Author Topic: What softwhere can drop vocals from a song? (Read 12128 times)

Johnny Mac · « **on:** November 19, 2006, 11:56:19 AM »

Can Cu-base do it?

Joe Dorcia · « **Reply #1 on:** November 19, 2006, 01:16:16 PM »

You cant take vocals out of a song unless you have each individual track from the original recording.

gingataff · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2006, 01:21:42 PM »

When I used to read Guitar Player (the US mag) back in the 80s they had an advert running for a device that was supposed to remove vocals from tracks (complete with a great picture of a cheesy singer who looked a little like bass player Jeff Berlin) .
I presume this worked on the principle that vocals are mixed in the centre and other instruments are to the left and right and by some kind of phase inversion/cancellation (or summat) you can remove whatever is common to both channels, i.e. the centre channel.

Of course the effectiveness of this will vary hugely depending on how the song has been mixed, and you're likely to end up with a song with no bass or drums either..

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #3 on:** November 19, 2006, 03:29:56 PM »

That's what i thought but macs are doing it on frequencies or something like that.

Fubar · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2006, 05:27:14 PM »

In theory it could be done but nobody has found a way to without messing up the sound of the rest of the track to my knowledge.

FELINEGUITARS · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2006, 05:29:27 PM »

Quote from: gingataff

When I used to read Guitar Player (the US mag) back in the 80s they had an advert running for a device that was supposed to remove vocals from tracks (complete with a great picture of a cheesy singer who looked a little like bass player Jeff Berlin) .
I presume this worked on the principle that vocals are mixed in the centre and other instruments are to the left and right and by some kind of phase inversion/cancellation (or summat) you can remove whatever is common to both channels, i.e. the centre channel.

Of course the effectiveness of this will vary hugely depending on how the song has been mixed, and you're likely to end up with a song with no bass or drums either..

This is my understanding too.
i have a "black box" based on the Leuken Innovations Rhythm bandit which basically rewires the stereo mix to drop out the centre (some Hifis had this as a Karaoke feature

Works great on some stuff like Van halen and not so good on others

genocidal tendencies · « **Reply #6 on:** November 19, 2006, 11:11:14 PM »

It would be pretty much impossible, sometimes it's hard enough for the human ear to tell whether a sound is a voice or not, to program a computer to do it would be a bugger of a task.

rahnooo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 20, 2006, 10:27:11 AM »

Providing the vocals have been mixed dead center of the stereo image then it is possible do scrub them out in a programe like Cubase. As others have already suggested, it's by using phase cancellation.

Import the track you want to use as a stereo file into Cubase (or your sequencer of chocie) and invert the phase of either channel. All instruments that have been panned off center should remain intact, but vocals and anything dead center will be scrubbed. It's not the most natural sounding way of doing it as you end up with the slightly hollowed out "kareokee" backing track effect, bit it's the only way I can think of doing it. I used the technique on a life recording of "Run to the Hills" a few years back when a mate wanted to record a pastiche vocal line. Worked pretty well if I recall...

Hope that helps mate

*Rahnooo*

38thBeatle · « **Reply #8 on:** November 20, 2006, 10:42:46 AM »

I have seen things advertised that maintain that they remove the vocals but I think they "work" by removing the frequencies most associated with the human voice from the centre ofthe mix-as has already been said. I have never tried but I would have thought that, as well as taking the vocal frequencies, it would also affect other instrumentation where it corresponds with te same frequencies. I think that there would be a market for a product that removed the vocals from certain singers come to think of it- Elaine Page springs to mind.

gingataff · « **Reply #9 on:** November 20, 2006, 01:59:21 PM »

Trust me, this will be the best 4 minutes 46 seconds of your life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s96NZoeDs68

38thBeatle · « **Reply #10 on:** November 20, 2006, 05:29:08 PM »

Judging by the look of her face, she could hear herself through the stage monitors- no wonder her hair looks a mess. Elaine love, it was painful for me too and yes I wanted to pull my hair out but not as much as I wanted to pull out yours. Nothing a steamroller couldn't fix.

...awaits bombardment from the fan of Ms Paige

ToneMonkey · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2006, 12:38:54 PM »

My DJ friend was going on about these a while back:

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR123284

But I'm more interested in this little beast:

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR194705

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2006, 07:58:23 PM »

Thanks for the tips fellas! :) My Tascam Guitar Trainer claims to this as well as taking guitar parts out.

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2006, 08:00:10 PM »

Quote from: gingataff

Trust me, this will be the best 4 minutes 46 seconds of your life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s96NZoeDs68

I got to 42 seconds when it bleated out midnight and shut the window :lol:

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2006, 08:02:31 PM »

Quote from: ToneMonkey

My DJ friend was going on about these a while back:

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR123284

But I'm more interested in this little beast:

http://www.htfr.com/more-info/MR194705

Yeah who needs a vocal zapper when you can have a split-screen gramophone!!! Groovy baby.... 8)

Author Topic: What softwhere can drop vocals from a song? (Read 12128 times)

genocidal tendencies