deconstucting a mp3 song file

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

MIDI files and audio files are two very different things. An audio file is like a tape recording and a MIDI file is just a set of music instructions that some piece of software or hardware has to interpret to create sound. This allows MIDI files to be very small, since they don't contain any actual recorded audio. You would never have any vocals in a MIDI file, because that would require an audio recording. MIDI files allow you to change the virtual instrument for any track to anything you want, something you can't do with audio files.

.flac is an audio format. It is compressed, but it has "lossless" compression, which means that no audio quality is lost. Since it is lossless, the files aren't as small as an equivalent MP3 file. The two lossless audio formats Mixcraft supports are .flac and .wav. Wav is not compressed at all. .flac files are about a third of the size of the equivalent .wav file. An MP3 file can be ten times smaller than the equivalent .wav file.

Since .flac is an audio format, it doesn't give you any special ability to separate out tracks. Once again, all the frequencies of all he sounds are all mixed together, and there's no clean way to separate them.

One thing that some hip hop artists do is try to find audio files that have a section of a song that has just one instrument, and they'll grab that section of the song to re-purpose it. Like the Amen Break.

Greg

[regor1962]

Ah yes, so I see.....Makes sense. If were to have thought long enough about it I might have figured that out..haha. So what would happen if I converted a .flac file to a .midi file? Of course I have not thought about this question long enough

[starise]

Easy to get these functions and terminologies mixed up if just beginning to learn. Greg explained it well.

It seems your goal is to have separate parts of a song or the individual takes that make up the whole. Two entirely separate discussions. flac, mp3 have nothing specifically to do with what you are asking which are called "multi tracks"
Imagine a recipe where you mix all of the ingredients together. No way to separate them once they are mixed. Same thing here. The final song you get either online or download on the web is the "master" track. All separate elements are mixed. You can't readily separate them now. The only way to remove vocals is to remove the center channel because at one time vocals were recorded in mono and in the center. This is no longer always true in new mixes, especially if reverb was used. There are forensic programs like Izotope RX that surgically remove sounds and frequencies from master tracks. Neither of these methods is capable to remove say, a horn part completely from a mix.

If you are just beginning to mix, importing separate wav files, also called stems or multitracks is a good thing to do for practice in mixing. There are many ways to get them. Chances are if you type the title of song and the word "multitrack" in a search engine you could possible find what you're looking for. All of the most common tunes can be either had free or bought as multi tracks. I did a quick search on rock multitracks and turned up lots of info.

[regor1962]

Thanks again, I think someone has tried to explain this to me once or twice before....I guess I just have conceive the concept and work with it.

[Mark Bliss]

Simplified further:
Audio files can be created in various formats. Think of them as different "resolutions" basically. You cannot "deconstruct" any of them into multi tracks.

MIDI is basically a computer language of instructions. You can use those instructions to operate a virtual instrument to trigger samples for instance. Pitch. Note on/off timing. How fast or hard you hit a key on a keyboard is interpreted as "velocity". Etc.

You dont make midi from audio generally, you make audio from midi.

The best suggestion I could make at this point is to load up an example Mixcraft project, such as can be found in your Programs/Mixcraft folder and explore it.
Each audio track represents a discrete audio file. Most of the example projects also contain virtual instrument tracks that emply MIDI instructions.

Mixcraft provides the tools to manipulate those files. Creating instructions for levels and panning for example. Or digging in deeper, slicing, dicing and re-ordering pieces of the tracks and editing how the source file is heard.
You may see the term "non-destructive" editing. This relates to the concept that the DAW doesnt alter the source file, it is simply creating instructions on how to manipulate it.

Hope that helps get you started?

[regor1962]

Understood, very good explanation thanks. Something came to mind the other day I wanted to ask about. I seen a tv show quite awhile back about how they where recording a certain band and they were listening back over several songs. The engineer was using his mixing board and the master recording I'm guessing that's what it was and he was isolating different members of band playing their instruments, highlighting what the sound was like and the technique the band player was using. I'm only guessing that when an engineer is recording they record using multiple tracks say the drums on one tracks the guitar on another and so on and mix them together later on, if my assumption is correct then why can't we do the same? Is it simply that we do not have access to the master recording?

[Mark Bliss]

In your example, it isn't a Mixed down song, it is an open multi track session.
He plays a summed mix or solos individual tracks.

It seems you still look at the DAW as a tool for deconstruction instead of construction...... Doesnt really work that way.

[regor1962]

Ah yes your right I'm looking at it the wrong...thanks again

[dpaterson]

Hello.

Seems you're getting some great input and advice and making progress here not???

Based on one of your posts above (TV show):

Somebody already mentioned searching for multitrack recordings. Same thing. Have you given it a go??? Here's one to get you started: https://multitrackmaster.com/europe-the ... 38NCc4zbmg. I cannot believe this was 32 years ago!!! LOL!!! Listen to each track. And you could download the video too and pull the tracks into Mixcraft and re-mix the whole song.

Must tell you though: I have some backing tracks for some of my music and man it's odd to hear the vocals on their own (without the rest of the band). Surprising to hear how the vocals ain't quite that spot on as they appear to be in the mixed tracks (David Coverdale / Whitesnake come to mind i.e. got a multitrack backing track from a live concert DVD that I've had and watched for ages and it was an ear opener!!! LOL!!! BUT: nice to know that nothing was doctored e.g. vocal pitch correction as is happening WAY too often nowadays so far as I can tell).

And don't say never (about not being able to play anything). Take a look at this (although I cannot actually believe I'm promoting this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZtb6hZGubY. There's some threads about it around here too. ACTUALLY: it does sound nice I have to admit.

Regards,

Dale.

[regor1962]

Going to give BlueARP a try, I liked the youtube vid. Thank you

[BillW]

Not sure this is completely pertinent, but since links have been mentioned for multitracks, one I've used a LOT is JamTracks (part of a site called JamKazam)

https://www.jamkazam.com/products/jamtracks

What you get here is cover bands playing a song - the price if I recall is about $3 per song and you get a separate mp3 for each instrument and vocal and backing - plus the master mix and a clicktrack.

Of course the availability for a given song is hit and miss and the cover versions may not have all the instruments the original does. But I will say the talent and sound on every one I've tried is very good. (Sometimes the vocalist tries a little TOO hard to sound like the original artist, but that's minor point.)

They also let you create an mp3 of any combination of tracks.

For an example, Heart of Gold by Neil Young has 10 tracks
lead voice
backing voice
drums
bass
left acoustic guitar
right acoustic guitar
steel guitar
harmonica
click track
count in

Understand these are not to learn mixing. They are I guess for performing or practice where you create an mp3 and leave out the part you want to play.

I use these to learn songs and then record myself for every part - often adding my own ideas. I never mix a song with any these in them EXCEPT I do use the vocals since I don't sing well.