Bowed Strings Extractor

How to extract the bowed strings from a song

1. Upload the song. MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC, up to 10 minutes. The first time, you sign in with Google.
2. Press Extract the bowed strings. The price shows on the button before it runs: 1 credit per minute of music. New accounts start with 5 credits. Most songs take 1 to 3 minutes.
3. Listen and download. You get two reels, Strings and Without the strings. Click one to hear only that file. Each downloads on its own as an MP3 at 320 kbps.

If a job fails, the credits come back.

One file for the whole section

Bowed strings means the instruments played with a bow: violins, violas, cellos and double basses. This page returns them together as one file. That suits string arrangements in pop ballads, film-style cues, soul records and orchestral tracks, where the section moves as a block and you rarely want to pick one player out.

If you need a single instrument, use Violin Extractor, Viola Extractor, Cello Extractor or Double Bass Extractor.

Who uses it

• Arrangers study how a section is voiced: where the cellos sit under the violins, when the lines split.
• Sample makers want long sustained strings without drums and vocals over them.
• Singers and cover bands use Without the strings to perform a song that normally has an orchestra.
• Video editors keep the strings as an underscore and drop the rest.

What can go wrong

A real string section recorded in a room separates better than strings made on a synth. Synth string pads and bowed strings share a sound, so a pad may land in the Strings file. Plucked strings such as harp or guitar are a different family; for those see the Plucked Strings Extractor. Dense mixes with brass swells in the same range can leave some bleed in both files.