How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

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ricecrispies
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How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by ricecrispies » Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:14 pm

On YouTube you can find isolated instrument tracks of the highest quality, such as the isolated bass of Rush's Tom Sawyer that I discovered yesterday, where every slightest nuance of the original performance stands out. I learn much more about how to play my instruments from these, and also about how these instrument lines and the ways in which they are processed work in the mix, than from any other resource available. I desperately want to generate my own isolated tracks so that I can better understand some other songs that I struggle with. However, every audio separation tool that I have tried, from Spleeter to RX9, produces vastly inferior results. Typically, they are so poor that on an isolated bass track you can barely even guess which note is being played, let alone pick up on the dynamics and other details.

So how are these high-quality isolated tracks created?

miyaru
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by miyaru » Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:29 pm

They come probably from the original multitrack recordings.
Especially Geddy Lee recorded a lot of his parts with DI’s and preamps.
Greetings from Miyaru.
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ricecrispies
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by ricecrispies » Sun Dec 04, 2022 11:55 pm

I guess you're probably right.

That does make me wonder though how these things find their way into the wild. Do the artists intentionally leak them, or is it some studio tech doing it when no one is looking?

I once find the isolated Tony Levin bass from Sledgehammer on YouTube, but then it disappeared, which suggests that it was unauthorised.

And how did that notorious NIrvana/Rick Astley mashup ever manage to happen?

miyaru
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by miyaru » Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:38 pm

Everyone and everybody is leaking these days, and it is good fun and educational.
Isolated parts can sure help to play the parts as good as possible when you study them.

I'm a big fan of Geddy Lee, but it seems almost impossible to play songs by Rush on bassguitar for me.
I come a long way replicating his sound, due to my SansAmp Bassdriver DI, Zoom MS70CDR and Mooer Radar.
I have a custom build P/J Bass with Bartolini's with a jazzneck build for me with my specs.

The new YYZ and 2112 pedals go a long way too, even further maybe.......
Greetings from Miyaru.
Prodaw i7-7700, 16Gb Ram, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen, ESI M4U eX, Reason 12, Live Suit 10, Push2, Presonus Eris E8 and Monitor Station V2, Lexicon MPX1,
Korg N1, Yamaha RM1x :mrgreen:

ricecrispies
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by ricecrispies » Tue Dec 06, 2022 9:59 am

miyaru wrote:
Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:38 pm
Everyone and everybody is leaking these days, and it is good fun and educational.
Isolated parts can sure help to play the parts as good as possible when you study them.

I'm a big fan of Geddy Lee, but it seems almost impossible to play songs by Rush on bassguitar for me.
I come a long way replicating his sound, due to my SansAmp Bassdriver DI, Zoom MS70CDR and Mooer Radar.
I have a custom build P/J Bass with Bartolini's with a jazzneck build for me with my specs.

The new YYZ and 2112 pedals go a long way too, even further maybe.......
My interest is less in the sound engineering side of things (although I will certainly read up on all the gear you have mentioned) than it is in how these people actually play. I’ve been playing bass for quite a while, but I’ve not advanced very much at all, to be honest. It was only after listening to and trying to imitate with my own fingers the Tom Sawyer isolated bass track the other day, instead of just trying to learn from listening to the full recording and from sheet music, that I finally understood how hard Geddy Lee is on the strings, and how timid I’ve been. Since that very day, my playing has become much tighter and more confident, and I finally feel like I’m starting to develop my own voice, rather than forlornly hoping to sound a bit like someone else. Much as I love the work of players such as Bernard Edwards, it is the styles of bassists such as Geddy Lee and Les Claypool that resonate with my personality. It has taken listening to isolated bass lines for me to understand this.

miyaru
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by miyaru » Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:12 am

You are absolutely right. I’m more into Geddy Lee and Chris Squire etc. too.

It fits me better too, although I have to say I love reggae basslines too!
Greetings from Miyaru.
Prodaw i7-7700, 16Gb Ram, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen, ESI M4U eX, Reason 12, Live Suit 10, Push2, Presonus Eris E8 and Monitor Station V2, Lexicon MPX1,
Korg N1, Yamaha RM1x :mrgreen:

Tarekith
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by Tarekith » Tue Dec 06, 2022 2:50 pm

Check out the old Classic Albums documentaries on Amazon Prime and elsewhere. They go into the original sessions of famous songs and you get to hear some really unique things in the playing you can’t hear in the finished songs. Really awesome series to watch on many fronts.
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miyaru
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by miyaru » Tue Dec 06, 2022 8:45 pm

Tarekith wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 2:50 pm
Check out the old Classic Albums documentaries on Amazon Prime and elsewhere. They go into the original sessions of famous songs and you get to hear some really unique things in the playing you can’t hear in the finished songs. Really awesome series to watch on many fronts.
Sure they are interesting, seen a lot of them. I was most impressed by the old recordings made on four- and eighttrack recorders.

Especially Eddie Kramer, who did in between mixes and got the good results out of four tracks. He dared to mix drums and bass to one track, and then use the other tracks for Jimi’s stuff.
Greetings from Miyaru.
Prodaw i7-7700, 16Gb Ram, Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen, ESI M4U eX, Reason 12, Live Suit 10, Push2, Presonus Eris E8 and Monitor Station V2, Lexicon MPX1,
Korg N1, Yamaha RM1x :mrgreen:

ricecrispies
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by ricecrispies » Wed Dec 07, 2022 5:32 pm

miyaru wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 10:12 am
You are absolutely right. I’m more into Geddy Lee and Chris Squire etc. too.

It fits me better too, although I have to say I love reggae basslines too!
I've just discovered this YouTube channel with isolated tracks, apparently with royalties going to the original artists, and full of prog stuff, including plenty of Yes https://www.youtube.com/@behindthemultitrack/videos

ricecrispies
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Re: How are high quality isolated instrument tracks created?

Post by ricecrispies » Wed Dec 07, 2022 5:37 pm

Tarekith wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 2:50 pm
Check out the old Classic Albums documentaries on Amazon Prime and elsewhere. They go into the original sessions of famous songs and you get to hear some really unique things in the playing you can’t hear in the finished songs. Really awesome series to watch on many fronts.
Cool! They don't seem to be available for legal streaming in Belgium though, so I may have to resort to the dark arts …

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