How can you fully remove vocals from a song on Audicity?

No program, including Audacity, can fully remove vocals.


A computer and the programs interpret an audio file as data.


Unlike our ears they cannot tell the difference between instruments or vocals or a chainsaw from a grand piano.


The vocals,as data, are usually in the center of a mix and data which is the same on the left and right tracks is removed.


Drums and bass are also usually panned to the center of the track and can be removed also.


How well the removal works depends on how the track was mixed in the studio.





This method for version 1.2:


1. Import your stereo file into Audacity.


2. Open the track menu (click the arrow next to the track title), and choose Split Stereo Track.


3. Select the lower track (the right channel) by clicking it in the area around the mute/solo buttons.


4. Choose Invert from the Effects menu.


5. Using the track menus, change each track to Mono.





Press the Play button to hear the results. If you are lucky, the voice will be gone but most of the other instruments will be unaffected, just like a karaoke track. You can use the Export commands in the File menu to save the results.





This method for version 1.3.7 beta (vocal remover built in)


Open the song in the program


Click, hold and drag to highlight the whole song then select "vocal remover" from the effects menu.





I probably picked the wrong songs to try so the results I got with either version weren't too good. Others have had success though.