What is Stem Mastering (and why is it so cool)?

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[Whiteseastudio]

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[boogiesnail]

Cool. Thank you. I want to add that stem mastering is a very simple solution when you need to create different versions of a track. For instance, you can easily create an instrumental version by muting the vocals, or a vocal up / vocal down version that is often required by record companies (e.g. with a difference of about 0.5 to 1 dB). However, these adjustments can be made any time.

[Kodablumusic]

When you said “stem mastering” I thought it meant mastering each stem LOL

[connollytunes]

Ah!! This is actually my favourite way of mastering, for that very reason: there is something wrong with the mix and I can fix it myself. I didn't realise this had an official name!! Thank you! I completely agree with you on it all. I might not buy a card wallet though...

[dzezydzerk]

stem mastering is mixing, that's why it is so cool.

[achillesmusicoz]

90% of the time most clients don’t get their tracks professionally mixed. So every master should be a stem master imo

[AlbertSirup]

i love stem mastering, even just having 3-4 bus stems can make such a huge difference

[raycochrane]

You ought to have visual examples and audio too. I had stem mastering done for my 1st "album": I was a novice mixer and I learnt a lot. I usually sent the ME a guitar stem, bass, drums minus snare, snare, main vocal, backing vocal and "other" stems. Each was panned and level set as for a completed mix. Jan from FineMastering, was able to address tracking/sonic issues and recombine then stems to finally do the stereo master. I learnt a huge amount from this process.

[joshcoxmusic]

At 3:36 he explains the title 🤙 great video!

[davidasher]

I had my last album stem mastered and it turned out great! I had between 4 and 6 stems per song. Drums/guitars/ bass/vocals/ and some had backing vocals separated and some had an “other” stem for keys and aux percussion etc.

[matt_nyc_audioengineer]

Glad to hear you are so busy Wyste! I noticed a HUGE surge in new clients and my regulars about two weeks ago. Glad I'm not the only one! :D

[davidspingler]

I think the thing that irritates (or probably more accurately, scares) some strictly mix engineers about stem mastering is that there IS an element of, or at least the potential for a degree of remixing involved. There’s nothing to necessarily stop the mastering engineer from rebalancing the stems in such a way that could change the overall mix beyond what is traditionally expected from mastering. I personally think it’s a great middle area that allows certain issues to be addressed more surgically than if you only have a 2 track to work with. Anyway, love your videos and keep up the good work 👍

[Aande]

I think it’s a great idea, specially in the “correcting things” side of it. But whenever I think about it I always come back to this specific question (already considering the mastering engineer would keep the right balance between stems): what about reverbs shared by different stems? I’d necessarily have to have a reverbs stems, right? Would it sound the same?

[overflowbeats]

I’ll go ahead and take sixth. Thanks for the video. I really like doing stem mastering. It helps me keep the balance of everything in order.

[MrDifferentTV]

Could I add the nani plugin to my stem mastering and drive it to give it more of a analog vibe?

[TransistorLSD]

Video idea: compare Soothe, Gulfoss and Smooth Operator on different sources

[agapeleone]

For those who master watching this, question:

As an artist I wonder if this process would be more or less desireable for the guy who does my mastering. It seems like partial mixing which would mean extra work right?
Do yall think this "stem mastering" would be preferred or no?

[mrnelsonius]

I have questions on a technical level about making this possible: in a mix there’s pretty much always mixbus processing that’s working on a sum of all buses and it can determine the balance of the entire mix. If you just send your vocal bus through that chain with say, the drums and instrument buses muted, it’d going to hit your compressors and limiters and clippers etc totally differently. It won’t sound the same anymore. How do you isolate bus stems while still taking into account all the sum processing?

[hdgdfghdgs]

i didn't know white sea stood for wytse and i've been watching your videos for 30 years hello??

[thiagoborges]

So, stem mastering is finishing or fixing a mix (going back to mixing, , thus) and then mastering it, right?!?