How-to guide
How to make an instrumental cover track
An instrumental cover — you singing or playing over the original song's arrangement — is one of the fastest ways to make a polished-sounding recording without building a full backing band. VocalSplit produces the instrumental you need.
You can release covers on streaming services legally through a mechanical license service like DistroKid or Tunecore, but the original instrumental is still copyrighted. Check licensing before releasing a cover that uses the original backing.
Step-by-step
- Pick the song to cover. Use the highest-quality source you can get — FLAC, WAV or 320 kbps MP3 is ideal.
- Open VocalSplit.io and upload the track. Drag the file into the upload area.
- Pay $0.99 for the split. The pack of 10 at $0.50 each makes sense if you are recording multiple covers.
- Download the instrumental stem. Lossless 24-bit WAV, ready to import into your DAW.
- Record your vocal over it. In Logic, Ableton, Reaper, GarageBand or any DAW — line up the instrumental and record your take on top.
Tips for better results
- If you are releasing the cover, use an official instrumental when the artist has one (some do, many do not).
- For a cleaner sound, treat the instrumental with gentle EQ to cut any residual vocal bleed.
- Keep the original vocal stem around as a pitch reference while you rehearse.
Try VocalSplit free
Upload a song and get clean vocals and instrumental stems in under 15 seconds. First split is $0.99.
Split a song