what is
Stem Mastering?
Last Updated: November 19th, 2025
Read time: 1-Min
What are stems?
In order to answer the question of 'What is Stem Mastering?' we must start by getting one thing straight; what are stems in music? Stems are the individual elements that make up your mix. Such as your kick, snare, lead vocals, guitar etc.
these are stems
Stems for a simple production called 'Riverside Drive'. Displayed in Steinberg Cubase 11.
What is stem mastering?
So when we talk about stem mastering, we are talking about using the stems of the mix to create the final master.
Unlike traditional mastering, which only uses the final mixdown to create the mastered file, stem mastering allows for a more hands-on manipulation of the audio.
While we're here - A mixdown is an audio file that consolidates all of your stems into a single track.
this is a mixdown
The final mixdown of the track 'Riverside Drive'. Displayed in Steinberg Cubase 11.
If you have not purchased a specific stem mastering service, you can assume that you only need to provide a mixdown for your mastering engineer.
ordering stem mastering
Stem mastering isn't offered by all studios and there's a few potential reasons for this that we cover in 'Pros and Cons of Stem Mastering'. We however, do offer stem mastering as part of our premium package.
With stem mastering here at Release Mastering you get:
-
Mastering for up to 8 stem groups in line with the modern music industry.
-
3 revisions included.
-
Metadata embedded.
-
3-day turnaround.
Take a look at our packages, or dive straight in and master your music.
FAQs
How long does stem mastering take?
Depending on how many stems you are delivering to your engineer, stem mastering can take anywhere from a couple of days to over a week. During the stem mastering process time must be allocated for ear-breaks to allow for the engineer to remain objective over the sound and not over-mix. Here at Release Mastering, we deliver Stem Mastering projects within 3-days.
What does the stem mastering process typically look like?
Stem mastering usually begins with listening to a rough version of a mixdown and/or reference track to understand what the artist has in mind.
Then we can begin listening to the stems individually and identifying any noise or artefacts in the sound that need to be removed. Once all stems have been checked, level-balancing can begin.
For the full breakdown of how we do this please refer to our How to Level Balance/Gain Stage a mix post.
Once levelling is complete we move onto reductive EQ to help carve out space in the mix for each of the elements to exist without competition. Further enhancements such as analog saturation, multiband compression and light reverb may also be applied at this stage.
We can then move to the final mastering stage of adding glue via light compression and ensuring a appropriate final level is achieved. We then compare the stem master to the reference track and rough track and start the process of sharing the file.
