When working on a music production project achieving the perfect drum sound can be crucial to the success of your track. While traditional recording studios with live drums, mics, and tuned rooms are the gold standard, they are often inaccessible to many musicians and producers. Enter the world of drum virtual studio technology (VST) instruments—a game-changer for modern music production.
One such powerful tool is LA Session Drummer, which offers high-quality drum samples and exceptional flexibility in creating professional drum tracks. Once you’ve programmed or recorded your MIDI drum performance, the next step is exporting those drums as audio stems for mixing or sharing with clients. This blog will compare three primary methods of exporting drum stems from a drum VST, exploring their advantages and disadvantages.
Let's take a look at how these features are easily accessed in LA Session Drummer and why using drum VSTs has become a major advantage for producers and songwriters across genres.
The Advantages of Drum VSTs
Before diving into the export methods, let’s briefly discuss why drum VSTs have become essential tools in music production. Drum VSTs like LA Session Drummer allow users to:
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Access Studio-Quality Drums: No need for expensive studio setups. With expertly sampled drum kits, including hardware like snare drums, bass drums, toms, and cymbals, you can achieve professional results.
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Flexibility: Program and tweak your drum parts with MIDI, providing endless options to perfect the rhythm, groove, and dynamics of your track.
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Cost-Effective: Avoid the high costs of maintaining a drum kit, microphones, preamps, and a tuned recording room.
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Portability: Work on your projects anywhere with your laptop or desktop—whether it’s a Mac running Logic Pro, a PC with FL Studio, or even CuBase-based setups.
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Control: Easily manipulate each drum’s pitch, envelope, velocity, with complete isolation of each instrumnet and articulation.
With these benefits in mind, let’s explore the three export methods for getting your drum tracks out of a digital audio workstation (DAW) and into the hands of mixers or collaborators. Refer to the video below for a real time walkthrough of each export method.
Export Method 1: Stereo Mix
Overview
The simplest way to export drums from a drum VST is to render the entire drum track as a stereo audio file. This method combines all individual drum and cymbal sounds into a single stereo file, much like exporting a mixed drum bus.
How to Do It in LA Session Drummer
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Load your programmed drum performance into LA Session Drummer.
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Ensure the overall balance of the drum mix is to your liking.
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In your DAW (e.g., Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live, Pro Tools), select the drum VST track and export it as a stereo WAV file.
Advantages
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Simplicity: This is the fastest and easiest method.
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Great for Demos: Ideal for quick mixes or demos where detailed control isn’t necessary.
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Minimal File Size: Produces smaller files compared to multi-stem exports, making it easier to share over the internet.
Disadvantages
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Limited Mixing Flexibility: Once exported, individual elements like the snare drum or hi-hats cannot be adjusted separately.
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Less Professional: Mix engineers may find it challenging to polish the track without access to separate stems.
Export Method 2: Grouped Stems by Instrument
Overview
This method strikes a balance between simplicity and control. Instead of exporting a single stereo mix, the drum elements are grouped into stems such as kick, snare, toms, hi-hats, ride, and cymbals. Each group is exported as a separate stereo audio file.
How to Do It in LA Session Drummer
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Open LA Session Drummer’s mixer interface.
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Export each drum group (e.g., kick, snare, toms, cymbals) to separate stereo outputs by soloing each goup for each export.
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You an also export each group track as separate audio files in one batch by creating a new instance of LA Session Drummer for each desired drum group.
Advantages
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More Control: Allows adjustments to individual groups during mixing. For example, you can EQ the snare drum separately or add reverb to the toms.
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Smaller File Size: Compared to full multi-track exports, grouped stems are still relatively manageable.
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Versatile: Works well for mixers who need some control but don’t require the complexity of a full multi-track setup.
Disadvantages
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Less Detail: You’ll have less control compared to full multi-tracks, especially for nuanced adjustments.
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Setup Required: Takes more time to route and organize outputs compared to exporting a stereo mix.
Export Method 3: Multi-Track Outputs (Full Studio Setup)
Overview
This method mirrors the setup of a professional recording studio, exporting the drums as individual mono or stereo tracks for each microphone—kick in, kick out, snare top, snare bottom, toms, overheads, room mics, and more. This is the most detailed option and is often the preferred choice for professional mixes.
How to Do It in LA Session Drummer
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Set-up the "pro mode" multi-output feature in LA Session Drummer.
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Assign each mic channel (e.g., snare top, snare bottom, hi-hats, ride, room mics) to separate outputs.
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In your DAW, create corresponding audio tracks and route the VST outputs to these tracks.
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Export each track individually as WAV files. This can be done in a single export, be sure to check your DAW export features to save some time!
Advantages
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Maximum Flexibility: Provides the mixer with full control over every element of the drum kit, enabling advanced techniques like parallel compression, detailed EQing, and tailored effects.
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Professional Quality: Essential for high-end productions or when collaborating with experienced audio engineers.
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Realistic Sound: With this method the microphone signal (e.g. room, overhead, kick, snare, ect.) is as it would be in a studio setting. Meaning all of the processing added to the room mic, overhead, and FX mic will effect the drums the same way. It will be a more natureal sound by the end of the mix processes.
Disadvantages
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Time-Consuming: Requires a more complex setup and export process.
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Large File Sizes: Produces significantly larger files, which can be challenging to share without a fast internet connection.
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Overwhelming for Beginners: The level of detail may be unnecessary for simpler projects.
Why LA Session Drummer Excels
One of the standout features of LA Session Drummer is how seamlessly it integrates these export options. Whether you need a quick stereo mix or a full multi-track export, the user-friendly interface and routing options make it easy to achieve professional results. Here are a few highlights:
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High-Quality Samples: The drum sounds in LA Session Drummer are meticulously sampled, featuring iconic hardware like DW Santa Monica kits, Black Beauty snares, and vintage cymbals.
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Flexible Routing: The VST offers intuitive multi-out routing, allowing you to assign mic channels and groups with just a few clicks.
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Realistic Sound Design: Each sample captures the depth and realism of live studio recordings, ensuring your drums sound authentic across rock music, pop, or even hip-hop production.
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Optimized for Modern Systems: Runs smoothly on macOS (including Apple Silicon), Windows, and even Linux, integrating seamlessly with DAWs like Logic Pro, Ableton Live, FL Studio, and Cubase.
Choosing the Right Export Method
Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which method to use:
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Stereo Mix: Best for quick demos, songwriter references, or when sharing drafts with collaborators.
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Grouped Stems: Ideal for semi-professional projects or when working with mixers who want some control but don’t need full multi-tracks.
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Multi-Track Outputs: Essential for professional mixes where drum production plays a central role.
The Bigger Picture: Why Drum VSTs Are Essential for Modern Producers
Drum VSTs like LA Session Drummer provide unparalleled opportunities for musicians and producers to create studio-quality drum tracks without needing expensive gear or acoustically treated spaces. Here are some key reasons why drum VSTs are a must-have:
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Affordability: Access premium drum sounds for a fraction of the cost of owning real drum kits and recording equipment.
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Convenience: Work on your projects from anywhere, whether you’re in a professional studio or a home setup with headphones.
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Creative Freedom: Experiment with different drum sounds, genres, and grooves using drag-and-drop MIDI functionality and customizable samplers.
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Collaboration: Easily share stems with audio engineers, mixers, or other musicians for seamless collaboration.
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