Sample songs

[Karen]

Hi, just got the Vgone working. Am now trying to see whether it can reduce vocals on cds. Tried several artists, but was unable to hear any significant differences. What are some of the artists and their CDs which will work with Vgone as examples. Please list names and CD titles, so I can try them.

[Buddy Gilmore]

Karen,

Your success with Vogone may be dependent on the kind of music you are working with. I have found that the larger the band or orchestra that you are working with, the better the results with Vogone. Here is why (at least I THINK this is why!):

Smaller acts, such as lounge acts or small combos, will be recorded closer to the center. They do this so that you don't hear the drums coming from the far left and the piano coming from the far right. The fancy name for this is spatial summation.

To record a larger orchestra a record producer will try to create a more complexe picture for your senses, so that your ears allow you to locate specific instruments or sections across an imaginary stage. The center of the "stage"is still reserved for most of the solos, but the overall sound is enriched by spreading out the orchestra to the left and right.

Vogone essentially works by reducing the "center" of the stage (hope I don't get clobbered for oversimplifying!).

Therefore, when you reduce the center of the stage and you are working with a three-piece band, you are usually reducing the whole band, including the vocalist.

Hope this helps!

P.S. There is some GREAT Karaoke in Hawaii! I'm heading back to Oahu in two weeks, and the OutRigger Reef has a great host!.

[danny_g]

MTU will tell you that the part of the audio file that is taken out of MP3 files to compress the files are the same bits of data that Vogone is looking for to reduce the file's vocals. Now that Said they will also tell you that if you own an AMD K^-2 machine Vogone will not work for Wav files as well- although on the computer itself I did notice the differances on my Journey songs, but once I created the CDG track and exported it to CD it crackled something fierce. Went over to a friend's house who had an Intel machine and Vogone 1 and tested a song I wanted to create a cdg from and it wokred perfectly.

[George]

I've had very little success with any vocal removal but the reason is understandable. it will only work if the singer is center panned, which it appears very few are, probably intentionally at the recording studio to prevent removal. Also have to consider that in todays recordings, reverb and echo are added on separate tracks in the studio, and although Vogone or even the $1600 Thompson Vocal Remover may get rid of the lead vocal, you're still hearing the reverb and echo tracks. I think MTU clearly explains that Vogone reduces vocals in many instances, and that's probably why. The product does what it claims to do. The name may imply more, but then aren't they entitled to a level playing field considering what everyone else calls their products ?

Here's something I picked up on and have had some fun with. I've taken instrumentals that have a lead instrument and treated them with Vogone. Same result in many instances, but a reduced piano or sax then becomes part of the back up instrumentation, and not an annoying ghost.

An audio editing program such as Goldwave easily converts MP3 to Wav, but I haven't the foggiest what the effect might be when trying to process a converted file through a vocal remover. Have never tried it. Have you Danny?

Anyway, that's my view of the situation after messing with it for a couple of years.

Take care,

George

[danny_g]

Have never tried it on an intel or athalon or above system. Have tried it on my K6-2 and even on the computer it sounded distorted while wave files from an original cd has sounded clear on the computer but gave static when in cdg form. I've gone to using Goldwave's removal effect since it seems to be working on my K6-2.

[donn1954]

I've used Vogone 2.014 mostly on Frank Sinatra songs. The results are good, but variable. The most important factor, I think, is how much echo/reverb is in the song to start with. What I try to do in singing my Vogone-reduced CDG songs is make sure that my own mike volume is high enough to virtually drown out the residual reverb of Sinatra's voice and to try to sing in exact sync with Sinatra's phrasing. As I like to record my singing efforts (again, for personal use; who else would want to hear me sing?), this strategy is a pretty good one.

I've also used Vogone 2.014 on Eva Cassidy songs, but there is so much reverb that I am unable to eliminate enough of her vocal to hide it effectively with my voice.

For home use, I'm relatively satisfied, although I'm looking forward to Vogone 2.10, based on hearing the differences in some brief samples.

Donn Weinberg (donn1954@aol.com)

[George]

I've had another idea rattling around in my pea brain. Do any of you know of a good vocal harmonizer? Human voice harmonizer, not keyboard or guitar. I believe that a good harmonizer that would create 2 or 3 harmonic echos of your voice would easily mask over a lot of the "ghosts" we're stuck with when trying to remove vocals. It's done in studios, just wondered if there's anything around either in software or a "gadget Box".

True one wouldn't want to use it on everything, but seems to have possibilities. One could even mess around with softer volume levels for your "Quartet", use it as backup and overdub yourself louder as lead, using CDRW's.

That's been rattling around upstairs for some time, but I haven't seen anything other that the "Star Wars" kinda stuff.

Well, now that I've exposed the lunitic that resides inside, I'll shut it down.

Take care,

George

HEY MTU, NOW THERE'S A COMPATABLE PRODUCT YOU COULD SELL WITH VOGONE!

[lisasolomon]

I am interested in buying voice eliminator software that I will use to create CD's for my daughter. She is 11 years old and loves to sing but she gets frustrated with background music and wants the music that she hears on her CD.
I would appreciate it if someone could send me a sample for Sarah McLachlan's Angel or Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This".
or Christine Aguilera's "I Turn To You". This would give my daughter a good sense if the software works for our needs. I realize that this isn't a perfect solution but want to see if it is "good enough".
In purchasing this software, what are my options? What is considered to be "top of the line"? Are there any surprises? What do I need other than a good PC and CD burner?
I notice that there are voice eliminator services. What kind of equipment do these service providers use? Can they provide superior results than a non-professional?

[jaddams]

Lisasolomon,

Let me see if I am getting this right.

You want someone to send a sample of a vocal reduced song?

You not only want a sample sent to you but you want sample of specific songs!

You’re asking someone to send you a 30MB plus file attachment so you can decide IF it’s good enough for your 11 year old daughter.

First, the quality of a vocal eliminated song has a lot to do in the way the song was originally mixed. Most new songs are very difficult to process for a number of reason, some of which, you can read by clicking on this link:

http://forum.mtu.com/showthread.php?threadid=1506

Second. I think you would be a lot happier IF you bought the software, then you can try as many songs as you’d like, I am you will get a good number of usable tracks.

Third. The software is only $54.95; after all, it’s for your daughter.

I don’t mean to be critical. I just think this is your best solution.

Good luck,

Jon