode is important, go into the Marker List and type in the exact timecode points. Lock the Markers so they won't move.
> 
> ...


Concerning this: so, everytime I start the bounce, the cycle turns off and the stems continue to stop right after the last midi region, not at the end of the track. Am I doing something wrong?


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## charlieclouser (Feb 11, 2020)

Tobias A. Ratka said:


> Concerning this: so, everytime I start the bounce, the cycle turns off and the stems continue to stop right after the last midi region, not at the end of the track. Am I doing something wrong?



Well, this shouldn't happen unless you are using "Bounce Regions In Place" or "Bounce Tracks In Place". Both of those functions bring up a different dialog with different options.

Do not use those. If you use the normal "Bounce..." key command, or hit the "Bnce" button at the lower right of your Main Output fader, it should bounce the entire Cycle range. It is normal that it looks like Cycle turns off while you do the bounce, but it will re-appear once the bounce is finished.

This is what the normal "Bounce..." dialog looks like, is this what you're seeing?


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## Salorom (Feb 11, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> Here is how I do it:
> 
> - Create a Marker exactly where you want the start of all the bounced files to be, and another one exactly where you want those files to end. If timecode is important, go into the Marker List and type in the exact timecode points. Lock the Markers so they won't move.
> 
> ...



This is how I do things too, most flexible way of exporting stems in Logic in my experience


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## Tobias A. Ratka (Feb 11, 2020)

charlieclouser said:


> Well, this shouldn't happen unless you are using "Bounce Regions In Place" or "Bounce Tracks In Place". Both of those functions bring up a different dialog with different options.
> 
> Do not use those. If you use the normal "Bounce..." key command, or hit the "Bnce" button at the lower right of your Main Output fader, it should bounce the entire Cycle range. It is normal that it looks like Cycle turns off while you do the bounce, but it will re-appear once the bounce is finished.
> 
> This is what the normal "Bounce..." dialog looks like, is this what you're seeing?


It worked now! Thanks!


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## charlieclouser (Feb 11, 2020)

Tobias A. Ratka said:


> It worked now! Thanks!



Good! Just remember to turn Cycle on before doing the bounce, otherwise Logic will try to bounce the entire project and might give you a length drastically longer or shorter than you want.


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## charlieclouser (Feb 11, 2020)

Also, be aware that the normal "Bounce..." command will bounce any and all audio that appears at the Main Outputs 1+2 - including Click, audio from QuickTime movies in the session, etc. So be careful to mute what you don't want included in the bounce.

The little "Bnce" buttons appear in the lower right of Output Objects only, but if you have a bunch of Output Objects configured, you can use these to bounce just outs 3+4, 5+6, etc.


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## Ashermusic (Feb 12, 2020)

Not how I do it. I route the outputs of the tracks to auxes, create audio tracks with those auxes as inputs, record arm them and bounce them all in one pass. Every bounce starts at 1 1 1 1 so having them lining up in another DAW or Final Cut Pro, etc. is a non issue.


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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> Not how I do it. I route the outputs of the tracks to auxes, create audio tracks with those auxes as inputs, record arm them and bounce them all in one pass. Every bounce starts at 1 1 1 1 so having them lining up in another DAW or Final Cut Pro, etc. is a non issue.


Late answer. That's super convenient when you have to export many stems all at once. But then you can't print the processing that's happening on the main output. I'd like to print to audio files in real time AND be able to get the output fx sent to the printing audio track, but I'm not sure it's feasible.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

Salorom said:


> Late answer. That's super convenient when you have to export many stems all at once. But then you can't print the processing that's happening on the main output. I'd like to print to audio files in real time AND be able to get the output fx sent to the printing audio track, but I'm not sure it's feasible.



Put them on an aux instead and send to them.


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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

Thanks for your reply. But then you need to load as many mix chains as you have stems and replicate the mix automation, that's not what I'm after.

My mix chain is a big one and requires a lot of CPU. I can't replicate it on each aux.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

Salorom said:


> Thanks for your reply. But then you need to load as many mix chains as you have stems and replicate the mix automation, that's not what I'm after.
> 
> My mix chain is a big one and requires a lot of CPU. I can't replicate it on each aux.



No, you don’t . All that is happening is that you are moving the plugins from the two buss to an aux and sending the tracks to it.


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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

Ashermusic said:


> No, you don’t . All that is happening is that you are moving the plugins from the two buss to an aux and sending the tracks to it.


I'm not following you, how do you avoid a c/p of your mixing plugins on all aux tracks for a live print of all stems simultaneously?


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

Salorom said:


> I'm not following you, how do you avoid a c/p of your mixing plugins on all aux tracks for a live print of all stems simultaneously?



What’s a c/p?


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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

copy/paste


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

In pic 1, the mix processing and reverb will not be part of the stems. In pic 2, they will be.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)




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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

Good thinking, I'll give it a try. Why are your sends not set to 0dB?


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

Salorom said:


> Good thinking, I'll give it a try. Why are your sends not set to 0dB?



I wasn't paying attention to anything other than illustrating the principle.


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## Salorom (Apr 16, 2020)

I'm wondering if dynamic processing behaves the same when sent to an aux track. I'll be sure to test this. Thanks


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## Ashermusic (Apr 16, 2020)

Salorom said:


> I'm wondering if dynamic processing behaves the same when sent to an aux track. I'll be sure to test this. Thanks



You are welcome.


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## Salorom (Apr 17, 2020)

No dice, you can't send your mix processing to the return bus and print it. You can't have multiple audio streams be processed independently and simultaneously by a single plug-in. I had to experiment to find out...


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## Ashermusic (Apr 17, 2020)

Salorom said:


> No dice, you can't send your mix processing to the return bus and print it. You can't have multiple audio streams be processed independently and simultaneously by a single plug-in. I had to experiment to find out...



Sonofagun, you are right. When I arm the tracks I hear the processing on each track, but when I record it's only on one.

Back to the drawing board.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 17, 2020)

Nope, I was wrong, it doesn't work. Sorry, I really thought I had found the solution.


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## ThomasJ.Curran (Jun 17, 2021)

I'm gonna re ignite this thread as I too am scratching my head. Libraries I write for usually want a stem for every instrument, so on large orchestral tracks printing every stem individually takes forever. I have tried the method of recording from the bus channels directly to audio tracks in realtime but it doesn't include any of my reverb sends. I have heard some people print an individual reverb stem for every instrument but that would be a massive pain in the arse, I want the reverb baked into each stem. 

Did anyone find a work around for this at all? I'm fairly new to logic so forgive my ignorance.


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## Saxer (Jun 17, 2021)

If the output of the reverb is routed to the same aux channel as your stem instruments it should be recorded too. You need a separate reverb instance for each stem aux.

And you have to avoid feedback loops. So you can send all trumpets to a trumpet aux summing channel and a trumpet reverb to the same aux. But you can't use a send from your trumpet summing aux to the reverb. You need to use individual sends from each trumpet instrument channel to the reverb.


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## Saxer (Jun 17, 2021)

Example with 3 trumpets
The easiest way is to select all trumpets channels and make a summing stack (in the track menu... here in my German version it's "Spur"). Select: Track Stack - Summing Stack. Logic now routs all trumpet tracks to a new Aux and place it on top of your trumpet tracks. You can close or open the stack with that little arrow. The input is Bus 1 in this example (Logic looks for the next unused bus). You can see that all trumpet outs are going to Bus 1.
When you add a reverb for the trumpets make sure the output of the reverb is going to Bus 1 too. I set the reverb input to Bus 10, the trumpets have a bus 10 send where I can dial the reverb level per instrument.
Now all signals from 3 trumpets and the trumpet reverb are going into bus 1 which feeds into the "All 3 Trumpets" Aux channel.

Now add a new audio track. In this example I use bus 20 for the input. In added a send in the "All 3 Trumpets" Aux to bus 20. Now the signal from all the trumpets and the reverb is going to your audio track.


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## ThomasJ.Curran (Jun 17, 2021)

Saxer said:


> Example with 3 trumpets
> The easiest way is to select all trumpets channels and make a summing stack (in the track menu... here in my German version it's "Spur"). Select: Track Stack - Summing Stack. Logic now routs all trumpet tracks to a new Aux and place it on top of your trumpet tracks. You can close or open the stack with that little arrow. The input is Bus 1 in this example (Logic looks for the next unused bus). You can see that all trumpet outs are going to Bus 1.
> When you add a reverb for the trumpets make sure the output of the reverb is going to Bus 1 too. I set the reverb input to Bus 10, the trumpets have a bus 10 send where I can dial the reverb level per instrument.
> Now all signals from 3 trumpets and the trumpet reverb are going into bus 1 which feeds into the "All 3 Trumpets" Aux channel.
> ...


Thanks Saxer, I appreciate it. I’ll give this a go tomorrow, hopefully my machine will be able to cope with all the separate reverb instances 😅


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## fiction (Jul 27, 2021)

Saxer said:


> Example with 3 trumpets
> The easiest way is to select all trumpets channels and make a summing stack (in the track menu... here in my German version it's "Spur"). Select: Track Stack - Summing Stack. Logic now routs all trumpet tracks to a new Aux and place it on top of your trumpet tracks. You can close or open the stack with that little arrow. The input is Bus 1 in this example (Logic looks for the next unused bus). You can see that all trumpet outs are going to Bus 1.
> When you add a reverb for the trumpets make sure the output of the reverb is going to Bus 1 too. I set the reverb input to Bus 10, the trumpets have a bus 10 send where I can dial the reverb level per instrument.
> Now all signals from 3 trumpets and the trumpet reverb are going into bus 1 which feeds into the "All 3 Trumpets" Aux channel.
> ...


I've been trying to figure out the best way for me to export stems in Logic also.

Every project I try something new.. but I'm yet to find the perfect one, specially since some projects ask for stems with reverb baked in and others want the reverbs separate.

I've used this technique previously but I'm always confused when I use bus processing (which is often - some 1-2 db compression, saturation and eq). This means that, essentially, I'm applying the bus processing to the dedicated reverb also (because it's routed back into the bus for printing) and I'm yet to figure out if that's something I like or not.

This decision is easier when I'm required to deliver separate reverb stems, this way the summing stacks are printed with the bus processing and the reverb goes separate without any processing.


charlieclouser said:


> Here is how I do it:
> 
> - Create a Marker exactly where you want the start of all the bounced files to be, and another one exactly where you want those files to end. If timecode is important, go into the Marker List and type in the exact timecode points. Lock the Markers so they won't move.
> 
> ...


I'm glad I came across this thread as this technique might prove useful in the future. 

This seems like the simplest way to bounce stems when there's not many of them. 

I just wish I could get the cmd+e while selecting all summing stacks technique working consistently without sometimes getting random file sizes, this has always been the fastest way to export stems when it works for me.


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## nas (Jul 28, 2021)

This is a good demonstration on how you can do it (actually the entire video is very good):


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