I don't know what a stem is!!!

[absent]

Man, I feel like an idiot. I have been reading tapeop for years, and recording (albeit amateurly) for decades, and I don't know what a stem mix is!
The Wikipedia entry seems totally different from stems as they keep being discussed in the mag...HELP!

[Jon Nolan]

errr, unless i'm exposing a misunderstanding of my own (which is entirely possible )....

I believe a "stem" is just two or more pre-mixed tracks.

like, if you wanted to take advantage of a summing box or something, and you have more tracks recorded in your computer than you have on your summing box or console, then you'd send "stems" to the summ'er/console.

ie: a drum sub-mix, a guitar submix, a vocal submix, an everything-else submix out from your DAW to the summing box, or console. each of these submixes coming out of your DAW would be a stem.

at least that's whats been rattling around in my 40 watt noggin! if i'm wrong folks, please chime in....

jon

[Jon Nolan]

Man, I feel like an idiot. I have been reading tapeop for years, and recording (albeit amateurly) for decades, and I don't know what a stem mix is!
The Wikipedia entry seems totally different from stems as they keep being discussed in the mag...HELP!

oh, and, don't feel like an idiot! learning is good. dont let pride keep you from it. god knows im still trying to learn. TOMB is great for that.

[playonbrother]

A stem mix is also stereo mixes you print of different elements of your final mix. For instance, after printing your final mix you would go and mute everything but the drums then print. Next bass, guitar, keys, vocals etc.... These stems can be used for remixes or if you have a band that wasn't around for the mix and they want something fixed all of a sudden. Some people take stems to mastering. After doing one Soulive album printing stems of everything i vowed never to do it again. Cats were doing overdubs at mastering because we could.. I think that too many options in the wrong hands can be really dangerous. Nowadays, I print the final mix, and and instrumental and an accapella. But I'll obviously do whatever a client wants. Anyway... that's what I know about stem mixes.

Hope all is well,

Al

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I make stem mixes when I'm mixing on an anolog console without recall. I do my mix as usual and then I also do stem mixes of the various parts of the song. This means muting everything but drums for a drum stem, muting everything but bass for a bass stem. When you are done you'll have a bunch of stereo tracks that when played together with all faders set to 0 will sound the exactly the same as your 2 track mix. It means that you can go back later and turn elements of the mix up or down without having to recall all the board and effect settings.
It's a great help if you are working fast at a rented facility and won't have the time or money to go back to make minor changes.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

A stem mix is also stereo mixes you print of different elements of your final mix. For instance, after printing your final mix you would go and mute everything but the drums then print. Next bass, guitar, keys, vocals etc.... These stems can be used for remixes or if you have a band that wasn't around for the mix and they want something fixed all of a sudden. Some people take stems to mastering. After doing one album printing stems of everything i vowed never to do it again. I think that too many options in the wrong hands can be really dangerous. Nowadays, I print the final mix, and and instrumental and an accapella. But I'll obviously do whatever a client wants. Anyway... that's what I know about stem mixes.

Hope all is well,

Al

Al and I must have posted at the same time! He explains it much better too!

I agree that it can be a total pain in the but. It allows you to put off decision making even farther. This seems to be the biggest problem with all digital recording. You get to leave all the options open til the last second.
That said, stem mixes have saved the day for me more than a few times. If time and money is tight it can give you a chance to fix stuff you missed by working too fast.

[playonbrother]

Al and I must have posted at the same time! He explains it much better too!

I agree that it can be a total pain in the but. It allows you to put off decision making even farther. This seems to be the biggest problem with all digital recording. You get to leave all the options open til the last second.
That said, stem mixes have saved the day for me more than a few times. If time and money is tight it can give you a chance to fix stuff you missed by working too fast.

Hahahaha, I totally agree with you Dave. Stem mixes have saved the day for me more than a few times as well. I was mixing an album I produced at a buddies studio and we decided to print stems because the guitarist couldn't make it to the mix session and we didn't have time to ftp mixes for him to check out. Turned out that we had to bring a few of his parts up a bit which was easy to do after the fact. These cats were totally on the old school tip so they didn't really know that you could print stems. Ignorance is bliss sometimes I've been doing all my mixing for a while now at my studio on my console and I can have usually have a recall ready in about 15 minutes and I haven't really been asked to print stems in over a year or so. Stems can be great time saving tools but can also turn what should be a 2 week recording project into a year of hell. Hahahahaha, just from experience.....choose wisely!

Al

[I'm Painting Again]

a stem can be whatever you call it..every studio has its own language..

1. the ascending axis of a plant, whether above or below ground, which ordinarily grows in an opposite direction to the root or descending axis.
2. the stalk that supports a leaf, flower, or fruit.
3. the main body of that portion of a tree, shrub, or other plant which is above ground; trunk; stalk.
4. a cut flower: We bought roses at the flower market for 50? a stem.
5. a petiole; peduncle; pedicel.
6. a stalk of bananas.
7. something resembling or suggesting a leaf or flower stalk.
8. a long, slender part: the stem of a tobacco pipe.
9. the slender, vertical part of a goblet, wineglass, etc., between the bowl and the base.
10. Informal. a drinking glass having a stem.
11. the handle of a spoon.
12. a projection from the rim of a watch, having on its end a knob for winding the watch.
13. the circular rod in some locks about which the key fits and rotates.
14. the rod or spindle by which a valve is operated from outside.
15. the stock or line of descent of a family; ancestry or pedigree.
16. Grammar. the underlying form, often consisting of a root plus an affix, to which the inflectional endings of a word are added, as tend-, the stem in Latin tendere ?to stretch,? the root of which is ten-. Compare base1 (def. 18), theme (def. 5).
17. Music. the vertical line forming part of a note.
18. stems, Slang. the legs of a human being.
19. the main or relatively thick stroke of a letter in printing.
?verb (used with object)
20. to remove the stem from (a leaf, fruit, etc.): Stem the cherries before cooking.
?verb (used without object)
21. to arise or originate: This project stems from last week's lecture.

[E-money]

Stems (and seeds) are the parts you throw out.

[aitikin]

Stems (and seeds) are the parts you throw out.

I thought this topic was about real studios, not fronts!

[absent]

Well, is the term "stems" a way to describe what you consolidate all your Pro Drools regions into before making backups that are platform-independant?
Because I have been digitizing a bunch of old reel-to reel 1/4 track format stuff from a classical clients archive, and it seems reealy important (not to mention a tremendous conservation of disc space) to consolidate those transfers and make them NOT dependent on the next guy having whatever format Pro Tools is using that year.
I totally refuse to believe stuff made today will be easily opened (or free from data corruption) in ten or however many years.

[ledogboy]

IMO, this kind of question is excellent for Google, or Wikipedia. Many questions are subject to opinion and experience, but why wait for a response when all you need is a definition? Folks seem to have the time, which is great, but I thought I'd point out that there are other resources out there. Cheers,
Ryan
ps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_mixing_and_mastering

[JGriffin]

Well, is the term "stems" a way to describe what you consolidate all your Pro Drools regions into before making backups that are platform-independant?
Because I have been digitizing a bunch of old reel-to reel 1/4 track format stuff from a classical clients archive, and it seems reealy important (not to mention a tremendous conservation of disc space) to consolidate those transfers and make them NOT dependent on the next guy having whatever format Pro Tools is using that year.
I totally refuse to believe stuff made today will be easily opened (or free from data corruption) in ten or however many years.

It's actually got nothing to do with ProTools, except that ProTools is one of several systems that can be used to create stems...this includes analog.

Outside of the music world, "stems" refers to the component parts of a mix, generally Music/Effects/Voiceover/Sync as 4 separate stereo files in the case of broadcast. Could be broken down even farther if you're mixing for film (A/B/C effects etc, Foley...). Stems generally utilize some sort of synchronization scheme such as head and tail pops or timecode.

Stems can be delivered on most any format, though DAT and .bWAv are used a bunch.

[JGriffin]

IMO, this kind of question is excellent for Google, or Wikipedia. Many questions are subject to opinion and experience, but why wait for a response when all you need is a definition? Folks seem to have the time, which is great, but I thought I'd point out that there are other resources out there. Cheers,
Ryan
ps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_mixing_and_mastering

Or, y'know, just read TOMB a little...this very topic came up in another thread about four days ago IIRC.

[absent]

Actually, that was the first place I went and i was not happy with what I found at all (especially in Wikipedia).

IMO, this kind of question is excellent for Google, or Wikipedia. Many questions are subject to opinion and experience, but why wait for a response when all you need is a definition? Folks seem to have the time, which is great, but I thought I'd point out that there are other resources out there. Cheers,
Ryan
ps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_mixing_and_mastering