Sound foge 7.0 users
- Thread starter KOR
- Start date
KOR: 
Let me get straight to the point and say that you will not be at all happy with 'vocal-removed' audio.. at least not by anything processed with the soundforge (or for that matter any of the freely available) vocal remover plugins.
Here's why. The way they work is that they isolate 'center-channel' audio from the rest of the data, and strip it out. the idea is that generally most of the vocals ride right in the center (ie: have the same levels for both left and right) whereas other portions of the audio do not. Instruments and other parts of songs generally favor one channel or the other more than the center.
In a perfect world this would work great, but in reality.... not so much. Especially after audio has been compressed (mp3, wma, etc) then the data can be further mangled. I had an mp3 that I tried stripping the vocals from one time using a similar plugin and rather than ending up with an instrumental, I ended up with a weird sounding accapella. Yup, it stripped out everything BUT the vocals.
If you're really interested in getting something usable along these lines, you'll have to pony up some dough for a program designed for this task. There are also hardware options that are supposed to be phenomenal as well, but I don't have any first hand experience with those. The software I would reccommend, because I have used it and been mostly satisfied with the results (the newer versions are better than what I used) is VoGone by the good folks over at Micro Technology Unlimited. They've been around since 77, with their roots in digital audio going back to 1968. very good people, I've spoken with Dave Cox both in person and on the phone a few times a few years back when I was doing some karaoke work for an old boss.
Here are your options as I see them:
1. Use a free plugin -- RESULT: 90% of the time, much less than desirable output.
2. Higher end Professional software (such as VoGone above..) -- RESULT: Milage will still vary depending on the quality of the source audio, and how much tweaking you do, but at least you have the option to tweak.
Still not quite pristine, but definately worth the price.
3. Dedicated Vocal Removal Hardware -- RESULT: Again mileage will vary, but probably less tweaking needed. Here's an example.
4. Obtain an instrumental from the artist/label/etc -- RESULT: Highest quality 100% of the time.
Clearly the higher the number the better the option in the above list. It also follows that the better the option the higher the cost Listening to the audio samples from both the vogone software and the vocal eliminator hardware solutions the results do not sound all that increadibly different.
At any rate, I hope that helps you a bit, and if I can be of further assistance, please ask. I've been working with audio and manipulating recorded music with soundforge since version 2 or 3.
Let me get straight to the point and say that you will not be at all happy with 'vocal-removed' audio.. at least not by anything processed with the soundforge (or for that matter any of the freely available) vocal remover plugins.
Here's why. The way they work is that they isolate 'center-channel' audio from the rest of the data, and strip it out. the idea is that generally most of the vocals ride right in the center (ie: have the same levels for both left and right) whereas other portions of the audio do not. Instruments and other parts of songs generally favor one channel or the other more than the center.
In a perfect world this would work great, but in reality.... not so much. Especially after audio has been compressed (mp3, wma, etc) then the data can be further mangled. I had an mp3 that I tried stripping the vocals from one time using a similar plugin and rather than ending up with an instrumental, I ended up with a weird sounding accapella. Yup, it stripped out everything BUT the vocals.
If you're really interested in getting something usable along these lines, you'll have to pony up some dough for a program designed for this task. There are also hardware options that are supposed to be phenomenal as well, but I don't have any first hand experience with those. The software I would reccommend, because I have used it and been mostly satisfied with the results (the newer versions are better than what I used) is VoGone by the good folks over at Micro Technology Unlimited. They've been around since 77, with their roots in digital audio going back to 1968. very good people, I've spoken with Dave Cox both in person and on the phone a few times a few years back when I was doing some karaoke work for an old boss.
Here are your options as I see them:
1. Use a free plugin -- RESULT: 90% of the time, much less than desirable output.
2. Higher end Professional software (such as VoGone above..) -- RESULT: Milage will still vary depending on the quality of the source audio, and how much tweaking you do, but at least you have the option to tweak.
Still not quite pristine, but definately worth the price.3. Dedicated Vocal Removal Hardware -- RESULT: Again mileage will vary, but probably less tweaking needed. Here's an example.
4. Obtain an instrumental from the artist/label/etc -- RESULT: Highest quality 100% of the time.
Clearly the higher the number the better the option in the above list. It also follows that the better the option the higher the cost
Listening to the audio samples from both the vogone software and the vocal eliminator hardware solutions the results do not sound all that increadibly different.At any rate, I hope that helps you a bit, and if I can be of further assistance, please ask. I've been working with audio and manipulating recorded music with soundforge since version 2 or 3.