Hello people,
I have a file from our band’s last gig which was mixed into a stereo file from the original multi-tracks. The multi-tracks are gone, and the guitar is way too low in the final stereo mix I was able to get my hands on. The bass guitar, on the other hand, is a bit overwhelming. Is there a way of seriously enhancing the guitar and reducing the bass guitar in a single-track stereo file?
Thank you so much in advance.
When the multi-tracks vanished, they took with them the last chance of fixing up one or two instruments. Never let them get away from you.
Audacity can’t split a mixed performance apart into individual instruments or voices.
Anything you do with Effect > Equalization (the obvious choice) is going to have the same effect as turning tone controls up and down. Turn the bass guitar down and the impact of the drums is going to go away.
Try it.
Koz
That’s what I was afraid of, and why I was wary of hearing we couldn’t get the multi-tracks anymore. I tried messing with equalization before I posted here, but as you said, it’s no use when the only thing I need really is to make the guitar alone louder. Does sound a bit better, but far from what I need to make it sound good. That’s a shame.
Thanks anyways mate!
Logan
I can say that it isn’t so black as one might think.
A Stereo track is at least better than a mono track.
You can always generate three tracks out of such a file, Left, Center and Right, where the center hasn’t to be 100 % in the middle. In other words, if the guitar is slightly differently panned than the bass, chances are good that you can isolate this band.
It might also be beneficial to use a multi-band compressor instead of equalization.
Third tip: Search for a similar song (or even better, another version of the same) that is well balanced. This track could be analyzed with e.g. AAMS ( http://www.curioza.com/index.php/en/ ) and the problematic file can be automatically mastered with the created (*.aam) file as reference.
This is what I would try if I was stuck with a mixed down track.
Add the original track to Audacity
Duplicate the track
MUTE the original track.
EQ the duplicated track so that high frequencies stand out, and all other sounds (besides the guitars) are in the background.
(Tip: Manually “silence” non relevant parts in the duplicated track, I.E. drums, bass and vocals when guitar is not playing).
This “should” sound allot better than trying to EQ a mixed down song.
Let me know how it turned out.
Arnold Stolting.
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