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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 15 Feb 2016, 19:03

I believe these acappellas mostly come from video games like Guitar Hero and Rockband, where people have hacked into the software and copied the tracks, and the rest come from people getting hold of copies of the original multitracks of the recording session. Unfortunately, whether an acapella track exists is largely determined by the popularity of the artiste, so I think you are going to have to get someone to do one for you.

However, making one electronically by manipulating the audio data, basically by filtering out everything else, leads to results that are less than perfect, so it depends what you want it for. You're not going to get anything like the quality of ones you've heard - these give you the "pure" original because they are copies of the original isolated studio track, they're not created by processing a fully mixed track.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)


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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 15 Feb 2016, 20:30

Melodyne's DNA is a remarkable tool, no doubt about that, but it very much depends on the complexity of the music it's working with. It's a bit like trying to extract the raw egg back out of a baked cake, so - not easy. That's why I asked what you wanted it for. You may be able to get results good enough to build a new arrangement round the extracted vocal, but it would depend heavily on the fact that other instruments will go a long way to covering up the shortcomings of the extracted track - assuming you can get something workable in the first place. I have only seen it done reasonably well where the original arrangement was just one acoustic guitar and the lead vocal, although I certainly haven't seen every video and tutorial out there, and I honestly don't know where the limits of DNA's capabilities really lie.

But it's well worth a shot, you've certainly got nothing to lose.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 15 Feb 2016, 23:43

What are you actually trying to do? I'm afraid I'm none the wiser here.

The reason I'm asking is because there might be a very simple way to do this. If the instrumental mix is EXACTLY the same mix, just without the lead vocal, then you can do this:

Line up the two versions in Cubase, and then just invert the phase of the instrumental mix. Make sure the volumes are equal, and all the backing tracks should more or less cancel each other out, leaving you with just the lead vocal. It won't be perfect, there will be some artifacts, but it may well be good enough.
Last edited by RedLeo on 16 Feb 2016, 00:36, edited 5 times in total.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 16 Feb 2016, 02:25

monsterjazzlicks wrote:'Invert Phase' = is this an AUDIO PROCESSING function within Cubase please? From what you are kindly suggesting, I am not sure if this will work because the two versions will be radically different (in both length and order of events).


Yes, it's a simple audio processing function.

I'm confused because I thought you said the instrumental version was the same as the original version with the lead vocal, now you're saying it's different? Well, in any case, if it's not the same, the idea won't work.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 16 Feb 2016, 16:16

Yes. You would have to use the original instrumental mix to do the phase-invert thing. Once you've got a workable isolated vocal track, then have at it with the creativity. Apart from anything else, it would be pointless to invest time and effort into making your own arrangement before you knew for sure that you were going to be able to have a workable isolated vocal track in the first place.

[Remember, in Cubase you will be working non-destructively. What that means is that you will produce a new, third track containing only the vocal without altering the two original tracks in any way].

The phase-invert trick only works if the two things are identical to each other in every respect, except of course for the stuff you want to keep.

If you want to know how it works, here's a crude explanation:

It works on the simple principle that +1 plus -1 equals zero.

If you take your original track to be "+1", then the inverted track becomes "-1". Add the two together at equal volume, and you've got a result of zero - the two "opposite" tracks have perfectly cancelled each other out, leaving you - theoretically - with complete silence.

Here's the clever bit - the vocal is only on ONE of the two tracks. So the inverted instrumental track does NOT invert the vocal (because there isn't any vocal) so NO inverted vocal is added to the original track. Thus the original vocal part is left untouched - hey presto.

Edit: here's a video tutorial which explains how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWggziOxce4
Last edited by RedLeo on 16 Feb 2016, 16:52, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby Berretje » 16 Feb 2016, 17:59

Maybe Roland R-mix could do the trick!

http://www.rolandus.com/products/r-mix/
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby RedLeo » 17 Feb 2016, 01:36

I looked into R-Mix earlier, and the consensus seems to be that for a budget price it can sometimes do a reasonable job, but it's eclipsed by the very powerful (and very expensive) Isolate from Audioeffects.com:

http://www.audioeffects.com/isolate.html

But since you mentioned later that you had the instrumental version of the track, it seemed obvious that if you could do it for free with what you already had.... :)
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby analogika » 17 Feb 2016, 15:15

monsterjazzlicks wrote:Cheers Leo,

Been mega busy today so not had much time for music stuff.

Thanks for the LINK. Though it says that the product is "Temporary Unavailable" and also (unless I am wrong) it is for MAC OS.


You didn't mention that you weren't running a Mac.
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Re: RE: Vocal Isolation Track (help?)

Postby Mr_-G- » 22 Feb 2016, 22:00

Paul, you can re-pitch a track without increasing its length in Audacity. There might be some artefacts, but perhaps worth a try.
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