Search is a magical tool, use it.

http://recording.org/ftopict-39643-seperation.html+mastering

What a magical tool, i know how to use it. still doesnt answer my question. I wasnt looking for an argument on whether i should called it stems or seperation. I just wanted some opinions on using this technique, and possibly ways to use it effectively.

Whenever I get stems, it tends to be one extreme or the other -

(A) I do nothing different at all and run it as one stream.

(B) The mix sucks and stems make it easier to mess it up even more than if it would've been mixed well in the first place.

My suggestion: Get the mix the way you want it. If you want to send stems, go ahead. Keep in mind that setup time is increased...

Well im mastering my own stuff. I get the concept behind stems, i just didnt know if there was an advantage in mastering as far as techniques using them to get a better master. It sounds like if you get our mix right up front, then you can do whatever you need without stems.

One common problem in mastering is that the vocals can start to disappear after a certain amount of processing. That's where having the vocals as a separate stem might help. But you could achieve the same thing by sending the mastering engineer alternate mixes with the vocals up (and down) slightly.

Cheers

James.