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#37996 - 10/25/01 11:40 AM DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
garrigus Offline
Member

Registered: 06/25/00
Posts: 86
DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal

Copyright 2001 by Scott R. Garrigus. Reprinted with permission.

In DigiFreq issue 10, I talked about how you can remove the main
vocal part from a prerecorded song to be left with only the backing
tracks for karaoke and other purposes. Well, some of you have asked
if you can also do the opposite. That is to remove the backing
tracks and just be left with the lead vocal part. The answer again
is yes and no.

Yes, you can extract the lead vocal from a prerecorded song, but
only if the vocal is panned directly in the center of the stereo
field. But as with eliminating the lead vocal, the process isn't
perfect. There isn't currently any audio software on the market that
can analyze and extract only a single part from a recording.
Instead, you have to isolate the material in the middle of the
stereo field. That means isolating the vocal and everything else
centered in the mix.

Fortunately, Sound Forge has a special Mid-Side conversion feature
(normally used for another purpose) that pretty much makes this
process automatic. Without it, the process would be much more
involved (ie. having to remove the vocal first, converting to mono,
phase inverting, and recombining with a mono version of the original
file).

Here's how to do it the easy way in Sound Forge 4.5 and 5.0:
1) Open the original audio file.
2) Choose Edit>Select All to select all the data in the file.
3) Choose Process>Pan/Expand.
4) In the Pan/Expand dialog box, choose the Normal Mix Of MS
Recording preset.
5) Click OK.
6) Choose Edit>Selection>Set.
7) Choose Left in the Channel parameter drop-down list.
8) Click OK.
9) Choose Edit>Copy.
10) Choose Edit>Paste Special>Paste To New.
11) Save your new audio file.

Depending on the type of material that you're processing, the
results will vary, but they'll never be perfect. Anything that was
in the middle of the mix will now be in your new audio file, which
probably includes the vocal, bass, and some of the other background
instruments. You can try to tweak the mix a bit with EQ, but other
than that, what you get is what you get. Maybe in the future we'll
have more sophisticated software available that will be able to
analyze and separate specific sounds from an audio mix.

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of Cakewalk, Sound Forge, and SONAR Power! books; Publisher of DigiFreq. Win a free copy of BBE Sonic Maximizer and learn more cool music technology tips and techniques by getting a FREE subscription to DigiFreq... go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

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#37997 - 11/30/01 03:20 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
KenD Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 11/18/01
Posts: 5
Loc: Limassol, Cyprus
remove the backing
tracks and just be left with the lead vocal part. The answer again
is yes and no.
-------------------
Is this possible to do with only SoundeForge 4.0 please. I have looked through pan processing ans tried various options but am not able to do it. Same with Cool edit. Much obliged. Many thanks in advance.
Ken
_________________________
Ken D.

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#37998 - 12/01/01 09:53 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
DJ_Mike_D Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 12/01/01
Posts: 3
Hi KenD!

I do not believe that you can do that in Cooledit. Perhaps you could try Cubase if you have that.

Hope that helps.
Mike.

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#37999 - 12/01/01 10:32 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
DJ_Mike_D Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 12/01/01
Posts: 3
Sorry Junior Member KenD,

After further investigation I have found that you can remove the vocal from a track by using Cool Edit.

Apologies for giving you the incorrect information.

MikeD.

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#38000 - 12/01/01 10:33 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
KenD Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 11/18/01
Posts: 5
Loc: Limassol, Cyprus
Thanks Mike for coming back so quickly. Can you explain what you did please junior?
_________________________
Ken D.

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#38001 - 12/01/01 10:55 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
DJ_Mike_D Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 12/01/01
Posts: 3
Dear KenD,

Below is a quick explanation of the easiest way to remove the vocals from a track.

Once your audio file is loaded into Cool Edit, select the Transform menu then Amplitude then Channel Mixer.

You must swap the L & R channels in order for the vocal cut to work. If you fail to swap the L & R channels you will simply cut the vocal and be left with the original track!

Swap L & R, you may wish to invert it as well as adjusting the levels to the specific point. Then using LR to Midside adjust levels accordingly before inverting the channels again.

Finally, using the inverted average, check that the L channel is not inverted but the R channel is, then select OK. After all this is complete you should be left with the vocal.

Hope this helps you.
Mike.

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#38002 - 12/01/01 11:04 AM Re: DFreqTIP - Extracting the Lead Vocal
KenD Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 11/18/01
Posts: 5
Loc: Limassol, Cyprus
MikeD,

You lost me just before the point where you said:
"Finally, using the inverted average, check that the L channel is not inverted but the R channel is, then select OK."

Wouldn't that leave you with the left side of the vocal but the mide side of the instruments. Surely the inverted average of the L channel will be the mid-side of the R or I am not thinking correctly?

Also, after I successfully separate the vocals, do you know how I could put them back on again backwards but keep the timing tight. Would I have to process each word separately or process the whole vocal track at once please?

Thanks for your kind assistance Junior.

Ken
_________________________
Ken D.

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