Stems and Underscores

[mazz]

Some libraries like to get alternate versions of pieces to give the clients more options in the usage of a piece. Oftentimes editors want a piece but maybe the melody is a bit too obtrusive for their usage. If the library offers a version without the melody (often called an underscore version), then it's more likely that the client will stick with the piece instead of moving on.

The process of creating alternate versions is often called "stemming" where the end result of the process is something called a "stem".

In film music parlance, a "stem" is a group of stereo files broken out by the composer into groupings of instruments, for instance: strings, brass, percussion, synths, etc. In this case, when the faders are all brought up to 0, the mix should sound like it did in the composer's studio and the film mixers have the option of "remixing" the cue using the stems.

In library music, the term is used differently. It refers to the alternate versions of the piece as "stems". In this case, making a stem involves coming up with an alternate version that still sounds like music. In other words, if the strings don't come in for 15 seconds, it might not make sense to do a "strings only" stem version of a piece. But some combination of strings and something that starts at the beginning might be cool if it makes musical sense.

So for library music, you might have a rock piece that has a guitar melody, which would be the full mix, and then you could have "band only" (no melody), "drums, bass, guitar" (power trio mix, if it makes musical sense), and so forth. Basically these versions are created by muting whatever tracks you don't want to include in the "stem".

The question becomes, do you tweak the "stems" to make them sound like a fuller mix than they would if you just muted tracks? I advise against this because often the editor might want to cut between the full version and one of the stem versions. You would want the editor to have the option to make it sound like they were the ones muting or un-muting the tracks and you want the mix to sound consistent from one version to the other.

I leave all my mix bus processing and effects, etc. intact and I just mute the desired tracks.

I often hear my first "stem", the "underscore" version when I hear my music on daytime TV. I'm writing more with an ear to that and making my pieces a bit simpler while still having melodic interest and at the same time with and ear towards making the "underscore" stem more useful.

Here's a little "reality TV" piece I just finished in both the full and underscore versions.

http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/2641663

I hope this clarifies some questions folks might have about this process.

Any feedback and/or further clarification or corrections are welcome!

Cheers!

Mazz

[brindabella]

You are a life savior!!

[t4mh]

So interesting! Thanks!

I'm guessing that apart from writing with the possibility of future stems, you don't start stemming until someone asks you for something in particular?

Keith

[jparker]

Hey Mazz,
I just joined Taxi last year, went to my first Road Rally in November and I'm really new to the forums. I had a further question on this subject. Do you always submit music to libraries with a full melody, or are they sometimes looking for non-melodic music? I'll hear a lot of music on Tv and film that obviously has no melody, so is this the case where they have used an alternate stem that has melody removed? So, I guess a second question is, especially on the Taxi listings, should we alway submit music with the melodies, and leave it up to chance that they'll use whatever portions of it they'll need? I'm still really new to this, and I've tried both non-melodic and melodic music, and have had both forwarded and both returned, so I'm not sure sometimes if I'm sticking too much melody in that gets in the way.

By the way, I visited your sites, and was listening to your music and realized that over an hour went by as I lost track of time! Really, really cool stuff!
Thanks for putting such useful info here.

Parker

[fusilierb]

Firstly cool piece. Love the sounds! Very organic pulse. Sounds like a video game. (PS. I'm now about 2/3'rds of the way through Assassin's Creed 2 and the music gets better and better. Makes me feel like my wasted play time is actually important studying. )

I've been a stemming fool this week. It's thankfully much easier than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure what this means, but I like my some of my underscore versions better than the full ones. (Overwrite much?) The .15, .30 and 1 min stems are also easier than I thought, but kind of a pain. Thank God for Ableton!

Question: Stinger??

Could you do one for this piece so I can hear what that's supposed to be about?

Thanks!
B

[brindabella]

Question: Stinger??

Could you do one for this piece so I can hear what that's supposed to be about?

Thanks!
B

Yes Mazz, Please!

[fusilierb]

PS. And I'm sure Mazz will speak to this, for Taxi listing's send in the full piece. Once the piece(s) are in a library, sometimes they will ask you for these edits in addition to the full version. It's actually good practice to try this on some of your pieces to get used to it. And if you have pieces in libraries, its not a bad idea to send them alternate versions also, if they accept them.
hth's
B

[mazz]

Unless there's a specific request for underscore or ambient type material, I would submit something with some melodic interest, based on what's appropriate for the style, of course. As Bryan is correct that if the library wants an underscore stem once you've signed the piece, they will request it.

Off to bed now, but I have a couple of ideas for stingers that I'll put together tomorrow. I think with stingers, you can be more flexible and creative, because the stinger can stand alone or it can relate back to the original piece so using materials from the piece in a recognizable way is a good idea.

Nitey nite!!

[mazz]

Hey Bryan, are you using a PS3?

[cardell]

Thanks Mazz, very useful...as usual!

Stuart