Is there a way to separate tracks from an existing mix?

[mark007]

Someone told me yesterday that it is possible to strip out tracks from a "song", for example I want to play with an old song I like and change certain tracks or the song itself. Either remove drums and mix my own drums to it, or remove the voice and put my own fancy voice instead and remix it.

In case I am not clear, here is what I want to do. I have an old song on a CD. I want to load the song into pro-tools, maybe remove the original song and sing myself (for a birthday party). If possble I would also like to remove the original drums and mix my own drums etc.


Is it posisble to do this and if yes, what do I need besides my 003 factory and Protools? Thanks!

[Dorian Green]

I don't think this is possible as all the original session tracks are SUM in a stereo track.It's like trying to remove eggs and flour from a fresh cooked cake!

I know some plugins called Voice remover which compare left and right channel and create a kind of phase cancellation to remove mainly vocal parts.But I don't think it is as efficient as a Mute button on a session.

Hope it helps.

[mark007]

Thanks for the reply and the excellent analogy! Makes me laugh to think of removing eggs from a freshly baked cake but seriously I see what you are saying. In which case, I think the only thing I would like to do is remove the audio track or "voice" if you will. I am going to do a search for audio removers, but in case you have any suggestions on any such software, please post it. Thanks again.

[Mix Master Factories]

Originally Posted by mark007

Thanks for the reply and the excellent analogy! Makes me laugh to think of removing eggs from a freshly baked cake but seriously I see what you are saying. In which case, I think the only thing I would like to do is remove the audio track or "voice" if you will. I am going to do a search for audio removers, but in case you have any suggestions on any such software, please post it. Thanks again.

Well, the new melodyne software is rumoured to be able to do this. It seems like magic to me, but Celemony is a very reputable software-maker.

[mark007]

Thanks. I will try this definitely. seems a bit expensive but if it does more than just that, its worth $500 maybe.

[Mix Master Factories]

Originally Posted by mark007

Thanks. I will try this definitely. seems a bit expensive but if it does more than just that, its worth $500 maybe.

I'm talking about the one that's coming out Q1 2009. So don't buy the current version!
Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWOd4yqs2-I
The video is amazing.

[DJ John]

Originally Posted by mark007

I have an old song on a CD. I want to load the song into pro-tools, maybe remove the original song and sing myself (for a birthday party). If possble I would also like to remove the original drums and mix my own drums etc.

1. What's the artist/title?

2. Have you done a search to see if the acapella or instrumental is already available?

3. Is there a DTS 5.1 surround audio release of the song? You could extract each of the 5 tracks and depending on how the master was mixed, could find what you're looking for.

4. Finally, Guitar Hero, Rock Band for Wii, etc. have released hundreds of master tracks for the gaming consoles. They are often released as isolated tracks: i.e. drums, acapella, lead guitar, bass guitar, etc

If none of these work, then you're screwed.

[DrFord]

Just get a kareoke version. What you are trying to do is either 1. impossible (I loved the cake analogy,) 2. silly if someone did the work of re-recording the track for karaoke (which is an art form itself) or 3. The basic concept of Hip Hop sample based tracks, which again is an artform in itself, and the best sample based tracks take a long time with editing to get a good groove and cool sound, but even then they sound like a sample, and never like a kareoke track.

You may just want to hire some studio musicians for $50 each to lay the track down for you. All you need is a guitarist and a keyboard player to do everything the guitar doesn't do.

D

[eQ Sun]

If the song you want is on one of the guitar hero or rock band games, then you may have hope. Say you want the drums from one of the rock band songs. Play that song on drums, in practice mode, and instead of hooking the audio cables of your console to your tv, hook it up to your interface, in stereo (white is left, red is right) and start recording. Then before the song starts to play, hit something random so that the 'wrong note' sound happens. That way when the song plays, the drums DONT play. Let the song play out, then stop recording. Now you import the whole song into your project (I assume you have it) and line it up with the track you just recorded. Now reverse the phase of the new track, and if the two tracks are perfectly aligned, everything but the drums should be silent on playback. Remember that anything the two tracks dont have in common wont disappear, like any noises specific to the game. I haven't had the opportunity to try this myself, so I cant guarantee that it will work flawlessly (bit rate/depth differences?) but will get you close.

[RegenerationMix]

Originally Posted by eQ Sun

If the song you want is on one of the guitar hero or rock band games, then you may have hope. Say you want the drums from one of the rock band songs. Play that song on drums, in practice mode, and instead of hooking the audio cables of your console to your tv, hook it up to your interface, in stereo (white is left, red is right) and start recording. Then before the song starts to play, hit something random so that the 'wrong note' sound happens. That way when the song plays, the drums DONT play. Let the song play out, then stop recording. Now you import the whole song into your project (I assume you have it) and line it up with the track you just recorded. Now reverse the phase of the new track, and if the two tracks are perfectly aligned, everything but the drums should be silent on playback. Remember that anything the two tracks dont have in common wont disappear, like any noises specific to the game. I haven't had the opportunity to try this myself, so I cant guarantee that it will work flawlessly (bit rate/depth differences?) but will get you close.

You might want to check the dates on a post before responding. This one has been dead for 2 years. No way the original poster will come back and read this.


Chris