removing vocals

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:08 am

hello
i have maybe a stupid question

but i have alot of mp3's that i would like to sing on but i would like
to remove the vocals(or at least reduce them to minimum)

i dont have a studio so everything would be done on pc

is there a possibility to do so with a computer software??

thank u

Moderator Joined: Sep 12, 2002 Posts: 1881 Location: NYC

In short, no.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:34 am

Why do you want to sing overtop of MP3's, anyway?
Why not buy yourself some Karaoke discs?
If you take the karaoke route then you're pretty much assuring that royalties have been paid to the songwriters (unless you buy from Joe Schmoe's Blackmarket Karaoke Outlet, of course).

What do you plan on doing with these tracks once you've put your vocals on 'em?

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:24 am

lvertel wrote:

hello
i have maybe a stupid question

but i have alot of mp3's that i would like to sing on but i would like
to remove the vocals(or at least reduce them to minimum)

i dont have a studio so everything would be done on pc

is there a possibility to do so with a computer software??

thank u

People are making software claiming this can be done. I have heard on more then one occasion that I should try using this kind of software on my vocals :)

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/cat/VOCAL_REMOVERS/

You may find something to do what you want.

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:57 pm

There are 2 problems you need to be aware of. Vocal removing software works on the basis that the vocal is in the dead centre of the recording. This is true most of the time, but so is the bass kick and most of the snare.

What you're left with is the S (side) of an mp3 recording. And as we all know, one of the main ways an mp3 does its compression is by reducing the quality of the S signal in an M/S format. Therefore, even if you have a 320 MP3, it will sound considerably worse than the original. You will also be left with no bass, kick or anything that was in the centre.

I had to do this for a friend once, and reverted to getting rid of the vocal, and had to run a low passed original, to get the bass and the bottom of the kick back underneath the processed one.

That's the only way it can be done, and even then it works about 50% of the time, and leaves you with a big mess.

So like Micheal said. No it can't be done.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:24 am

thank u very much for the explanations Smile

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:58 pm

Serious question, is removing vocals from singers' songs being done so that you can sing over them at Open Mic performances?

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:03 pm

Ah gets all mah ky-rokie disx from old Joe Shmoe. Ya know'd theys gooduns cause he keeps em in the trunk odf a big Oldsmobile.....

That there s some kinda classy. Twisted Evil

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:32 am

Go to any oriental market and you could probably find Karaoke versions.......Uh....not that I would know.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:57 am

I had to do this once for an unusual little project. I used Audacity to remove the vocals from a few tracks. Here are the instructons for vocal removal.

TO REMOVE VOCALS FROM AN AUDIO FILE:

REMEMBER THE ONLY WAY TO SUCESSFULLY REMOVE VOCALS IS TO BEGIN WITH
A SAMPLE THAT HAS THE VOCALS PERFECTLY CENTERED WITH STEREO MUSIC.
THE TECHNIQUE WORKS BY REMOVING AUDIO THAT IS EXACTLY THE SAME
ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT SIDE. ONLY SOME MUSIC QUALIFIES AND WILL WORK!

Import a stereo recording, then click on the track pop-up menu (left side of track)
and select "Split Stereo Track".

Then, select the entire lower track (the right channel). One way to
do this is to click in the area around the mute/solo buttons.

Choose the "invert" effect (from the effect menu).

Then, use the track pop-up menus (left side of each track)
to make both channels mono channels

Listen to the results by pressing the play button. In most cases the vocals
will be completely gone or drastically reduced!

Save the results using the export commands in the file menu. Very Happy

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:00 am

I had to do this once for an unusual little project. I used Audacity to remove the vocals from a few tracks. Here are the instructions for vocal removal.

TO REMOVE VOCALS FROM AN AUDIO FILE:

REMEMBER THE ONLY WAY TO SUCESSFULLY REMOVE VOCALS IS TO BEGIN WITH
A SAMPLE THAT HAS THE VOCALS PERFECTLY CENTERED WITH STEREO MUSIC.
THE TECHNIQUE WORKS BY REMOVING AUDIO THAT IS EXACTLY THE SAME
ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT SIDE. ONLY SOME MUSIC QUALIFIES AND WILL WORK!

Import a stereo recording, then click on the track pop-up menu (left side of track)
and select "Split Stereo Track".

Then, select the entire lower track (the right channel). One way to
do this is to click in the area around the mute/solo buttons.

Choose the "invert" effect (from the effect menu).

Then, use the track pop-up menus (left side of each track)
to make both channels mono channels

Listen to the results by pressing the play button. In most cases the vocals
will be completely gone or drastically reduced!

Save the results using the export commands in the file menu. Very Happy

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:56 pm

I think everybody knows how to ditch the M information... But again, you're only left with the S information. No vocal, no kick, no snare, no bass, probably lots of reverb.

This isn't like taking the frosting off of a cake -- This is like removing the cake and leaving the frosting standing there.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:33 pm

Step by step video, I dont know if it works or not though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXiKYG3J7M

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:06 am

That's exactly what I was talking about in my last post -- Pretty worthless for the most part. *All* the mono information disappears.

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