Striping the lyrics out of a song...

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Ok, I've used Audacity for awhile now, but to my knowledge, there's no way to actually strip the lyrics from a song.

I just found out that I have to do a huge-ish presentation for one of my classes...and I have the perfect song for the presentation, but I need it without the lyrics.

Does anyone know of a program that has the ability to strip the lyrics layer out of a song? I'd like it to be free if possible.

 

It should be possible with Audacity. I can't speak out of personal experience, because I never tried it, but there is a description of how it can be done in the Audacity FAQ.

 

Ok, I tried it using Audacity, but the lyrics were still there, just a lot quieter, and the rest of the song souds horrible now.

There's got to be a better program that can do this...

 

Wow, that isn't something easy to accomplish.
First, if you only have the song on mp3 or some other lossy compression, then there is no way to remove the voices without destroying the quality of the music. It could be possible with a wav file from a standard cd, but that is just pushing the limits of what computers nowadays can do.
What you are asking for is a audiotool that makes an absolute clear distinction between what is sung and the instrumental part. That is such a major feat, people could write thesises on that subject.

How about contacting the band and just asking for the instrumental version

 

Oh ok...
1-800-R-A-M-S-T-E-I-N

I highly doubt I'll get through to Rammstein...
I have the CD here with me. I wonder if I rip it to my computer in different formats if Audacity can do a better job... I use CDex, which can rip to:

• Mp3 using the lame Mp3 encoder to encode to MPEG layer 1 up to 320kbps, MPEG layer 2 up to 160kbps, and MPEG layer 2.5 up to 160kbps
• AAC up to 320kbps
• OGG Vorbis up tp 500kbps
• WMA up to 160kBit/s
• WAV output @44100Hz RAW

Which format do you think would be best?

[ August 30, 2006, 21:34: Message edited by: Kitrax ]

 

MP3, OGG and WMA are all lossy compressions (I'm not sure on AAC, but IIRC it is a version of MP3), some of the sound is filtered out because either it is either beyond the range of what humans can hear or it is hidden underneath other sounds which play at a higher frequency or volume. That effect is much like a bird flying in front of or near the sun, you don't see the bird because the light of the sun is just too strong to see any details.

If you feed the 44100hz WAV into Audicaity it might recover the music that is "hidden" underneath Till Lindemann's voice and would otherwise be removed if converted to MP3(or anything else).

But let me guess, the song is Du Hast? I believe there was an instrumental version of that somewhere on the Internet.


Edit:
And besides, the German calling code is +49 so it's 49 1800 R-A-M-M-S-T-E-I-N

 

WAV.

But the point is - there's no AI good enough to completely separate vocals and instrumental. You WILL lose quality. Lots of it.

Some manual sound editing might work, but that's *very* timeconsuming.

 

Nope. It's 'Heirate Mich'. I can envision an awesome presentation using the song. Listen to the first minute or two while thinking of a presentation...and you'll get it.

I guess I could just leave the lyrics in, but people might think, "WTF is this music?!?"

I'll try ripping it at the 44100hz WAV format when I get home from work.

 

Of course, it is my favorite rammstein song.

You think that is a problem? Wait until they figure out what Till is actually singing!

 

Did you tried Goldwave? You can use it for create the wave right from the cd and then it has lots of options to edit. I once wanted to do that with some success, but I had to edit the final song because there were bad parts in the song.

 

Goldwave looks like it costs money, and I don't know if the trial version allows what I need to do.

Anyway, I tried editing the song in a 44100Hz WAV format, and I got the same effect that the Mp3 file had. The lyrics were still there, just a little quieter, but the sound quallity was horrible. No bass at all, and everything in general sounded bad.

Both Audacity and Goldwave say that in order for the removal of lyrics to be successful, the lyrics *must* be recorded in the center of the track (which they say is quite common), but aperently, the song isn't very common.

 

Try getting a local band record you an instrumental?

 

I know its not legal but you might be able to get an "instrumental" off of limewire... I've seen it before with different bands....nevermind I searched on just about everything I could think of and couldn't find it...

I found this on a forum when I was looking to do the same thing last year "Rather than an WinAmp plugin, you could try opening the file in a sound editor like SoundForge or Wavelab. I know SoundForge has a preset for vocal removal, and I think you can tweak the parameters for slightly better results." I never tried it because by the time I found it, it was too late.

if that doesn't work for you,your best bet might be to get a local band try to play the song as close to right as they can manage..or contact rammstein lol

[ September 11, 2006, 10:11: Message edited by: LoS_DrIzZt4 ]