Voicedude

Right/left From Center Audio Separation

Here's the BIG question for Mac audio manipulators:

But first, some backstory: I love my Mac. And I love my ProTools. I mean I * L - O - V - E * my ProTools! I enjoy Remixes, Megamixes, etc., and I just discovered Mashes somewhat recently. This is where Producers take the vocals from ONE song and 'mash' them with the instrumentals from ANOTHER. The results (depending on the Producer) are often geniuis! I am, to say the least, OBSESSED!

Problem is, that many of the programs I've been reading about for making the homemade 'Pellas & Instrumentals won't work. They are for PCs.

So, I beg my Mac friends out there to help me out - throw me a bone: ARE THERE ANY MAC PROGRAMS OUT THERE FOR SEPARATING VOCALS FROM THE INSTRUMENTS? (i.e. Separate center from right/left the way SoundForge and others sort of do!) I do the OOPS method (I forget what that stands for) but often lose drums and/or bass. I know there is hardware out there that does it to a degree (Thompson Vocal Eliminator, f'rinstance!), but I need it done digitally. Because I don't want just 'karaoke' instrumentals but the acapellas as well! If it can be done, it should be like separating eggs: sometimes I want the yolks, sometimes the whites.

I've heard there are also ways of matching an exact instrumental version against the regular one and canceling out audio so that most of what remains is acapella vocals. How is this done? (It must be a BIT different from OOPS because I can't seem to get it!)

Besides my precious ProTools, I've got Amadeus & a bunch of VST plug-ins for it, Cakewalk's Groove Maker Max, and a PC version of Acid 4.0, but not a real good PC to use it on (and Virtual PC is so frustrating!) I know it's not going to be perfect, that it many cases it's like Gump Chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get! - but I figure there HAS to be some Mac assistance out there for 'Mashing' Somebody knows about 'em or has been working on it; and this is my humble plea to them...

Thanx in advance!

- Voicedude

Mash Ups Technology

I've got a new obsession: THE hottest thing in England right now (and almost unheard of here in the US). They're called Mash Ups (or sometimes Bootlegs or Bastard Mixes). In case this is new to you too, let me point you to the one that got me started: It's called "Paperback Believer", and it's exactly what you might expect from the title. They somehow took the vocals from the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and put them to the vocal-less tracks of The Monkees' "I'm A Believer". The results are astounding:

www.gohomeproductions.co.uk

Since those ARE The Beatles vocals and those ARE The Monkees original tracks, my question is: how the heck are they DOING this? Especially when considering older material, I'm at a loss for the techniques involved.
Some are better than others, but the good ones are nothing short of genius! Clearly these guys (the good ones) are MUSICIANS, because of their obvious knowledge of relative keys, chord structures, pentameter, etc., et al, blah blah, yadda yadda. And, they love being offbeat, so to speak. The fave Mash Ups are the one's that put a hard rocker or punk song with some dance oriented song; like Baha Men Vs. Ministry - Who Let Junkies Out?, or Doors Vs. Blondie - Rapture On The Storm.

So again I ask: HOW DEY DO DAT? It's clearly WAY beyond something like the OOPS method (inverting the right track & panning both to the center) and their apparent ability to do these so cleanly with 60's cuts smacks of something high tech. Any ideas? Is it hardware? Is it available software (and is it available for Mac OS)? Anything that somebody has heard of? It CAN'T be just a fifty band EQ or something, can it? Check out a few and get back to me. Heck, get 'back' to me any way - I'm dying of curiousity...

...anyone?....anyone?.....Buehler?.....anyone?....

- Voicedude