Checklist: Prepare and Export Multitrack Stems for Mixing

You've got a great song. It's recorded beautifully. You're ready to have it mixed.

Here is a quick checklist to help you prepare and export your multitrack stems so they can be mixed by a professional mixing engineer with best results.

I'll list essential requirements followed by some non-essential preferences. The better you prepare your tracks, the more time the mixing engineer will have to make an amazing mix.

If you'd like to discuss having me mix your song or album, contact me here.

How to Prepare Your Tracks for Mixing

Make the recording stage count

Focus on getting the right sound at the recording stage. The performance is paramount. Your choice of instrument or vocalist, microphone, recording location, and preamp all impart a sound. Make sure you recorded what you want us to hear.

Edit your tracks 

The harder the engineer has to work to get your tracks ready, the less time they will have for mixing your song. Don't expect the mixing engineer to tune your vocals or edit out unwanted background noises including clicks and pops. Don't send extra takes. Make your selections, do your editing, and send your record-ready tracks. In Pro Tools terms... send only consolidated tracks. In Logic terms... bounce your comps and send only the bounced versions.

Keep elements separate

With few exceptions, each instrument should have its own track. Perhaps you didn't record the drums with individual mics. Send what you have. If you have separate tracks in your tracking session, don't merge them unless you want to limit your mixing engineer's options. It's usually best to give the engineer separate tracks for each instrument.

Deliver unprocessed tracks

Any processing or effects that you print on the track will limit the engineer's options, so only print effects if you're sure they are essential to your sound. If you are recording a guitar or synth with effects, try splitting the signal and recording a dry/DI track so you can provide an unprocessed option.

Render all virtual instruments

Consolidate/bounce any virtual instrument tracks or virtual amp simulators and send the rendered audio versions.

Don't let your tracks clip

Individual tracks should ideally peak at roughly -12 dB, but they are fine as long as they don't peak higher than -1 dB. Check with your engineer before you export your tracks to make sure you select the best format. If I am mixing your record, I prefer to receive 24-bit 44.1 kHz WAV or AIF audio.

All tracks should line up easily

All tracks should line up starting from the beginning of the song. If the part doesn't start until the 3rd measure, the track audio file should have blank space leading up to measure 3.

Provide track information

Label your tracks clearly. Use tags like "-L" and "-R" for stereo tracks, "-DI" or "-DRY" for direct input tracks or unprocessed tracks that come with processed accompaniments, etc. For clarity, provide a "ReadMe" text file that lists any non-essential tracks or footnotes such as "Synth 3 is intended to be low in the mix." List the starting tempo in bpm and list tempo changes (e.g., "ramp from 104 to 120 bpm from measure 14 to 15" or "hard change to 115 bpm at measure 26").

Non-Essential, but Nice

Provide MIDI files

If your drum tracks are MIDI, you might want to provide your MIDI tracks. This will provide an easy option for drum replacement or enhancement. If you track contains a complex tempo map, providing a MIDI file could make it easier for your engineer to set up the mixing session.

Group files

If your project has a lot of tracks, group exported tracks into separate folders. For example, put the drum tracks in one folder, put the guitars in another, etc.



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