Music mixing tips and techniques

I’m mostly just looking for some solid advice on which software I should download—and if you happen to have a link handy, that would be awesome—so I can strip the instrumental out of a track, leave just the vocals behind, and then layer a completely different beat underneath it.
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You’re going to need a bit more than that, though I doubt you'll get anywhere without some actual professional gear.

You can attempt to strip vocals from a track using Serato or Audacity, but don't expect miracles. The quality is usually pretty abysmal. If you actually want results that don't sound like a digital mess, you're going to need to shell out some serious cash for professional-grade software. It isn't cheap.

I honestly doubt you'll get any decent quality out of it, though maybe Adobe Audition would do the job better—at least in my experience enough to know it's true.

I’ve never actually given it a shot myself, but I can tell you right now that you're looking at a pretty steep learning curve ahead of you!

http://www.steinberg.net/en/home.html#/wavelab-7
http://www.propellerheads.se/

Those are the heavy hitters—the kind of pro-grade software the big studios use
You might be able to track some of them down on sites like WarezBB if you're feeling adventurous

Serato seems to be pretty big right now. If I recall correctly, version 6 is the latest one out there.
I’ve actually noticed some DJs running it on their laptops at local clubs around town lately.

Drew Sanchez82 said:Serato seems to be pretty popular. I think version 6 is the latest release out there right now.
I've noticed some clubs using it on laptops during sets.

I guess you won't get anywhere near the quality you'd find with Adobe, Avid, or Sony. Serato basically limits you to its own built-in EQ and track removal effects, whereas those other programs actually offer fine-tuned control over your settings.
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/?promoid=DJDVV

hollowdrifter71 said:I'm mostly just looking for some advice on which software I should download—and if anyone has a link handy—so I can strip the instrumental out of a track, keep just the vocals, and then layer some new music underneath it?
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You want to completely isolate the vocals from the backing track?

Not going to happen.

I really appreciate all the advice you guys have been throwing my way, but honestly, I’m running Serato 7 Pro and there just isn't any way to pull off those kinds of moves in that software,
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hollowdrifter71 said:Thanks for the advice, but I'm stuck with Serato 7 Pro and there's just no way to pull that off here.
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You aren't going to get anywhere with Serato. You might try Adobe or Avid... though I doubt you'll be satisfied. Voices and music share so many frequencies that when you strip the track, you inevitably kill the vocals too. I guess no software actually does this perfectly. You could try Audacity if you want a free option, I suppose.

placidcobra49 said:Look, you aren't going to get far just using Serato; you really need to pick up something like Adobe Audition or Avid Cubase. Honestly, even with those pro tools, you might still feel a bit frustrated because vocals and music often share so many overlapping frequencies—it's like trying to pull a single thread out of a woven sweater without unraveling the whole thing. When you try to strip away the music, you end up losing parts of the voice too since they're fighting for the same space. There isn't any software on the market right now that can do it perfectly 100% of the time. If you want to try something for free though, you could always give Audacity a shot.

Thanks so much, I'll definitely give that a try.🙏

Sorry if I'm going off-topic here—this thread was just the closest thing I could find to what's actually on my mind.

So, here's the deal: I've got about 300 songs in MP3 format. I'm throwing a New Year's Eve bash, and I want to burn them onto a DVD so they play in the exact order I pick—and crucially, with zero silence between tracks. There won't be a computer at the party, just a DVD player hooked up to a TV.

Is this even doable?

Number your tracks in order (just slap numbers right in front of the song titles)
Make sure you use three digits. You don't want your DVD player getting confused between track 1 and track 10.
Basically, go with 001, 002, ..., 010, 011, ...., 100, 101
Once you pop that disc into the DVD player, it should play everything exactly how you laid it out.

Honestly, there are plenty of music software programs out there that can just automate this whole thing for you.

I don't want to clutter things up by starting a whole new thread, but I'm looking for some help regarding my music computer setup. Does anyone know of a player that allows for crossfading—specifically one where the current track fades out over about 5 seconds while the next one kicks in simultaneously?

Just grab any audio player that’s got a fade-out feature.