ExtraBoy VST - Vocal Removal/Extraction

There are no sure fire ways to remove vocals from a track. A lot depends on the chosen track, particularly how the vocal is placed in the stereo mix, & its frequency compared to all the other elements of the track.

The extraBoy pluging exploits these features and comes up with some well, not-exactly perfect but interesting results. If you dont want a perfect acapella or backing track, but some wierd vocal textures to make a pad interesting then its well worth a squizz. Besides its free.

Download Elevayta's ExtraBoy (VST)

On the other hand if you are after acapellas/backing-tracks, for djing with, you'd be wise to look at the two following tutorials. These used in combination with extraBoy could produce some excellent results.

Most vocals are placed bang in the middle of a stereo mix. And can be removed by doing the following steps.

Vocal Removal
1. Open the stereo audio file in an audio editor.
2. Select and reverse the phase of the left channel (also called Invert or Flip). This option is usually presented in the Edit menu.
3. Mix the both the left and right channels of the stereo file into a single-channel (mono) audio file. This option is also usually found in the Edit menu, but is sometimes accomplished by editing the file's format properties from the File menu (ie. Sound Forge).
4. Split the single-channel audio file back into a stereo file that has the newly mixed single-channel on both the left and right channels. This procedure is usually close to the one used to mix the channels.
5. Now reverse the phase of the left channel back again, the same way it was accomplished earlier.
6. From there on you can eq off other frequencies.

Vocal Extraction
Alternatively to extract the vocals (make an a capella) read this excellent tutorial by Tim G.