Ringo Star

Louis Tristan · **Voice Talent** Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 266

Have a question... Someone sent me a one minute vid with music in the background n two actors talking.

Is it possible to remove the music in the background from the MPEG file without the Final Cut Pro File Project..

I was told this could be done, if so what is the ADR technique...

Can Ringo be taken out of the band when they are all singing together in the finished product?

Asked a genius at the apple bar who said it's impossible.

Any suggestions welcome

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

I don't pretend to be an expert in this area but from what I know about audio and mixing, etc., I'd tend to agree with the guy at the Apple bar. I don't see how you can actually remove it without the original Final Cut Project.

David

Sid Whatley · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008, 13:23 (GMT) Post subject:

Many "programs" claim it can be done but it's extremely questionable. It's attempted by using EQ. Find the frequency range of the singer/background and lower it or take it out. Example; take out the cymbals by lowering the high end; say around 10k. Take out the vocals by lowering the mid-range but, all I can say is, good luck. It one of those "sounds too good to be true" thingys.

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

Louis,

Good question. This sort of thing has been addressed over at a drumming forum that I'm on with suggestions varying from software, MIDI, to websites. (Although, with Ringo's playing, there's not a whole lot to remove in the first place.....I know, I know, I'm KIDDING!)

It doesn't seem like there's a clear cut answer but perhaps this thread will help steer you in the right direction.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=273&highlight=drum+free+song+tracks&page=3

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Cameron

Michael J. Schoen · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 198

It might be possible if the recording is stereo, and the dialog is mono -- equal left and right.
You can create a scheme of left minus right (possible with a dolby surround decoder) in which the dialog will be cancelled out -- leaving only the music.
It would work only if the dialog is perfect mono.

Don Randall · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008, 00:49 (GMT) Post subject:

There are others that know a lot more than I do, but I am always willing to give out faulty information, so here goes: I have been told that it is impossible to unmix an audio track - just like you can not unmix a cake once it is baked.

Supposedly, there is some possibility that some filtering and other trickery can be used to achieve partial results in some cases - my understanding is that this requires a stereo track and uses some process of subtracting some of what is on one track from the other.

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008, 17:01 (GMT) Post subject:

Even with highly selective notch filtering (EQ) or fancy phase cancellation techniques, you will still hear SOMETHING behind the voice. At best, it will sound horrible.

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

In the days before recording studios became as sophisticated as they are today, stereo recordings were made by basically placing one mic on the left and one mic on the right. To get the singer to sound like he or she was in the middle, the singer would actually be in the middle and the vocal would be picked up more or less equally by the left and right microphones. When a recording was made in this way (and only when it was made in this way), it was possible to remove most of the vocal by reversing the polarity of either the left or the right channel. This made the vocal that appeared in the left channel 180 degrees out of phase with the vocal in the right channel so they cancelled each other out and virtually disappeared.
This technique works only with a stereo recording directly decended from the original master such as a phonograph record. And it generally works only with stereo recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s. After that time, most records were made from multi-track masters that were mixed down.

Michael J. Schoen · **Voice Talent** Joined: 21 Jan 2008 Posts: 198

Colin,

Colin Campbell · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008, 20:18 (GMT) Post subject:

Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

Yes, one of my clients had one of those boxes at his recording studio. He bought it because he didn't want to be wasting his engineer's time reversing the input wires on one channel any time he wanted to experiment with removing a vocal from a song. And he especially did not want to suffer the consequences of forgetting to have the engineer put the wires back where they belonged after he was done with one of those sessions.

When I was production director at the radio station, I had the chief engineer do the same wire-flipping procedure for me a couple of times but he had to dig inside the console to do it and it was kind of a pain in the neck (but he volunteered in the first place). All in all, it was seldom worth the trouble.

Craig Burnett · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008, 23:55 (GMT) Post subject: And it's STILL available!

And the Thompson is STILL available, from LTSound as it's always been...apparently going strong!

http://www.ltsound.com/

Colin Campbell · Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008, 00:02 (GMT) Post subject:

It really didn't work all that well. At least not the original. It looks like they've improved the design quite a bit. At least their demos sound good.