If you’re a rapper or vocal artist looking to collaborate with a mixing and mastering engineer, it’s essential to know how to export stems in Ableton (or whatever DAW you’re using). Stems are the individual audio tracks that make up a song, and they allow the engineer to have more control and flexibility during the mixing and mastering process.
Here are the steps to export stems in Ableton:
0. (Optional) Export a reference track
A reference track is your version of the mixed track with all of your effects on it. It gives the mixing and mastering engineer an idea of the sound you’re going for.
1. Label all of your tracks and be specific
Most artists skip this step, but it’s crucial to give the engineer a clear understanding of what each track is and how it should sound.
Turn Off Audio Effects
Turn off all audio effects on every single track, including the master track. This ensures that the engineer receives clean, unprocessed audio files to work with.
Export
In Ableton, click “File” and select “Export Audio.” Keep all rendering options off and MP3 encoding off.
Under “Rendering Track,” select “All Individual Tracks” and click “Export.”
Organize and Compress
Create a designated folder for all of the files and pick that folder when saving.
Right-click the folder and select “compress” to create a zip file.
Send With Gmail / Google Drive
Send the zip file (and reference track if you have one) to your mixing and mastering engineer via Gmail. Gmail is recommended because Google Drive is used automatically, and you can send large files.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your stems are exported correctly and ready for the mixing and mastering process. If you’re using a different DAW and would like to see how to export stems, leave a comment!
