What's new
By:
Filters
LiteRECORDS

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Guest, before your account can be reviewed you must click the activation link sent to your email account. Please ensure you check your junk folders.
    If you do not see the link after 24 hours please open a support ticket.

How to make an acapella??

Recording ones and a mic/pre amp/recording booth/headphones/computer/good vocalist
 
If you're talking about making diys, then there are literally dozens of options but Audacity is a free start, Abelton gives great results too.
 
Why aren't people willing to share knowledge anymore? I could find all the current info on the net before, but nowadays (as methods evolve) no one seems to want to share. I have my old DIY acapella projects saved and would like to improve them with newer methods, but people simply avoid answering questions about newer DIY methods (and I've tried contacting several prominent members of this forum). This is strange to say the least. It's not like it would hurt anyone. Or am I missing something?
 
kaeovo said:
Why aren't people willing to share knowledge anymore? I could find all the current info on the net before, but nowadays (as methods evolve) no one seems to want to share. I have my old DIY acapella projects saved and would like to improve them with newer methods, but people simply avoid answering questions about newer DIY methods (and I've tried contacting several prominent members of this forum). This is strange to say the least. It's not like it would hurt anyone. Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...


Because there is no magic acapella making technique man! Every method you try is going to be hit or miss. Even getting direct wav rips from cd singles are no guarantee of success. I have a stack of promo cds that were absolute failures. There are so many variables to take into account. How the track was recorded/mastered. Was there post processing with added effects, added to one of the mixes? This is often the case when you can cancel everything except say the bass line or some keys,kicks,snares etc.
Just for example, a TON of Wu Tang Clan singles are like that. There's just no way around it. Also anything recorded on 2" analog tape prior to digital recording has a much lower success rate due to pitch fluctuation. That involves more cutting and pasting to line things up better, and is a lot more time consuming. Utagoe (now discontinued) is great for the quick perfect matches, but often useless on other things. You just have to experiment with a little of each until you find a method that works for what you are trying to do. Lately I've been using Sony Acid Pro a lot, with different combos of plugins. I only use Utagoe rip on the direct wav rips from cds. mp3 rips often sound too muddy and over-filtered for me. I prefer to have a little background bleed with nice crisp vocals. Good luck :)
 
I understand what you wrote and agree that there are no magic acapella making techiques. But here's the situation. There have been really great DIYs posted lately. I contacted the OPs expecting at least some kind of info how they got such fantastic results (obviously not by using Utagoe, Knockout etc.). The replies? "Man, I use all kinds of techniques". You don't say?! I really don't understand this. Sharing knowledge would benefit EVERYBODY. I could, for example, improve some of my DIYs (that were cool to begin with, but could definitely sound better) and share with everbody here. Instead of that, there's no improvement, no evolution, nothing... Have you seen any new DIY tutorials recently? I haven't. The inverted phase, Utagoe, knockout and other techniques are years old. And new, better methods are kept in the dark (while DIYs produced with them are making rounds). But some day people will share such knowledge again. I hope... Cheers.
 
Well, there are a lot of much improved sound editors out now. I know a few people use the expensive apps like Sonicworx isolate on older songs with no instrumentals etc. You can watch demos on Youtube of detailed removal of individual instruments etc. but this is very misleading, as it requires good track separation to begin with. Mashtactic was a poor man's version of Sonicworx ($50 US) I got some amazing clean acapella results on old 50's and 60's tunes with that app. However it too involves lots of tweaking of the settings to find the sweet spot. The bottom line is if you want the best results you are going to need the best possible quality files, and nothing beats having the actual direct cd rips. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hQ4Ffq4WKU
 
I really appreciate your replies, man. I have some surround channel audio (with vocals and basses) that I've been trying to separate (actually, to get rid of the basses) for a very long time. I even asked some of the prominent members for help (and even offered financial compensation), but to no avail. Your input is greatly appreciated, maybe there's a chance I'll finally get this precious DIY as it should be... And then I'll share it with all of you, guys. Cheers!
 
Also, I've just downloaded the trial version of ADX-Trax and it looks absolutely great. Granted, I'm testing it with a semi-separated central channel audio, but the first results are very good. Their demo video tutorials show how cool this software is (and they use it to demonstrate how to separate Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" vocals from the instrumental). Is this what people are using to extract vocals these days? Could very well be. :)
 
i would like to hear that Glamour dude chime in here, some of his diy pellas are as good as you can get, he did a great job with the pharrel happy one to..
 
There really isn't a magic method to making acapellas. DIY acapellas are a process which differs from song to song. But, you could always try contacting the artist of the song you want an acapella from, twitter, facebook, e-mail, etc. Be friendly, introduce yourself, say you're a big fan and would like to remix a song of theirs, whether it's for your own creative advancement or to release. Obviously the response time will probably depend on the size of artist's following, but hey, you could even maybe get stems out of it if the artist is okay with it. Also, a big thing is proving that you're trustworthy / legit. A lot of bands or artists might consider stems or acapellas kind of "top-secret"-ish material, so they probably won't be totally comfortable with giving it out to someone who could likely just upload it to a popular site for the whole population of the internet to gnab. So with that, include links to your soundcloud / bandcamp / facebook / twitter / myspace / aol / club penguin account to show them that you are capable of making music and are not some internet randie, this will give them a better understanding of who you are and it'll make them more comfortable with giving you things. If that doesn't work, well... you could always try bootlegging? :D
 
Ripping from original tapes is a little easier. Especially the old 8-Tracks.
There is a machine made for those tapes that plays 3.0 'Surround' with the Vocals only in the middle.
Quite fun, but it's not around anymore, cheapest I saw ever was around $5,000

Some cassette's and CD's have official released instrumentals on them, which leave out 3 specific frequencies, which you can find out online and remove them yourself once you make an inverted DIY.

Good luck finding them!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top