Tambourine Extractor

How to extract the tambourine 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 tambourine. It costs 1 credit for every minute of music, and the button shows the price first. 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. Two reels come back: Tambourine and Without the tambourine. Click one to hear only that file, then download it as an MP3 at 320 kbps. If processing fails, your credits are returned.

The tambourine in a song

A tambourine is a hand frame drum with small metal jingles, called zills. It plays a bright shimmer on the off-beats in folk, gospel, country, soul and pop, and often doubles the snare or hi-hat to make a chorus feel bigger. When it is shaken you hear a continuous rattle, and when it is hit you hear a sharp tap with a jingle after it.

Why you might want it alone

Producers use a clean tambourine take as a sample and loop it under another beat.

Percussionists and drummers learn how it is played. With the Tambourine file you can hear whether the part is quarter notes, eighths, or a swung shake, then practice along with the Without file.

Video editors who need a light, cheerful rhythm can use the isolated shimmer under a scene.

Mixers remove it when it is too bright or fights with the hi-hat.

What to expect

A tambourine is small and sits in the same high frequencies as the hi-hat and shaker. In a busy mix the extracted file can come back faint, or carry a little of the hi-hat or other bright percussion. Songs where the tambourine is clearly audible, such as folk, gospel and acoustic pop, work best. In the Without file, a light trace of the tambourine can remain.

For all hand percussion at once, use the Percussion Extractor. For the drum kit, use the Drum Remover, or the Drum Kit Splitter to separate the hi-hat. For hand claps, see the Claps Extractor.