Nicekid76
The Bostonian YTtalker
TL : DR - Spleeter is a cool tool that splits music into different instrument files. Youtubers can use it to help them dial in the mix and eq for the songs they use in their video or even remove vocals from songs to create instrumentals.
(Read more below)
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Have you heard of Spleeter? (Not a Typo)
Spleeter is the name of a Neural Network AI which has been trained to separate song audio files into their different instruments. This means, if you can't find the instrumental for a song you like, you can make it yourself by passing the audio file through the Spleeter AI system, but I use it in a way that it wasn't originally intended to be use. Currently, Spleeter is able to split audio files into separate Vocal, Drums, Bass, Piano, and Other files (other being a single catch all file that contains everything not in any previous category).
This tool is absolutely amazing. Splitting an audio file into separate instrument files is like turning a cup cake or a cookie back into it's original ingredientes. Just making sure you are as impress as I was/am : D
That being said, it is not perfect. For one, sometimes the piano audio will end up in the other category file and sometime traces of the vocal audio can be heard in other files. Also, removing an audio track from a song, for example the drums, often results in this volume pulse going through the audio. This is like if you cut someone from a picture you're left with an empty hole where they were (unless you use photoshop but that's not the point).
Okay cool, but WHY IS THIS USEFUL FOR YOUTUBERS?
As Youtubers, a lot of us use music, be it for intros, outro, transitions or background music, in our videos. Personally, most of the music on my channel is either by my cousin or my old friend from high school. Some of my music is also from ChillHop and HeatleyBros who have also given me permission to use their music with credits. Sometimes when it's time to add these songs to our videos, the songs can use some tender love and care. For example, my cousin really really loves a loud snare and bass drum in all of his music, but I find it tends to be very much in your face when you are using it as a background music track. For this I would throw his music into Spleeter and get the separate audio instrument files, and from there it is as easy as lowering the drum track in the mix and presto the song fits exactly how I wish it would fit in the mix. Also, the audio pulsing and instrument bleed doesn't impact this work flow nearly as much since I'm not completely removing any track. I'm just remixing it in the literal sense of the word. To me this is no different than equalizing a song.
I should mention you can also use this too remove vocals from a song if you wanted to sing a cover, but remember with or without vocals, Youtube's content detection tools will flag the music in your video. Actually, Youtube's content detection tool has gotten so good, it even flags if you are singing it without any background music or any of the original song. I wouldn't be surprised if the automatic captions in your video were being used to see if you are singing copyrighted lyrics even without the same melody. What a time to be alive. All that to say make sure you have the rights to the music you are using even when you are using Spleeter.
How do I use Spleeter?
First let me just say, Spleeter is completely free. That being said I personally found the straight out the box version of the tool hard to use since it is a code base AI program with no buttons or menus to click. There are some websites that offer it as a paid service with a much more user friendly interface and some of them have a free option. I've never paid for it since you know, it's a free tool. Luckly, some user on Youtube has made a free GUI (Graphical User Interface) version of the AI which basically turns the Spleeter code base program into a program non coders can use with buttons and menus. It's still a bit tricky to get it all installed the first time though
Why not just ask for the Stems from the original composer?
For those of you who don't know, Stems are (to keep it simple) the original (sorta) audio tracks from the song. 1 track for vocals, 1 for drums, etc. Typically a composer will send these to a studio or an editor to give them more control of how the song sounds in their project. It's like if we rendered out each video track on our timeline as a separate file and sent it to our friends. They could remove all the on screen text and graphics if they wanted to. (hope that make sense)
So why don't I just ask the original composer for the Stem files?
1st, most of the time, I pick which song I'm going to use at 3AM and I want to post that video at 8AM so I don't really have time to ask for stem.
2nd, many of the songs I want to use are old songs (like from 2013 which I realize isn't that old) that the composer might have deleted or lost the project file to. My friend and cousin basically lost all of their early project files from hard drive failures or computers dying.
3rd, I don't want to bother people who are allowing me to use their music for free. This is partly because, I don't want them to be annoyed and also because I don't want them to tell me I can no longer use their music (lol though I don't think they would do that)
I hope this helps someone.
(Read more below)
- - - - -
Have you heard of Spleeter? (Not a Typo)
Spleeter is the name of a Neural Network AI which has been trained to separate song audio files into their different instruments. This means, if you can't find the instrumental for a song you like, you can make it yourself by passing the audio file through the Spleeter AI system, but I use it in a way that it wasn't originally intended to be use. Currently, Spleeter is able to split audio files into separate Vocal, Drums, Bass, Piano, and Other files (other being a single catch all file that contains everything not in any previous category).
This tool is absolutely amazing. Splitting an audio file into separate instrument files is like turning a cup cake or a cookie back into it's original ingredientes. Just making sure you are as impress as I was/am : D
That being said, it is not perfect. For one, sometimes the piano audio will end up in the other category file and sometime traces of the vocal audio can be heard in other files. Also, removing an audio track from a song, for example the drums, often results in this volume pulse going through the audio. This is like if you cut someone from a picture you're left with an empty hole where they were (unless you use photoshop but that's not the point).
Okay cool, but WHY IS THIS USEFUL FOR YOUTUBERS?
As Youtubers, a lot of us use music, be it for intros, outro, transitions or background music, in our videos. Personally, most of the music on my channel is either by my cousin or my old friend from high school. Some of my music is also from ChillHop and HeatleyBros who have also given me permission to use their music with credits. Sometimes when it's time to add these songs to our videos, the songs can use some tender love and care. For example, my cousin really really loves a loud snare and bass drum in all of his music, but I find it tends to be very much in your face when you are using it as a background music track. For this I would throw his music into Spleeter and get the separate audio instrument files, and from there it is as easy as lowering the drum track in the mix and presto the song fits exactly how I wish it would fit in the mix. Also, the audio pulsing and instrument bleed doesn't impact this work flow nearly as much since I'm not completely removing any track. I'm just remixing it in the literal sense of the word. To me this is no different than equalizing a song.
I should mention you can also use this too remove vocals from a song if you wanted to sing a cover, but remember with or without vocals, Youtube's content detection tools will flag the music in your video. Actually, Youtube's content detection tool has gotten so good, it even flags if you are singing it without any background music or any of the original song. I wouldn't be surprised if the automatic captions in your video were being used to see if you are singing copyrighted lyrics even without the same melody. What a time to be alive. All that to say make sure you have the rights to the music you are using even when you are using Spleeter.
How do I use Spleeter?
First let me just say, Spleeter is completely free. That being said I personally found the straight out the box version of the tool hard to use since it is a code base AI program with no buttons or menus to click. There are some websites that offer it as a paid service with a much more user friendly interface and some of them have a free option. I've never paid for it since you know, it's a free tool. Luckly, some user on Youtube has made a free GUI (Graphical User Interface) version of the AI which basically turns the Spleeter code base program into a program non coders can use with buttons and menus. It's still a bit tricky to get it all installed the first time though
Why not just ask for the Stems from the original composer?
For those of you who don't know, Stems are (to keep it simple) the original (sorta) audio tracks from the song. 1 track for vocals, 1 for drums, etc. Typically a composer will send these to a studio or an editor to give them more control of how the song sounds in their project. It's like if we rendered out each video track on our timeline as a separate file and sent it to our friends. They could remove all the on screen text and graphics if they wanted to. (hope that make sense)
So why don't I just ask the original composer for the Stem files?
1st, most of the time, I pick which song I'm going to use at 3AM and I want to post that video at 8AM so I don't really have time to ask for stem.
2nd, many of the songs I want to use are old songs (like from 2013 which I realize isn't that old) that the composer might have deleted or lost the project file to. My friend and cousin basically lost all of their early project files from hard drive failures or computers dying.
3rd, I don't want to bother people who are allowing me to use their music for free. This is partly because, I don't want them to be annoyed and also because I don't want them to tell me I can no longer use their music (lol though I don't think they would do that)
I hope this helps someone.