Removing Vocals from an Audio File

[willglen]

Anybody know if there is a simple way to remove vocals from an audio file?

[Ronny]

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[voice of god]

I dont think you can remove vocals from an audio file

[zonor]

i used to have a plugin for winamp that removed the vocals. i forgot the name but maybe if you search for one you might find it.

[voice of god]

::EDITED TITLE::

[JTAN]

What I do is find the midi file and then mute the vocal track (I use SONAR). I also mute the guitar part(s) so I can play along with the guitar as well.

[empg]

A lot of new hi-fi's have filters to remove the vocals (although you can still hear them in the background so I would have thought that some of the new virtual studio programs would have this feature as an add in ie cubase vst

[eojeda]

I have a couple of software pieces that can do the job:

1.- Goldwave (www.goldwave.com)

2.- Cool Edit 96

Voice removal strongly depends on how voice is recorded within the stereo spectrum.

The more stereo with delays between channels left and right, the better removal result.

Goldwave removes and leaves a MONO result.

Voice removal IS NOT 100% accurate.

Try Goldwave, see if it works fine for you. You can download it and try it 30 days for free.

Ed.

[willi001]

Yes, you can find the frequency that the vocals are on and remove that..But any overlapping frequencies would be removed also...I heard of a program that could do this years ago...But I can't remember what it was...

[shannon]

to eojeda,
thank you for the tip on the goldwave i think i might try it

[eojeda]

Let me know if it works fine for you. Ed.

[wondergirl]

Originally posted by willglen
Anybody know if there is a simple way to remove vocals from an audio file?

I haven't tried it but I know it can do it - have you tried using Wavelab?

[jessicag]

i have never found a program that removes them completely. You can download kareoke studios for free that say they do it but they actually do not work all that well - like Dart Kareoke studio.

[burtrum]

I don't think you can ever remove them completly, you kind of are left with a ghost voice in the background, you can of course sing over that...

[X-Tractor]

There is a winamp plugin called "vocal remover", but this one didn't really work. But you can also search for instrumental versions in winmx... there are lots of those versions.

[lostdave]

most Vocal removers work on cancellin ghte centre channel.....

you can get mixed results...some songs work well....others....well...not so hot...it's a trial and error thing.


Dave

[VlAtY]

The problem with vocal removing is that a nice mixed song doesn't contain the vocal part only. In most cases there are lots o f effects (echo, delay, autotuner, stereoenhancer, etc) applied to a voice. By applieing these effects the voice itself will remain in the centre channel, but the effects wil last. Why? Effects are mostly panned (that is 'putted in' the left or right channel) and a vocal remover looks only at the audio that is exactly the same in the left and the right channel. So effects that are panned are not removed! If a vocal part itself is panned slightly you won't be able either to remove it totaly. Try finding instrumentals on the net or use a real good midi chip. If you're trying to resing the song, hte remaining vocalparts wont be a problem, instead it will give you a free backingvocal!

Succes,

VlAtY

[theainges]

Like VlAtY said, the problem is you remove too much from the song, including other instruments that are recorded to sit in the middle of the mix, like the kick drum, making the song sound really empty.

I don't believe it would be PHYSICally possible to properly remove the vocals without affecting the rest of the song

[garagefun]

I've looked into this a great deal myself, specifically the WinAmp plugin - but to no avail. I'm in the process of using midis and muting the vocal channel.

[mediamaffia]

I can't believe someone hasn't made software to solve this probelm yet - removing vocals and just leaving the vocals for those of us into using acapella vocal performances to make new mixes of a track. Sigh... guess maybe one day it will happen.

[sUPAdAVE]

There is a vocal remover program out there that is VERY small, and pretty much useless (Same as the more expensive programs, actually..).. My suggestion is to find vinyl singles, and use accapellas...

[kindler]

I've used the WinAmp plug-in and it works well if the song is mixed correctly. The basic premise is that it assumes that lead vocals are mixed dead-center and everything else is panned one way or the other. It removes anything that's dead center. Unfortunately, you lose a lot more than vocals. I've had pretty good results at removing the vocals, then adding midi drums and bass back into the audio.

[jmb0000]

cool edit pro 2.0. use the channel mixer/vocal cut. it depends on the recording of the original song. it will never be a complete cut though

[DERVOGELMANN]

there's a vst plugin called "voice attenuator", but i can also only say: forget it! you will bever get a perfect or even good result.

[shmigga]

cool edit pro 2 would be a good program to use for this kinda stuyff

[boneycov]

does cool edit 2000 have vocal remover

[tonymac]

you can do it in sound forge 5 some times it works great othertimes it cant be done

[redrain]

Go to http://do-it-yourself.cjb.net

teaches you how u can remove vocals easily.... using freeware

[chntlychgr06]

i use cool edit pro 2.0. if u run a underground studio (u get bands around ur neighborhood to ur garage and record a demo for them for a fee), this program is great. it can also remove vocals for audio files also. it only costs $249.00.

[Anubus]

The Vocal Remover isn't a very good source if for example you want to karaoke to a song. I've heard GoldWave is very useful, though I myself have never tried it out.

It is earier in the end to just use a midi or a Karaoke File(there's a subject on the board for them, look in the root directory) if you want files deviod of vocals.

Start with a file free of vocals, because removing them with the widely distributed softwares generally don't alleviate what you have them to do.

[AlterEgo]

I have nt seen a app to TOTALLY take the vocals out yet.

[tonyrome]

I don't think we will ever see an app that can do this...just the same as trying to remove the music and keeping the vocals...
sure, you can come close, but you will always take out parts of the music itself.

if it is a dance track you are looking for...there is almost always an instrumental version on the flip side.

your best bet is to use the midi file and reproduce it without vocals (which, unfortunately, is the only thing you can do short of contacting the producer of the track and getting an instrumental! :)

[BrianTMC]

Hey Folkz,

I was just wondering...
Programs like CoolEdit subract the left channel from the right to find out what's recorded in the middle, and eventually mute that center recording to (try to) get rid of the center vocal.
Alright, let's just say I have a acapella for the track I'm trying to do that with right?
From a mathematical point of view, wouldn't it be possible to somehow subtract the acapella from the original (unfiltered) track?
The acapella and original would have to be full quality though I guess.
I think it's possible, I just don't know how.

[zerooooz]

Mission Impossible

[wrfocus1]

You could just go to Kazaa and download the song as an intrumental, it already has the voices taken out of it.

[JSable]

Another program you can try if your willing to spend the money is 'Audio Cleaning Lab' by Magix. There's no actual 'de-vocalize' feature, but there are some reallly powerfull tools included that it could be possible with alot of fine tuning and 're-cleaning' the file a few times. But just like everyone has pretty much said, it's near impossible to get a complete removal of voice tracks without disturbing the rest of the composition.

JSable

[floid]

never been able to sucessfully remove audio without butchering everything else. the software that does it removes that frequency from the mix - thus removing those portions of all the other instruments too. the theory is that when you sing over the track you won't notice thjose frequencies missing but that's bollocks too - it never really works.
floid

[sunshinecup]

I havn't found anything that really works yet, everthing I have tried thus far removes the vocals with other parts which leaves the song distorted.

[JensonMusic]

The problem is a normal audio track is 2 parts, Left and Right; not Instruments and vocals. You can get lucky with Pro tools or Cubase and pull out the vocal frequencies on each side, but the main problem is most instruments operate on very similar frequencies as the voice. You'd be pulling out the same parts you're trying to hear! (unless you're just looking for the low or high frequencies, then you should be ok)

[boetheus]

I can't remember the site, but there is a Diret X plug-in that does a pretty good job of removing the vocals. It puts the wave out of phase. Do a search for Direct X effects

[DORUMALAIA]

Because many of you ask about this , i try to help you :

YoGenVocalRemover1.07
http://www.yogen.com/vocalremover/

VogoneVocalEliminationWorkstationv2.014
http://www.mtu.com/basics/vocal-eliminator.htm

AnalogX Vocal Remover (DX) v1.00
http://www.analogx.com/contents/dow...io/vremover.htm

AnalogX Vocal Remover (Winamp) v1.03
http://www.analogx.com/contents/dow...io/vremover.htm

Very useful can be and :

AnwidaSoft GEQ31V VST v1.1
http://www.anwida.com/geq31v.asp

TC.Works.Native.Bundle.v3.0.VST (Graphic EQ and Parametric EQ)
http://www.tcworks.de/home/content/...come/render_top


Unfortunately , in many cases , removing vocals , you 'll remove and some frequences from orchestration , but must to try ,with patience , the results are different in each case !

I hope this 'll be useful to you !

Doru Malaia
composer
http://www.freewebs.com/dorumalaia
compozi@yahoo.com

[madfiddler]

The way most of these plugins work, is to reverse the phase of one channel, and mix back in. Anything that is dead central in the mix, will be removed. However, anything else dead central will also be removed.

Also, if the vocal has been processed, say by a stereo reverb, this will remain in the mix, even if the central vocal part has been "erased".

[dagoodnookie]

just so you know this thread may go on forever because there are many ways to do this, but it also depends on the quality and the type of file you're trying to remove the vocals from. Cool Edit, a program I saw listed in someone else's reply does do this job quite well. Then depending on the size and your budget for your studio or workstation there are many devices that make this possible, and personally since I work with Protools you try it. Any and everything you want to do it can do just make sure you have the right plug-in. Im going to e-mail you later the name of the peice of equippent that does this quick and efficiently.

[BCC]

Compression can also be helpfull here. If you set up your compressor correctly yoou can also get good results, but as said before, there is no perfect sollution.

[tricky83]

Yes, I believe Cool Edit Pro 2 is the best program for this - use the vocal cut option. However, like so many other people have said it does remove other things leaving you with a poor quality file, however, it depends why you want to remove the vocals as to whether this will affect you.

[vytal]

YoGen works the best but you have to pay for it.

[clubV2]

take the file into a wav editor an take one track (left or right not both) and reverse the phase. this will eliminate the center of the mix. where most of the vox are usually found..

those win amp plug ins do exactly that.

[wgk]

Using SONAR, you can reverse phase on one or the other channel

Try this:
Paste stereo audio file into a track.
Duplicate that track.
In the console view, pan stereo track 1 to the right, stereo track 2 to the left
Reverse the phase of track 2
in the output channel, press the MONO button.

This works and sounds very similar to the other methods described.

[VenagE]

I use cool edit pro 2 ...

extract audio from a file , pretty nice to start an acapella ....
except that i don't know how to use the

vocal remove options ... but CEpro2 does it all :)

[crimson_ou]

GREAT lil program there

[Scorcha]

You can, if the vocals are paneed to one side of speakers and the instrumental is on the other end, but I would search for vinyls or instrumentals.

[megadeth1979]

All of the songs that I have heard that had the vocals removed from them, makes the song sound weird, like you can still hear the effects on the voice, and the guitar gets louder or something, try this...PLug in headphones and listen to a song, but don't push the jack all the way in, about 1/2 way...sometimes this takes vocals out :) Seriosly

[dived motion]

You can use Celemony's Melodyne.

[Graeme]

As has already been discussed, this is a tricky thing to do and the results are extremely variable. The basic technique involved (adding together out of phase tracks) is something you can do with almost any .wav editor on the market - how well it will work depends on the source material.

However, if you want to hear some really clever stuff, have a listen to the sample tracks here;

http://www.csp-audio.com/vocalremoval.htm

I have absolutely no idea how they do this (and they are certainly not going to tell any of us) but the results are quite remarkable.

[bballermarcu]

its kinda impossible to remove em

[Graeme]

I'm the first person to say this is an almost impossible task, the results vary considerably and it screws up the sound, etc., etc. However, for those who are interested in this subject, have a listen to the examples on this site - http://www.csp-audio.com/vocalremoval.htm .

Some of this is truly amazing - especially the old mono tracks, which I would have said were impossible! Don't ask me how they do it, I don't know and they ain't saying :) .

[Komplex]

Dont waste your time its pretty much impossible.

[Graeme]

Originally posted by Komplex
Dont waste your time its pretty much impossible.

You didn't listen to the link I gave, did you?

[Graeme]

OK - here's the basic technique for removing vocals - but your mileage will vary, dependent on many variables associated with the original track (which must be stereo to start with). It relies on the fact that most vocal tracks are centrally located on the sound stage - if they aren't, don't even bother trying it out.

All these 'vocal cut applications work the same way. You can do it manually, using a wave editor such as CoolEdit Pro, or you can rely on some other bit of kit which does all the steps automatically - but the end result is the same, no matter what software you use.

NOTE: You will need to convert any compressed format (MP3, RA, etc.) to a .wav format first.

1 - Take a stereo file

2 - Invert the phase of one channel

3 - Add the two channels together

That's it - that's all you do. Now for what happens.

1 - Anything that was centre stage (hopefully, in this case, the vocal) will be cancelled out.

2 - This includes the bass, kick drum and anything else that was also centre stage.

3 - Material which is close, but not, centre stage will also reduce in level.

4 - The end file will be mono.

4 - On most modern recordings, FX returns are stereo or pseudo-stereo. Thus all the FX returns on the vocal will still be heard.


The truth of the matter is that you can, perhaps, on some recordings, reduce the vocal level. Whether or not you can reduce it enough is only discovered by trying it out. You will still have to contend with the problems of other instruments which also vanish, the generally reduced bass level and the FX returns.

Now, because your resultant wave can sometimes suffer from center-channel dropouts of things like bass guitar and bass drum, here's something else that you can do 'after' you've run the vocal cut on a file.

Open the original file (pre-vocal cut) and run a low-pass filter on it so that ONLY frequencies below 200Hz are retained (effectively cutting everything above 200Hz). This will leave you with a stereo waveform that has possibly 'some' vocal element, but will primarily carry the bass and bass frequencies.

Now, add the 'low-pass' file to the 'vocal cut' version, time aligning the two. Play with the levels to achieve a proper balance. This will allow you to restore a bit of the stereo image (if needed) as well as improve some of the low-end response.

However, the general answer is you will not be able to do this to any effective degree unless you are extremely lucky in your choice of original recording.

[PERFECTiON]

I'm gonna try Goldwave!

[Graeme]

Originally posted by PERFECTiON
I'm gonna try Goldwave!

You can try any half-way decent audio editor - the results will be the same no matter which one you use.

[DiGi]

i've done this alot, with little success. i've found that nero does a great job with little effort.. but still, doesen't eliminate all the vocals. it's alright if you plan to just re-sing the same song.. but if you're trying to pull the instrumental off to add your own lyrics, you're not going to get it easily, at least not without the original song lyrics in the background.

[Normski]

i don't think to remove vocals is possible...

[VenagE]

Tried all progs available and still not working ...

DAMN IT !??!!?!?

[Zandro]

Originally posted by Graeme
...the results will be the same no matter which one you use.

Poor.

[jsaad1986]

Goldwave is really good for removing vocals.... but it won't work on every single file.

[sgtbash]

I'm going to try it, i hope it won't so difficult

[Graeme]

Originally posted by sgtbash
I'm going to try it, i hope it won't so difficult

Nobody said it was difficult, just not very effective in many cases.

[bajiaz]

u cannot remove vocals from a track.the closest u can do is use a karaoke prog and try to silence the vocals.buit it will still not be perfect

[thelab]

you can not remove vocals but you can eliminate certain specific frequencies,that the vocals are in

but doing so may remove some of the beat
check and see if the vocal is panned a little,

run the audio sample thorugh a filter.

try antares

goodluck

[-=BLADE=-]

Goldwave is good but vocal removal depends on the song. They all act and respond differently.

[CyberCat]

Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) can almost completly remove vocals however it requires that the vocal be recorded at dead-center pan.

[Timor Mortis]

wow, this is one of the most interesting threads ive read on here so far, maybe i wil ltry out that goldwave thingy:)