I hear a lot of songs that involve a sample taken from some other song. In many cases, it seems the sampler has got the original vocal without the backing track that used to be behind it, or vice-versa. How do they do this? Do they ask for a copy of the original multi-track tape and take just what they want… or what?
That’d be my bet.
Also, some old “stereo” songs just have the vocals on one track and the music on another, making sampling the vocals easier.
Or, more likely, the guitar will be on the left, the bass will be on the right, the vocals are on both, so it’s possible to separate out the vocals because they’re the only thing on both channels.
Although I gave an answer, I wasn’t real happy with it and was hoping for someone else to speak up who’s actually done this. But no. And it’s dropped off the front page. So anyone else have an idea?
DJ/Remixing is a professional hobby of mine.
Sampling can be done any of a bunch of ways. There are a lot of filters you can apply to mostly or completely remove background music from vocals.
Vocals generally occur in a certain range in sound, so very crude simple sampling can be achieved and cleaned up by eliminating highs and the bass kick and reverb.
Many times, if it’s a high profile remixer, or someone doing a remix for an artist, the artist sends the vocals on a DAT.
Hope this helps.
Without explaining step by step (and it’s a long process), this is about the summary. :o)