Ovo je citat sa sa sajta Bob-a Katz-a...
Nadam se da se ovakva vrsta citiranja ne kosi sa pravilima foruma - ako nije dozvoljeno, MOLIM MODERATORE i ADMINISTRATORE DA OVAJ POST OBRISU!!!
When, Why, and How to Make Stems
I've definitely reached the conclusion that the less compromise you can make in the mastering process, the better the result. Let's say you have an otherwise great mix, but which has too little bass instrument, too much kick, and the lower midrange is a little bit muddy. This is a potentially bad (not lethal) combination for mastering and if the client has time, I recommend a remix.
However, in situations like the aforementioned, when time is tight, I have also asked the client for stems, and the results have ALWAYS been better than if I had mastered from the combined two-track. Next the question comes of whether to remix the stems without mastering processing in line or to try to mix/master in the same path. If it were a 40 track mix, I'd definitely mix first, then master, but with 3 to 6 stereo stems, I find that I can get the best results mixing and mastering at the same time; the result produces the best results and the least compromise. For example, the mastering processing is going to affect the clarity of the midrange and through "slop" will probably leak down into the bass region, hopefully for the better. But in the case of this lopsided mix I just cited, the mastering processing could easily make one range better while making the other worse.
So, if mixing without the mastering processing, I may even try to take that into account, but if mixing with the mastering processing in place, I have it all in context at one time in the ideal acoustic of the mastering room.
Is this heresy? It's certainly a dangerous technique if placed in the wrong hands. You can end up with a less than ideal mix or less than ideal master if the mastering engineer does not think holistically. But if placed in the hands of an experienced mastering engineer, I think mixing from stems while mastering can produce the very best product. Separating out the bass instrument into a stereo stem with otherwise a mix minus, and sometimes separating out the vocal the same way can reduce the number of calls for a remix, I am convinced.
In other words, the lines between mixing and mastering have never been black and white. There has always been a gray area, and this method of mastering from stems grays it out even more!
The main purpose in this discussion was in the context of suggesting having a separate mastering engineer do the mastering from the stems, not in having a complete mixdown/mastering in one step.
If I am asked to both mix and master a project; if I am fortunate enough to do the mix from scratch in the mastering environment, then I probably would mix direct to 2 track without stems. I might run stems as a safety only; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. On that note, I note that with digital technology, a single 10 second mistake can cost a whole day of makeup! We don't need no stinkin' backups
But I digress...
So, if I were mixing in the mastering environment I would probably just mix to 2 track WITHOUT MASTERING PROCESSING. But if I were mixing in a typical mixing environment, I would try to mix to stems if possible WITHOUT MASTERING PROCESSING.
What I'm saying is that although there is a gray area between mixing and mastering I don't advocate trying to combine the two processes when mixing completely from scratch. I only say that it is possible to do a good (better) job if you are the independent mastering engineer on the project and you receive stems instead of full mixes.
http://www.digido.com/bob-katz/mixin...nd-tricks.html