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eriksmoe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2015
15
4
Norway
I'm using an Iphone 5 on Ios 9.1. On two occasions a couple of weeks apart, I've listened to songs on my phone ripped and synced through Itunes, and they've started playing without the vocal part. The first time, it solved it self, but today it just didn't work. No vocals at all. Feels like I'm riding the karaoke taxi. The songs have worked for many years, so it's kinda strange. These are all Pink Floyd songs, BTW.
 

gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,672
3,853
I'm using an Iphone 5 on Ios 9.1. On two occasions a couple of weeks apart, I've listened to songs on my phone ripped and synced through Itunes, and they've started playing without the vocal part. The first time, it solved it self, but today it just didn't work. No vocals at all. Feels like I'm riding the karaoke taxi. The songs have worked for many years, so it's kinda strange. These are all Pink Floyd songs, BTW.
You may not be too far off with the karaoke bit. If the songs were added via iTunes and synced to the cloud via Apple Music you may have had your songs switched due to matching. I have not had this myself but I have read reports of some songs being matched with the wrong versions. In your case, you may have been matched with an instrumental version.

I should have asked before I say any more. Do you subscribe to Apple Music or Music Match. If so, what I said is possible. If not, you've got me at the moment.
 

eriksmoe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2015
15
4
Norway
You may not be too far off with the karaoke bit. If the songs were added via iTunes and synced to the cloud via Apple Music you may have had your songs switched due to matching. I have not had this myself but I have read reports of some songs being matched with the wrong versions. In your case, you may have been matched with an instrumental version.

I should have asked before I say any more. Do you subscribe to Apple Music or Music Match. If so, what I said is possible. If not, you've got me at the moment.

I only had the three month trial of Music, and have never subscribed to the Match feature. It should be said that this happens to be a problem when I'm in my car. Still, it's strange since I'm only transferring through AUX, so should be idiot-proof. Playing the songs now on the built-in speaker, I've suddenly got the vocals back.
 

gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,672
3,853
I only had the three month trial of Music, and have never subscribed to the Match feature. It should be said that this happens to be a problem when I'm in my car. Still, it's strange since I'm only transferring through AUX, so should be idiot-proof. Playing the songs now on the built-in speaker, I've suddenly got the vocals back.
You got me. The only angle I had was the idea that your uploaded song, one that would have been sent to the cloud for streaming via Apple Music, may have been replaced through song matching. The way that works (if you know please ignore) is to look at your track, compare to the Apple database, and if matched save the need for uploading to their servers. Trouble is, sometimes it matches to the wrong track on their side. When you go to play the song it streams to you the version they thought you had.

Not sure this is the case and its strange enough that I just don't have a quality reply but thought I would at least share that and say good luck.
 

eriksmoe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2015
15
4
Norway
Well, thanks for the reply. If I'd used Match, your answer would've been the right one.
 

Stuey3D

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2014
836
953
Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
I only had the three month trial of Music, and have never subscribed to the Match feature. It should be said that this happens to be a problem when I'm in my car. Still, it's strange since I'm only transferring through AUX, so should be idiot-proof. Playing the songs now on the built-in speaker, I've suddenly got the vocals back.

Sounds like your Aux cable is knackered and shorting out causing this, if you wiggle the cable it will probably come back with full detail.

Try a different cable and your problem should be solved.
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,845
2,505
Baltimore, Maryland
Yes...a bad cable or poorly fitting jack can cause phasing issues. If a song was recorded using any phasing effects, and Pink Floyd is a pretty good possibility, vocals can disappear with a bad or improper connection.

Also, make sure "Mono" isn't ON in your Accessibility settings.
 

pentcp2

macrumors member
Nov 14, 2015
35
44
Check the jack for headphones or audio out is fully engaged into the earphone socket on your phone. A case or other protective cover can often result in a narrowing of the aperture where the jack goes in, causing it to not go fully home. This can cause phase issues, as mentioned above by other posters, which can effectively remove all the "centre" audio information - vocals, bass etc.
Just a thought.
 

Armen

macrumors 604
Apr 30, 2013
7,408
2,274
Los Angeles
I only had the three month trial of Music, and have never subscribed to the Match feature. It should be said that this happens to be a problem when I'm in my car. Still, it's strange since I'm only transferring through AUX, so should be idiot-proof. Playing the songs now on the built-in speaker, I've suddenly got the vocals back.

Funny, I had that problem when I had a VW Tiguan. The vocal track wasn't there but the music track was but it worked fine on the iPhone's speaker or with headphones. Since I switched to the VW Touareg I don't have that problem anymore.

I think it has to do with how older songs (1970's for what I was listening to) were recorded.The stereo in my Tiguan for example couldn't figure out which speaker to send the vocal track to so I heard nothing. The reason why it works on your iPhone is because every track is directed to the only speaker the phone has.
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
When I read the thread title I thought it was a common mistake many make since music without singing (vocals) is NOT a song. For instance Dark Side of the Moon (since the OP referenced Pink Floyd) has 11 tracks but only 8 songs.:eek:

A better title would have been "missing".:)
 
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