Expert: Kyle Aylor - 9/20/2009

Question
I am looking for a product that will split the voice from the music on CDs that I already own, so that you could sing along with the music after you learn the song. Sort of like Karaoke style. This is for personal use only.....Thanks

Answer
I would recommend Audacity. It is free and simple to use.

To do this in Audacity:

Import your stereo file into Audacity.
Open the track menu (click the arrow next to the track title), and choose “Split Stereo Track.”
Select the lower track (the right channel) by clicking it in the area around the mute/solo buttons.
Choose “Invert” from the Effects menu.
Using the track menus, change each track to “Mono.”
Press the Play button to hear the results. If you are lucky, the voice will be gone but most of the other instruments will be unaffected, just like a karaoke track. You can use the Export commands in the File menu to save the result.