A Comprehensive Guide to Removing Vocals from Songs

December 04, 2023Ashley Mae

Removing vocals from a song, also known as vocal isolation or stem separation, is a common technique used in music production, remixing, and karaoke. It involves isolating the instrumental accompaniment from the vocal track, leaving behind a clean instrumental backing track. This process is often challenging if you don’t have a powerful song editor or vocal remover tool. This post will explore various methods to easily isolate vocals from a song.

Isolate Vocals from a Song

Part 1. How to Remove Vocals from Songs with Audacity

Vocals and instrumentals occupy different frequency ranges within the audio spectrum. Vocals typically reside in the mid-range frequencies, while instrumentals occupy the lower and higher frequency ranges. You can invert the phase of the vocals, cause them to partially cancel out when mixed with the original audio, and only leave the instrumental track. This part tells how to remove vocals from a song with the open-source audio editor Audacity.

Step 1.
Open Audacity and import your song. You can drag and drop the file onto the Audacity workspace or use the Import feature from the File menu.
Open Audacity and Add Song
Step 2.
Create a copy of the audio track for vocal removal. Select the audio track, click the Tracks menu, and choose the Duplicate Track option to duplicate it.
Step 3.
Highlight the duplicated track and click the Effect menu. Choose the Vocal Reduction and Isolation tool from its dropdown.
Choose Vocal Reduction and Isolation in Audacity
Step 3.
Select Remove Vocals under Action to isolate vocals from your song. Play the audio and customize the phase cancellation balance, EQ settings, and phase inversion to achieve the desired level of vocal removal. Once you are satisfied with the result, select the original audio track, and export it. The exported audio file will contain the instrumental version of the song.
Remove Vocals from a Song with Audacity

Audacity's vocal removal tool is effective for basic vocal reduction, but it may not always produce perfect results for every song. Removing vocals completely from a song can be challenging, especially for complex songs with a lot of instrumentation.

Bonus: Remove Noise from the Song You Recorded

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To remove noise from a song, you can go to its Toolbox and use the Noise Remover tool. It lets you easily remove noise from your audio and video files.

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Part 2. How to Isolate Vocals from a Song Using GarageBand

GarageBand is a free music creation software developed by Apple for macOS and iOS devices. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for creating, recording, editing, and sharing music. You can use it to remove vocals from a song by following the steps below.

Step 1.
Launch GarageBand and create a new project. Drag and drop the song you want to de-voice onto the main track area.
Open GarageBand on Mac Create New Project
Step 2.
Click to highlight the audio track. Under the Master tab, select the Phase Shifter plugin. Set the Semitones and adjust the Mix knob to introduce a phase shift. Click the Invert button to invert the phase of the vocals, causing them to partially cancel out.
Remove Vocals from a Song with GarageBand
Step 3.
Go to the EQ section, identify, and cut the frequency range where vocals are most prominent. Adjust the EQ bands to reduce the volume of these frequencies, attenuating the vocals.
Adjust EQ in GarageBand
Step 4.
Play the audio and adjust the phase cancellation settings and EQ bands as needed. Once satisfied with the vocal isolation, select the audio track, and export it as your desired audio format. Click the top Share menu and choose the Export Song to Disk option to store the edited audio file.
GarageBand Export Song to Disk

Part 3. Online Ways to Remove Vocals from a Song

Many online vocal removal services provide a convenient platform for removing vocals from songs. They typically require uploading the audio file and then downloading the processed instrumental track. While offering ease of use, online services may have limitations in terms of processing time, file size restrictions, and potential quality variations.

Here are some online vocal removers that you may want to consider, such as Lalal.ai, Demucs, Media.io Vocal Remover, Remove Vocals Online, Vocaroo, and more. Once you have chosen an online vocal remover, you will need to upload your song to its website. The website will then process the audio file and remove the vocals. The processed audio file will be available for download.

Remove Vocals from a Song Online with Lalal AI

Part 4. FAQs on How to Remove Vocals from A Song

What is the perfect way to remove vocals from a song?

There is no single perfect way to remove vocals from a song, as the best method will vary depending on the specific song and the desired results. However, there are a few general techniques that are commonly used. Common techniques are phase cancellation and equalization. Moreover, AI-powered vocal removers are a newer option that has become increasingly popular in recent years. They use machine learning to identify and isolate vocals, and they can often produce high-quality results.

Can you manually extract vocals from songs without any tool?

Yes, it is possible to manually extract vocals from songs without any tools. However, the process is time-consuming and difficult, and the results may not be as good as using a tool. To manually extract vocals from a song, you will need to listen to the song carefully and identify the different parts of the song, such as the vocals, bass, drums, and guitar. You will then need to use a variety of techniques like EQ and phase cancellation to remove the unwanted parts of the song.

Can you isolate vocals from a song using Premiere Pro?

Yes, you can isolate vocals from a song using Premiere Pro. There are a few different ways to do this, but the most common method is to use its Extract Acapella effect.

Conclusion

Vocal removal techniques enable the separation of the vocal and instrumental components of an audio file. With the continuous development of AI technoligies and machine learning algorithms, vocal removal is likely to become even more accurate and accessible in the future. For different needs, you may want to remove vocals from a song. You can use your preferred method to make the vocal removal.

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