Audacity Forum

I have a vocal track, how do I edit it so that when you apply the vocal removal technique (inverting one track over the other), it will not be removed (like the backup vocals on most songs). But I also want it to be heard both left and right

I don't really know much about panning, but I know that simply adjusting the slider doesn't work. (a part of it is still removed)
What kind of effects should I use?

To be not removed by the "centre-pan removal" (vocal removal) technique, the sound just needs to be different on each channel.
Unless the vocal is totally 100% over on the left, or 100% over on the right, then it will not be "totally different" on the two channels and anything that is in common between left and right will be removed by the centre-pan removal effect.

So the general idea is that we make two copies of the vocal track, set one of them to the left channel and one to the right channel, then do something to one or both of our vocal tracks, but whatever we do it must be different on the left track to what we do with the right track.

To make a duplicate copy of the vocal track, select the track then "Edit menu > Duplicate" (Ctrl+D).
To set the track to left or right, you can either use the pan slider on the left side of the track, or click on the name of the track and from the drop down menu select "Left Channel" or "Right Channel".

As for the type of difference, I would suggest that you try making a slight "time shift" to one track. You can do that by zooming in really close, then use the "Time Shift Tool" (F5 to select the Time Shift Tool) to slide one of the tracks a little bit to the right. You only need to shift it by about 0.004 seconds for a very noticeable effect. Then adjust the left and right channel volumes (use the track volume sliders) to adjust how far to the left/right it sounds.

If you want to "merge" the tracks into a single stereo track;
drag the "Left" track so that it is directly above the "Right" track (assuming it is not there already),
then click on the name of the Left (upper) track and select "Make Stereo Track".
(You could just leave them as left and right single channels tracks and they will be "merged" when you Export).

When the tracks have been merged into a single stereo track, you could add a stereo effect, such as "reverb." or "stereo chorus".

<em>stevethefiddle</em> wrote:set one of them to the left channel and one to the right channel, then do something to one or both of our vocal tracks, but whatever we do it must be different on the left track to what we do with the right track.

Other effects that you could try are:

Use a bit of Reverb to each track (different settings for each track).
Add a bit of Echo effect to each track (different settings for each track).
Use the "Change Pitch" effect (on one track only).
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