vocal isolator

Is there a vocal isolator/canceller available in a vst or in any of the cubase vst effects for doing mash ups? I’m having a really hard time finding one for the Mac (os 10.7). Any help appreciated

Not really, you could try splitting the signal using the free bx solo middle/side and then eqing out the vocals on the middle and then the sides individually (duplicate the audio and place bx solo on each, one set to middle, one set to sides) to minimise the damage to the rest of the track - but you’ll still be scooping out a lot of mid-range info.

Or if you actually just want the vocal then set solo to mid and then eq and gate it to lose as much of the other stuff as you can and then add your preferred stereo widening effect tricks to broaden it out again.



It’d still be a hell of a lot easier to just get the instrumental or acapella versions though…

many thanks. I’ll have a go.It’s bizarre that there appear to be plenty for the pc but none for the Mac

Hi,
I downloaded bx but I’m at a loss as to how it works. I pressed all the buttons but it made no difference to the sound at all. I tried splitting the channels as well but no joy. I would very much appreciate a pointer to a tutorial online or if you have a spare minute to run me through it.
Many thanks

Well the way it works is that it takes the normal L/R stereo signal and converts it instead to the phantom centre and sides. So if you duplicate the track in Cubase and place bx solo as an insert on each and then set track 1 to centre and track 2 to sides it should sound like the normal L/R stereo whenthey both play. As vocals are normally set dead-centre you should be able to eq out the vocals within the 1-5 Khz region on the centre channel (track 1) but the idea is to leave as much of the audio intact so only remove as little as you need to.
Then on track 2 (sides) you’ll probably notice there is still some evidence of the vocal as various effects (reverbs delays etc) will have been used to give it some stereo width. It will should less eqing on the sides than the centre.
The thing is there’s no ‘magic-bullet’ (AFAIK) for removing vocals as each track is different, it’s just the mid/side method is damage limitation.

many thanks for the response. I’m still struggling though. Do you mean make a copy of the entire track or split the track into left/right separate channels?

The options on BX solo are L-R L SOLO R SOLO M AND S

If it was two versions of the entire track Did you mean , track two L-R and track one to M or S? If I select S then the track completely mutes.

sorry to be a dunce on this

thanks

a breakthrough! It was the track that was the problem. just a weird mix. a new track has worked perfectly May thanks for your help with this.

Glad to hear it! Yes, I should have said set track 1 to M (for Mid or phantom centre) and track 2 to S (for Sides or combined L/R). In fact I’ve just realised there’s a Waves Plug-in called Centre that can be used to do the same thing.