Separation Stories: ADX Technology in Action for Remastered Baywatch Release

Audionamix Services Specialist Stephen Oliver recounts his experience removing music from the blockbuster TV series’ worldwide HD rerelease.

With its water rescue action and eye-popping scenery, the smash hit show Baywatch has been broadcast in over 200 different countries, and watched by over a billion people worldwide. Its success spawned the star-studded 2017 feature film by the same name, and the original story and characters still have a dedicated fan base across the globe.

It’s no surprise then, that in 2018 the company behind Baywatch, Fremantle, started the process of creating a fully remastered HD version of Baywatch for worldwide distribution, including popular streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video. The original series was shot on 35mm film, making it possible to digitize and clean the negatives for conversion to high-definition digital picture. This involved painstaking work by many talented people, and the end result looks fantastic.

On the audio side, the project presented another challenge: due to the popularity of Baywatch, many of the songs used in the original series have since become very expensive to license due to their commercial success. Licensing these songs for the remastered version would make the entire project cost-prohibitive.

To make the re-release possible, it was decided to replace over 350 songs with new, more affordable music, which allowed the project to get off the ground. This wasn’t a problem for the English version of the show, as the separate music, effects, and dialogue stems were archived and available, so the music stem could be easily be muted and replaced.

With stems available, the original music track can be muted and replaced.

This full composite mix includes dialogue, music, and effects elements all combined on a single stereo track. There’s no way to independently control or mute the separate elements.

Enter the Audionamix Professional Services team, a group of audio experts working with proprietary artificial intelligence technology that aims to find and extract specific elements in a mix without processing or destroying the rest of the information within.

Using a patented process known as “Music Dissociation”, we were able to separate only the music from each scene, leaving the dialogue and effects intact. Music Dissociation works by teaching the AI the sonic fingerprint of the song, or source, in this case provided to us by Warner Bros. The AI then analyzes the full audio file and separates it into two elements, the learned music and the remaining dialogue and effects.

Armed with this technology, our team worked on over 400 clips from the show’s nine seasons, allowing for the replacement of music in the French, Spanish Neutral, Spanish Castilian, Italian, and German versions of the show.

In a perfect world one would perpetually have access to all of the elements that create a full mix, whether it be a movie or a song. But this world is complicated, unexpected challenges arise, and archives are often lost over the years. I’ve been honored to assist clients through these worst case scenarios to help them realize their visions for beloved shows, movies, and songs.

Turns out sometimes even the Hoff needs a helping hand.

Separation Stories Part 2: Covers

In the Field with Steve Wilk – XTRAX STEMS

Producers and audio engineers around the world use Audionamix software every day to separate, remix, and create. Producer and Playback Engineer Steve Wilk writes of his experience using XTRAX STEMS in his creative process:

While working on our initial EP for A-List Records, we were asked to record some covers. Traditionally we would brainstorm some songs, pick one and start working on it. First we would need to learn the song, and then we would put it in the right key for our vocalist, and only then begin to experiment with the idea we had.  Obviously, this all becomes quite time consuming, and definitely slows down the creative process!

When I started working as a beta tester for Audionamix’s vocal extractor software, XTRAX STEMS, I thought it would be a great opportunity to combine this software with the process of recording covers.

What I discovered was how much of a time saver XTRAX STEMS is. I could hear a song, say in a cafe, or on a playlist, in a movie, etc. Once I had an idea, I could come back to my computer, get the original song, drop it into XTRAX STEMS and let the software perform the vocal extraction.  Within minutes I would be importing files into my session and working on the idea.

With the first song I tried out I had a new version with drums, a new loop of harmony material, and the separated vocals were muted. Ironically, the singer I was working with listened to the cover and liked the music so much, she wrote a new song on top of it. She didn’t realize it was a cover at all!

This ability to keep in the creative mind is so important today. So often we get bogged down with other time-consuming tasks, only to realize that the idea we had may not work, which can be heartbreaking. XTRAX STEMS has made the process of trying an idea with a cover song both seamless and efficient, allowing me to find out quickly what will work and what won’t.

Steve Wilk with Hannah & The Engineers

Using XTRAX STEMS has also led me to some interesting musical discoveries, as it can give you a breakdown of recorded music that you normally would never get just listening to a full mix. You can listen to the drum track alone, separate from the bass, which lets you hear more nuance and production techniques.

Listening to the music stem, minus the drums and vocal, really opens up the song and is a great learning tool either for instruments or for production and mixing techniques.

This is really a great way to analyze and hear what is going on inside your favorite tracks, whether you are a musician, producer, or engineer. It can be quite surprising to discover some of the elements that become obvious when the track is separated. For example, degrees of swing, mixing of sounds, and production techniques that aren’t obviously audible in the full mix.

Every time I split apart a track with XTRAX STEMS, I truly am surprised at what I find, as I discover something new each time.

-Steve Wilk

About Steve

Steve Wilk is a Producer/Engineer. He currently works with artist/actress Kat Graham, with Musical Director Michael “Nomad” Ripoll (Babyface). Other clients include Keyshia Cole, Hannah and the Engineers, and various show programming for tours.