Can you separate the instruments from a regular track?

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Sonidoprofetico
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Can you separate the instruments from a regular track?

Post by Sonidoprofetico » Fri Sep 03, 2010 5:38 pm

Hey blessings im a begginer and im thinking if is strictly nescesary to record all the instruments to start dubbing or if there is any way to have a track (cd or vinyl) and separate the instruments from there, urgent help what do i need to start dubbing what is the basic equipment that i need to buy as a beginer... Thanks God Bless
Help me start dubbing

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Neil C
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Post by Neil C » Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:07 pm

Hi,
Seperating instruments form a mix - in a word, no. It's like trying to seperate the egg from a cake once it's been made.

Depending on the material you can have some success in cutting out frequencies to be left with an instrument that is dominating a particular frequency band. There are also stereo techniques that can be used on recordings that are stereo panned in a certain way, but that usually is done to isolate vocals (and usually only the vocals would be isolatable).

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Neil C
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Post by Neil C » Sat Sep 04, 2010 2:37 pm

To answer the other part of your question:

The traditional, and for many prefered way to dub will involve a mixing desk. And if you are to use 'dub' as a verb then this is what one thinks of.
In that case you will need to research what type of desk will be suitable and fit your needs.

You can be very traditional and record on tape, and that's a whole other area you will need to learn about.
Most people now record on to a computer - and in that case you will need an audio interface, of which there are many on the market. Again you will need to research what will be suitable for your purposes.

Bits of all of this can be found on this forum.

Dub music can be made with just a computer setup. And you can dub something up with just a computer setup.

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interruptor
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Post by interruptor » Sat Sep 04, 2010 10:12 pm

Hi
In addition to what Neil already wrote two things come to my mind:

- There is in fact software around to separate individual tracks from a stereo mix. I tried Melodyne today but was not successful (Melodyne is great for clean material like guitar chords already recorded on a separate track, but not for full mixes). Another program is Prosonic SonicWorx which is actually being marketed as a solution for separating voices or instruments from a full mix. The examples they provide here however show that the separated vocals take on a metallic timbre that I am not very fond of. The results will be even worse when you try to separate instruments that are less prominent in the mix.

- The individual tracks for some Marley songs are floating around the web. See this thread. This could be a starting point for your own experimentation if you don't want to start the recording from scratch. You must be aware though that whenever you use other artists work you need to negotiate a license contract with them before releasing your own tune. Otherwise you are violating their copyrights.

regards
Daniel/Interruptor

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