What are stems?

Stems, trackouts and the stereo file

The words get mixed up, so this is how they are usually meant:

• A stereo WAV or MP3 is the whole beat in one file, mixed and mastered by the producer.
• Stems are the beat in groups, each group its own file: drums, 808 or bass, melody, effects. Usually somewhere between four and ten files.
• Trackouts or multitracks go further: every instrument on its own, so the kick, the snare and each hi-hat pattern get their own file. Many beat stores use "stems" and "trackouts" for the same thing, so check the file list.

All of them are audio files of the same length that start at the same point, so they line up when you drop them in at bar one.

Why engineers ask for them

• Room for the vocal. On a finished beat, the melody and your vocal fight for the same frequencies. With stems, the engineer can carve space into the melody instead of pushing your vocal louder.
• Control over the low end. The 808 and the kick decide how the song hits on a phone, in a car and in a club. As separate files they can be balanced against your vocal.
• Arrangement. Drop the drums for the first line of a hook, mute the melody under a punchline, stretch the intro: with stems you can rearrange without going back to the producer.
• A better master. A song mixes and masters more cleanly when every part was mixed in the same session, rather than stacked on a beat that was mastered already.

When you need stems, and when you do not

You do not need stems to write or to record a demo; the stereo WAV is enough. You start to need them when the song goes to an engineer for a real mix, or when you want to change the arrangement. If you mix your own songs on the stereo beat, you can release without them, but on a good system you will hear the difference.

How to use stems in your session

1. Start a session at the BPM of the beat, so the grid lines up. Every TH6 beat page lists the BPM.
2. Import all stems at the very start of the timeline, bar 1, beat 1. Do not trim the silence at the start of a file: that silence is what keeps everything in time.
3. Check the sum. Play all stems with the faders at zero and compare them with the stereo version. They should sound close; the stereo version usually has extra processing on the whole mix.
4. Record and mix your vocal against the stems, and send the whole session, vocal and stems, to your engineer.

Stems at TH6

The Unlimited Lease (€ 300) and every exclusive come with the stems: every layer of the beat as its own file, in a separate mail within 8 hours of payment. The Basic and Premium Leases come with the full beat as a 24-bit WAV and a 320 kbps MP3.

Already released on a Basic or Premium Lease and now you want the stems for a remix or a better mix? Upgrade to the Unlimited Lease and pay only the difference. More about the tiers in beat licensing, explained.

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