Reel to Reel signature service
Stem Mastering
Mastering with access to the groups inside your track — the service we've made the house specialty, with a method of our own.
What it is
In traditional stereo mastering, the engineer receives a single file: the finished mix. Every move — EQ, dynamics, color — hits the whole track at once. That works beautifully when the mix arrives mature; it hits a wall when the problem lives inside the mix.
In stem mastering, the track arrives split into instrument groups. The engineer can make dedicated decisions per group — fixing what needs fixing without touching what's already right — and at the end, the sum runs through the classic mastering chain on the master bus, exactly as in traditional mastering. It's the precise middle ground between mastering and remixing: more control than stereo, without the cost of reopening the entire mix.
More groups mean more control. The format can be as simple as two stems (vocal and instrumental) or follow our full method below.
When it's the right call
Stem mastering earns its keep when you recognize your track in these signs: the leads lose presence outside your session, or won't glue with the rest; the track sounds closed-in — missing depth, openness, space between elements; the kick and bass won't lock, and no stereo-master move fixes it without sacrificing another part of the spectrum. These are problems of relationships between elements — and relationships can only be treated with access to the elements.
If the mix arrived balanced and the goal is finishing, stereo mastering remains the right (and more economical) path. In doubt, the technical assessment we run before every quote will tell you honestly which service your track calls for.
The Reel to Reel method
We work with a group structure built for electronic music — with one signature move: the rhythmic foundation belongs to no group.
Atmospheres
The sounds that form the bed of the track and create its atmosphere: pads, ambiences, background textures. Treated as a group because their job is collective: sustaining depth without fighting for space.
FX
The movement and transition elements, usually without defined pitch: sweeps, risers, impacts, reverses. Grouped to control energy and brightness without bleeding into the rest of the spectrum.
Leads
The guiding voices of the track: melodies, arpeggios, synth leads. In electronic music, they steer the listener's attention — this group gets the presence, glue and projection work.
Vocals
When present, they always travel separately, for dedicated treatment. The same goes for recorded live instruments: their own group, always.
Percussion
Everything driving rhythm above the foundation: hi-hats, shakers, loops, crashes. The group that owns the top of the spectrum and defines the track's fine groove.
Method signature
Kick, Bass and Snare — individually
This is the method's signature. The three elements that command electronic music demand decisions too fine-grained to share processing with anything else: the kick-bass relationship is resolved element by element, in mono and in phase, and the snare gets the impact treatment the drop calls for. This is where Reel to Reel's stem mastering wins the game.
After the group work, the sum runs through classic mastering on the master bus — tonal balance of the whole, dynamic control, loudness per destination (streaming and club as separate deliverables) and translation checks. You receive the same deliverable package as stereo mastering, with a result stereo alone couldn't reach.
How to prepare your track
Export every channel of your project into the group it belongs to, following the method's structure (Atmospheres, FX, Leads, Vocals, Percussion — and Kick, Bass and Snare as individual files). The same technical rules as any Reel to Reel delivery apply: 24-bit WAV/AIFF at the project's native sample rate, all groups exported from bar 1 with full tails, no master-bus processing, peaks at −6 dBFS. The delivery guide covers everything — and ships with your proposal.
Does your track call for this treatment?
Send over your project details. The technical assessment will tell you honestly whether stem mastering is the path — or whether stereo mastering gets it done.
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