Vocal Eraser Question -Sound Forge - PC - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Vocal Eraser Question Posted by: davidinlv Date:7/11/2007 2:07:20 PM Question from a non-techie: I have just installed SF Studio 9.0 and registered Vocal Eraser. The process of using VE from a single control panel seems pretty simple, but the results I'm getting so far aren't all that great. Can't find any VE help information or tutorials to help me understand each of the functions and get the most out of them. -- Does such information exist? And if so, can someone direct me to it? I'm pretty good at learning from instructional materials, but I do need a little guidance to do this. -- Thank you. Message last edited on7/11/2007 2:08:54 PM bydavidinlv.
Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question Reply by: Chienworks Date:7/11/2007 3:37:51 PM What's Vocal Eraser? Can you post a link to it's website? I'm guessing it's something that is supposed to remove the vocals and leave just the instrumental music behind. If so, you probably won't ever get good results. This is a process that just doesn't work well, ever.
Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question Reply by: davidinlv Date:7/11/2007 4:03:32 PM Yes, I know what it does, and I've ben experimenting with it. I've actually had some acceptable results, as the ability to remove vocals lends itself to karaoke. But what I'm looking for is tutorial or help material that would help me better understand my options. I sent an inquiry to the publisher, IZotope, and am hoping for a useful answer. The company site doesn't even mention this plug-in product, so perhaps it was created just for Sony Creative. It looks to me like it doesn't actually remove or "erase" the vocals, which would seem to me a near impossibility in a product for home use, but merely suppresses them to an acceptable level by sampling the sound and identifying it in comparison to the music being played. Message last edited on7/11/2007 4:04:55 PM bydavidinlv.
Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question Reply by: jumbuk Date:7/11/2007 6:48:55 PM It is not possible to remove vocals completely whether in a home or professional environment, unless you have access to the original multi-track audio. Products like yours generally work by mixing together a phase-inverted copy of the audio with the original audio. The theory is that instruments panned to the centre of the stereo field will cancel out in this process, leaving everything else. The theory is based on the assumption that the vocals will be panned exact centre, and nothing else will be. It falls down 99% of the time because other instrumenst (particularly bass) will be panned to the centre, and artifacts like reverb and FX will generally spread the vocals around. You can actually do this in Sound Forge without a plug-in. There is a vocal removal preset on the stereo mix function. I have never had much success with this approach though, and I don't think anyone else has either.
Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question Reply by: ForumAdmin Date:7/12/2007 7:14:53 AM The Izotope plug-in included with Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 is a bit more sophisticated than simple center-channel removal. As for the original question, the algorithm is still highly source dependent. I am not privy to the details, myself, so I can only encourage experimentation and recommend reading the help carefully. FWIW, the Izotope site has a small playlist of samples that have proven easy to work with here: [link]http://www.izotope.com/tech/vocalremover. J.

Subject:Vocal Eraser Question

Posted by: davidinlv

Date:7/11/2007 2:07:20 PM

Question from a non-techie:

I have just installed SF Studio 9.0 and registered Vocal Eraser.

The process of using VE from a single control panel seems pretty simple, but the results I'm getting so far aren't all that great.

Can't find any VE help information or tutorials to help me understand each of the functions and get the most out of them. -- Does such information exist? And if so, can someone direct me to it? I'm pretty good at learning from instructional materials, but I do need a little guidance to do this. -- Thank you.

Message last edited on7/11/2007 2:08:54 PM bydavidinlv.

Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:7/11/2007 3:37:51 PM

What's Vocal Eraser? Can you post a link to it's website?

I'm guessing it's something that is supposed to remove the vocals and leave just the instrumental music behind. If so, you probably won't ever get good results. This is a process that just doesn't work well, ever.

Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question

Reply by: davidinlv

Date:7/11/2007 4:03:32 PM

Yes, I know what it does, and I've ben experimenting with it. I've actually had some acceptable results, as the ability to remove vocals lends itself to karaoke. But what I'm looking for is tutorial or help material that would help me better understand my options.

I sent an inquiry to the publisher, IZotope, and am hoping for a useful answer. The company site doesn't even mention this plug-in product, so perhaps it was created just for Sony Creative.

It looks to me like it doesn't actually remove or "erase" the vocals, which would seem to me a near impossibility in a product for home use, but merely suppresses them to an acceptable level by sampling the sound and identifying it in comparison to the music being played.

Message last edited on7/11/2007 4:04:55 PM bydavidinlv.

Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question

Reply by: jumbuk

Date:7/11/2007 6:48:55 PM

It is not possible to remove vocals completely whether in a home or professional environment, unless you have access to the original multi-track audio.

Products like yours generally work by mixing together a phase-inverted copy of the audio with the original audio. The theory is that instruments panned to the centre of the stereo field will cancel out in this process, leaving everything else. The theory is based on the assumption that the vocals will be panned exact centre, and nothing else will be. It falls down 99% of the time because other instrumenst (particularly bass) will be panned to the centre, and artifacts like reverb and FX will generally spread the vocals around.

You can actually do this in Sound Forge without a plug-in. There is a vocal removal preset on the stereo mix function. I have never had much success with this approach though, and I don't think anyone else has either.

Subject:RE: Vocal Eraser Question

Reply by: ForumAdmin

Date:7/12/2007 7:14:53 AM

The Izotope plug-in included with Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 is a bit more sophisticated than simple center-channel removal.

As for the original question, the algorithm is still highly source dependent. I am not privy to the details, myself, so I can only encourage experimentation and recommend reading the help carefully.

FWIW, the Izotope site has a small playlist of samples that have proven easy to work with here: [link]http://www.izotope.com/tech/vocalremover.

J.