How do you remove vocal from songs?

Answer 1

Impossible! First off, forget what you've seen on CSI or any other TV show. Even with todays technology this need to remove vocals from a mix remains in the world of fantasy,and because of physics,is likely to remain so. Sound engineers refer to the 'cake anology'. Just like you cannot extract the eggs, sugar, milk and flour from a cake once its been baked, neither can you extract vocals or any other sound from a song once its been mixed. When a song or any piece of music is recorded, the individual tracks are 'rendered' to a single stereo track; that is, one track left and the other right. This is the only way music can exist on a CD. So, there is no individual information to extract because the music is one whole. There is a technique called centre phase cancellation. Because vocals nearly always reside in the middle of a mix, using this technique removes any sound in the middle. The problem is, most if not all vocals have an echo effect called 'reverb' which means the above mentioned technique will leave 'ghost' like residual vocals! Many developers claim to have invented software that can remove vocals with varying degrees of success, but all professional engineers will agree that such software can't do what it says on the tin to a usable degree. Our advice. if you want the music, buy the Karaoke version and if you want the vocals, buy the acapella.

A sound engineer.

EDIT: It's not impossible, it's simply impractical. You can isolate frequencies and it would take hours upon hours of work to achieve but you can eventually tone out the instrumentation. Center phasing can 'remove' the vocals, creating an imperfect instrumental version (you can still hear the vocals at parts in the majority of the song, but it will be quit. It's helpful if you want to hear the instrumentation part better (ie, a bad singer is ruining a song by singing over the guitar solo) but it's nowhere near perfect.

Answer 2

There are several programs you can use to remove vocal from songs to different degrees of effectiveness. The best ones must usually be purchased, but free programs include AnalogX Vocal Remover, Wavosaur, and Karaoke Anything.