TutorialVocalRemovalandIsolation

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Thispagedescribestechniqueswhich,onsomestereotracks,mayallowyoutoremoveorisolate
vocals(orotherpartsofarecording)fromtherest.Thereisnouniversal,reliablewayofdoingthis
withouthavingtheoriginalmultitrackrecordings.Differenttrackswillrequiredifferenttechniquesto
achievemaximumpossibleattenuationorisolation.Thiswilldependonwherethevocalsare
positionedinthestereofield,andontheirfrequencycontentcomparedtotherestoftheaudio.
Itisstronglyrecommendedthatyoumakeabackupcopyofyouroriginal
recordingbeforeattemptinganyoftheeditingdescribedinthistutorial.
Forpopularsongs,considerdownloadingvocalsonlytracksfromtheinternet.
Manystudiosreleasetheinstrumentaltracksforusewiththingslikekaraoke
andsomesinglesevenhavethemontheBside.

Contents
1.VocalRemovalwithvocalsinthemiddleandinstrumentsspreadaroundthem
2.VocalRemovalwithvocalsinonechannelandeverythingelseintheother
3.VocalIsolation
4.Thirdpartyplugins

Case1:VocalRemovalwithvocalsinthemiddleand
instrumentsspreadaroundthem
Ifthevocalsarepannedinthecenterofastereotrackthesocalled"vocalremoval"techniquecan
sometimesbeeffectivebyremovingwhatiscommontobothtracks(i.e.thevocals),leavingbehind
whatisdifferent(i.e.theinstrumentals).
TheunderlyingtechniqueinAudacityistosplitthestereotrackintoitsleftandrightchannels,make
bothmono,invertall(oraselectedpart)ofoneofthemthenplaybacktheresult.Note,thisremoves
everythingpannedinthecenter,notjustvocals,andreturnsadualmonoresult(bothchannelshave
thesameaudio).Insomemusicthiscouldmeanremovinginstrumentalparts.Removalofthevocals
canoftenbeincompleteleavingartifactsbehindthisisespeciallytruewheretherearebackingvocals
orwherereverb(echo)hasbeenappliedasthisspreadssoundsourcesandmakesthemveryhardto
extractfromeachother.

VocalReductionandIsolation
AudacityincludesaNyquistplugineffecttoautomatethestepsinvolvedinCase1,atEffect>Vocal
ReductionandIsolation....IfyouonlywantedtoautomateCase1intheVocalReductionand
Isolationeffect,youwouldchoosetheoption"RemoveCenterClassic(Mono)".AsinCase1above,
thisremovesthewholefrequencyspectrumofcenterpannedaudioandreturnsadualmonotrack.

HoweverthedefaultoptionforVocalReductionandIsolation"RemoveVocals"istobepreferredin
mostcasesbecausethisreturnsstereooutput.
VocalReductionandIsolationalsoletsyouspecifyfrequenciesabovewhichorbelowwhichaudiois
notremovedorisolated.ThiscanhelpcurethecommonproblemwherecenterpannedbassorHihat
isalsoremovedwhenremovingvocals.

Case2:VocalRemovalwithvocalsinonechanneland
everythingelseintheother
Ifyouhaveanunusualstereotrackwherethevocalsaremixedhardintoonechannelandeverything
elsehardintotheotherchannelyoucansplitthestereotrackintoleftandrightthendeletethevocal
channel.Toisolatethevocals,ratherthanremovethem,deletetheotherchannel.Tosplitastereo
trackinAudacity,clickonthedownwardpointingarrowatthetopoftheTrackControlPanelthen
clickonSplitstereotrack.
Todeleteoneofthechannelsclickthe[X]toleftofthedownwardpointingarrow.Ifyouaccidentally
deletethewrongchannel,useEdit>Undotogetitback.Finally,clickthedownwardpointingarrow
againandchooseMono,sothatthetrackwillplayoutofbothspeakers.

Case3:VocalIsolation
YoucanusetheVocalReductionandIsolationeffecttoattempttoisolatethevocalsbychoosingone
oftheIsolateVocalsintheActiondropdownmenuinthedialog.Butnotethattheendresultmaynot
betotalvocalisolationorevensatisfactoryisolationofthevocalsitalldependsonhowtheoriginal
recordingwasengineered.

AtechniqueusingAudacityforvocalisolation
AnAudacityuser(MarcoDiego)suggestedthefollowingtechniqueforusingAudacitytoattemptto
isolatevocals.Itwillnotworksuccessfullyinallcases.
ItissometimespossibletoisolatevocalsbyusingAudacity'sNoiseReductiontocapturethenoise
profileofasongthathashadvocalsremoved,thenrunNoiseReductionwiththatprofileonthe
originalmixbeforevocalswereremoved.
1.Makeacopyofyouroriginalstereotrack
1.Selectthewholetrack(clickinemptyspaceinitsTrackControlPanelforexamplewhere
itsays"Hz")
2.CopythetrackwithEdit>Copy
3.CreateanewstereotrackwithTracks>AddNew>StereoTrack
4.UseEdit>Pastetomakeacopyoftheoriginaltrackinthenewstereotrack
2.Selectthewholeofthecopiedtrack(clickinemptyspaceinitsTrackControlPanel)
3.RemovethevocalsinthecopybyusingEffect>VocalReductionandIsolation...
4.Thecopiedtrackshouldremainselected,souseEffect>NoiseReduction...andclickonthe
GetNoiseProfilebutton
5.Nowselecttheoriginaltrack(clickinemptyspaceinitsTrackControlPanel)
6.UseEffect>NoiseReduction...andclickontheOKbutton
7.Deletethecopiedtrack(clickinthe[X]atthetopleftofitsTrackControlPanel)
Thefollowingmayletyouremovedrumswhicharenotcenteredbutkeepthevocals:

1.Usethestepsabovetocreateatrackwithisolatedvocals.
2.ImporttheoriginalsongintoAudacityagain.DownloadtheBasstoCenterNyquistpluginand
installit.Usethisplugintomovethebassfrequenciestocenter.
3.Removethedrums(andthevocals)fromthecenterusingEffect>VocalReductionand
Isolation....
4.Finallymixtheisolatedvocalsbackin.

Usinganinstrumentaltracktoisolatethevocals
Inorderforthistoworkyouwillneedtohaveastudioversionoftheinstrumentaltrackinwhichthe
instrumentalpartisidenticaltothefulltrack.Manystudiosreleasetheinstrumentaltracks(withand
withoutbackupvocals)forusewiththingslikekaraoke.Thereareplacesonlinewhereyoucanbuy
thesetracks(KaraokeVersion.comforexampleandsomerecordsevenhavethemontheBside).
MP3encodingofoneorbothversionswillcreatesmalldifferencesthatwillmakethistechniqueless
effective.
Asopposedtothefinalmonotrackyougetfromremovingvocals,thismethodwillleaveyouwitha
fullstereotrack.Assuch,itbecomesmoreimportanttotryandmatchthequalityofbothtracksand
alignthembeforeyouisolatethevocals.
1.OpenAudacityandImportboththeregularandinstrumentaltracks.
2.SelectoneofthetracksandusetheTimeShifttooltoroughlyalignthetwotracks.
3.Zoominreallycloseandthenzoominmore.
4.Exactalignmentiscritical.Pickapeakortroughintheleftchannelofonetrackandmatchit
preciselywiththeleftchanneloftheothertrack.Ifthealignmentisntrighttheprocesswont
work.
5.Selecttheinstrumentaltrack,andinvertitusingEffect>Invert.
6.UseCTRL+Atoselectallofbothtracks.
7.UseTracks>MixandRender.
Youshouldnowhaveonecombinedtrackthatshouldhaveamorediminishedamplitudewherethe
vocalswerekeptandtheinstrumentationremoved.

Thirdpartyplugins
AswellastheabovemethodssupportedbyAudacityitselftherearevariousthirdpartypluginsthat
canbeusedtotryandremoveorisolatevocals.
PleaseseeVocalRemovalPluginsintheAudacityWikifordetails.
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