Congas Extractor

How to extract the congas from a song

1. Upload the song. MP3, WAV, M4A or FLAC, up to 10 minutes. You sign in with Google the first time.
2. Press Extract the congas. It costs 1 credit for every minute of music, and the button shows the price before anything runs. New accounts start with 5 credits, enough for one song up to 5 minutes. Most songs take 1 to 3 minutes.
3. Listen and download. You get two reels: Congas and Without the congas. Click one to hear only that file, and download it as an MP3 at 320 kbps. If processing fails, your credits are returned.

What congas sound like in a song

Congas are tall, single-headed drums played with the hands, usually in a set of two or three. In Latin, salsa, afrobeat, funk and a lot of pop, they play a rolling pattern that sits between the drum kit and the bass. Open tones ring out, and slaps and muted hits give the groove its pulse. You will often hear a pair of them playing a repeating figure all the way through a song.

Who wants congas alone

Percussionists learn the pattern by ear. Isolate the congas, slow the file down in your player, and work out which hits are open tones and which are slaps. Then switch to the Without file and play the part with the band.

Producers sample a conga loop from a record and build a new beat around it.

Video editors use a warm, rhythmic layer to give a travel or beach scene some energy.

What to expect

Congas sit in a similar range to toms and the lower hand drums, and their sound is partly hidden by the bass and the kit. When the congas are loud in the mix, as in a salsa or Latin recording, the result is usually clear. In a pop track where they sit far back, the Congas file can sound faint, or hold some tom and kick sounds. Bongos and timbales are close relatives and may land in either file. In the Without file, a light trace of the congas can remain.

For all the hand percussion at once, use the Percussion Extractor. To remove or keep the whole drum kit, use the Drum Remover, and to split the kit into pieces use the Drum Kit Splitter. The Cowbell Extractor and Bells Extractor cover other percussion sounds.