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How to Remove Vocals For Center Panned Vocals

Karaoke has emerged as a popular pastime for both casual and more serious singers hooked on the thrill of belting out favorite songs accompanied by a full band. Capitalizing on a physical property of stereo sound, it is possible to reduce or eliminate lead vocals on commercial recordings by way of phase cancellation. When one channel of a stereo signal is reversed in phase to the other, all frequencies of equal time and volume cancel each other out. As lead vocals are usually center-panned, they are most affected. Digital audio processing adds some refinements to the procedure.

Things You'll Need

  • Digital audio workstation software
  • Vocal remover plug-in
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Instructions

    • 1

      Load a digital copy of the song to be treated into your digital audio workstation (DAW) software. A free DAW called Audacity (see Resources) is available online. For the procedure to work, you must use a true stereo file. Sometimes older hits are mixed in mono, and not suitable for this use.

    • 2

      Apply the vocal remover plug-in to the audio track containing the stereo song file. Audacity has such a plug-in included. AnalogX has a freeware vocal remover DX plug-in, and Knockout Vocal Remover is a VST solution. DX and/or VST compatible plug-ins are accepted by virtually all DAWs.

    • 3

      Adjust the parameters of the plug-in you choose. Plug-ins may allow you to adjust the frequency range for vocal removal, leaving other center-panned instruments such as bass unaffected. Modify these settings until you get a result you are happy with.

    • 4

      Save your file to MP3, WMP or other format for playback. This may require you to export audio. Check the documentation of your DAW.

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