I’m not very experienced with audio editing, and I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask about a problem I’m having. The topics here seem to be concerned with general Audacity operation, bugs, and the like. My question is about a problem that only an experienced audio editor could solve. I won’t ask it unless someone says it’s okay, since I know that forum etiquette exists.
Go for it. Please mention the numbered Audacity version you have.
Koz
Okay… I am trying to isolate the background music of a movie. I’m aware of the “remove the vocals” solution where you split the stereo tracks to mono, invert the bottom one, and all that. However, every time I’ve used this trick in the past, the audio ends up sounding all weird. Also, the scene I want to take the music from includes a lot of gunshots and yelling and stuff, which sometimes leaks through the music a little bit. Any tips on how I can improve the audio quality in this situation?
Also, I’m using Audacity 2.0.6. Sorry, I forgot.
The current Audacity Mac version is 2.1.2 and you can get it here.
http://www.audacityteam.org/download/mac/
I am trying to isolate the background music of a movie.
See, that wasn’t so hard.
No.
There are no good tools to take apart a mixed performance into individual instruments or sections.
There is one oblique possibility. Go rent the movie from your Public Library and rip the Dolby/AC3 sound track. That will give you the original six sound tracks in the movie mix. Dolby Center is almost always dialog and very little else. Front-Right and Front-Left should be pretty good version of the orchestration and music. This might fail if the director insists on pushing the actors off the screen and following their tracks. It makes everybody crazy when they do that.
From there it goes downhill pretty quickly. That karaoke thing only works really well on perfect, non-MP3 music tracks, and even most of them don’t work. Plus, it would seem you can do post production with that track once you have it, but you can’t.
Audacity 2.1.2 has Effect > Vocal Reduction and Isolation. Give that a shot, but chances are good you’re never going to get a musically pleasing clip.
Koz
and the third possibility - check the credits at the end of the movie for the music credits. The music may be available separately.
The music may be available separately.
What he said.
Koz
I already checked, and it’s not. However, I’m doing the best I can with what I have. Thanks for the help, guys! 