Mastered stems · Audio Artist Academy

Mastered stems

Hi there,

I'm curious about your approach when it comes to exporting and delivering mastered stems.

I'm working in Cubase and noticed that when I export stems with the mastering chain applied (by enabling the option to include group and send effects, with all stems routed to a group track containing the mastering chain), the result seems unexpectedly louder once I re-import those stems back into the session.

For instance, if the session plays back at around -8 LUFS short-term, the re-imported stems—when summed—reach around -3 or even -2 LUFS.

Is there something I'm overlooking in this workflow? I’d be really interested to hear how you handle delivering mastered stems.

Thanks!

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