How to Prepare Stems for a Mixing Engineer: The Complete Checklist

You finished producing your track. Now you need to send stems to a mixing engineer. Getting this wrong means delays, back-and-forth emails, and wasted studio time. Here is everything you need to do before you hit send.

Why Stem Preparation Matters

A mixing engineer charges by the hour — or by the song. Either way, every minute they spend renaming files, trimming silence, matching sample rates, or guessing which track is which is a minute not spent making your song sound better.

Poorly prepared stems are the number one reason mixers send files back. Tracks that start at different times, unlabeled bounces, mixed-up sample rates, stems full of dead air — all of these force the engineer to reconstruct your session before they can even begin. That is time and money you are paying for.

A clean handoff means your mixer opens the session, and everything is where it should be, starting from bar one.

1. Naming Conventions

Clear, consistent file names are the simplest thing you can do and the most commonly overlooked. Your mixing engineer should be able to understand every track without opening the files.

• Use descriptive names: Kick_Main.wav, Snare_Top.wav, Vocal_Lead.wav, Guitar_Clean_DI.wav
• Avoid generic DAW names like Audio_Track_14.wav or Bounce 2 (3).wav
• Use underscores or hyphens instead of spaces — some DAWs and transfer tools handle spaces poorly
• Include instrument type, variation, and any processing notes: Bass_Sub_DI.wav vs Bass_Sub_Amped.wav
• If you have multiple takes or layers, number them: Vocal_Harmony_01.wav, Vocal_Harmony_02.wav

2. File Format and Sample Rate

Format mismatches cause real problems. A mixer working at 48kHz who receives stems at 44.1kHz has to convert everything, and if they do not notice, you get subtle artifacts across the whole session.

• WAV, 24-bit is the standard. Do not send MP3, OGG, or lossy formats unless specifically asked
• Match the session sample rate. If you produced at 48kHz, bounce at 48kHz. Do not let your DAW auto-convert
• If your mixer specified a format (e.g., 48kHz/24-bit WAV), follow it exactly
• Avoid 32-bit float unless the engineer requests it — it is unnecessary for stems and some DAWs handle it inconsistently

3. All Stems Start at the Same Point

This is critical. Every single stem must start from the same position — typically bar 1, beat 1 of your session. When the mixer drops all files into their DAW, everything should line up automatically without any manual alignment.

• In your DAW, set the export range from bar 1 to the end of the song
• Every stem will have silence at the beginning and/or end, and that is expected — it ensures alignment
• Never trim individual stems to where audio starts. If the guitar only comes in at bar 17, the guitar stem should still start at bar 1 with silence before it

4. Silence Cleanup

Here is where it gets tricky. Your stems need to start at the same point (silence preserved for alignment), but all that dead air also makes sessions heavy, hard to navigate, and cluttered on the mixer's timeline.

The professional approach: export full-length stems for alignment, then strip the silence and place clips on a timeline so the mixer sees clean clips rather than long bars of nothing. This is what assistants at professional studios do by hand — and it is exactly what tools like StemSlicer automate.

StemSlicer detects silence in your stems, chops them into clips, and exports a ready-to-open project file for REAPER, Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Bitwig, or Studio One. Your mixer opens the file and sees every clip placed at the correct position on the timeline, with tracks already color-coded by instrument type. No alignment issues, no silence to wade through.

5. Effects and Processing

The general rule: send stems dry unless you and your mixer agreed otherwise.

• Remove reverb, delay, and other time-based effects. The mixer will add their own
• Keep corrective EQ and compression if it is part of the sound design (e.g., a heavily distorted synth bass)
• If you have creative effects that are essential to the track, export two versions: one dry, one with the effect. Let the mixer decide
• Disable the master bus processing entirely before bouncing stems

6. Organization and Delivery

How you package your stems matters almost as much as the stems themselves.

• Group related stems into folders: Drums/, Bass/, Vocals/, Synths/, FX/
• Include a reference mix — a stereo bounce of how you want the track to sound, labeled Reference_Mix.wav
• Include a text file or email with BPM, key, time signature, and any notes about the arrangement
• If you are sending a project file (RPP, AAF, DAWProject), include the audio files in a subfolder next to it
• Compress everything into a single ZIP file before uploading

7. Communication

A brief message goes a long way. Tell your mixing engineer:

• The BPM and key of the song
• Reference tracks — songs that have the vibe or sound you are going for
• What you like about your rough mix and what you want changed
• Any specific requests (e.g., "the vocal should sit forward", "keep the drums punchy")
• How many revisions are included in your agreement

Automate the Tedious Parts

The most time-consuming step in this list is silence cleanup and session creation. Manually trimming silence from 30+ stems, placing clips on a timeline, and exporting a project file your mixer can open — that can take an hour or more.

StemSlicer handles this in seconds. Drop your stems in, adjust the silence threshold, and export a project file for whatever DAW your mixing engineer uses. REAPER, Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Bitwig, Studio One — all supported. Tracks are automatically color-coded so kicks show up red, vocals pink, bass blue, and so on.

It is a one-time purchase of €5 for macOS and Windows. No subscription, no account.