remove vocals from song to sing along to

chas51 · 07-14-2018, 04:42 PM

(I have been searching this Reaper forum and googling, before starting this thread.)

I am posting to ask please for any help from anyone?

I want to sing along with songs that I love.
I want to remove vocals as best as I can, from the original songs. and then play them back and sing along to them.
I really want to do this. I think it will be enormously enjoyable.
there are so many songs with such great accompaniment and orchestration and all that stuff.
if you wanted to do this, how would you do it?
it does not have to be perfect.
it just has to be good enough.
thank you for any replies,
Charlie

DVDdoug · 07-14-2018, 10:14 PM

You should be able to find a vocal remover plug-in, but you rarely get "professional" results.

"You can't un-fry an egg or un-bake a cake, and you can't un-mix sound."

Vocal removal works by subtracting left from right (in a 2-channel stereo file) which removes everything in the "center" (everything that's identical and in-phase in both stereo channels). Sometimes it completely removes the vocals but it also removes everything else in the center. (You can filter to keep the bass.)

Audacity has a built-in vocal removal effect and that might be the easiest way to go.

Or, you can do it "manually" by inverting one of the stereo channels and then mixing the channels to mono.

Alternatively, you can look for Karaoke versions of the songs, or look for MIDI versions.

Jordu7 · 07-15-2018, 07:59 AM

I don't know how to remove vocals. But here's a great site that offers many backing tracks, including in many cases lyrics. You can even transpose or change the tempo (this might distort the sound somewhat).
I use the songs, in particular jazz standards, to play along with clarinet/sax.

http://x-minus.pro

Maybe you'll find some of your favorite songs!

I just checked, there even seems to be an online service for vocal removal on this site: http://x-minus.pro/vocal-cut

fixerdave · 07-15-2018, 08:16 AM

Hello, try this web site. phonicmind.com. the results have to be heard to believe. You can drop a song on the web page for a demo, and you can then download both the backing without voice and the voice without music. Very interesting to hear the vocal on its own, the algorithms must be pretty good. Dave

Edit... This doesn't use left/right cancelling because it will reduce/remove vocals from a mono recording.

multibody · 07-15-2018, 09:10 AM

Melodyne can do that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FScFKuXXM0

jazzmandan · 07-15-2018, 09:27 AM

this has been a go-to for me in the past. Good stuff for very little.

http://www.karaoke-version.com/

chas51 · 07-15-2018, 07:33 PM

thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who took the time to reply to me.
it means so much to me.
I am very grateful to all of you for your kindness in replying.
Charlie

chas51 · 07-16-2018, 11:30 AM

DVDdoug, if I can do this in Reaper, would you please possibly tell me step by step instructions?
or should I just get Audacity?

"Or, you can do it "manually" by inverting one of the stereo channels and then mixing the channels to mono."

edit:
giving Audacity a go. and its not working.

fixerdave · 07-17-2018, 05:01 AM

chas51, the effect is called JS: Center Canceler. there are some others which do the same job, but try this first. after listening to the Melodyne video I think that's how phonicmind.com do it. dave

Edit: after using center canceler you will need to EQ the music as a lot of music gets canceled out as well as voice. if you put the track on 3 tracks, HPF one track to keep some treble, LPF one track to keep some bass and BPF third track to feed the canceler with just the voice frequencies, mix to taste.

chas51 · 07-17-2018, 06:33 AM

thank you very much Dave.
I'll give it a try.

chas51 · 02-14-2019, 07:43 PM

a friend recently suggested a program called Transcribe! to me.
I've only used it a little bit for removing vocals,
but I think its a winner.

there's a free demo.
I really like this program alot.
I think I'm gonna buy it.

https://www.seventhstring.com/

nusushika · 02-22-2019, 06:31 AM

Try to google the "song name + .mid", you can make a karaoke version of your favorite song with REAPER! (all by yourself)

chas51 · 02-23-2019, 07:48 AM

ah, cool idea.
thank you very much.

themixtape · 02-25-2019, 09:43 AM

If I were you I would just use Spotify and search for the song title plus "karaoke" (without quotes). There are MANY available. Of course, mostly in the pop/rock vein, but certainly almost everything I searched for, had an instrumental version of it. Easy, and you can create a playlist of your favorites so they're always available for you.

Good luck!

chas51 · 03-04-2019, 02:27 PM

oh awesome.
thank you very much!!!