Subject:Filtering out a drum beat in a song with a vocal

Posted by: Stunads

Date:12/15/2007 1:36:40 AM

(Also posted in Sound Forge Forum due to cross platforms)

Hello All:

I recently bought Sony Acid Pro 6.0 with Kompakt and Sony Sound Forge 9.0 with the Production Suite. However, I am not new to the software, for I already owned Acid Pro 4.0 & Sound Forge 6.0 since 2002.

I remake a lot of songs and have been able to do so successfully with the help of both programs (Acid & Sound Forge). However, some of my tracks lack a professional appeal, mainly because I am not able to fully filter out or partially eliminate drum beats out of pre-made songs with vocals. As some of you obviously know, it is not always possible to obtain a cappellas from the original artists when making remixes.

Any tips on how one can do this other than using equalizers and resonant filters?

Even if you do use these "said" tools, how do you usually do it? I have fooled around with this for many tracks and some work and others do not.; some tracks sound flanged because the beats cancel each other out because the original beats are so dominant; (i.e. my newly added drum beat when mashed with the original drum beat).

Thanks much, I appreciate any and all responses!

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with a vocal

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:12/15/2007 6:44:53 AM

Wow! When I saw your post I was expecting the opposite! For years, it seemed, we had a couple of posts a week asking how to remove vocals from songs.

I'm sure it wasn't really that bad, but... I wonder if you search those old posts... I wonder if you could find some ideas. Just a thought.

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with

Reply by: Stunads

Date:12/15/2007 10:56:05 PM

Thanks, I'll check them out!

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with a vocal

Reply by: mista k

Date:12/18/2007 7:55:58 PM

this is theory - I have never actually done this.
You get two copies of the same track
1) with vocals
2) Instrumental

Now the instrumental has to be the exact duplicate music wise ( w/o vocals ). Make sure this applies - some instrumentals are slightly different from original vocal.

Next you would take the instrumental and invert the wave file. Sound Forge should have this option under effects or process tab.

After the instrumental is inverted - mix the two tracks together.

So in theory - the drums would be identical in length - except one is inverted so the drums should cancel out - leaving the vocal in tact.

Again this is theory - if you try this and it works - please let me know. Also - I would be curious if anyone else has some tested techniques.
Thanks and good luck -

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:12/18/2007 8:16:56 PM

Where do you get the two copies to start with?

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with

Reply by: Stunads

Date:12/20/2007 7:32:20 AM

I have actually had the luck to work with a producer that surrendered all of the individual tracks for a remix project. He gave me the raw .wav files: the instrumental, the piano, the beat and the a cappella.

Most of the time, this is never the case; which is why I posted how one could segment them if possible. Luckily, I have found out how to do this from a previous post:
------
Scott wrote how to do this using Sound Forge:

* Eliminating the Lead Vocal
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/tip.asp?ID=4

* Extracting the Lead Vocal
http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/tip.asp?ID=5
---------------------------------------------------------------

He gives intuitive tips that are user friendly; but I am not sure how valid they are, because I have tried them so far with two songs and have been slightly unsuccessful. I do not know if producers are not making tracks like they used to or what, but I still am lead to believe that using his technique combined with EQ and filter adjustments will yield the best results.

Thank you all for your posts!

Subject:RE: Filtering out a drum beat in a song with

Reply by: PeterWright

Date:12/20/2007 6:24:07 PM

Bear in mind that it's often just not possible to remove part of a recording, unless of course you have separate tracks for separate instruments.
Once it's been mixed into a single audio file, the chances of removing one element without also removing or affecting other elements are very slim, unless the element you're trying to get rid of occupies it's own place in time and it can therefore be separated from all other sounds.

Even noise removal is like this - unless the background ambience is a totally different frequency from the foreground sounds, taking out or taking down that frequency will often affect the rest of the audio detrimentally.

Often it's easier to build your own backing from scratch, and Acid is very good here.