Bass removal

A

angster

New member
Hello,
I am a bass player. I would like to remove the bass from downloaded songs so i can play along.
Riders on the storm by the doors for example. I would like to learn Jerry Scheff's bass parts and record my own.
I have read about phase cancellation on line but no one gives clear instructions.

How do I do this?
Thanks,
angster
 
There isn't a great way to do this, but there are a few methods. One way of going about it is to use a high pass filter and to slowly increase the frequency until enough of the bass is gone from the track. Or you can get more involved and use a few wide notch EQs to hopefully eliminate the bass frequencies but still keep the kick frequencies intact.

Another way is to invert the phase polarity on one channel of the track (left or right) and then make the track mono. This will surely cancel out the bass (if the bass is panned in the center), but will also take out most of the vocals, drums, and anything else that is panned in the center.
 
This is like asking to take the roof off the car to make it convertable. Its close to impossible.
I agree that you should try EQing the bass out from maybe 120 down, but itll make it sound thin.

You could try copying the bass exactly and line it up in the DAW. then flip the phase on the bass you just played. and if there are parts where the bass is still kind of loud, you could try sliding it until it disappears more. But again I wouldnt expect miracles. I would just do what you can and if nothing works just play with the bass in the song
 
ModernMixing said:
You could try copying the bass exactly and line it up in the DAW. then flip the phase on the bass you just played. and if there are parts where the bass is still kind of loud, you could try sliding it until it disappears more. But again I wouldnt expect miracles.
Click to expand...

I would expect very little improvement from this. At best you could cancel the fundamental for a few cycles, but the chance of matching the harmonics is essentially nil.
 
even bass notes are not pure single-frequence tones. Therefore you cannot just 'remove' them without mucking with the rest of the sound.

disassembling a song is like trying to take apart an animal and then wondering why it does walk away when you put all the pieces back in the same places...
 
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