A Guide to Using Stems For Music Covers to a DAW

The world of social media has inspired many musicians to create their own covers of music they love with their instrument. Many musicians use YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok as outlets for them to present their musical talent, gain exposure, or connect with a wider audience. One useful piece of tech that modern musicians use to accomplish the recreation of their favorite song is A.I. stemming.

Now what is A.I. stemming you might ask? A.I. stemming is the action of isolating individual instrumental tracks of a musical composition that is separated using artificial intelligence technology. Usually within these stems, they will include audio tracks of vocals or instruments that form a complete song. When recording a musical cover, usually a musician wants to reinterpret a song by adding their own instrument or vocal part for a song.

With Fadr’s A.I. instrument separation, you can separate the instrument tracks of your favorite song of choice, which gives you freedom to work with the mix of the song. This means you can isolate vocals, drums, guitars, keyboards, or other instruments from the mix to create space for you to work with your mix. Wondering how to do this for your own music? In this guide, we will guide you through the steps on how to use Fadr’s A.I. stemming for creating your own musical covers.

Step 1: Find your favorite song to cover.

Try to identify your favorite genres that are best suited for your voice or instrument. This can help you narrow down your search for songs that best suit your musical interests. Also, dig into your favorite songs from the bands or artists you admire, which can help you appreciate the music on a deeper level. You also want to ensure that the song you pick best aligns with your vocal and instrumental skills. It’s always best to challenge yourself when practicing music but you don’t want to overdo it. Music is all about having fun and you should pick songs that best showcase your musical capabilities and talents.

Step 2: Download your favorite song as an mp3 or mp4 file.

You can download songs as mp3 or mp4 files in many different ways, but it is important to consider the copyright laws and rights of artists and bands. If you want to download your favorite song legally, you are going to have to use an authorized platform such as Spotify, Apple music, YouTube Music, or other streaming services. Many of these services allow you to download songs within their applications, so you can listen to the music offline. There are also online music stores such as iTunes, Google Play, and Bandcamp that offer legal music to purchase and download. If you’re not feeling the need to spend the money on purchasing music, then there are some websites that provide free and legal music downloads. These sites include Jamendo and Soundcloud that will allow you to download music from independent artists.

Step 3: Go to Fadr’s stems page and upload your downloaded song.

Once you have your song downloaded as an mp3 or mp4 file, go to fadr.com/stems. To upload your song file to Fadr, click on the “upload songs” and you will be navigated to your download folder. Click on or drag your song file to Fadr, and your song will be uploaded. The Fadr A.I. will create the stems, figure out the MIDI, detect the key and tempo of the song, and will give you the song’s chord progression.

Step 4: Separate your tracks into four stems to get your individual instrument tracks.

Now that your song is uploaded, separate your song from two stems to four stems. Two stems will only have the vocals and the instrumental track, while four stems will have the vocals, bass, drums, and other melodic instruments (keyboards, guitars). Fadr utilizes complex A.I. algorithms to separate the individual instruments of your favorite song, which enables you to extract the vocals, guitars, bass, and drums from the track. This is crucial for producing your own cover song because if you want to perform your instrument, extracting your instrument’s part to a song will allow you to play over the recording.

Step 5: Download the stems of your song.

After you have separated your song into four separate A.I. stems, you can download all of your stems to your computer as either an mp3, WAV, or MIDI file. You can select which instruments you want to extract or keep for the download, whether it be the vocals, drums, bass, etc. Make sure to have a folder for your computer to save your stems as this will help keep your music library organized, and can be easily accessed in the future.

Step 6: Pick your favorite digital audio workstation (DAW) of choice and upload the stems you want to use.

Once you have downloaded your stems, drag your mp3 files of the stems to the DAW of your choice whether it’s Garageband, Logic, Pro Tools, or FL Studio. Choosing your DAW will heavily depend on your musical goals. If you are looking for a user-friendly interface with an extensive library of virtual instruments, then Logic Pro, FL Studio, or Garageband will best fit for you. If you are looking for a powerful editing and mixing platform that can be used in various recording environments, then you can’t go wrong with Pro Tools.

Step 7: Play along with the stems and record the song with your instrument.

Now that your stems are imported to your DAW, you can now play over the song you are covering. You can also apply any necessary editing, mixing, or effects to enhance the stems or your overall sound of the mix. When you have your cover version recorded and arranged in a DAW, adjust the dynamics, balance the EQs, or add any effects if needed for a more refined sound. You should also master your cover song to enable a much more consistent and optimized sound across your piece.

Step 8: Have fun!

It is most important to enjoy the process of recording music, as it can be a bit tedious to put together a cover through a DAW. Not only should you enjoy the process of recording but also enjoy practicing the song that you are covering. If you want to be more inspired, try to experiment with different techniques while you are rehearsing your song. Don’t be afraid to embrace creative opportunities out of your comfort zone as this can help you grow as a musician or producer. Your interpretation doesn’t have to be perfect as authenticity and uniqueness are the things that identify you as an artist.