[audacity4blind] Re: Backing Tracks
- From: <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <audacity4blind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 4 May 2020 07:12:24 -0500
Orlando et al:
Try searching on YouTube for a group or song name and "isolated tracks".
There are a plethora of Beatles and other groups where the actual tracks for
drums, bass, lead, vocals, etc. can be heard/therefore captured and
utilized.
-----Original Message-----
From: audacity4blind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<audacity4blind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Orlando Enrique Fiol
(Redacted sender "ofiol" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, May 4, 2020 12:59 AM
To: audacity4blind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [audacity4blind] Re: Backing Tracks
At 08:20 PM 5/3/2020, Richard Thomas wrote:
Do you know how to get a backing track with just the rums and the bass
on that ? Kareoke site?
I want to provide the guitar parts and vocals for efferson Airplanes
White Rabbit, it is on their catalog. For other songs Iay want an >organ
or piano as well.
I tried iddling around but couldn't figure out how to get only the >drums
nd bass unless the mp3 file I would download can be split into >individual
nstrument tracks by audacity.
They have the White abbit backing tracks but clicking on an instrument
like bass has the uitar, drums and vocals and so I couldn't figure >out
how to selectore than one instrument to get only the bass and >drums ? on
the acking tracks.
Is there a way to select a ombination of instruments to get only a >bass
and drums or, >Can audacity split out individual tracks from the ownloaded
mp3 file?
Although some simulated soloing can be done by muting the center channel or
using very aggressive equalization filters, the real answer is a resounding
no! No software can split an mp3 into its constituent tracks because it's
not that smart. At any given musical instance, no software can know exactly
which instrument is playing, for how long it will play, what it played
before that instance, etc.
Rather than think of a multitrack audio file as something to be split into
individual tracks, let's try a different model.
Back in the day, when we worked with tape, if it was two-track, we got a
left and right channel or one stereo track. With four-track tape, we could
record two more tracks, but most projects required more than four tracks, so
we'd bounce some tracks down to a stereo pair and record two more. With 8
and 16 track tape, bouncing became less necessary. So, imagine 1967. The
Jefferson Airplane has jousted recorded "Rabbit," probably on 4-track tape,
and mixed it down to vinyl and cassette pressings. You couldn't buy one of
those records, take it home and magically solo the bass and drums because
it's all mixed down to a stereo track.
fast-forward to the digital era and you essentially have every digital audio
workstation doing the same thing: recording each instrument or voice as a
separate audio file, then relying on the software to play all the files
simultaneously. These are called stems. if you have bass and drums stems for
a tune, you can import them into Audacity, add your own guitar or keyboards
and make a new track. But in order for you to have those stems, someone must
make those individual files available. No software can extract those
individual stems from the final mix anymore than you can isolate all the
garlic or black pepper in a delicious dish and pile it all on a small plate.
If you want individual instruments so you can play yoru own on top of them,
karaoke sights won't help you. They only provide instrumental versions of
songs minus vocals. Most times, the vocals are actually not removed from the
originals; rather, the original versions are meticulously copied by studio
musicians. A close friend of mine put both his kids through college playing
congas and other Latin percussion on these Japanese karaoke tracks of
classic pop music, mostly Motown. He tracked his parts using scratch or
scrap vocals that would never make the final cuts because those karaoke
versions were meant to be instrumentals for people to butcher after getting
way too drunk.
You need to search for stems or soloed tracks for the songs you want to
cover. There's a producer/composer/guitarist on Youtube named Rick Beato.
He's a great musician with that magical combination of street smarts and
school. Anyway, Rick has this series called "What Makes This Song Great,"
where he analyzes the songwriting, production and individual musician
performances on any tunes that either strike his fancy or about which people
ask. I don't know how he finds the stems, but in most cases, he is indeed
able to play individual instruments:
bass, drums, guitars, lead and backing vocals. I suspect these stems get
leaked out by recording engineers and have made their way on to the
internet.
Playing them doesn't constitute copyright infringement because he's using
them for educational/analytical purposes.
So, bottom line, no software, not Audacity, not Reaper, Cubass, Logic,
Ableton, not even Pro Tools, can take a stereo mix and isolate individual
instruments. The only way to get that isolation is to track down either the
original stems or people's attempts at playing everything note for note.
I hope this clears up some confusion. Rock on!
Orlando Enrique Fiol
Ph.D. in Music Theory
University of Pennsylvania: November, 2018 Professional Pianist/Keyboardist,
Percussionist, Arranger, Performer and Pedagogue Charlotte, North Carolina
Home: (980) 585-1516
Mobile: (267) 971-7090
Email: ofiol@xxxxxxxxxxx
The audacity4blind web site is at
//www.freelists.org/webpage/audacity4blind
Subscribe and unsubscribe information, message archives, Audacity keyboard
commands, and more...
To unsubscribe from audacity4blind, send an email to
audacity4blind-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with subject line
unsubscribe
The audacity4blind web site is at
//www.freelists.org/webpage/audacity4blind
Subscribe and unsubscribe information, message archives,
Audacity keyboard commands, and more...
To unsubscribe from audacity4blind, send an email to
audacity4blind-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with subject line
unsubscribe
Other related posts:
