Removing background music while people are talking

[Guardian2099]

I was wondering if theres a certain program that enables me to remove music in a background from a clip while people are talking as well. Both music as well as talking audio is present. I just want the music to go. Is that possible?

[daamon]

Hi Guardian2099,

Depending on how your audio has been recorded, it will either be easy or virtually impossible.

If the audio comprises of one track for the people talking and a seperate track for the background music then it's a simple case of deleting the track you don't want in any audio editor. Audacity is free and very good - there are others.

If the people talking and the background music are combined into one track, it'll be extremely difficult, or trick, or virtually impossible.

Think of your audio as a painting: if you first paint the picture on a canvas you can hang it on a wall, or you can paint on the wall directly just after the wall itself has been painted, where the paint will merge into one.

They will effectively look the same, but one's easy to remove and the other is a lot more difficult.

[painkiller]

Even if the audio is still contained within one track, you can still work on the ability to remove the music.

The tool(s) you need to look for is parametric equalization, or notch audio filters.

Not all sound editting software will have these functions. So you'll have to look through the functions carefully, if listed in their specifications.

Even so, it is still trial and error.

You may not get a crystal clear seperation - but your results may be acceptable.