How to Remove Vocals Without Removing Drums
In this age of karaoke the ability to strip a recording of vocals is a handy capability for entertainment. The technology is simple, though not perfect, using stereo recording and phase cancellation. To effectively remove vocals while leaving drums and other instruments, one stereo channel's wave will be flipped 180 degrees out of phase with the other. All information in the middle with be acoustically cancelled. Given the flexibility that digital editing provides, there are dedicated programs and plug-ins with which specific voice frequencies are placed out of phase, more completely preserving the rest of the original recording.
- Audio editing software or digital audio workstation
- Phase reversal capability or plug-in
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Instructions
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1
Load or record the song to be treated into your software. Save a file of the original and work from a copy. The song file must be stereo for this process to work.
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2
Select the program parameter or effect plug-in to reverse phase on one channel. For example, in the freeware audio editor, Audacity (listed in the Resources section), choose "Vocal Remover" from the "Effect" menu.
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3
Adjust the frequency range of the effect or plug-in if it has the option. A good starting range is 500 hertz to 2,000 hertz, so frequencies above and below that level remain unaffected. Save the file after the vocal removal has been done and adjust overall equalization of the track to improve sound.