Stem Splitter

Taking a song apart.

Split, isolate, or exclude — choosing the right mode for what you actually need, why the source recording decides the result, and what to do with the parts.

Start with lesson one Open Stem Splitter

The curriculum

Read them in this order

Each lesson assumes the one before it. The second is the one worth your time — most of what goes wrong here is a mode chosen before the job was named.

01Your first splitOne song in, 4 parts out. The preset to start with, what it costs, and how the files come back — before any of the theory.start · 4 min read
02Split, Isolate, or ExcludeThree tabs, three different questions, and a fourth shape hidden inside the first. What each mode is for, and what a paid plan actually unlocks — which is not what most people assume.core · 8 min read
03Getting a clean separationThe recording you feed in decides most of the result. What bleeds and why, why an MP3 of an MP3 is the worst case, and when a six-part split is worse than a four.core · 7 min read
04What to do with stemsThe four jobs people actually use this for, the fastest route to each, and the two things you can do to a finished part without downloading it — convert it to MIDI, or open it in the Studio.advanced · 7 min read
05Karaoke tracks that keep the backing vocalsA karaoke track with the harmonies still in it sounds like the record. How to take out only the lead singer, what it costs, and when the plain two-part split is the better choice.core · 5 min read
06Split a drum kit into kick, snare and cymbalsThe Drum kit section of the Isolate tab separates the kit into 6 pieces — kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, ride and crash — on Creator+. Pick the ones you need; one price covers any or all of them.advanced · 5 min read
07Duets: separating male and female vocalsSplit a duet into the male voice and the female voice, so you can sing one part over the other or remix one singer. What it separates by, what it cannot do, and what it costs.core · 4 min read
08From stems to MIDIA stem is audio; MIDI is the notes. How to go from one to the other, which parts transcribe well, and why splitting first gives you a better MIDI file than converting the whole mix.advanced · 5 min read
09Isolating orchestral and wind instrumentsStrings, woodwinds and brass are where the instrument catalog earns its place. Which instruments you can pick, when to take a single instrument versus the whole section, and what each costs.advanced · 6 min read
10Per-minute vs per-stem pricing, explainedSome stem splitters charge for every stem you take; AudioPod charges each output group once for the length of the song. A worked example, what adds to the price, and where the other model is actually cheaper.core · 5 min read
11Removing reverb and room echo from a vocalReverb removal takes the room out of a recording and hands back the same take, drier. When to run it, in which order with vocal isolation, what it costs on Creator+, and what it cannot fix.advanced · 5 min read
12Separating dialogue, music and sound effectsA three-way split for speech rather than songs: dialogue, the music bed and sound effects as separate files. When to use it instead of the vocal split, what it costs on Creator+, and what separates poorly.advanced · 5 min read
13Mastering against a reference trackReference mastering brings your finished mix to the loudness and tone of a song you choose. How to pick the reference, what it does and does not change, and what it costs on Creator+.advanced · 5 min read
14Transcribing piano and vocals to MIDIPiano and sung melody each have a specialist transcription engine on Creator+. Where they sit in the tool, how they differ from the general engine, and what they cost.advanced · 5 min read

What you are choosing between

The three modes, briefly

Every lesson below assumes you know which tab you are on. This is the whole list — the second lesson explains which question each one actually answers.

Split: Take the whole song apart into a fixed set of parts. You are not choosing instruments, you are choosing how finely to cut — and the three presets are free on every plan.
Isolate: Name the instruments you want out. Anything you do not pick is not rendered, so a two-instrument job returns two files and nothing else.
Exclude: The inverse of Isolate. You name what to remove and get one file back: everything else, still mixed together.

Free to start

Read it with the tool open

You do not need a plan to work through this track. A free account gets you every preset split, and every lesson here is written against the tool you will be looking at.

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