What Files Should You Get From Your Recording Engineer?
You just finished your recording session. The vocals are tracked, the song sounds good, and you’re ready to take it home. But what files should you actually leave the studio with?
Understanding the different types of audio files you may receive can save you a lot of confusion later—especially when it’s time for mixing, mastering, releasing your music, performing live, or sending your song to another engineer.
At Code Red Productions, a professional recording studio in Kansas City, we want artists to understand what they’re getting at every stage of the recording process. Here are some of the most common files you’ll encounter.
The Rough Mix
After a recording session, one of the first things most artists want is a version they can immediately listen to.
At Code Red Productions, our recording sessions come with a high-quality rough mix. Your engineer will work on levels, effects, vocal placement, and the overall sound throughout the session so you leave with something that sounds good and represents the direction of the record.
However, a rough mix is not the finished mix.
There is an important difference between making a song sound good during a recording session and performing a dedicated professional mix.
During recording, the engineer's primary focus is capturing the best possible performances. A finished mix requires additional time to work through details like EQ, compression, automation, vocal editing, effects, low-end balance, stereo imaging, and how every element of the song interacts.
Think of the rough mix as a strong preview of the finished record—not the final product intended for release.
WAV Files
WAV files are uncompressed, high-quality audio files and are generally the preferred format for professional music production.
If you're sending your song to another mixing or mastering engineer, preparing music for distribution, or archiving your finished records, you'll usually want WAV files rather than compressed formats such as MP3s.
For final releases, your mixing or mastering engineer can provide the appropriate file specifications for your distributor or platform.
MP3 Files
MP3s are compressed files that sacrifice some audio information to create a much smaller file.
That doesn't make them useless. They're convenient for quickly sending a song to someone, listening to a reference mix, emailing music, or checking a track on different speakers.
For your actual final master and long-term storage, however, you generally want to keep the high-quality WAV version.
Multitracks
Multitracks are the individual audio recordings that make up your session.
For a vocal session, that could include:
Lead vocals
Doubles
Harmonies
Ad-libs
Background vocals
Alternate takes
For a full-band recording, the multitracks could include individual kick, snare, tom, overhead, guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocal recordings.
Multitracks give a mixing engineer maximum control because each recorded element can be processed individually.
If you're having your song mixed by an engineer who wasn't present for the recording session, these are typically the files they'll need.
Stems
People often use the terms stems and multitracks interchangeably, but technically they're different.
Multitracks are the individual tracks from the recording session.
Stems are groups of tracks combined into larger categories.
For example, a song might have:
Drum Stem: all drums combined
Vocal Stem: vocals combined
Instrumental Stem: music combined
Background Vocal Stem: harmonies and backgrounds combined
Stems are especially useful for live performances, remixes, alternate versions, film and television placements, and situations where someone needs more control than a stereo master provides without needing every individual track.
Instrumental and Acapella Versions
Once your song is professionally mixed, it can also be useful to have alternate versions.
An instrumental is the finished song without the lead vocals. This can be useful for performances, content, sync licensing, remixes, and promotional material.
An acapella contains the vocals without the instrumental and can be useful for remixes, alternate productions, performances, and future creative projects.
Artists who plan to perform their music should also consider getting a dedicated performance version of the record rather than simply performing over the full master.
Clean Versions
If your song contains explicit lyrics and you plan on pursuing radio play, certain playlists, public performances, television placements, or other commercial opportunities, having a clean version available can save you from scrambling for one later.
Ideally, clean edits should still sound musical rather than simply having awkward gaps wherever explicit lyrics originally appeared.
Your Pro Tools or DAW Session
The actual session file is different from exported audio.
A Pro Tools, Logic Pro, or other DAW session contains the arrangement of the recording itself—including tracks, edits, playlists, routing, plugins, automation, and other session information.
However, simply having a Pro Tools session file doesn't necessarily mean you have everything needed to open the project somewhere else.
Sessions can depend on specific plugins, software versions, audio files, and studio routing. That's one reason properly exported multitracks are often the safest format when transferring a project between engineers.
What Should You Keep After Finishing a Song?
At minimum, once a song is completely finished, it's a good idea to keep your:
Final high-quality WAV master
MP3 reference
Instrumental
Clean version, if applicable
Performance version, if you perform live
Multitracks or stems when available
Keep these files organized and backed up somewhere you control.
Your music is an asset. Treat the files like one.
Recording Is Only the First Stage
One of the biggest misconceptions newer artists have is that recording and mixing are the same process.
They're connected, but they serve different purposes.
Recording captures the performance.
Mixing takes those recordings and turns them into a polished, cohesive record.
Mastering prepares that finished mix for release and helps ensure it translates properly across different playback systems and platforms.
That's why the high-quality rough mix you receive after a recording session at Code Red Productions shouldn't be confused with a professionally finished mix and master.
If you're planning to officially release the song, professional mixing and mastering are the next steps toward getting it release-ready.
Record, Mix, and Finish Your Music in Kansas City
At Code Red Productions, we provide professional recording, mixing, mastering, and music production for artists throughout the Kansas City area.
Whether you're recording your first song, finishing an album, tracking vocals over a beat, or recording a full band, our engineers can help take your project from the original session through the finished record.
If you're looking for a recording studio in Kansas City, book your next session with Code Red Productions and let's get your music finished the right way.
