Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
By Skywalkerogiesel Sat Feb 15, 2014 12:12 am
I heard about a machine that can isolate and/or mute out frequencies on a sample (drums, vocal, etc.) Anyone else heard about anything like this? I have tried software that claims to do this but wasn't impressed. Fact or Myth?
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By Lampdog Sat Feb 15, 2014 1:28 am
Go bake a cake, now take out the eggs.
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By sciguy Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:12 am
One type of this sort of thing relies on one very specific recording setup—where the vocals are the only thing center-panned. So it just keeps only the stuff in common between the left and right sides.

Not at all useful for anything recorded in a different way.


Otherwise, the only "solution" is EQ. But that's not going to work well. It's not like vocals lie alone in a particular frequency band. Everything—basses, drums, vocals, whatever—occupies the entire frequency spectrum (with exceptions, like a pure sine wave bass sound, or some additive synth tone, whatever).
So you can't really isolate one specific instrument/voice, especially with how sensitive our ears can be.
By mastasteez Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:23 am
Lampdog wrote:Go bake a cake, now take out the eggs.


Lol.

I remember asking this exact same question when I started out. I think I thought it was possible because I always hears vocal samples cut in to tracks and thought the producer had filtered out the other sounds, rather than the most likely reason - that the producer had the acapella!
By Skywalkerogiesel Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:08 pm
I figured that was some bull. I guess if you could get your hands on the masters you could mix down the tracks how ever you wanted. Homeboy said he worked at a major studio so maybe that's what he meant.
Acapella versions? Hmmm.. That'll work for vocals. But sometimes you miss out on miles trumpet or a Hendrix guitar riff and have to work around the other elements.
I'm all about the work. But I'd be lying if I said that isn't something I would want.
You could always eq and tweak your way out of the ish but I haven't seen any software/hardware that offers a real solution.
Lampdog, am I trippin? I feel like that would be a game changer.
Last edited by Skywalkerogiesel on Sun Feb 16, 2014 11:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By Lampdog Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:11 pm
You can filter out lower freqs from vocals. Freqs is a more accurate assesment than "instrument" because instruments seem to occupy multiple freqs. Yeah, you'll still have artifacts from the original in there somewhere but when the vocal is finally mixed with your own music or beat, listeners might not even hear the leftovers in the background, or the acapella is a good idea also. Also, most time samplists love the artifacts in the background. Add character, ambience, whatever, artifacts are most times loved. Not vocals but look at all the old school filtered basslines (low end theory) and there are other low instruments in the bassline as well but it STILL turned out good!

Can't completely remove those eggs.

Now, way older recordings had some instruments/vocals strictly on l or r. That, of course, is WAY easy to manipulate, per channel type shit.
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By peterpiper Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:22 pm
mastasteez wrote:
Lampdog wrote:Go bake a cake, now take out the eggs.


Lol.

I remember asking this exact same question when I started out. I think I thought it was possible because I always hears vocal samples cut in to tracks and thought the producer had filtered out the other sounds, rather than the most likely reason - that the producer had the acapella!



Well it is/was both, so to say.The DJs also used normal LP versions and filter out the bass if there was no acapella or for the reason that the vocals sounds better when scratched when there are things like a snare in it. A snare is always good to scratch because of the hard attack.

ontopic: depending on the sample and how it is embedded in your track you can do a lot to get rid of this or that sound it takes a lot of time and like I said dempends heavily on the source material/instruments/mixing etc.


peace
By Skywalkerogiesel Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:54 pm
Good look. Def heavy on the low end even though I usually pitch up. I keep it simple. Make lemon aid. You know the drill. You can always polish up the artifacts. Just thought there was some new ish I hadn't heard about.
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By Ill-Green Sun Feb 16, 2014 4:26 pm
Ah ben dewenit fah yeahs... **ahem** I meant to say I been doing it for years with my SPs and MV and the feature is called Isolator. Filters work the same way.
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By Mike Boogie Wed Feb 19, 2014 6:38 pm
Wal Martian wrote:There is software to remove specific frequencies, it's called Algorithmix reNOVAtor and it costs $3500 US
http://www.algorithmix.com/en/renovator.htm


$3500 clams...!!! :shock:

You probably can find the actual stems cheaper than that.