How to slow down a song to learn it

What you need

The song as a file: a video you filmed or saved, or an audio file like an MP3, M4A or WAV, up to 500MB. A recent version of Chrome, Edge or Safari, on a phone or a computer.

Slowing down happens in the studio, which works on a split song, so the first time your browser downloads the separation engine once (about 172MB). Do that first one on Wi-Fi.

Slow it down, step by step

1. 1Open extractune.com/extract and pick the file.
2. 2Trim to the song if the file is longer, then tap Extract audio.
3. 3Tap Split audio. When the split is ready, tap Open the studio.
4. 4Tap Slower. Each tap takes off 5%, down to 50%. The pitch stays where it was.
5. 5Press play. Tap Faster to speed back up, or Original speed and key to reset.

Loop the hard part

Play up to the start of the passage and tap Loop a section. Play on to the end of it and tap again: that stretch now repeats until you clear it. Seeking stays inside the loop, so you can't lose your place.

Build up speed on each pass

With a loop set, tap Build up speed. It starts at 70% (or wherever you've set the speed, if that's slower) and adds 5% every time the loop comes round, until you're playing along at full speed. It's the old metronome trick, done for you.

A practice routine that works

Start slow enough to play it right every time, even if that feels too slow. Loop just the hard bar plus a beat either side, so you practise getting in and out of it too. Let Build up speed raise the tempo, and when you stumble, tap Slower once and stay there for a few passes before going on.

Take out your own part

Because the song is split, you can also turn your own instrument down. Drummers can mute the drums, bass players the bass, singers the voice, and play the missing part yourself over the rest.

Save the slowed version

The mix download uses the speed and key you've set, so you can take a slowed copy to practise with anywhere. Speed and key reset when you close the studio.

Limits

Splits run up to 5 minutes at a time where the browser can use your graphics chip, and 2 where it can't; trim a longer file to the part you're learning. Very slow speeds can sound a little smeared, which is normal for any time-stretching.