Remove Background Music (Opposite of "Vocal Removal in Music" Effect)

JetBoater

Newbie Joined: Jun 04, 2018 21:18 Messages: 3 Offline

Solved by

May 17, 2019 22:17

I have an audio track of a public speaker that includes some slight background music. I'd like to remove the background music so I have a clean track of just the speaker. If I apply the Vocal Removal in Music effect it works beautifully to remove the speaker's vocals and leaves only the background music. But that's exactly the opposite of what I want in this instance. (MP3, 16-bit, stereo, vocals panned to center)

Any ideas how I can remove the music and leave the speaker's vocals only?

tomasc

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 25, 2011 12:33 Messages: 6464 Offline

May 17, 2019 22:51

You could try the simple equalizer to the narrow voice frequencies of say 300 to 3 khz to enhance the voice.

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

May 18, 2019 01:52

Another option would be to create a noise preset from a section where only the music is playing, and see if AD can remove the "noise" while leaving the speaker's voice intact elsewhere in the track. You may have to make more than one preset and apply each one to separate sections if the music varies significantly, so some amount of trial and error is likely.

Save often and don't be afraid of using Undo whenever needed!

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JetBoater

Newbie Joined: Jun 04, 2018 21:18 Messages: 3 Offline

May 19, 2019 15:15

Quote Another option would be to create a noise preset from a section where only the music is playing, and see if AD can remove the "noise" while leaving the speaker's voice intact elsewhere in the track. You may have to make more than one preset and apply each one to separate sections if the music varies significantly, so some amount of trial and error is likely.

Save often and don't be afraid of using Undo whenever needed!

As you hinted it might, this took a little trial and error, and a couple (actually 3 or 4) different passes because the background music changed halfway through the speech, but it got me what I wanted. It also introduced a bit of a hiss but the Hiss Removal adjustment cleared that right up.

It's not perfect, but wow, it's darn close.

JetBoater

Newbie Joined: Jun 04, 2018 21:18 Messages: 3 Offline

May 19, 2019 15:18

Quote You could try the simple equalizer to the narrow voice frequencies of say 300 to 3 khz to enhance the voice.

I managed to get rid of most of the music using another technique here in this thread but it didn't help much with a deep bass beat. Thanks for your tip which took care of that last bit.

optodata

Senior Contributor Location: California, USA Joined: Sep 16, 2011 16:04 Messages: 8630 Offline

May 19, 2019 15:29

Quote I managed to get rid of most of the music using another technique here in this thread but it didn't help much with a deep bass beat. Thanks for your tip which took care of that last bit.

Glad to hear that our forum "tag team" suggestions helped out