Quote:
Originally Posted by stangroom  The split/stem issue is quite common for us on a daily basis in the TV world. Either one is used interchangeably to reference DIA, NARR, FX, MUSIC. However, there have been a number of instances where I've had to label 5.1 channels as "stems", where the N, D, M, E become "splits"
For example, just looking at my spec sheets for a few networks here's what comes up:
AETN/History Channel - Splits
Discovery Channel - Stems
National Geographic - Splits
MTV also refers to "stems" as the separate channels of a 5.1 mix.
Charles, how do most of the LA gents (and ladies!) refer to the channels of a 5.1 mix?
In all honesty, I started in film (in NYC, not LA) and everything was "stems", but this whole TV fiasco has really fussed with my cool jargon. LET'S STANDARDIZE THIS S***!
P.S. - It's very common for the term "splits" to be used in the commercial world too. Both my fiancée and I do ad work and it's much more common than "stems". |
over the last few years the issue has gotten less clear than it once was- but I will layout my current understanding of the terminology.
Stems will be the final broad element groups, assigned to speaker outputs- they would be DIA, MX and FX.
Predubs would be subsets of those stems- IE, Foley, GRP ADR, Atmos, FX, Design, DIA etc.... these would not necessarily be tied to the final output format of the mix- but could be configured to match the needs of the track itself- the foley might L-C-R, L-C-R, C, C for instance.... the way the predub (or premix) is laid out is to allow some flexibility for the mixer to raise or lower elements with some flexibility. A Stem, in contrast, will be expected to run at reference level.