You have a recording of your own rehearsal, and the singer on it keeps pulling your ear away from the part you actually need to learn. Tonight is the only free hour you have before the next session. The goal is not a perfect studio backing track. The goal is a file you can play back, hear the band clearly, and use to fix your own timing before you meet again.

This walkthrough follows one practice session from import to export. Along the way there are checkpoints where you stop, listen, and decide whether to keep going or adjust your approach. The tool being used is ShengXi Vocal Remover, which separates vocals and accompaniment on the device after you import a video from Photos or a local audio file.

Before You Start: Setting the Session Goal

Write down the answer to one question: what will you do with the backing track once you have it? In this example, the answer is specific — rehearse a bass line against the original band while the vocal is reduced. That matters because it tells you what "good enough" sounds like. A track that lets you hear the groove is useful even if the voice is not fully gone.

Checkpoint 1: Confirm You Have the Right to Process the File

You must have permission to process and publish the source material. The app does not grant rights to music or video, so if the recording is someone else's song, check that your use is allowed before you go further. In this example, the session uses a rehearsal recording made by the band itself, so the group controls the material.

  • Source: a local audio file exported from the band's rehearsal recorder.
  • Goal: a backing track for personal practice, not for public release.
  • Decision point: if you cannot establish permission, stop here rather than process further.

Importing and Making the First Pass

Import the file and start with the fast processing mode. The point of a first pass is speed: you want a version you can hear in a few minutes so you know whether the source is workable at all. Do not spend time on a fine pass before you have listened to anything.

Checkpoint 2: Judge the Source, Not the App

Play the separated result once without adjusting a single control. Ask three questions:

  1. Can you still hear the bass line and the kick drum clearly?
  2. Does the vocal sit in front of the band, or is it buried enough to ignore?
  3. Does anything sound thin, smeared, or hollow compared with the original?

Separation results vary with source quality, mixing, noise, and compression. A rehearsal recorded on a single room microphone with a loud PA will behave differently from a clean multitrack bounce. If the first pass sounds washed out, that is information about the source, not necessarily a failure of the mode you chose.

Deciding Whether to Switch Modes

This is the adjustment choice most people rush. Use the fast result as a screening test:

  • If the accompaniment is already usable, keep the fast result and move to balancing.
  • If the vocal still dominates or the instruments sound blurred, run the fine processing mode on the same file and compare.
  • If both attempts sound poor, consider whether the source is the limiting factor — heavy compression or a noisy room can leave little to separate.

Checkpoint 3: A/B on the Same Passage

Pick one short section — a verse and a chorus — and play both results back to back. Listen for the specific thing your goal requires. In this session, the test is whether the bass note choices are audible. The fine mode may preserve more detail but take longer, so only switch if the fast pass genuinely fails your test.

Don't chase a silent vocal. Chase a track where the part you need to learn is the thing your ear follows.

Balancing Vocals and Accompaniment for Practice

Once you have a result you can work with, open the mixed preview and use the separate vocal and accompaniment volume controls. Here the choices depend on the exercise, not on a fixed recipe:

  • Learning a bass line: pull the vocal down and keep the accompaniment high, so the harmony and rhythm stay intact.
  • Checking your own pitch against the original singer: leave a little vocal in the mix, just enough to hear the reference without copying it.
  • Rehearsing a transition between songs: start with the vocal slightly higher, then reduce it as you gain confidence.

Checkpoint 4: Listen on the Device You'll Rehearse With

A mix that sounds balanced on one set of speakers can sound different on a small practice amp or phone speaker. Listen once in the setup you will actually use. If the bass disappears on small speakers, that is a sign to raise the accompaniment rather than reprocess the whole file.

Saving, Reusing, and Cleaning Up

Store the result in recent history so you can return to it during the week without starting over. If you make two versions — one with more vocal, one with less — label them by their purpose in your notes, not by vague names like "final" or "test."

Before closing the session, decide what happens to the source file and intermediate attempts. The app supports sharing and cleanup, so remove the versions you will not rehearse with. A short history is easier to navigate than a long one.

Checkpoint 5: Confirm the Export Fits the Goal

Play the exported file from the beginning once. Confirm three things:

  1. The section you plan to practise is intact — no accidental cuts at the start or end.
  2. The volume balance matches the exercise you wrote down at the beginning.
  3. You know exactly where the file is stored and how to open it next time.

What This Session Leaves You With

You finish with a backing track that serves one purpose, plus a clearer sense of how your source material behaves. That second outcome is worth keeping. Next time you import a recording, you will know in advance whether a fast pass is likely to be enough, and you will not spend an hour reprocessing a file whose limits come from the room it was recorded in.

The habits that make this repeatable are simple: state the goal, screen with a fast pass, compare modes on a single passage, balance for the exercise rather than for perfection, and clean up what you will not use. Do those, and the question of how to remove vocals from music file stops being a technical puzzle and becomes part of your normal practice preparation.