Session prep, before and after StemStash
· Dave Nunes
StemStash classifies, tags, and renames stems automatically, but the part that actually matters is what it changes about a producer’s week. Here’s what session prep looks like before and after, across three situations that come up often: opening a client’s unlabeled stem folder, pulling an old project out of archive, and getting stems ready to send to someone else.
The routine before
It’s the same starting point whether the stems came from your own session or someone else’s: a folder of files named whatever the DAW happened to export, no tempo or key attached, nothing sorted. Getting that folder usable means opening files one at a time, listening long enough to tell a bass from a synth pad, guessing BPM by ear or a tap tempo, and renaming everything by hand before the actual work, mixing, arranging, writing, can start.
None of that is hard. It’s just slow, it happens before anything creative begins, and it happens again on every single project.
What changes
StemStash runs that same identification step, and does it on every file at once instead of one at a time by ear. Drop a folder of exported stems in, and what comes back is sorted into DRUMS, BASS, MELODY, VOCALS, and FX, with a master bounce kept separate at the top level if the project has one. Each file is renamed using its group, sound type, BPM, and project name, so kick (3) FINAL_v2.wav becomes something like DRUMS_KICK_DRUM_140_MIDNIGHT_DRIVE.wav without anyone typing it out. Everything lands in a review table with a confidence score first, so you’re checking a near-finished folder instead of building one from nothing.
A mix engineer opening 200 unlabeled stems
A client sends over a full session export, files named however their DAW spit them out, no notes on tempo or key. Before you can start mixing, you need an accurate picture of what’s actually in the folder, and getting there by hand means opening file after file before you’ve touched a fader.
A single StemStash project supports up to 500 stems and 20 GB, so the whole batch goes in at once, with resumable uploads so a big batch doesn’t restart from zero if the connection drops partway through. What comes back is grouped, tagged with BPM and key, and renamed, so the session starts with the folder already understood instead of the first hour spent figuring out what you’re looking at.
Pulling an old project out of archive
You go back into a project from a while ago to grab a vocal chop or reuse a bassline, and the naming convention you were using back then doesn’t match how you name things now. Multiply that across a few years of projects and an archive folder stops being something you can actually browse. You end up reopening files just to remember what’s in them.
Running an old project’s stems back through StemStash brings the naming in line with everything else and adds a BPM and key tag to files that never had one. A folder pulled out of archive ends up readable the same way a folder from last week’s session is, without relistening to figure out what each file was for.
Handing stems off to a collaborator
Sending stems to another producer, a mix engineer, or a vocalist for a topline means the person on the other end doesn’t know the project the way you do. A file called vox 2 (loud) or Untitled4.wav tells them nothing, and the first thing they’ll do is message you asking what key it’s in.
Running an export through StemStash before you send it means what lands in their inbox is already labeled by instrument, tempo, and key, sorted into the same group folders every time. Whoever opens it next can get straight to work instead of asking you questions first.
- Consistent every time. The same set of stems returns the same groups, filenames, BPM, and key on every run, so a folder you send today looks like one you sent last month.
- You still check the work. Every group, filename, BPM, and key is editable in the review table before export, so a wrong guess is a quick correction, not a redo.
Try it on your next export
The free Hobby tier includes 10 credits, no card required. Get started, drop in the stems from a client folder, an old archive, or your next export to send out, and see the organized folder before you decide whether it’s worth doing this by hand again.