Whether you're a DJ, producer, or record label, stems have become one of the most popular topics in the music industry.
Stems enhance creative possibilities and whether it's a drum stem, bassline stem, melody stem, or even a vocal stem, stems help artists' musical abilities. While it can be difficult to come across song stems, we have compiled 5 ways to find song stems online.
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What Are Song Stems?
Song stems (aka multitracks) are individual sections of a song. For example, there is a separate stems for vocals, strings, and synths within a single song. Producers will then take the song stems in order to remix the tracks. Stems are simply the channels bounced down to audio files.
1. Splice Contests
Splice Contests are a great way to gather song stems. In these contests, Splice will give away quality stems from a number of more well-known artists. In the past, we have seen song stems from reggaeton artists, rock artists, EDM artists, rappers, and a number of other artists.
2. Wavo
Wavo.me will run contests for remixes from time-to-time. In these contests, Wavo will typically grant high quality stems to songs. While they don't run as many contests anymore, Wavo was a great place to find free stems for quite some time.
3. Skio
Skio's remix contest features some of the most well-known songs on the web today. Currently, Skio is running a remix contest for Borgeous and Taylr Renee's “Sweeter Without You.”
4. Reach Out To Labels
While it may be difficult to reach out and grab the stems for Taylor Swift‘s latest song, often times labels are the best places to turn to in order to find high quality stems for certain songs. If the remix is good enough for their standards, the label may also grant rights to release an official remix of the song.
5. Traxsource
Traxsource will often sell stems from a variety of various artists and Record Labels. Here you will find a large collection of EDM stems.
How many stems does a song have?
A stem is a main idea that supports the development of other ideas in a piece of writing. A song typically has three stems: the verse, the chorus, and the bridge. The verse is the main body of the song, where the majority of the story is told. The chorus is a repeating section that usually contains the song's main message or hook. The bridge is a brief section that usually appears near the end of the song and helps to provide closure or resolution. In some cases, a song may also include an intro or outro, which are shorter sections that serve as bookends for the rest of the song. Ultimately, the number of stems in a song will vary depending on its length and structure.
