bring back the vocal please

August 23, 2012 8:50 PM

I got a new PC, it turns songs into Karaoke songs, the beautiful vocal channel is missing. Help! it's so annoying to be stuck with this situation. Thanks

I got a new PC at work. I use earplug to listen to music sometimes. This PC is HP, it has realtek definition audio. When I play music, no vocal (main singer sound),but otherwise sounds normal. I tried different source of music, same result. It's really annoying. I tried to open control panel, and play with the setting, nothing brings back the main vocal channel. What can I do to just let it play music it way it is, no fancy stuff. It's so annoying. HELP!!! Thanks

posted by akomom to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

My first thought would be that one stereo channel is inverted somehow; this removes all the sound that isn't panned, such as the vocals and bass.

Do the songs that you're left with sound strange, or is it really clearly removing the vocals and leaving everything else fine?

If the former, in what way do they sound strange compared to regular music?

If the latter, don't change a thing, because you could make some money getting the instrumentals to songs. But I doubt this is true.
posted by solarion at 8:53 PM on August 23, 2012

Does this problem only happen when you use earplugs? I think it is possible to get the sort of inverted-channel problem that solarion describes if en earplug jack is broken, or not plugged all the way in.
1) try making sure the headphones are plugged all the way in'
2) try jiggling the jack
3) try a different set of headphones.
posted by ManInSuit at 9:14 PM on August 23, 2012

(previously)
posted by ManInSuit at 9:27 PM on August 23, 2012 [2 favorites]

...and a longer explanation
posted by ManInSuit at 9:28 PM on August 23, 2012

My guess is that you've plugged the headphones into the wrong socket. I'm guessing you're plugged into Black when you should be in Lime Green...
posted by benzo8 at 12:44 AM on August 24, 2012

It's not possible to somehow separate the vocal channel out of a recording unless you have the master and a soundboard. You've got a bad or incorrect connection.
posted by TheRedArmy at 6:50 AM on August 24, 2012

I had this problem with a cheap MP3 player that I beat up a little too much- the audio jack went wonky in exactly this way. Unfortunately it's not usually something you can replace easily; if you have an understanding IT dept they might just swap out your machine, since it's a hardware defect.

Otherwise, I think your best bet is to buy a USB dongle- something like this though I can't vouch for it myself, it will probably work.
posted by BungaDunga at 12:11 PM on August 24, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. Problem solved after I changed to another set of earphone. The first one is a good earphone from my iphone package, so I think that should be a good one. I did try adjusting the plug in physically, but no difference. Now I tried with a cheap earphone, the sound is normal.
I am glad that the problem is solved and I learned something new. Thanks everybody.
posted by akomom at 12:47 PM on August 24, 2012