How do you extract a melody from a song?
Hey all,
I am just curious how you can extract just the melody from a song, so you can make a remix with it. I want to get into production and the first one I work on I would like to use the melody from the song Sugar by Stanley Turrentine. I’ve done google searches and I’ve found some answers, but I don’t know if the programs that are suggested are really that good. So, does anyone here have any suggestions?
Use your ears.
There aren’t any specific programs to do this. There are several EQ and filtering techniques but the results depends on the source. Your best bet would be to contact the original artist/label and ask for the stems.
As it’s a jazz song, and an old one, I can’t attack the artist or the label for the stems. Is there a type of music file that has them layered so you can just remove the instruments I don’t want? What are the EQ and filtering techniques?
why not just play the melody and try and use different instruments and fx till it sounds close?
I’m considering that. But, if I can get the original, I want to get it. It’s a saxophone, so, if I find a good software instrument, it can be done. Or, I can just do it on guitar.
i dont think this really does what the OP is after..
have a read through this blog post.
it explains the technique mentioned by padi regarding filtering and eqing. i think this technique will probably be your best bet on getting a result, especially from older material.
personally i’d try my hand at recreating the melodies first, and it will probably save you some frustrations!
You are correct. It will, however, extract pitch and rhythm. I suppose you could do with with Ableton Live’s slice to Midi.
this is what you can do - try to find a midi of the song somewhere online , since you cant replicate it by ear and by using the keyboard, load up the midi into an instrument in DAW software of your choice and there’s your “melody”
and yes melodyne does work - try to find a clean section of the melody that you are after, load it up in melodyne, there’s an option called “convert to midi” that is pretty close to the original, you can use this midi on any DAW later on
Wow! Thanks guys. So, it looks like I have quite a lot of options on my hands. I appreciate all of your input!