Glossary
Audio stems
The separate unmixed tracks of a recording — for example, one file per speaker. Isolated tracks reduce the need for diarization and are especially useful for voice training.
In podcast and broadcast production, multitrack sessions keep one file per microphone or remote participant; the published episode is the mixdown. Stems keep each voice isolated even during overlap — solving diarization at capture time — and they make per-speaker consent accounting straightforward. In music, the same word covers separated instrument groups.
Why it matters
An archive that kept its session files holds a materially better product than the published mix alone.