Right off the top we try to lower people's expectations when it comes to vocal removal.
There are two popular methods for creating Karaoke backing tracks :
A) REMOVING VOCALS FROM EXISTING POPULAR CD's
B) MAKING BACKING TRACKS FROM GENERAL MIDI FILES
More on the pros and cons of the process in the F.A.Q. below :
1. IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE VOCALS REMOVED FROM A RECORDING AND KEEP THE MUSIC ?
2. HOW DOES THE VOCAL REMOVAL PROCESS WORK ?
3. DOES THE VOCAL REMOVAL PROCESS COMPROMISE THE QUALITY OF THE MUSIC ?
4. WHAT TYPES OF MUSIC DO YOU HAVE MORE SUCCESS WITH ?
5. ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES TO VOCAL REMOVAL ?
6. I REALLY *NEED* TO HAVE A KARAOKE VERSION, WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND I DO ?
1. IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE THE VOCALS REMOVED FROM A RECORDING AND KEEP THE MUSIC ?
It depends on the song you want to have treated. Some songs work surprisingly well, and others will still have a significant amount of vocal "ghosts" remaining in the treated mix.
2. HOW DOES THE VOCAL REMOVAL PROCESS WORK ?
What happens in this process is that the song mix is thrown out of phase and the elements panned in the middle of the stereo spectrum are almost eliminated. Since lead vocals usually include reverb and other stereo FX and backing vocals that are panned in stereo you usually still have a "vocal ghost" lingering in your processed mix. Depending on your application, this may be satisfactory.
3. DOES THE VOCAL REMOVAL PROCESS COMPROMISE THE QUALITY OF THE MUSIC ?
Unfortunately, yes. Since the vocal remover process effects elements centered in the mix it may also include some drum and bass tracks and whatever else might be panned center. Again, this varies from song to song.
4. WHAT TYPES OF MUSIC DO YOU HAVE MORE SUCCESS WITH ?
The process tends to work better on songs with a fairly steady accompaniment (such as a pop or rock song) and where the vocals are mixed fairly dry (that is with little effects) and panned in the center of the stereo mix.
5. ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES TO VOCAL REMOVAL ?
An alternative way of producing karaoke backing tracks is through General MIDI files. These are like the playback equivalent of sheet music (much like the digital equivalent of the player pianos). If GM files for your song are available, we have various synthesizer and sample playback units that will reproduce the music using those files. The GM files will often produce quite reasonable facsimiles of songs. The main advantage is that there are no vocals whatsoever. The main drawback is that it won't sound *exactly* like the backing tracks of the original recording. Still, this produces the cleanest result.
6. I REALLY *NEED* TO HAVE A KARAOKE VERSION, WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND I DO ?
If you have a number of songs that you want treated, it's best to try *one* first. If we have some success and the results are satisfactory to you, we can proceed with the remaining songs.