Stems... Again

[cosmicdolphin]

On a related note....

Does anyone else re-adjust relative balance levels when making Alt Mixes ? ie..If mute all my leads sometimes another part pops out the mix more than I'd like so I might pull it down a few db so the Alt sounds balanced as mix unto itself

[andygabrys]

No.

What I have found over the last while is that listening to your mixes a few different ways (like colour coding all your leads yellow and muting them for a few passes) has influenced the way that things sound to me and I’ll make tweaks in levels, re-pan, etc before making my final mixes.

Then turn everything back on and see if the tweaks still work.

Same with DnB mixes etc.

So I don’t tweak for every alt mix, I tweak before starting to make any final mixes.

I can hear examples where I didn’t do this and take the time and it makes a difference.

[Russell Landwehr]

Similar to Andy, often as I build my cue, I make sure the alts sound good on their own. Usually that means they fit the main mix as well... occasionally an alt doesn't sound right on it's own after I've mixed the main version, then it needs tweaking before I render the alt.

Another thing to be aware of on your alts... some samples/loops/virtual instruments have license agreements saying that you cannot use them in isolation and sometimes need to have two other instruments with them. So build your tracks keeping that in mind for your future alts

Russell

[andygabrys]

Very good point about the virtual instruments / loops. If you build it with the intention of having doubles on the parts that have specific terms of use then you cover yourself legally.

It’s also smart cue building IMO.

Consider a tension cue:

It’s usually got a pad, some kind of melody thing, some kind of bass and some kind of ticking percussion.

If it’s all in there you can make a no melody mix, and other alts easily.

If you make a tension cue with just one evolving VI the not only can you not strip it down, but the one instrument can land you in trouble if it’s from a manufacturer that is particular.

[MBantle]

with all due respect to Russell:

Stems vs. splits vs. track outs vs. alt mixes whatever.....

If a publisher wants to quickly remix your track to render a custom mix for a client - something that you haven't provided in the list of ALT MIXES that are usually supplied with any track (narrative / no melody, DnB, Stinger, etc etc etc) then you will find that most publishers are not going to spend the time to remix your track from scratch.

So its necessary to bounce all the tracks with all fx and sauce including all insert effects, correctly panned and wet as stereo audio files. Even if its a mono bass track.

Then the question is to include all mastering effects or not. Most of them aren't going to bother with "mastering". Most TV applications are well below peak at 0 dB anyways. Except for commercials. You might be surprised at how simple most commercial music houses keep their mastering.

You can assume that if the publisher wanted you to supply the initial track mastered then all stems would be rendered as Cosmic Dolphin noted above - using track mutes. This applies with commercial agencies that need to quickly assemble a custom mix from stems.

If everything has been mastered and rendered with track mutes - then they can be sure there won't be any inconsistencies in any track, no digital overs, and they can lay up the stems in their session. Naturally the master buss is going to be in the red. Then they do a magic thing - they group all the stem faders, and drag them down the same amount until they have the necessary headroom to perform whatever they want to do to finalize their remix. Voila. Done.

Some publishers perform all their own mastering - In that case you can still use whatever mastering chain you used on the full mix (if any) if they approved it. Output your stems in the same manner using track mutes.

Some publishers also perform their own mixes and mastering - mostly super high end libraries. In this case call them "track-outs" or "session splits" you are going to be sending dry unprocessed tracks. This also happens if you work in house with a mixing engineer at a commercial music house. You likely will be sending a lot of actual live recordings, and won't be sending anything raw that came from a sample library as your cannot control how they are going to feature those sounds - and in this case I do agree with Russell.

Another question is whether your full mix is the correct loudness:

If it got accepted, its loud enough. Just mute tracks and burp out stems. Don't worry about bumping anything up in volume.

It doesn't need to be overcomplicated. I have only worked with one company that wanted dry mono/stereo splits (or track outs if you will) because they mixed in house. Every other publisher that wanted Stems wanted them wet and mastered.

The concept of headroom is all relative too - if you supply a track that peaks at -0.2 dB they can pull it down 10 or 20 dB and then there is gobs of headroom. We don't provide the end product in music for media. There is always somebody who has hands on shaping the final mix.

Hi Andy,
Many thanks. It is the first time I am dealing with this individual publisher. Since there is not a lot of dynamics in the individual tracks in this case anyway I would think they can remix it as outlined in your email simply by dragging them down and then perform whatever they want to finalise their remix. I also agree with Russell that it is probably best to ask whether they want the tracks processed or not... In my case everything got accepted just by doing the 'hillbilly' method and bouncing everything down in solo with all the stuff on the master bus 'as is'.
Cheers,
Matt