AI Music Software
July 24, 2021 1:21 AM Subscribe
I have an old demo recording of a song I wrote way back. I've had it professionally digitized and remastered. The vocals are nice and clear, but the synthesizer instrumentals were weak to begin with and have degraded further since.
What would be the best software to use to isolate the vocals and recreate the instrumentals? It would need to be automated as I don't know much about music. (I wrote the lyrics and sent them with detailed instructions for what kind of sound I wanted to a demo recording service. They actually did a really good job; everyone who's heard it has seemed quite impressed.) The other option, and probably the better one, would be to pay a professional to do it.
After that, any advice on possibly promoting it to an artist or band? I believe strongly in the song and would like to share it further.
After that, any advice on possibly promoting it to an artist or band? I believe strongly in the song and would like to share it further.
When you say the instrumental tracks have "degraded further" I assume you mean that they sound more dated than when the song was created? As there's really no way that some tracks would "degrade" while the vocals remained fine.
There are online services like Lalal that will separate vocal tracks from instrumental tracks. But the results totally depend on the source material, and even in their example, you can hear weird things going on. The bottom line is that you can't unbake a cake. There's no way to cleanly remove any one track from a stereo mix. You're always going to be left with at least some artifacts from the stereo mix that may still be very obvious after you replace the instrumental tracks.
If the song is something you care about, just redo the whole thing, and get the multitrack files so you can take them to someone in the future if you want to make changes. You're going to need to get (and I assume pay) someone to recreate all the musical tracks. Spending a little more time and money on redoing the vocals will get you a much better result.
As to your second question: without hearing the song, it's impossible to recommend an artist or band to pursue. But keep in mind that most bands write their own music. It's not until they reach levels of sales of a band like Aerosmith where they start to strategically bring in songwriters like Diane Warren to write a particular kind of song so they can cash in. Country and pop are two genres where there are a lot of performers who don't write their own music, so if your song is in those styles, focus there. A service like Taxi will help connect songs with performers, but you would have to pay several hundred dollars to join the service, and you're dependent on someone at Taxi thinking the song is good.
And that brings us to the song itself. Did you just write the lyrics, or did you also write the melody and chords? If you only wrote the lyrics, then you're not really in any position to try and sell the song. If that's the case, you should check with the service who did the recording to see what kind of rights they retain on the song. Quite honestly, the likelihood of anyone coming after you is about as small as you selling the song, but if by chance that does happen, you need to have your ducks in a row.
Also you say you "don't know much about music". Were the people you played it for who "seemed quite impressed" friends and family? And if they were, do they actually know a little about music? Before you spend more money on this, I would encourage you to get some honest opinions from people who know music and are familiar with whatever genre the song is.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:19 AM on July 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
There are online services like Lalal that will separate vocal tracks from instrumental tracks. But the results totally depend on the source material, and even in their example, you can hear weird things going on. The bottom line is that you can't unbake a cake. There's no way to cleanly remove any one track from a stereo mix. You're always going to be left with at least some artifacts from the stereo mix that may still be very obvious after you replace the instrumental tracks.
If the song is something you care about, just redo the whole thing, and get the multitrack files so you can take them to someone in the future if you want to make changes. You're going to need to get (and I assume pay) someone to recreate all the musical tracks. Spending a little more time and money on redoing the vocals will get you a much better result.
As to your second question: without hearing the song, it's impossible to recommend an artist or band to pursue. But keep in mind that most bands write their own music. It's not until they reach levels of sales of a band like Aerosmith where they start to strategically bring in songwriters like Diane Warren to write a particular kind of song so they can cash in. Country and pop are two genres where there are a lot of performers who don't write their own music, so if your song is in those styles, focus there. A service like Taxi will help connect songs with performers, but you would have to pay several hundred dollars to join the service, and you're dependent on someone at Taxi thinking the song is good.
And that brings us to the song itself. Did you just write the lyrics, or did you also write the melody and chords? If you only wrote the lyrics, then you're not really in any position to try and sell the song. If that's the case, you should check with the service who did the recording to see what kind of rights they retain on the song. Quite honestly, the likelihood of anyone coming after you is about as small as you selling the song, but if by chance that does happen, you need to have your ducks in a row.
Also you say you "don't know much about music". Were the people you played it for who "seemed quite impressed" friends and family? And if they were, do they actually know a little about music? Before you spend more money on this, I would encourage you to get some honest opinions from people who know music and are familiar with whatever genre the song is.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:19 AM on July 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
Best answer: As noted, it depends on source: if you have any separate tracks this task becomes easier.
There is a tool called Deezer which uses AI to separate tracks. It is free / open source Python. There is a software product called Melodyne that can edit multi-timbral audio and one of its functions is audio-to-midi conversion. I would use the combination of these tools and/or whatever multitrack source recordings you have to create a new project with new instruments, using MIDI extracted from the original if possible, or just re-playing it in from the extracted or original tracks. Melodyne is good but imperfect, depending on harmonics/overtones in the source it can generate extra notes. But with a skilled operator and patience the results are good.
These are just the tools I've used for this type of thing; there may be others that are similar/better/etc.
posted by cape at 1:30 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
There is a tool called Deezer which uses AI to separate tracks. It is free / open source Python. There is a software product called Melodyne that can edit multi-timbral audio and one of its functions is audio-to-midi conversion. I would use the combination of these tools and/or whatever multitrack source recordings you have to create a new project with new instruments, using MIDI extracted from the original if possible, or just re-playing it in from the extracted or original tracks. Melodyne is good but imperfect, depending on harmonics/overtones in the source it can generate extra notes. But with a skilled operator and patience the results are good.
These are just the tools I've used for this type of thing; there may be others that are similar/better/etc.
posted by cape at 1:30 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: All I received was a cassette, which is what I meant by degraded, and I don't have access to any other original files. I did not actually write any of the music but quite sure copyright would not be an issue in this case. I realize the very small chance of interesting anyone to record it, but even if it could just be properly restored I could put it up online, etc. Yeah, family and friends liked it, but I've also had some other positive feedback. Anyway, it's a fun project if nothing else and I appreciate the suggestions.
posted by blue shadows at 1:55 PM on July 24, 2021
posted by blue shadows at 1:55 PM on July 24, 2021
« Older How to easily get multi-line passages from a text... | Slope canyons and more to visit near Durango, Co.? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
have degraded further since
Can you clarify what you mean by this?
In the context of music recording, "degraded" usually refers to stuff recorded on analog tape, which can physically degrade over time, especially if it's not stored properly. If the instruments were originally recorded digitally, time shouldn't really be a factor, and this may be more an element of you no longer liking the sounds, or the original recording was not great and you're only hearing that now because of the remaster.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:03 AM on July 24, 2021 [2 favorites]