How To Export Your Song For Mixing
You just finished recording for your song and are ready to head to the studio, now what?
After you book and schedule your session, you will want to bring not only good vibes but, your stems for the engineer. Not the ones from your backyard, the ones from your DAW (Digital Audio Workspace).
“Stems” are the individual tracks that build the song.
For example, the audio you recorded from a guitar, the beat you imported, and your vocal track are the stems that make up the flower aka your song.
You might be asking yourself, How To Export Your Song For Mixing? Well don’t worry we have created a step by step guide for all DAW’s
In the section below we will go over everything you need to prepare your song for a professional mix and export your Stems from FL Studio, Logic & Ableton.
For FL Studio:
1) First, you will open the session.
2) Next, on the mixer, mute unused tracks and turn off effects.
3) Click on File>Export>.wav file *make sure you have 44.1K or 48K selected.
4) Choose the destination folder.
5) Then, check “split by mixer”
6) Click Export.
7) Compress folder.
8) Finally, Save and send. (or transfer to a hard drive or portable flash drive)
For Logic:
1) First, you will open the session.
2) Next, click File>Export>all tracks as audio files.
3) Check “New Folder” and “Bypass effect plugins” to save dry files in one folder.
4) Select 44.1K or 48K and .wav files.
5) Click “Save” to export.
6) Then compress the “bounces” folder inside the session folder.
7) Finally, save and send a compressed folder. (or transfer to a hard drive or portable flash drive)
For Ableton:
1) First, you will open the project.
2) Next, use Loop Start/Punch in to select the length of the song.
3) Then, bypass all effects/plugins.
4) Choose Files>Export audio/video.
5) Here you can choose which track you want to bounce. You can choose to bounce each track individually, but this
option will also allow you to bounce tracks with nothing on them including return tracks.
6) Make sure bit depth/sample rate meets requirements.
7) Click “OK” to bounce files.
8) Choose a destination and save.
9) Finally compress the folder that was chosen as the destination, save, and send. (or transfer to a hard drive or portable flash drive)
From talking about sessions, projects, and flowers, you should have now succsfully exported your stems.
Whether it’s a new studio or a studio you’ve gone to for years, stems are always a good thing to have with
you to not only assist the engineer but, make your session run smoothly from start to finish.
Now go grab a coffee, save those stems, and make some music!
