Programs for taking vocals out of music?

[All Chalked Up]

I was wondering if any of you guys knew about a program that takes vocals out of songs. Preferably free; but it's alright if not. Thanks for your help!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It's mathematically impossible to cleanly take the vocals out of a track.

There are programs that claim to due this, but I don't recommend using any of them. These programs work by inverting the left channel, mixing down to mono with the right channel, and thereby cancelling out any sounds that are centered -- which usually means leads and bass. The result, though, is to mix the song down to a monophonic recording, eliminate half the content of the song, and cause phase cancellation out the wazoo. Any lead instruments, kick drums, snare drums, and bass will probably disappear along with the vocals. Any accompanying vocals or reverb trails which are not exactly centered will still be audible.

In laymen's terms, it will sound awful 99% of the time.

Your best bet is generally to search for karaoke versions of a track. You can find tons of these for most popular songs on itunes. Either that, or use Audacity to cut out the sections with vocals.

If there's a particular track you're looking for, I might be able to help you track down a vocal-less version.

 

[All Chalked Up]

I really like Barracuda by Heart, but I can't really find a vocal-less version. If you can find one, that'd be great! Thanks a lot!