How To Send Perfect Files (So You Don’t Annoy Your Producers and Engineers)

In this video, Austin shows you how to organize your session and export the correct stems, multi-tracks, and other files to send to future producers, collaborators, mixing engineers, etc.

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Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Stems Vs. Multitracks 1:30
Zero Out Your Files 4:18
Name Your Files Correctly 6:35
Don’t Clip Your Audio Files 9:40
Clean Up Edits Before Bouncing 12:20
Organize The Session Before Bouncing 13:10
Include Project Info Guidelines 14:20
Do Mixing Engineers Want Raw Or Processed Files? 16:25
How To Export Perfect Files Every Time 18:58
Testing Your Files 22:57
Outro 24:45

[jloiben]

I am really glad this is being talked about. This is just bare minimum professionalism. There are many different ways of doing this but taking the time to make the files usable for someone else should just be expected

[basilbreen]

I love these videos where we get an insight into your workflow. The value in this extends way beyond just sending files!

[BlakeXterra]

lol when I saw this on my feed I was like, I already know all that basic stuff but NO! There's a lot of small details that almost every starting producer tends to ignore, thx for all this amazing content Austin!

[nasanoir]

Oh my goodness, thank you so much! This is very helpful. I was literally just struggling with messed up files on my new song, this video is a Godsend

[seanlorenzopenzo]

Love this! I’m a musician who often records cello remotely for producers/artists. This is super helpful to know in getting the engineer tracks that are easy to work with. Thank you!

[cekirdekci]

finally one video on this topic ommgggg. finally. like finally. thank you so much Austin;)

[Ferna]

Another tip is to always check before sending, like open a new session, import every file and check everything sounds good and there's no pops, clicks, etc. I've had it happen that for example my cpu couldn't handle exporting a specific project at the same time and had weird artifacts in the audio, so i had to export pretty much track by track to avoid the overload

[TheBelse]

Very concise ....great film ..things work better if the mix engineer stays happy. Big love !

[yankeeshoota]

thank you sm for this, these new videos about the admin side of production r rlly helpful

[imryangallus]

Now we just need the algorithm so push this video to the right people! 👏

[realraven]

18:20 committing fx fine for inserts but what about sende? do your ever then a Buches (VOCAL VERBS, drum verbs, delayd etc )

[thenickisonfire]

Unfortunately, programs like Ableton Live do not have the ability to include group effects on individual tracks during export. In fact, when I try to export the multitrack, it exports all individual tracks with their effects, and then a 'group' track where you can hear all the tracks combined with the effects and volume adjustments made in the group. Do you have any advice or solution for exporting individual tracks with group effects?

[EKs_Production]

Keep up the hard work brother :)
Can you make a video about how you organise all your production files(it will help us a lot)

[AdamSliger]

i'm just gonna send one mono mp3 and you can do what you want with it thx

[isaiahb.]

If I'm working in a different DAW, I can send my file as an mp3 and that can be used by others in their DAWs, but it would be everything in the same file(a song). Now my question starts here, is email a common way of sending projects files or there's some other way that is more fitting for obtaining the best quality possible?

[CharlesHenryVolk]

Hey Austin, just for clarity, does “zeroed out” mean all starting from the same spot i.e. from zero?

[john-martinson]

Hi, Austin! Thank you for this video! Just he one I need right now! But I still didn't get it about Multis - what if some group processing is a part of my production? I mean for instance I have some GTR stacks (summing tracks) like:
ALL GTRs:
- GTR Stack 1
- - GTR 1 - L
- - GTR 2 - R
- GTR Stack 2
- - GTR 3 - L
- - GTR 4 - R

Where GTR 1 & 2 are routed to GTR Stack 1, etc.

Each individual channel was it's own processing, and each Stack has it's own processing (for Vocal stacks it may be the summing DeEsser, for example).

Thus I can't export GTR Stack 1 & GTR Stack 2 without individual tracks - as Mix Engineer might want to adjust Pan or instruments' balance within a Stack.
And I can't export individual track only - as Stack bus has some suming processing which is a part of sound.
If I export all of them (indiv. tracks + summing stack) - it'd be wrong as Stack sound is summing signal of individual tracks + some processing.

What should I do? Should I remove all bus processing for stacks? Or should I produce in such a way that my stack tracks won't contain any bus processing at all?

For me it's difficult to separate production and mixing process completely. How would you do this?

[drew]

Hey man i have a question. Do you have any idea how to make glitchy effect on vocals like SX did on his song “locked out” at around 32 seconds

[jayfortunato]

Hi Austin, thanks for the info. Usually the track faders are adjusted to various levels when coming up with the draft mix which assume is the reference sent along with the stems or multi tracks to a mix or mastering engineer. Should the track faders be reset to flat before the export or left as they were set in the mix you considered your target example?

[cassidyraebarrera]

Curious if you have made a video about sharing files for engineers? I've heard many people say File Pass, Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive etc., Curious if you would make a video about how professionals share files safely to clients? For mix reviews and such. That would be super helpful!!