seperating tracks within a song for remixing

[korbbit]

hey, wen you guys remix a song, how do you seperate eg. the vocals or drums from the rest of the song?

[emef]

you start off with separate audio parts

[DJ Mike Beeds]

Yeah, normally you're given the individual tracks by the original artist. It really doesn't hurt to ask the artist if you can remix his/her track, because most of the time they will agree and it will make your job of remixing much easier

However, if that isn't an option, you could try using a filter to cut out the different frequencies. For example, if you want to try to isolate the vocals in a track, you might try to cut out the lower and higher frequencies, because vocals are usually in the mid-frequency range. But, that's just a rough idea and sometimes vocals can be overlapped by other mid-range instruments; or, vocals could be lower or higher in frequency. Try using the filter tool in Ableton, along with your ears, to isolate the different instruments you are hoping to use in your remix -- hope that helps...

[outershpongolia]

Get an instrumental and an acapella of the same song.. that way you have the beat and the vocals.. most simple remixing can be done from there.. if you need even more separation you can try and break down the instrumental a little bit more.

Search phase cancellation, acapellas, instrumentals, and multitrack masters (some real cool ones turned up like Beatles, Nirvana, NIN)