How to Deliver Sync-Ready Music: Stems, Masters, and File Standards

You wrote the track. A music supervisor liked it enough to ask for stems. Now you have 48 hours to deliver a clean, properly named, fully tagged package — or the spot goes to someone else. Sync delivery is where unprepared writers lose placements they already won. The supervisor doesn't have time to chase you for a clean instrumental at 11 PM on a Friday.

This guide covers exactly what professional libraries, music supervisors, post-production houses, ad agencies, and game audio leads expect when you deliver a track for sync consideration or final placement. The standards below apply across film, TV, advertising, trailers, games, and high-end production music libraries. Hit them and you become the writer they call back. Miss them and you become the cautionary tale.

The Master File: Format, Bit Depth, Sample Rate

The single non-negotiable rule of sync delivery: uncompressed audio only. MP3, AAC, OGG, FLAC, ALAC are pitch formats, not deliverables. Every reputable library and supervisor will reject a placement deliverable in a lossy format because they cannot re-encode it for broadcast, theatrical DCP, or 5.1 mixdown without compounding artifacts.

Industry Standard Specs

• Format: WAV (.wav) or BWAV (Broadcast WAV, .wav with metadata chunk). AIFF (.aif) is interchangeable for Mac post houses but WAV is the universal default.
• Bit depth: 24-bit. Always. 16-bit is acceptable only for legacy back-catalog upload to libraries that explicitly request it.
• Sample rate: 48 kHz is the broadcast and film standard. 44.1 kHz is acceptable for streaming-only placements but if there is any chance of TV, ad, or theatrical use, deliver at 48 kHz from the start. Never deliver at 96 kHz unless specifically requested for a high-end feature score; supervisors don't want to downsample.
• Channels: Stereo, interleaved. Mono is fine for a stinger or a percussion-only stem, but the main mix is always stereo.
• Loudness: Target -14 LUFS integrated for streaming-friendly delivery, with true peak no higher than -1 dBTP. For broadcast TV submissions targeting CALM Act compliance, -23 LUFS (EU) or -24 LUFS (US ATSC A/85) is required for the final mix to picture, but library deliverables typically sit at -14 to -16 LUFS so the supervisor has headroom to re-master.

What "BWAV" Actually Means

A Broadcast WAV file is a normal WAV with an additional metadata chunk (the bext chunk) embedded in the header. It carries title, artist, originator, origination date, time reference (essential for stem alignment), and a free-text description field. Most modern DAWs (Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper, Cubase, Nuendo) export BWAV by default. If you bounce stems out of your DAW and the time reference is preserved, the supervisor's editor can drag all your stems into a Pro Tools session and they will all line up to bar 1, beat 1 automatically. That single feature saves hours of session prep on the post side and is the reason BWAV with timecode is the professional standard, not basic WAV.

Stems: What to Deliver, How to Bounce, How to Name

Stems are the disassembled track. Supervisors and editors need them so they can duck the lead vocal under a line of dialogue, drop the drums for a tension moment, or rebalance the mix to picture. Inadequate stems are the most common reason a placement falls through after the verbal yes.

The Minimum Stem Set

1. Full Mix — the polished, mastered (or mix-bus-treated) version. This is what they fell in love with.
2. Instrumental — full mix with all vocals (lead, background, ad-libs, vocal samples, vocoded vocals) muted.
3. TV Mix — instrumental with background vocals retained but lead vocal removed. Used when the spot wants the energy of the song but needs to put dialogue or VO over the lead line.
4. A Cappella — vocals only, no music bed.
5. Clean / Radio Edit — explicit language replaced with silence or alternate vocals if the song has any.

The Professional Stem Set (split stems)

For trailer houses, ad agencies, and high-budget placements, deliver the song broken down into instrument groups. The standard split:

• Drums (kick, snare, hats, percussion all summed)
• Bass (electric or synth bass, summed)
• Guitars (electric and acoustic separated if both exist)
• Keys / Synths (pads, leads, arps separated for cinematic and trailer work)
• Lead Vocal
• Background Vocals
• FX / Risers / Whooshes / Booms

Stem Bouncing Rules

• All stems same length, same start point. Bounce from bar 1, beat 1 to a single common end point. No trimming silence off the front of any stem.
• No master bus processing on individual stems. If your master chain has compression, EQ, limiting, or saturation, bypass it for the stem bounces. The full mix gets the master chain. The split stems do not. This is the rule supervisors enforce most aggressively.
• Solo, then bounce. Solo each stem group, bounce real-time or offline, verify nothing leaked from another bus.
• Reverbs and delays go with the source. If your reverb is on a send, route the wet return into the same stem as the dry source. Do not deliver dry stems and a separate "FX returns" stem unless the supervisor specifically asks for them.

Edits: 30s, 60s, Stinger, Button

For advertising, trailer, and game work, you must deliver pre-cut edit lengths along with the full mix. Editors will use what fits the format. If you don't supply them, someone else's track will.

• :60 — 60-second edit, full song structure compressed.
• :30 — 30-second edit, the most-used spot length. Usually a verse-into-chorus or chorus-only cut.
• :15 — 15-second edit for digital pre-roll.
• :06 — 6-second bumper for YouTube and Hulu pre-roll.
• Stinger — 2 to 4 seconds, ends with a hard hit. Used for logo reveals and act breaks.
• Button — final 1-second hit. Used to punctuate a tag.
• Underscore / Bed — instrumental loop with no melodic hook, designed to sit behind VO without competing.

Each edit needs to land on a clean musical phrase, end on a downbeat or stinger hit, and not fade out abruptly mid-bar. Supervisors will reject edits with awkward truncations because they have to be re-cut by the post audio team, which costs the placement.

File Naming: The One Standard That Saves Placements

A music supervisor's library has 10,000 to 200,000 tracks. Search is keyword-based. If your filenames are inconsistent, your track is invisible the moment it gets ingested.

The Canonical Naming Convention

ArtistName_TrackTitle_Version_BPM_Key.wav

• Use underscores, not spaces. Spaces break command-line tools, FTP transfers, and many DAWs' import dialogs.
• No special characters. No & / : ? * " < > | ever. No emoji. No accented characters unless you've confirmed UTF-8 support end-to-end.
• BPM as integer, no decimals: 120bpm, not 120.0bpm.
• Key as scale degree + quality: Amin, Cmaj, Fmaj, Ebmin. Don't use F# in a filename — write Fsharp for compatibility.
• Total filename under 64 characters. Some legacy DAW import paths still truncate above 31 characters, and Windows Explorer breaks on full path lengths over 260.

Examples That Work

• JaneDoe_NightDrive_FullMix_120bpm_Amin.wav
• JaneDoe_NightDrive_Instrumental_120bpm_Amin.wav
• JaneDoe_NightDrive_STEM_Drums_120bpm_Amin.wav
• JaneDoe_NightDrive_30sEdit_120bpm_Amin.wav
• JaneDoe_NightDrive_Stinger_120bpm_Amin.wav

Embedded Metadata: ID3, BWAV, and the Fields That Matter

The filename gets you found. The embedded metadata gets you cleared. A supervisor cannot license a track without knowing exactly who wrote it, who publishes it, what the splits are, and how to reach the rights holders. If that information is missing or contradictory, the placement dies in legal review.

BWAV bext Chunk Fields to Fill

• Description: a one-sentence vibe summary, used as a search hit. Example: "Driving synthwave instrumental, dark cinematic mood, builds to euphoric chorus."
• Originator: your artist name or production company.
• Originator Reference: your internal track ID or ISRC.
• Origination Date: ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Time Reference: sample-accurate start position. Critical for stems.

ID3v2 Tags (for MP3 pitch versions)

• TIT2 (title), TPE1 (artist), TALB (album/library catalog), TBPM, TKEY (key in Camelot or standard notation), TCOM (composer), TPUB (publisher), TCOP (copyright), TXXX:ISRC, TXXX:IPI (writer IPI numbers, comma-separated if multiple writers), TXXX:PRO (ASCAP/BMI/SESAC/SOCAN), TXXX:Splits (writer split percentages summing to 100), COMM (contact email).

Ownership splits must sum to exactly 100 across all writers and 100 across all publishers, with the publisher share equaling the writer share for each contributor. If you have a 50/50 co-write with one publisher controlling 100% of the publishing, the cue sheet shows: Writer A 50% / Writer B 50% / Publisher X 100%. Supervisors and the cue sheet processors at ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC reject anything that doesn't balance.

The Cue Sheet, Split Sheet, and One-Stop Question

A split sheet is a written agreement among co-writers documenting who owns what percentage of the composition (the song itself) and the master (the recording). Sign it the day you write the song, before anyone gets paid, before anyone has reason to argue. Templates from ASCAP, BMI, and SongTrust are free. Get every contributor to sign.

A cue sheet is the document broadcasters and ad agencies file with PROs to trigger performance royalty payments. It lists the cue (your track), its duration in the program, the type of usage (background instrumental, visual vocal, theme), the writers and publishers, their shares, and their PRO affiliations. You don't usually file the cue sheet yourself; the broadcaster does. But you do need to provide accurate metadata so they can fill it correctly.

A one-stop means a single party controls 100% of both master and publishing. Supervisors love one-stops because they can issue both the master use license and the sync license with one signature, one phone call, one wire. If you wrote, performed, recorded, mixed, and self-published your track, you are a one-stop. Mark every deliverable as such — it's a competitive advantage worth real money on tight deadlines.

The Delivery Package: What Goes in the Folder

When a supervisor or library rep says "send me everything," here is what should be in the zipped folder you upload to their Box, Dropbox, or stems.io:

1. 01_FullMix/ — the mastered full mix WAV plus an MP3 320 kbps reference copy.
2. 02_Stems/ — full stem set, all aligned, all properly named.
3. 03_Edits/ — all edit lengths, all stingers, all buttons.
4. 04_Instrumentals/ — full instrumental, TV mix, underscore bed.
5. 05_Documents/ — split sheet (signed PDF), cue sheet template (filled), one-page lyric sheet, one-page metadata sheet listing ISRC, IPI, PRO, publisher, contact.
6. README.txt — plain-text overview: what's in the folder, who owns what, who to contact, license type available (exclusive, non-exclusive, retitled), any rights restrictions (no political use, no tobacco, etc.).

The deliverable folder is your interview. It tells the supervisor whether you understand the business, whether you can be trusted with a deadline, and whether their lawyer will have to chase you for paperwork after the spot airs. A clean, complete folder gets you called for the next brief. A messy one gets you ghosted.

Common Mistakes That Kill Placements

• Stems with master bus compression baked in. Editor reduces the drum stem and the whole mix pumps because your bus compressor was triggered by the kick.
• Inconsistent stem lengths. Vocal stem is 8 bars shorter than the drum stem because you trimmed silence. Now nothing aligns.
• MP3 stems. Compounded encoding artifacts on every re-export. Auto-rejected.
• No instrumental. Killed countless placements. Cut one for every track in your catalog before you pitch anything.
• Conflicting splits between split sheet and metadata. Legal team cannot clear without resolving. Resolve takes weeks. Spot airs without you.
• Unverified samples. If you sampled anything, even briefly, disclose it up front with the source and clearance status. Hidden samples are how careers end.
• Single-file pitches with no stems available. Supervisor wants to consider you but knows they'll waste a day trying to get the stems later. Pass.

Delivery Platforms and Transfer

For files under 2 GB: Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, or the supervisor's own portal (Disco, SourceAudio, MusicVine, Songtradr). For larger packages: Box, Aspera, Signiant, MASV, or direct FTP to the post house. Always include a checksum (MD5 or SHA-256) in the README so the recipient can verify the files arrived intact. A corrupted stem on deadline day is worse than no stem at all.

Never deliver via email attachment. Never deliver via SoundCloud private link as the final asset (it's lossy). Never link to a personal cloud folder you might delete. Once a track is placed, the deliverables need to remain available on a stable, professional storage solution for as long as the license runs.

Related reading: Library Representation Guide · How to Price Your Track · Free Music Valuation