Put a vocal on an instrumental online: a step-by-step guide

October 24, 2026 · All posts

You have a vocal recorded over your own beat, or a vocal you want on a different instrumental. Echoteka's Vocal on instrumental tool lines the two files up in time, cleans the voice if you ask it to, balances the voice against the instrumental, mixes them and runs the mix through mastering. You need two files and a few minutes.

What you need

• The vocal: a file with the voice and no music.
• The instrumental: the backing track of the same song. Both files should be at the same tempo. If the key is wrong, shift the instrumental first with the key change tool, which keeps the tempo.
• Length and size: up to 8 minutes per track and up to 100 MB per file. WAV, MP3, FLAC, M4A, OGG and AIFF are accepted.
• No instrumental yet? Split a song into voice and backing with the vocal remover first.

Step by step

1. Open the tool. Vocal on instrumental runs inside the Echoteka app.
2. Drop the vocal and the instrumental into their zones on the screen.
3. Check the voice options. All five options start ticked: align timing, remove noise, soften sibilance, even out loudness and light echo. Untick any you do not want. Each one changes the voice only.
4. Set the balance. The slider runs from −12 dB, where the voice sits quieter than the instrumental, to +12 dB, where it sits louder. At 0 dB the voice and the instrumental are equally loud in the active parts. Start at zero and move it from there.
5. Start with the preview. Listening to 30 seconds is free and shows your settings on the first part of both files. Choose the full track only when the balance is right.
6. Mix and master. Press "Mix and master". The panel shows each stage, and if the job takes long, the result also appears in your mastering history.
7. Compare. The "Before mastering" version is the mix without the final processing. "After mastering" is the finished version.
8. Download the WAV. The full track comes out as a 24-bit WAV.

What the server does

• Alignment. It compares the loudness envelopes of the two files and shifts the vocal by up to 10 seconds if they match. If the match is weak, it does not shift and tells you so, so check the timing by ear.
• Voice processing. Only the options you ticked: noise reduction, a sibilance softener in the 5 to 9 kHz band, an evener for loudness, and a light room echo.
• Balance and mix. It applies the balance you set and sums the two tracks, keeping the peaks at or below −1 dBFS so the mix does not distort.
• Mastering. The mix then goes through the same mastering step as any other track.

Preview, credits and limits

• Listening to 30 seconds is free, up to a daily limit that the tool shows.
• The full track is charged in credits, and the price appears before you start. The server takes the credit when it accepts the job. If the job fails, the credit returns to your balance automatically, as the refund policy describes.
• Downloading the full track needs an account. Listening to the preview does not.

How to tell if it worked

Listen on headphones and on a speaker, switching between "Before mastering" and "After mastering". If the voice sounds dull, untick the echo or the cleanup and compare again, because cleanup is not always needed. If the voice gets lost in the instrumental, move the balance. The same two files sound different at different balances, so do not settle on the first version you hear.

Common problems

• The voice is buried. Move the balance toward the voice. A few decibels usually make the difference.
• The timing sounds off. If the tool did not shift the vocal, the files may not have a clear point to match. Trim the leading silence from both files in your editor, then mix again.
• The voice sounds hollow after cleanup. Untick the option that changed it. Cleanup is optional.
• You hear distortion. Check both source files for clipping before you mix again. The mix itself is kept below −1 dBFS.

FAQ

Is there a length limit? Yes. Each track can be up to 8 minutes long, and each file up to 100 MB.

What do I get back? A 24-bit WAV of the mixed and mastered track. Listen to the 30-second preview first, for free.

Can I change the key of the instrumental? Yes. The key change tool shifts a track or an instrumental by up to 6 semitones in either direction and keeps the tempo.

Do I need an account? Not to listen to the preview. The full track needs an account and credits.