Bouncing stems for Mixdown in another DAW, please help?

[Dan Stephens]

I have booked a studio date with a well respected producer, to mix down my track & also add a little here & there, I made this track with Reason 4 but I am currently using Logic 9 & I know he'll be using Logic 9 to mix down on..

I have a few questions about bouncing down the individual stems to wavs:

1. Should I up the volume of each element (to say - 2db) so he can just start the basic mix down himself with freedom on the levels. Or should I just export them at the level they are at now?

2. Should I take off things like EQ & compression as I am not really pro with these yet but just make a general note of what I have done with them as Logic Pro has better Plug-ins to sculpt my sound. (Although I have compressed my drums reasonably well so I might keep this setting)

3. Should I take off things like delay & reverb & again make note of them & find a similar setting in logic with lots more freedom to create space.

4. I have tweaked the Master suite settings a little should I keep those as well?

5. I compressed all of my drums in one, so when I export them separately ie: hi hat, (if i do it with compression) might the output be different as compression was triggered by the snare for instance?

Please give me any more tips you can think of as it's my first time getting a professional mix down & I want to spend my time in the studio with him as productively as possible...

[Danny J Lewis]

There are different schools of thought on this one.. might I suggest you ask him first? he might have preferences for how you deliver stuff. I say this because I know some engineers like you to bounce stems of vocals, brass etc sometimes.. and for them to just to an overall mix - I guess it all depends on how much time you have with him.. The more separate and non processed the elements, the more work for them.. but then that's probably the whole point.

I'd leave all your FX and treatments off and let them do the job to be honest. Also i'd leave the master settings off - and bounce the drums outside of the drums bus - ie separate.. (but keep a bounce of all of them if you like the flavour to compare with what he's going to do) Just make sure none of your elements are too quiet or are clipping when bouncing and all should be fine.. i'd also bounce at 24bit.. all the best with it and have fun!