Stems vs Multitracks

[YYR123]

Haha, you know where some of these issues might spring from?

Studio one uses those very terms, to refer to exporting individual tracks....

Exporting stems....


I usually track with S1 b/c I don't have to use my ilok. Then export them (so called stems as referred to them by Presonus) for editing / mixing in PT

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by YYR123

Haha, you know where some of these issues might spring from?

Studio one uses those very terms, to refer to exporting individual tracks....

Exporting stems....


I usually track with S1 b/c I don't have to use my ilok. Then export them (so called stems as referred to them by Presonus) for editing / mixing in PT

And they're wrong and should stop.

[arche3]

I don't know how people started calling multitrack audio as stems.... it annoys me as well. Lol.

[bashville]

Sorry a little OT but it reminds me of the terminology drift wherein "clip" is an all-purpose term now that could mean an audio region or a complete file, with no distinction being made. For a while it struck me the same way, like a term people used when they didn't know any better (a "clip" used to be a section of a video, usually shown to promote a movie on talk shows!). Then Ableton started using the word, and lo and behold a few years later that's how they're referred to in the ProTools manual. For some reason it always rubbed me the wrong way.

If "stems" is how Studio One refers to individual tracks of audio, then we're doomed to see the same thing happen, like the dumbing down of communication when talking about our work process. Prosumer-speak will become the language the sales people have to talk, then everybody will wonder why "mastering" 60 "stems" is so much work.

[arche3]

Originally Posted by bashville

everybody will wonder why "mastering" 60 "stems" is so much work.

Ha ha... i hope this doesnt actually happen.

[Righty27]

All part of the 'learning curve' :)

[Kris75]

This also drives me crazy. Almost as much as people who use 23.98!!!!

I once got into it with a film guy when I was working at 23.976. He was convinced that I was working at the wrong frame rate. hahahahahahaha.

[reichman]

I actually wanted the industry to adopt the following nomenclature:

multitrack: raw, unmixed session of all tracks

splits: music-only submixes of drums, strings, etc., that are mixed

stems: post submixes of dialog, music, or sfx.

This way splits and stems are two different things. I seem to be losing this battle.

[amagras]

The list goes on with beat makers being called too often producers...

[DonaldM]

And all this time I thought STEM referred to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math. My bad...