Mixing Down to Stereo
When your project is ready, you can export a mixdown — a single stereo audio file that combines all your tracks into one. Mixdowns are saved to your music library or can be shared directly.
Opening the Export Dialog
Tap ⋯ (more menu) in the header, then tap Export mixdown.
[SCREENSHOT: More menu with Export mixdown highlighted]
The Mixdown dialog opens.
[SCREENSHOT: Mixdown dialog — fields for Track Name, Artist, Album, plus Save and Share buttons]
Filling In Metadata
Before exporting, enter:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Track Name | Yes | The song title as it will appear in your music library |
| Artist | Yes | Your name or artist name |
| Album | No | Optional — groups the track with other songs under an album name |
These values default to the project name and are editable.
Saving to Your Music Library
Tap Save to render the mix and add it to your library.
[SCREENSHOT: Saving indicator while export is processing]
The export runs in the background. When complete, you’ll see a confirmation alert:
“[Track Name] by [Artist] has been saved to your library as a hidden track (excluded from recommendations).”
About “hidden tracks”: Exported mixes are saved to your library as hidden tracks. This means they’re available to play back through Homecrate and other music apps, but they don’t appear in Apple Music’s recommendation engine or affect your listening statistics. This keeps your personal recordings separate from your curated library.
Sharing Directly
Tap the ↗ Share button (top-right of the Mixdown dialog) to export and open the iOS share sheet without saving to your library.
[SCREENSHOT: Share sheet opening after tapping the share button]
This lets you:
- AirDrop the file to another device or Mac
- Save to Files
- Send via Messages, Mail, or any other share-sheet destination
- Upload to a cloud service
The shared file is a standard AAC audio file that any app can open.
Spatial Audio Export
If Spatial Mode is active, the export dialog title changes to Save Spatial Mixdown and the behavior changes:
[SCREENSHOT: Spatial mixdown dialog]
| iOS Version | Export Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| iOS 26 and later | APAC (Ambisonics) | Full spatial encoding; plays back with head-tracking on AirPods and Apple headphones |
| iOS 25 and earlier | Stereo AAC | Standard stereo mix tagged with full spatial position metadata; spatial rendering not available on older iOS |
The confirmation alert tells you which format was used:
“[Title] by [Artist] has been saved as a spatial audio (APAC) track.”
See Exporting Spatial Audio for more details.
What Gets Included in the Mix
The mixdown includes:
- All audio clips on tracks that are not muted
- Volume and pan settings as set in the mixer at the time of export
- Trim points (only the active region of each clip is included)
- AUv3 plugin processing is not applied to the mixdown (pure audio mix only)
Note: AUv3 plugin processing (amp sims, reverb, etc.) is not captured in the export. To include plugin processing in your export, use Plugin Output recording to first capture the processed audio as an audio clip, then mix down from those clips. See Instrument Plugins & MIDI Routing.
Tracks that are muted are excluded from the mix entirely.
Export Quality
The mixdown is rendered at:
- Sample rate: 44,100 Hz
- Format: AAC (M4A container)
- Bit depth: determined by the AAC encoder (typically 256 kbps)
Finding Your Exported File
Exported files are saved to your music library and can be accessed from:
- The Music app (look in “Recently Added” or search by track name)
- Homecrate’s own library view (if available)
- Files app → Homecrate folder, under
Recordings/[project-id]/exports/