A mix engineer wants every file the same length starting from bar one, clearly named, at 24-bit and the session sample rate, with no master bus processing, plus a tempo map and a rough reference mix. Get those right and the engineer spends their first hour mixing rather than repairing your delivery.
- Your finished session, arranged and edited
- Somewhere to export a folder of files
- A rough mix of the song as you currently hear it
- Ten minutes of care, which saves the engineer several hours
Before exporting anything:
- Delete muted takes, unused tracks, and abandoned ideas
- Consolidate comped vocals into a single continuous take
- Fix any clicks, pops, or edits that need crossfades
- Check nothing is clipping at the individual track level
Exporting a mess produces a mess. The engineer cannot fix an edit they were not given the pieces for.
Bypass everything on the master bus — bus compression, limiting, mastering EQ, any loudness plugin. Those decisions belong to the mix and master, and baking them into stems removes the engineer's ability to make them.
Bus processing on groups is a judgment call. If the parallel drum compression is the sound of the record, print it. If it is a general glue, take it off and mention it.
Keep processing that defines a part:
- Guitar amp and cabinet simulation
- Synth effects, distinctive delays and modulation
- Anything you would not recognise the part without
Remove processing that is a mix decision:
- Corrective EQ you were using because the mix was crowded
- Reverb sends you added to place a part in a space
- Compression you added to control level
When in doubt, send both a processed and a dry version, clearly labelled.
Every file starts at the same point — the absolute start of the session, or bar one — and runs to the same end point. All files are then exactly the same length and drop in perfectly aligned.
This is the single most important rule. A folder of files trimmed to their own entry points is a folder of files someone has to align by ear.
Use a consistent numbered prefix so the folder sorts into a sensible order:
01_Kick.wav
02_Snare_Top.wav
03_Snare_Bottom.wav
04_HiHat.wav
05_OH_L.wav
06_OH_R.wav
10_Bass_DI.wav
11_Bass_Amp.wav
20_Gtr_Rhythm_L.wav
21_Gtr_Rhythm_R.wav
30_LeadVox.wav
31_BVox_Chorus_High.wav
Rules: no spaces, no characters other than letters, numbers, and underscores, and mark stereo pairs clearly as _L and _R or export them as interleaved stereo files. Say which you did.
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|
| Tempo map or a single BPM | Lets the engineer sync delays and tempo-based tools |
| Rough mix as a WAV or MP3 | The reference for your intent — the most useful file in the folder |
| Reference tracks | Two or three commercial songs that sound like the target |
| Notes | What you want more of, what worries you, any part that must stay prominent |
| Key and time signature | Useful for tuning and any harmonic processing |
The rough mix matters more than producers expect. It communicates balance decisions faster than a paragraph of notes.
- Open the folder in a fresh session and drag every file in at once. Do they line up?
- Is any file silent? Empty exports are common and easy to miss.
- Is anything clipping?
- Is the file count what you expect?
Zip the folder with the song name and date in the filename. Send via a service that preserves file integrity — a file transfer service or a cloud drive, not a messaging app that may re-encode.
If you built the track in a browser DAW like Veena, export the same way — consolidated from bar one, 24-bit WAV, master chain off. The delivery standard is the same whatever the tool.
Related reading: what mixing is for beginners, how to collaborate on a track remotely, and gain staging explained.
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