prep your files.

• Consolidated multitracks — the main set. One WAV per track, with your intentional track processing and automation printed, but nothing on the master/mixbus. This is what I mix from.
• Dry alternates where they matter. Include tuned-but-otherwise-dry lead vocals and any sound you think I may need to rebuild. Match the processed file name and add “DRY”. You do not need to duplicate the whole session.
• Effects as audio. Print important reverbs, delays, throws and sound-design returns on separate tracks. If a bus blend is part of the production, include that print as an extra track.
• Rough mix — plus references, if you have them. The bounce you're happiest with is a must. References are optional, and no files needed — artist + song in a text file, or a link to a Spotify/streaming playlist, is plenty. What helps most is why you picked them: "the vocal on this one, the low end on that one" beats "make it like this song".

Any DAW works — Logic, Ableton, FL, Pro Tools, Studio One, Cubase… Please send audio exports rather than a DAW project. They open reliably, with no plugin or session-version surprises.

• Finish the editing first. Tuning, timing, comping and arrangement final — and print the Melodyne/Auto-Tune so it's baked into the audio. I mix from where you left off; I'm not re-editing the song.
• Keep your sounds. If processing is the part — a distorted vocal, a filtered synth, a printed delay — print it. Send a dry alternate only when it gives me useful room to move.
• Print buses and effects separately. A drum blend, vocal reverb or throw can be exported as an additional track. This preserves the production without locking every element together.

Format

WAV

Bit depth

32-bit float

Sample rate

Same as your session — don't convert it

Start point

All files from bar 1 / 0:00, same length

Mixbus

Bypass your master/mixbus chain while exporting. Include a screenshot only if the chain is important to the sound

Also include

Tempo / BPM & key — they go in the folder name

Same start point on every file is the big one — everything lines up instantly on my end. Leave sensible headroom and don't normalize the files.

Don't build this by hand — the template above has it all, with empty example files showing the naming. Rename the main folder to your song:

The file numbers are my session order. Sorted A–Z, your files build my session automatically: vocals at the top, bass right above the drums so the low end stays together, then music and FX. Keep the numbers, change the words.

Good	Not this
01 Lead Vox	Audio 14
10 BGV Stack L	harms comp 2
30 Bass DI	untitled bass
45 Snare Top	SnrTopFINAL_v3
70 Gtr Rhythm L	gtr bounce (use this one)

01–09 lead vocals · 10s backing vocals · 20s vocal FX · 30s bass · 40–69 drums (40 kick, 45 snare, 50 toms & low perc, 60 hats & cymbals) · 70–89 music (70 guitars, 80 keys, 85 other) · 90s FX. Match alternate names to their main file and add “DRY” or a clear description. Folders that don't apply can stay empty.

Multitracks are the individual tracks in your session. If your kick is three layers — kick in, kick out, a sample — that's three files. Stems are groups summed into one file: those three kicks bounced together as a single "kick stem".

Multitracks are my preference. Separate layers let me rebalance them, fix the phase between mics and samples, or ease a layer back when the mix wants less of it. A stem locks those choices in — which is fine if you love the blend and want it kept.

One exception: if a section is huge — an orchestra, a wall of layered sound design — and it's already edited and balanced exactly how you want it, bounce it to a stereo stem. Better that than me wading through eighty tracks you've already perfected.

I'll happily work from either — just know what each one means: multitracks give me more ways to make it better; a stem tells me "this part is done".