How to remove lyrics from track (awkward i know) or where to find lyricless versions?

BigBouncyBall

Hi

can anyone help me out with removing lyrics from a track "Air - All I Need".

It's 70% instrumental anyway i just would like to remove the lyrics as i need a completely instrumental version for a show-reel I'm putting together. I have some fairly advanced tools at my disposal (Apple Soundtrack Pro and Audacity) but don't really know how to go about it. If at all?

Alternatively are there any places where i can get the lyricless version of a song? (thats not to say a karaoke version of the song!)

fwor

If the vocal is consistently "centre stage" then you can make quite an effective "vocal cut" by inverting each channel and adding it to the other. It effectively removes any sound that is common to both channels (i.e. anything centre stage).

It's a standard effect that is built into CoolEdit Pro, but I'm not sure whether it's available in Audacity.

I have used it to good effect to remove mindless rap lyrics from an otherwise good soul track, but you really need to fade the effect in just where the lyrics are, or it takes out too much else (e.g. lead instruments that are centre stage).

fwor

Just had a quick play with Audacity, and it's available as a plug-in called Vocal Remover. It works fine for lead vocal but for tracks with harmonies on left or right channel (I tried it on Midlake, Roscoe which does) you don't lose those, and they are a lot harder to get rid of.

If you have vocal on just one channel for short periods you can drop that channel and play the other in mono for just that section, but it's quite noticeable when listening in stereo...

BigBouncyBall

thanks for your help.

I'll look at it now. If it can't be done it's not the end of the world - the lyrics aren't too distracting really.

sharkie

If the song is popular, then the tune may be available on karaoke from companies like sunfly etc