How to Turn Songs Into Instrumentals

Karaoke singing can be a really fun activity, and if you’re fond of karaoke music, you can turn songs into instrumentals and make an entire CD of your own. You can then take the CD to a karaoke bar when you go out with your friends. You can very easily turn any song to instrumental using a software application such as Audacity, Winamp or Karaoke Anything.

Using Audacity

Download and install Audacity on your computer. You will also need a plugin for Audacity to remove vocals from the song. You can download both the application and the plugin from the links in the Resources section.

Launch Audacity after installation.

Go to “File” then “Open” and locate the song that you want to turn into instrumental. Make sure that the file is an MP3.

Click the down arrow from the gray box on the left side of the Audacity window to open the drop-down menu.

Select the option “Split Stereo Track.” This will split the music file into two sections. Two gray boxes will appear on the left side of the window.

Go to “Effects” from the top menu and select “Invert.”

Click the down arrow of the first gray box and select “Mono.” Do the same for the second gray box as well.

Highlight the track from the timeline using the cursor. Now go to “Effects” from the menu and select “Amplify.”

Keep amplification in negative. It will most likely be zero when you open the window. Since different songs have different frequencies, you will have to listen to the track after changing its amplification.

Find out if you can still hear soft vocals in the song. Test the file by clicking the Play button from the menu at the top. If you’re not satisfied with the results, go back to “Amplification” menu and slide the bar further toward the negative side. Now go back to the main window and play the song again. The vocals should have disappeared and the song should be instrumental.

Using Winamp

Download and install Winamp on the computer. You can find the link in Resources below. Also, download the “Analog X Vocal Remover” plugin for Winamp.

Run the downloaded file to install the Winamp plugin.

Find the song on your computer, right-click on it and select “Open” then “with Winamp.” Go to “Options” when the Winamp window opens.

Select “Preferences” and go to “DSP/effect.” Choose the “Vocal Remover” plugin from the drop-down list.

Use the slider bar to control the frequency of vocals in the song. Sliding it backward will make the song instrumental. You will have to listen to the song to check whether the vocals are completely inaudible. If you can still hear them, slide it further negative from the “Vocal Remover” window.

Using Karaoke Anything

Download and install Karaoke Anything on the computer. Launch the application after installing.

Click the "MP3 Player Mode" button.

Click on “Source.” This will allow you to open the MP3 file that you want to make instrumental.

Click the “Play” button after loading the song.

Adjust the frequency of vocals from the “Karaoke Effect” slider at the bottom of the window while the song is playing. You have to go into negative levels to completely remove the vocals.