Karaoke Forums

I need the karaoke version of the following song. It is a youtube video song and I tried using audacity and adobe soundbooth before requesting here. I'm not able to get a clean version of the instrument without the vocal. I know it's not usual to make such a request but I'm planning to sing this one for my college culturals and I would be honored if someone could just help me out with this. I just need the vocals removed completely. Nothing else. Thanks in advance. Anyone who has a better software, please help me. The link is given below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M7YXwQMkrE

As a general rule, you can't make a "clean" karaoke version using vocal removal techniques. It just doesn't work like that. There will always be a remainder vocal.

But if you Google the name of the song plus "karaoke version," you'll find a free karaoke version available. I listened to both the original and the free karaoke version, and it was pretty close. Whether that free version is actually licensed and legit, I couldn't say, but it's out there.

You can use a free program called "Audacity" and remove vocals by splitting the stereo track to two mono tracks, Then invert the one side to remove vocals.

here is a tutorial for you.

The Audacity method mentioned above will only work if the vocals are panned dead center. I have a few different programs that work well & this particular version you cannot get rid of the vocals entirely - it comes close, however it leaves all of the underlying reverb effect (and a lot of it) - mainly because it is almost like a live performance. It also deletes quite a bit of the instruments as well, especially the guitar solos.

Your computer should have a vocal canceller built in. Right click on the speaker icon in the lower right corner. Click playback devices. Whichever one is your default playback device, highlight & click properties. Go to the enhancements tab then click voice cancellation. If anything else is checked, uncheck it - click apply. This will give you an idea if the vocals can be removed. All vocal eliminators work on the same principle.

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Lonman Thanks again for the tip... A question... I checked some of my CD's and some did and some didn't... Of course, the one I wanted wasn't. If it's originally recorded NOT panning dead center can it be changed or will all recordings give the same result because that's how it was originally recorded. Just wondering if other recordings of the same song on like a greatest hits CD might be panned center. I'm thinking it's the original recording but was just checking. Thanks

It's ALL in how it was originally recorded. The basic principle of a vocal eliminator is to seek out the same content/frequencies on each channel & cancel them out. Since vocals are often (not always) panned dead center, this is when a vocal eliminator works best. Any other instruments will also be cancelled out at the same time however - often guitar solos, kick, snare drums. Vocals it will leave behind are usually the effects so you will hear this almost ghostly reverb left behind. The more off center the vocals are, lessens the effectiveness.
Any kind of before stereo tracks will be impossible to pull vocals, early stereo experimentations where the producers would put entire instruments on one channel only, and parts of vocals on the other channel with some key instruments underlying will be impossible to eliminate.

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Wow. I can't believe how quickly you guys responded. Thanks a bunch. I have tried audacity's splitting technique as well as the vocal cancellation option. But as you mentioned, it's panned dead centre and that seems to be the problem. Also I do not have any other software. If it was just the original song, I can get the karaoke version but this one is a live performance and has a mix of two songs. I liked the arrangement of the whole song. That was the reason I particularly wanted this version. I'll see if I can get any help. But meanwhile, I can't express how happy I am that you guys responded to my post. Thank you once again. Please do let me know if you come across anything that can help me with this.

Panned dead center is what you are looking for good elimination. Like I said it worked almost except for the lingering reverbs and losing a lot of the instruments.

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I use this from MTU.com
http://www.mtu.com/basics/vocal-eliminator.htm

The advantage with this product is you can move left or right of dead center pan to find the optimal vocal reduction. I don't know if it is worth purchasing for one song as you still have the risk of dead center being the best option. EDIT: You can download the trial version and test it. I think it is fully functional but you can't save the file.

As mentioned, the more you try to remove the vocals the more it will probably affect instrument solos. What I do with those is create a vocal removed version and make a copy of the original. I add both tracks to an audio editing program (I use Sonar but Audacity will work). The tracks will match up identically side by side signal and length wise. I then cut the vocal sections from the original copy and cut the vocal removed sections for the instrumental solo sections. What you should have when you are finished is two tracks where there is no overlap and no gaps. You then need to make sure the sound levels are the same. When exported and played back, you should not be able to notice the changes from the vocal removed sections and the instrumental solo sections. Let me know if this doesn't make sense. It's a little more work but it is usually well worth the effort.

Deep male voices on soft music tracks are the hardest to remove without completely gutting all of the other instruments.

With the live version you are trying to extract from, it is pretty much impossible to get an acceptable result. You won't be able to get the vocal out.

Some general tips for extraction using Audacity . . .

Keep a copy of the original tracks in the mix . . . you may be able to bring in just a little of the original to fill in without bringing the vocals back to an unacceptable level.

Use multiple extraction processes and keep them in the project.
As an example . . .

Karaoke CDG Creator has a built in extraction routine. At default settings it creates a bass heavy extraction.
The default voice remover effect in Audacity creates a tinny mix that loses way too much bass.

With both extractions in your audacity project you can blend them and get a better(key word here is better, it will never be perfect) result.

You can also try other plug ins Audacity such as Knockout or 2D-Stero toolkit to give you more tracks and options to play around with.

Thank you so much guys. I will try these out and let you know if it works. Nevertheless, I salute your dedication.

I leave the voice in, and lip sync..

dsm2000 got it covered. good job.