Get vocal stems when you only have the final mix
In a recording studio, vocal stems are easy: you solo the vocal tracks in the session and export them. Out in the real world you rarely have the session. You have an MP3, a WAV from a mastering engineer, or an old record. This page recreates vocal stems from that finished mix with AI. The model, HT-Demucs v4, separates the song into vocals, drums, bass and other instruments; the vocal part is your stem.
The vocal stem keeps the vocal's stereo image, reverb and effects as they were mixed, which makes it sound like a real studio export rather than a filtered copy. It is exactly as long as the original file and starts at the same moment, so it drops into a DAW session in perfect sync.
How to extract vocal stems
- Drop your song into the box above.
- Wait for the AI separation; the first run downloads the model (about 170 MB) once.
- The other stems start muted, so pressing play lets you hear the vocal stem alone.
- Click "Download acapella" to save the vocal stem, or download all four stems as a ZIP for a full session.
What makes a good vocal stem
A usable vocal stem is clean enough that the old instruments do not fight with the new ones you put underneath. Listen for three things when you solo the vocal stem:
- Bleed: faint hi-hats or guitar between phrases. Small amounts disappear in a full mix; a noise gate or careful editing removes the rest.
- Artifacts: a watery or metallic edge on held notes. These are more common on low-bitrate sources, so start from the best file you have.
- Missing tails: long reverbs and delays may be partly assigned to the instruments. Adding your own reverb in the remix usually covers this.
Vocal stems for different jobs
| Job | How the vocal stem helps |
|---|---|
| Remix or bootleg | Put the original vocal over a new beat, change tempo or key in your DAW |
| Mixing practice | Practise EQ, compression, de-essing and effects on a professional vocal performance |
| Vocal coaching | Hear phrasing, breathing and pitch of a singer without the band covering details |
| Video editing | Duck the vocal under dialogue, or feature a vocal moment on its own |
| Analysis | Check timing, harmonies and doubling in reference tracks |
Using vocal stems in a DAW
Line it up
Place the vocal stem at the very start of the timeline. Because it has the same length as the song, it matches the original arrangement bar for bar.
Find the tempo
Import the full song or the drum stem too and let your DAW detect the tempo. Warping the vocal stem is far easier once the grid matches.
Clean up
High-pass the vocal stem around 80–120 Hz to remove any leftover kick and bass, then gate or clip-edit the gaps between phrases.
Add space back
A little reverb and delay of your own glues the vocal stem to the new production and hides any thin spots left by the separation.
Vocal stems, acapellas and instrumentals
"Vocal stem" and "acapella" mean nearly the same thing: the singing without the music. Producers tend to say stems; DJs and remixers often say acapella. Our acapella extractor page covers that use in more depth. If you need the other half instead, the vocal remover gives you the instrumental from the same separation, and the stem splitter shows all four stems at once.
Private and unlimited
Everything runs locally with WebGPU, so the song you take vocal stems from never leaves your computer. There is no sign-up, no file limit and no watermark. Recent Chrome or Edge on a laptop or desktop gives the fastest results.