Audio "STEMS" are NOT "Individual Audio Tracks"

[CC7]

In audio production, "stems" are groups of related tracks mixed together and exported as a single stereo file, representing specific elements of a song like vocals, drums, bass, etc.

What they are:
Stems are essentially a collection of audio tracks that have been grouped and mixed together, then exported as a single file.

Examples of Stems:
Drum Stem: Includes all drum tracks (kick, snare, hi-hats, etc.) mixed together.
Bass Stem: Includes all bass tracks.
Vocal Stem: Includes all vocal tracks.
Instrument Stem: Includes all instrument tracks, excluding vocals.

Difference between Stems and Multitracks:
While stems are groups of mixed tracks, multitracks are individual, unprocessed audio files that make up a full arrangement.

How to create stems:
Stems are typically created by grouping specific tracks or sections of tracks within a digital audio workstation (DAW) and exporting them as a single stereo file.
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'Sweetwater article on Audio Stems'-

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/s...c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20211203-t1t2

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[silky smoove]

It’s a common nitpick of mine as well. Admittedly, the non-professional side of the industry seems to have adopted stems as nomenclature for sending of any audio between sessions. It’s not wildly dissimilar to how anyone who makes a beat credits themselves as a producer when the title and its responsibilities predates the modern use of the term significantly. I’ve also seen these things creep into the professional space as well. On a recent series of remote vocal sessions for a well known Nashville studio, I was asked by the engineer to send him stems of the vocals being recorded in my studio. I knew full well that he wanted multitrack files and not stems. Rather than arguing or nitpicking I just sent him what I knew he wanted, got paid, and moved on. It’s just easier. My recommendation is to not care.

 

[bdplaid]

The confusion arises from it being a stupid name. The names has no relation to it being what we used to know as a submix, but stem? It made me think that it was something super basic and simple, more akin to a single track loop. But whatever, it's the name in use so I use it.

 

[SLO Surfer]

My recommendation is to not care.

Happy to take that advice!!!

 

[joebingo]

My recommendation is to not care.

now that's the voice of wisdom!

 

[mcnach]

In audio production, "stems" are groups of related tracks mixed together and exported as a single stereo file, representing specific elements of a song like vocals, drums, bass, etc.

What they are:
Stems are essentially a collection of audio tracks that have been grouped and mixed together, then exported as a single file.

Examples of Stems:
Drum Stem: Includes all drum tracks (kick, snare, hi-hats, etc.) mixed together.
Bass Stem: Includes all bass tracks.
Vocal Stem: Includes all vocal tracks.
Instrument Stem: Includes all instrument tracks, excluding vocals.

Difference between Stems and Multitracks:
While stems are groups of mixed tracks, multitracks are individual, unprocessed audio files that make up a full arrangement.

How to create stems:
Stems are typically created by grouping specific tracks or sections of tracks within a digital audio workstation (DAW) and exporting them as a single stereo file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Sweetwater article on Audio Stems'-

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/s...c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20211203-t1t2

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Good luck with that. We still mix tremolo and vibrato and there's no sign that's going to change anytime soon

 

[Lo-E]

Stems, tracks, submixes, comps….
As long as everyone is talking about the same thing they can call it whatever they agree upon. …even if the agreed-upon name is a little dopey.

 

[GR7G5TER]

Language evolves shocker!
Who knew

 

[UntitledProject]

I think the name is a little ham fisted, but the idea of the single stem being the sum of multiple roots does convey the meaning to a degree.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Is that the hill you want to die on? You are correct, but language evolves.

 

[UntitledProject]

Words have meaning, while that meaning might change over time it still must have meaning. Just using any word you want regardless of it's generally understood meaning is not linguistic evolution.

 

[BrianVengeance]

STEMS == STEreo MixeS

 

[FullumMusic]

In audio production, "stems" are groups of related tracks mixed together and exported as a single stereo file, representing specific elements of a song like vocals, drums, bass, etc.

What they are:
Stems are essentially a collection of audio tracks that have been grouped and mixed together, then exported as a single file.

Examples of Stems:
Drum Stem: Includes all drum tracks (kick, snare, hi-hats, etc.) mixed together.
Bass Stem: Includes all bass tracks.
Vocal Stem: Includes all vocal tracks.
Instrument Stem: Includes all instrument tracks, excluding vocals.

Difference between Stems and Multitracks:
While stems are groups of mixed tracks, multitracks are individual, unprocessed audio files that make up a full arrangement.

How to create stems:
Stems are typically created by grouping specific tracks or sections of tracks within a digital audio workstation (DAW) and exporting them as a single stereo file.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Sweetwater article on Audio Stems'-

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/s...c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20211203-t1t2

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been producing and engineering for more than 20 years, and i don't necessarily agree with this. In my experience Stems always meant either a bunch of submixed groups, or every individual track, at their mixed & processed levels. There was never a hard & fast rule meaning only subgrouped tracks. Regardless of what Sweetwater says they are, this is the connotative meaning of it, and is how people have used the word Stem for at least the early 2000s.

But, what makes them a STEM as opposed to any other thing is they're ALWAYS from 0:00:00 so that they all drop into a session in any DAW and align. Even if it's only one cowbell hit 10 minutes into the song, that Stem starts at 0:00:00 and goes to at least the cowbell it, if not the end of the song. They all stem from the exact same moment in the timeline.

Asking for the "multitrack" was always used to mean "send me the raw recordings." Send over the 2". Send over the session file. Send me what you tracked. (as opposed to what you've mixed or processed.)

 

[Sam Evans]

now that's the voice of wisdom!

Oh look, it's Marcus Aurelius over there ...

 

[Krisfield]

Stems, as in Stem Mastering.

 

[overit]

Every industry faces this now because of the internet and access to information whether correct or incorrect. People read stuff and are immediately “experts”.

 

[Flog]

Thank you! as an audio engineer I get files misnamed this all the time.
I would like mono (unless the source is stereo) multitrack files please.

 

[red_rhino]

It’s hard to tell what all this confusion over terminology stems from.

 

[JazznFunk]

I'd also add that it's also partly due to differences in how some DAWs handle audio exporting and nomenclature.

For instance, in StudioONE, the only option you have to export tracks/stems is found under the 'export STEMS' menu. There aren't separate 'export tracks' or 'export STEMS' menu pulldowns. From there, you can indeed choose whether or not to export 'stems' with 'channels' as the source (which includes any bus processing), or you can choose to export 'tracks', which are the un-processed individual raw audio sources. To complicate things, you can select 'preserve mono tracks' which would negate any panning. So, if you are exporting raw audio that hasn't been processed in any way, you're essentially exporting the same thing, regardless of the 'tracks' or 'channels' option chosen.... and it's all under the banner of 'exporting STEMS.'

 

[joebingo]

Words have meaning, while that meaning might change over time it still must have meaning. Just using any word you want regardless of it's generally understood meaning is not linguistic evolution.

Verily, good sir or madam, thou dost prate most fervently upon the shifting sands of our mother tongue, as though words were graven in stone and not as leaves upon the bough, blown hither and thither by time's unceasing breath. Dost thou reckon that our forebears spake as we do now, or that their forebears afore them did hold to one unchanging tongue? Nay, the speech of men is a river, not a pool, and he that would seek to dam its course doth but wrestle with the tide.

Perchance thou art vexed that words, once stout of meaning, have waxed wanton in their ways, yet is it not meet that a living tongue should grow, as doth the mighty oak from acorn's smallness? Consider well: the word 'silly' was erst but 'blessed' and 'fond' was once 'foolish'; shall we then chide our ancestors for their own misdeeds of meaning? Or perchance thou wouldst have all frozen in place, like unto a fly in amber, where naught may flourish nor take new life?

Prithee, cast aside this peevish lament, and instead embrace the dance of words, which in their merry capering do but mirror the hearts and minds of those who wield them. Thus, if 'awful' no more doth strike awe and 'nice' hath grown mealy of purpose, let us not gnash our teeth, but marvel at the humours of tongue and time.