As a video creator or filmmaker, you’ve most likely edited your own footage at some point. As an editor, you may well have come across the term “music stems.” But what exactly are music stems? And how can they improve our videos? Let’s dive in and look at how you can get more out of all your royalty-free music.
What are music stems?
A song is made up of many different parts — vocals, drums, bass, piano, and more. Each part is a separate audio track representing a specific component of the song, which we call a stem. You may have a music stem for the drums, another stem just for vocals, and so on.
Why use a music stem?
When you’re editing a film or video, a music stem is an essential audio track that helps to isolate specific components of a song (it could be the vocals, instruments, or effects). These stems allow editors to have greater control over how the music interacts with dialogue, sound effects, and the overall sound design of a scene. By adjusting the levels or even re-arranging parts of the music stems, editors can ensure that the score complements the visual narrative without overpowering other audio elements. This flexibility is really crucial for achieving the desired emotional impact and maintaining clarity in the film’s sound mix. Maybe you fancy having just the drums of the song to add groove to a short scene? Or soloing the strings for extra drama?
How to use music stems in your creative projects
There are a number of ways music stems can be used to help improve your film and video edits.
Greater flexibility
As we’ve established, song stems offer great flexibility for editors. How many times have you encountered a song where you really like certain elements that would be perfect for your video but aren’t so keen on other parts? Perhaps you love the violin on the intro but don’t really like the music BPM once the drums have kicked in. Using music stems can solve this problem by stripping the track down to its individual elements and allowing you to use just the parts you need.
Additionally, working with individual stems makes it a lot easier to fit the track to your footage. You can extend and cut down the song with much more precision or rearrange and loop it, which all helps in making it easier to fine-tune your edit.
Controlling audio levels
Film editors can adjust the volume of individual stems to ensure that dialogue and sound effects are not overpowered by the music. For example, when an actor is talking in hushed whispers during a tense scene, you may want to work with the stems to reduce the song’s vocal track (or even eliminate it completely) while delicately enhancing individual instrumental parts.
In scenes with complex audio, such as action sequences or dialogue-heavy moments, music stems will allow for the precise adjustment of musical elements to prevent them from clashing with other sounds.
Enhancing storytelling and emotional impact
By isolating and emphasizing particular musical elements, editors can tailor the emotional tone of a scene.
For example, they might increase the volume of a suspenseful drum track during a tense moment where a character is hiding from a serial killer in their house. During a break-up scene, isolating and enhancing the melody of a piano may play nicely. Working with music stems lets you get creative in your edit and experiment to see what works best!
Examples of musical stems in film
In just about every scene from any film, song stems are used. Analyze the case studies below to see if you can pick them out and identify why the editor may have made these choices.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
In this iconic scene from the third Lord of the Rings film, watch as the Rohirrim gather on the hill. Various instrumental stems are used to build the scene, with drums and trumpets accompanying orcs as they prepare to defend, and horsemen listening to their king. The stems allow for character dialogue, such as Theoden’s speech, to be heard clearly. The music then builds and crescendos as the Rohirrim charge.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Another iconic scene is this one, an all-timer from Star Wars. Can you identify the stems and how they play into the fight sequence? We have an incredibly tense, subtle stem right at the start as Luke is creeping around looking for Vader. There’s another stem that kicks in to emphasize the drama of the moment as Vader cuts Luke’s hand off, and of course the dramatic trumpets when Vader reveals the big news that shocked cinema screenings around the world.
How to get stems from Artlist
When it comes to music stems in Artlist, all music is available as submitted by the artists in its full and final production, alongside various stems. This much-anticipated feature puts the power of sound design directly in your hands. Whether you’re a seasoned video editor or just starting out, stems give you greater control over your music. Now, you can customize every aspect of your soundtrack to match your creative vision.
Using stems on Artlist is as easy as hitting download*. When browsing through our extensive music library, you’ll notice a new filter option, “Includes Stems.” This allows you to quickly find songs that come with stem files, so you can jump straight into creative mode.
*Currently, stems are only available on desktop.
Wrapping up
So, that’s all you need to know on the basics of music stems. From understanding what is a music stem to how you can utilize it effectively in one of your edits, you’re going to be a more accomplished editor.
Whether you’re looking for greater flexibility with your music when editing films, yearning for a more balanced sound mix, or really want to enhance a certain emotion at the core of your story, music stems can elevate your work massively.
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