removing drums from audio track

[toolhead07]

Alright I am starting to get ready to audition for Berklee located in Boston, MA and one of the requirements is to play along with a song, either improvised or played the same. However, the track that I play cannot have drums on it. Several of the songs i had chosen were from normal CDs but i cant figure out how to remove the drums from the track. Do you guys know of any programs or have any ideas of how i could do this?

[Drum-Head]

From what I know that's not going to be possible thing to do since drums cover a wide array of frequencies on the recordings. The only choices are to get your hands on some music minus drums tracks or program some midi tracks I'm afraid.

[sio_13]

I agree, it's pretty much impossible to remove drums from a recording, especially if they're pretty complex to begin with, but I would simply ask someone who has already been through that and ask them what they did. Or, just hire some musicians, book a studio, and then have them track it to 24- track 2-inch tape on an SSL console... lol

[aydee]

Originally Posted by sio_13

I agree, it's pretty much impossible to remove drums from a recording, especially if they're pretty complex to begin with, but I would simply ask someone who has already been through that and ask them what they did. Or, just hire some musicians, book a studio, and then have them track it to 24- track 2-inch tape on an SSL console... lol

Like the others said, cant be done once the tracks are mixed, and thats how they are on audio CDs.

Though I've had no personal experience, I believe play along tracks ( minus drums, basss, guitar etc )are available by comapnies like Hudson Music which make a lot of instructional drum videos. You could check with them

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

In addition to the above, you could totally throw them off by using a song (a classical song for example) that never had drums to begin with. You create the drum part. It will show them your drumming abilities as well as your creative ones.

[Drum-Head]

Originally Posted by SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ

In addition to the above, you could totally throw them off by using a song (a classical song for example) that never had drums to begin with. You create the drum part. It will show them your drumming abilities as well as your creative ones.

That would be one big risk though - either you've got some musical genius and come up with something awesome making them think it's good or you completely ruin the music and they'll be convinced you're a nutter (like those dudes on American Idol that make you go "What the hell is he doing?!!!") Would he be ready to take such a risk?

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

You make a great point. Though, since they say he can improvise instead of mechanically reproducing something, I'm wondering if they are only trying to encourage more creativity. I would agree though, that if he couldn't pull it off it wouldn't be worth doing... but if so... then I think that could really set him apart from the pack.

[Drum-Head]

Originally Posted by SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ

You make a great point. Though, since they say he can improvise instead of mechanically reproducing something, I'm wondering if they are only trying to encourage more creativity. I would agree though, that if he couldn't pull it off it wouldn't be worth doing... but if so... then I think that could really set him apart from the pack.

I agree that is a possibility, but he'd have to get some feedback about the entry exams to see how they are like and what they are looking for in the candidates. I'm pretty much sure there are some guys on the forum who could help out with that. However, usually on an entry exam the idea is to prove you have the required level to follow the cursus not to show off virtuosity - you don't want them thinking you came to wanker off what you got, if that makes any sense?

[Garvin]

I can't believe that they couldn't come up with a few folks to use as the "audition band". Then you could just call a tune. Other than that though, I guess one of those CD's would have to do.

[ajgdrums7814]

Dave Weckl has put out multiple packages with play-along tracks. Most of them are just generic songs or songs of the 'The Dave Weckl Band', simply remixed without the drums. They are fun to play-along to, though.

If you're looking for more popular music, Chad Smith put out a Chili Peppers package a while back. There's a few play-along tracks from their Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, including Give It Away, Suck My Kiss, Breaking the Girl, etc.

I've also got a Billy Cobham one and the Pat Petrillo and Tommy Igoe ones (which don't really give you full songs to play to, rather just portions of songs that you can play specific grooves to).

-OR-

Go here:

http://music4drums.net/

You can download songs off of that site for free. There are a lot MIDI re-created popular songs on that site including Message in a Bottle (The Police), New Year's Day (U2), Tie Your Mother Down (Queen), Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots), etc. with A LOT of Rush songs thrown in.

If you are looking for jazz play-alongs, John Riley's "The Art of Bop Drumming," is awesome, and the old Music Minus One for Drums package is also out there.

Hope that helps.

[ajgdrums7814]

P.S.

One other thing that I like to do is take an CD like Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds "Live at Luther College," which is those two guys playing Dave Matthews Band songs acoustically.

In this case, you can listen to Carter Beauford's version of the real songs and then play along to the acoustic tracks. Not perfect considering there is no bass in the mix either, just two acoustic guitars, but I've done some recording with it and it has actually turned out pretty nicely.

This, being a live CD, isn't recorded to a click though, so you'll have to watch out for slight tempo adjustments. From my experience though, Dave and Tim are pretty spot-on when it comes to their time on this disc and any changes are slight and shouldn't be too much trouble to pick up on.

Good luck.

[Dibalo Jonze]

Wow, I was going tu suggest a few things but adjdrums said it all, including that Dave C.D. But brainstorm other artist who came out with Acoustic Guitar C.D.s too

And like he said, Hal Leonard has a few play along c.d.s with drumless tracks in genres including, jazz, funk, hard rock, classic rock, pop rock (has Roseanna and message in a bottle on it) and a Henrix drum play along.

Originally Posted by ajgdrums7814

Dave Weckl has put out multiple packages with play-along tracks. Most of them are just generic songs or songs of the 'The Dave Weckl Band', simply remixed without the drums. They are fun to play-along to, though.

If you're looking for more popular music, Chad Smith put out a Chili Peppers package a while back. There's a few play-along tracks from their Blood Sugar Sex Magik album, including Give It Away, Suck My Kiss, Breaking the Girl, etc.

I've also got a Billy Cobham one and the Pat Petrillo and Tommy Igoe ones (which don't really give you full songs to play to, rather just portions of songs that you can play specific grooves to).

-OR-

Go here:

http://music4drums.net/

You can download songs off of that site for free. There are a lot MIDI re-created popular songs on that site including Message in a Bottle (The Police), New Year's Day (U2), Tie Your Mother Down (Queen), Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots), etc. with A LOT of Rush songs thrown in.

If you are looking for jazz play-alongs, John Riley's "The Art of Bop Drumming," is awesome, and the old Music Minus One for Drums package is also out there.

Hope that helps.

I have Tommy Igoes play along and it's got full 3-4 minute long songs. The best play along I've ever worked with. A monumental piece of education.

[Drum-Head]

It came to mind - a thing a drumbro of mine did was gather some cool bass solos and then wrote and played drum parts to them. He came up with some great grooves and musical licks, but he did this for fun though. Maybe this could be an idea for an exam?

This a question a bit related to the original question. What is the best way to prepare an audio track so you can record yourself playing along with it, but the original drums aren't as audible? I see alot of videos on youtube where people play along with tunes and you can't really hear the drums on the original track, but the other instruments seems to come through enough.

[zambizzi]

How about the "Turn It Up and Lay It Down" CDs? I practice to those tracks quite a bit, they're perfect for play-along drum-less practice.