New to Audio? Here’s what you need to know before sending your tracks:
Section 1: File Quality Basics
Sample Rate & Bit Depth:
Sample Rate (e.g. 44.1kHz / 48kHz / 96kHz / etc.)
Think of it as “detail per second”, it is the number of times per second an analog sound wave is measured (or sampled) to convert it into a digital format. For example, a 48kHz sample rate means 48,000 snapshots of the audio are taken/recorded every second.
Bit Depth (16-bit / 24-bit / etc.)
Think of it as “dynamic range / headroom”, it dictates how precisely the amplitude (volume) of a sound wave is measured during a digital recording, directly affecting the amount of detail captured and the background noise level.
My standard:
I usually work at 24-bit / 96kHz if I can, mainly as it ensures a high level of detail and good headroom. I find this standard strikes an excellent balance, it’s very high quality but not excessive. An example of excessive quality would be 32-bit Float at 192kHz.
Most standard tracks are at either 16-bit / 44.1kHz, or 24-bit / 44.1kHz. Although a lot of new tracks these days are in 48kHz so they can be easily used in visual media (44.1kHz is the standard for CDs, 48kHz is the standard for audio in visual media).
Section 2: Stem Exports
What are stems?
Individual audio tracks all bounced separately. This means your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) exports each audio track one-by-one, don’t worry you don’t have to do this manually, all mainstream DAWs are capable of exporting your entire project into a folder of stems with one click of a button, sometimes it’s just finding that button, but the linked videos below should help.
The Bounce/Export to stems Must include:
No master bus processing
No limiter on mix bus
All files start at bar 1 / 0:00
Same sample rate across all stems (your DAW will almost certainly have done this already)
What “bar 1 alignment” means:
Every track starts from the same point-in-time so everything lines up perfectly in my DAW.
The easiest way of checking your stems exported correctly is by just opening them in a new project. If you start a new session in your DAW, then select all the exported stems and drag and drop them into the new session they should all line up nicely, and your track/song should sound coherent.
Section 3: DAW Export Guides
Ableton export stems tutorial:
FL Studio export stems tutorial:
Logic Pro stems bounce tutorial:
Pro Tools export tutorial:
Section 4: Audio Processing vs Effects
Effects = creative sound shaping (reverb, delay, distortion).
Processing = corrective/technical shaping (EQ, compression, limiting).
Processors manipulate the core signal to fix issues or improve clarity, whereas effects add a secondary, altered signal on top of the core signal.
Section 5: Common Mistakes
Please try and avoid:
Exporting with master chain on
Different sample rates per track
Not exporting from bar 1
MP3 stems
Section 6: Final Checklist
☐ WAV files
☐ 24-bit preferred
☐ All stems aligned from bar 1
☐ No master bus processing
☐ Same sample rate across project(s)