---
title: "What to Ask For From an Audio Post House"
description: "Stems, print masters, M&E, versioning and file specs — what to specify before an audio post house starts, and the questions that prevent expensive late changes."
canonical_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk/guides/audio-post-deliverables"
type: "Article"
date_modified: "2026-09-08T18:21:24+05:00"
publisher: "Elephant Audio"
publisher_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk"
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  name: "Abu Bakar Zahid"
  role: "Founder, Managing Director & Music Producer at Elephant Audio"
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---

# What to Ask For From an Audio Post House

## What should a commercial audio deliverables list contain?

Specify four things before work starts: the final mix at your platform's loudness target, separated stems, every duration and aspect-ratio version you will need, and the file specification, normally 24-bit 48 kHz WAV. Agree the revision allowance in writing at the same time. Most cost overruns in audio post come from versions and revisions that were never scoped.

24-bit / 48 kHz standard broadcast file spec · 4 stem groups (dialogue, music, effects, VO) · 2 rounds typical revision allowance

The deliverables list:
Put these in the order or the SOW. Anything not on the list is a change request later, at whatever the day rate is then.
- Final mix, at the loudness target for the platform and territory, one file per version
- Separated stems — dialogue, music, effects, and voiceover kept apart rather than bounced together
- M&E stem (music and effects, no dialogue) if the spot will ever be dubbed for another territory
- Every duration you will traffic — 60, 30, 15, 6 — each mixed and measured on its own, not trimmed from the master
- Aspect-ratio and platform variants — vertical and square social cuts mixed independently, because a mix balanced for a television is wrong on a phone speaker
- File specification in writing, normally 24-bit 48 kHz WAV for broadcast and video
- The project archive, or a clear statement that you are not getting one

Why stems are the item to insist on:
Stems are the single deliverable people skip and the single deliverable that decides what a late change costs. A stem set is the mix kept in separated groups rather than flattened into one file: dialogue on its own, music on its own, effects on their own.
With stems, the client who comes back in four months wanting the same spot with a different voiceover, or the music pulled under a new legal line, or a regional dub, gets an afternoon of work. Without them, the only way to make that change is to rebuild the mix, and if the studio has archived or the session has aged past its plugin versions, sometimes it is a re-record.
The M&E stem is the same argument for international versioning. A spot delivered with music and effects separated from dialogue can be voiced in another language by anyone. A spot delivered as a flat master cannot be, at any price, without redoing the mix.

Versions are where budgets actually go:
The mix is rarely what overruns. Versioning is. A campaign that was scoped as one 30-second spot routinely ships as a 30, two 15s, a 6-second bumper, a vertical cut, a square cut, a radio edit and two regional variants — eleven deliverables from one line in the budget.
Each of those is real work, not an export. As covered in the loudness reference, integrated loudness is duration-dependent, so a 15 lifted from a compliant 30 usually does not measure the same and has to be re-measured and often re-balanced. A vertical cut is not the horizontal mix in a different container; the picture has changed, the emphasis has changed, and frequently the music edit has to change with it.
The fix is not to negotiate harder. It is to count the versions honestly at brief stage and price them, because they are going to exist either way.

The four questions to ask before you sign:
None of these is adversarial. Each one is cheaper to ask now than to discover in week three.
1. What loudness target are you delivering to, and who confirmed it?: US broadcast, European broadcast, streaming and theatrical are four different numbers. A studio that cannot answer this without checking has not read your distribution plan.
2. How many revision rounds are included, and what counts as one?: The ambiguity is never the count, it is the definition. A round of consolidated notes from one stakeholder and four separate rounds from four stakeholders are the same work to you and very different work to the studio. Define it as consolidated notes and both sides are protected.
3. What happens when picture changes after the mix is locked?: It will. Ask whether a re-conform is inside the fee or billed, and at what granularity — a two-frame trim and a re-edit are not the same event.
   - Agree a threshold in writing rather than a principle
   - Ask how long a re-conform takes, not only what it costs
4. Who owns the master, the stems and the session?: These are three separate questions and the answers are often different. Owning the master while the studio retains the session is common and usually fine — but you need to know, because it decides whether you can take the work to another studio later.

## Frequently asked questions

### What are stems and why do I need them?

Stems are the finished mix delivered in separated groups — dialogue, music, effects and voiceover as individual files rather than one flattened master. They are what makes a later change cheap: swapping a voiceover or replacing the music takes an afternoon with stems and a full rebuild without them.

### What is an M&E stem?

Music and effects with no dialogue. It is what allows a spot to be voiced in another language without remixing, so it is essential for any campaign that might run in more than one territory and worth taking anyway on anything that might.

### What file format should commercial audio be delivered in?

24-bit 48 kHz WAV is the standard for broadcast and video delivery. Specify it in writing rather than assuming — the cost of finding out at trafficking that you were sent 16-bit 44.1 kHz is measured in hours you do not have.

### How many revisions should be included?

Two rounds is the common standard, and most projects finish inside it. What matters more than the number is the definition: agree that a round means one set of consolidated notes, otherwise four stakeholders sending separate notes consumes the whole allowance in a day.

### Do I get the Pro Tools session at the end?

Usually not by default, and not always at any price — a session is only useful to someone with the same plugin set, so studios often archive rather than deliver it. Ask at the start. If the answer is no, stems are what protects you, which is why they are the item worth insisting on.

## Related

- [Broadcast and streaming loudness specs](https://elephantaudio.pk/guides/broadcast-loudness-specs/raw)
- [Audio for ads, web series and digital campaigns](https://elephantaudio.pk/services/ads-digital/raw)
- [Sound design and audio post production](https://elephantaudio.pk/services/sound-design/raw)
- [How a project runs, from brief to delivery](https://elephantaudio.pk/process)

## Studio

- **Studio:** Elephant Audio — Lahore, Pakistan
- **Founder:** Abu Bakar Zahid — Founder, Managing Director & Music Producer at Elephant Audio
- **Website:** https://elephantaudio.pk
- **Contact:** abubakar@elephantaudio.pk