AI stem splitter: split a song into vocals, drums and bass

A stem is one part of a song on its own track: the vocals, the drums, the bass, a guitar or a synth. In a studio those parts are recorded separately and mixed down into one stereo file, and once the song is released the separate tracks usually stay with the artist. An AI stem splitter works backwards. It listens to the finished mix, recognizes each instrument by its sound — the snap of a snare, the low end of a bass, the shape of a voice — and pulls those parts out into files you can play, mute and rearrange.

Older tricks, like cutting the center of the stereo image, tended to take the bass and kick along with the vocal. A trained model separates parts by how they sound rather than where they sit in the stereo field, so each stem keeps more of its own tone. Melos works as a music splitter right in the browser: upload an MP3 or M4A, or split a song you made in the Melos chat, and the split is ready in a couple of minutes.

How to split a song into stems in Melos

Sign in and open the Melos chat on a computer or phone. Upload an MP3 or M4A up to 30 MB — a finished track, a bounced demo or a recording from your phone — or pick a song you already made in Melos. Choose “Backing track and vocals” for a quick two-file split, or “Up to 12 stems and MIDI” for a full multitrack archive if your plan includes it. The MP3s play right in the chat; the WAV archive downloads through a temporary link, so save it soon.

Stem splitter options: two, five or 12 stems

“Backing track and vocals” gives you two MP3s: the instrumental and the vocals. It covers karaoke, an acapella or a quick instrumental, and it’s the split your account’s free try can pay for; after that it comes with the Pro and Business packs or any subscription. With any subscription, the same split adds five WAV stems — vocals, drums, bass, other instruments and instrumental — which handles most remixing, practice and DJ work. When you need guitar, piano, strings or synths on their own tracks, plus MIDI, the Pro, Max and Studio subscriptions split a song into up to 12 stems.

Drum remover, isolated bass and practice tracks

Many people looking for a drum remover want two things at once: a mix without drums to play along with, and the drum part on its own to learn from. The five-stem split gives you both. Put the vocals, bass and other-instruments stems into any audio editor and leave the drums muted for a drumless practice track, or solo the drum stem to study the groove. The same approach works for bassists, who can loop the bass stem, and for guitar and keyboard players on a 12-stem split.

What affects the quality of separated stems

AI separation is an estimate of the original parts, not a copy of the studio session. It’s cleanest on well-recorded songs where each instrument has room in the mix. Dense arrangements, heavy reverb, distortion and old recordings can leave faint traces of one part inside another stem, and instruments that share a range, such as guitar and keys, are harder to separate than vocals or drums. The splitter doesn’t change key or tempo and doesn’t remove noise: it separates the parts and hands you the files to work with.

Stems, remixes and copyright

Splitting a song doesn’t change who owns it. Stems of someone else’s track are for personal use: practice, learning parts, studying a mix or a remix you keep to yourself. Releasing, uploading or monetizing a remix, sample or edit built on them needs permission from the rights holders. Songs you wrote and recorded are yours to split and use. So are songs you make in Melos: on paid plans you can use them and their stems commercially, in releases, videos, podcasts and games.