How to Make Your Own Karaoke Tracks at Home

What you'll end up with

A good homemade karaoke track has four qualities: no lead vocal (or only a faint guide), a key that suits your voice, a clean start without a long fade-in, and a level that matches your other tracks. Here's how to get all four.

Step 1: Get a good source file

The vocal remover can only work with what's in the file. A 320 kbps MP3, AAC from a store, or a lossless file will separate far more cleanly than a low-bitrate download or a phone recording of a speaker. Use a copy you've bought or have the right to use.

Step 2: Remove the vocals with AI

1. Open the Vocal Remover and add the song.
2. Leave the AI engine selected and choose Both as the output. You'll want the vocal later.
3. Download both files as WAV so the next steps don't add extra compression.

The AI model removes backing vocals and reverb along with the lead in most songs. If you hear a faint vocal in quiet passages, that's normal bleed. Once you're singing over it, it's rarely noticeable.

Step 3: Move it to your key

Open the instrumental in the Key Changer. It shows the song's detected key, and you can pick a new one or shift by semitones. Not sure how far? Our guide to finding your vocal range and best key walks through the maths. Keep tempo unchanged so the song keeps its feel.

Step 4: Clean up the start and end

Original recordings often start with seconds of silence, studio chatter or long fade-ins. In the Audio Trimmer:

• Use Auto-trim silence to remove dead air.
• Drag the start to just before the first bar, so the music begins promptly when you press play.
• Add a short fade-out if the song ends abruptly after the vocal is removed.

Step 5: Add a guide vocal (optional)

When you're still learning a song, hearing the original singer very quietly helps you stay on the melody and the timing. Many karaoke systems call this a "guide vocal". To make one:

1. Transpose the vocal file by the same number of semitones as the instrumental.
2. In any multitrack editor (Audacity is free), place both files on separate tracks starting at zero.
3. Turn the vocal track down by 15–20 dB, so it's barely there, and export the mix.

Keep both versions: one with the guide for practice, one without for performing.

Step 6: Match the levels

A playlist of homemade tracks can jump around in volume. Run each final track through the Volume Booster and normalize it to −1 dB so they all start from the same peak level.

Playing your tracks

• At home: any music player or a smart TV with a USB stick (MP3 is the safest format).
• With lyrics: many lyrics apps and websites scroll text in time. Play your track alongside them.
• For a performance: bring WAV and MP3 copies on two devices.

A note on sharing

Homemade karaoke tracks are for personal use. The underlying recording and song are protected by copyright, so publishing them online or using them for paid events requires the appropriate licences.

Frequently asked questions