Isolate Vocals. A matter of EQ?

[Guest mollekula]

hi guys. im trying to "rip off" some female vocals from Bach's cantata so id appreciate it if you could drop a line. i know many people say its impossible because the vocals are within the track itself, but i think its possible to remove most of instrumental if not all. whats important in this case is that there is no drum kick or snare or other instruments, the only instrument to be removed here is the organ. im trying to achieve this with an EQ, do you think its the only way to do it and if not what else could you suggest? im tweaking EQ and experimenting, which frequencies would you boost or cut? thanx in advance

[Guest analogue wings]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzTeXZlWSL4

 

^ unless you think the above attempt (by pro engineers) constitutes successful vocal isolation, then you'd best think of it as impossible.

 

Bach's cantatas are public domain. Try emailing one of the 1000s of recording engineers who have recorded this work and asking very nicely for the acapella.

 

Alternatively, hire a singer to perform the part for you.

[Guest mollekula]

thanx for the reply, i didnt know they would be so kind to send their work even if Bach's compositions are public domain. nevertheless i was not looking for a perfect vocal isolation, it would be like separating sugar from the rest of the tea, i didnt even want a big sample, just a texture of a few seconds to use in a track im working on.

[Root5]

Wait, so you're saying that every modern recording of Bach is public domain? That doesn't seem right to me.

 

Edit: Misspelled Bach..

Edited August 19, 2010 by Root5

[oscillik]

Wait, so you're saying that every modern recording of Bach is public domain? That doesn't seem right to me.

 

Edit: Misspelled Bach..

it isn't right.

only the music is public domain, not the recordings (unless the recordings are released under certain licences)

[chassis]

I was going to make this thread a while back. But after a quick google it seemed that its well fucking hard to do and pretty much always sounds shit.

[Root5]

I think I remember seeing some programs that can isolate channels from music, but with serious artifacts of course.

[cad]

Use a spectral analysis program like Photosounder or Spear to erase the unwanted frequencies.

[oscillik]

Use a spectral analysis program like Photosounder or Spear to erase the unwanted frequencies.

yep, that'll work

[Guest mollekula]

thanx for the tip cad, i wanted to leave spectral analysis for later, i might be wrong but as far as i know its mostly used for final stages of mixing and solving frequency conflicts issue, and im taking it all step by step. but it seems ill have to start learning it from now.

[Guest radiomellotron]

http://www.elevayta.net/product13.htm

 

This is probably the best results you're going to get, use that and use an EQ to clean up.

 

There's also this: http://www.unmixingstation.com/

 

But I've tried it and it's complete crap. You might want to try the demo on the sample you want.