Where to Get Stems for Remixing (and How to Make Your Own)

Every remix starts with the same problem: you need the individual pieces of a song, not the finished mix. Sometimes those pieces exist and you just have to find them. Sometimes they don’t, and the only way forward is separating them yourself.

When Official Stems Exist

Remix contests. Labels and artists occasionally release official stems specifically for fan remix contests, usually through the label’s own site or a contest platform. These are the highest-quality option when available: real multitrack stems from the actual session, not a reconstruction.

Artist and label stem packs. Some artists release stems directly to fans, particularly in electronic and hip-hop scenes where remix culture is part of the genre. These show up on Bandcamp, an artist’s own site, or dedicated stem marketplaces.

Sample and stem marketplaces. A handful of platforms exist specifically to connect producers with stems and samples cleared for use, generally requiring a purchase or subscription and a license that’s actually documented, which matters if you ever plan to release the remix publicly.

The honest limitation: official stems only exist for a small fraction of songs, usually recent releases from artists actively courting remix culture. For most of the music you’d actually want to remix, official stems were never made available.

When They Don’t: Making Your Own

If the song you want to remix doesn’t have official stems available, separating them yourself from the finished track is the practical alternative. This isn’t the same as a professional multitrack from the original session (there will be some bleed between instruments, and separation quality depends on how the original was mixed), but for a fan remix or a personal project, it’s a genuine and common path.

What this actually looks like:

1. Start with the highest-quality version of the track you can get. A lossless file separates more cleanly than a heavily compressed one.
2. Separate into as many stems as you need. If you’re remixing the drums and keeping the vocal, you need at least a vocals/drums/bass/other split; if you want to rebuild the arrangement more fully, 6 stems (adding guitar and piano) gives you more to work with.
3. Preview each stem before committing. Solo and listen for bleed, particularly on instruments that share frequency space, like bass and kick drum.
4. Export the stems you actually need into your DAW and start building the remix around them.

StemSplitPro does exactly this on your Mac: drag in the track, separate into 2, 4, or 6 stems, preview every one for free, and export whichever you’re keeping directly as WAV, AIFF, or M4A files ready to drop into a DAW.

A Note on Rights

Separating a track into stems for your own practice, learning, or a private remix is one thing. Releasing or distributing a remix built from someone else’s copyrighted recording is a different question entirely, governed by copyright law and, for platforms like SoundCloud or YouTube, their own content policies. Official remix contests and stem packs typically come with clear usage terms specifically because this matters. If you’re planning to publish a remix rather than keep it for yourself, that’s worth checking before you invest a lot of time building it.