> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.augent.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# separate_audio

> Separate audio into stems (vocals, drums, bass, other) using Meta's Demucs v4. Isolates vocals from music, background noise, and other sounds for clean transcription.

Uses Meta's HTDemucs model to split audio into individual stems. The vocal stem feeds directly into any other Augent tool for dramatically cleaner results on noisy recordings.

**Requires:** `pip install augent[separator]` (included in `augent[all]`)

***

## Example

**Request:**

```json theme={null}
{
  "audio_path": "/Users/you/Downloads/podcast-with-intro-music.mp3",
  "vocals_only": true
}
```

**Response:**

```json theme={null}
{
  "stems": {
    "vocals": "/Users/you/.augent/separated/a1b2c3d4_htdemucs_vocals/vocals.wav",
    "no_vocals": "/Users/you/.augent/separated/a1b2c3d4_htdemucs_vocals/no_vocals.wav"
  },
  "vocals_path": "/Users/you/.augent/separated/a1b2c3d4_htdemucs_vocals/vocals.wav",
  "model": "htdemucs",
  "source_file": "/Users/you/Downloads/podcast-with-intro-music.mp3",
  "cached": false,
  "output_dir": "/Users/you/.augent/separated/a1b2c3d4_htdemucs_vocals",
  "hint": "Use the vocals_path as the audio_path in transcribe_audio, search_audio, deep_search, or any other tool for clean results."
}
```

**Then transcribe the clean vocals:**

```json theme={null}
{
  "audio_path": "/Users/you/.augent/separated/a1b2c3d4_htdemucs_vocals/vocals.wav",
  "model_size": "tiny"
}
```

***

## Parameters

| Parameter     | Required | Default    | Description                                                                                                             |
| ------------- | -------- | ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `audio_path`  | Yes      |            | Path to the audio/video file                                                                                            |
| `vocals_only` | No       | `true`     | If true, separates into vocals + no\_vocals (faster). If false, separates into all 4 stems: vocals, drums, bass, other. |
| `model`       | No       | `htdemucs` | Demucs model. `htdemucs` is fast with great quality. `htdemucs_ft` is fine-tuned for best quality but slower.           |

***

## Full 4-Stem Separation

Set `vocals_only` to `false` to get all four stems:

```json theme={null}
{
  "audio_path": "/Users/you/Downloads/song.mp3",
  "vocals_only": false
}
```

**Response:**

```json theme={null}
{
  "stems": {
    "vocals": "/path/to/vocals.wav",
    "drums": "/path/to/drums.wav",
    "bass": "/path/to/bass.wav",
    "other": "/path/to/other.wav"
  },
  "vocals_path": "/path/to/vocals.wav",
  "model": "htdemucs",
  "cached": false
}
```

***

## Notes

<Tip>Results are cached by file hash. The first run separates the audio. Every run after is instant.</Tip>

<Tip>Use `vocals_only: true` (the default) when your goal is transcription. It is faster than full 4-stem separation and produces the same vocal quality.</Tip>

<Tip>Separated stems are stored at `~/.augent/separated/`. Each file gets its own directory named by hash, so the same file is never processed twice.</Tip>

<Tip>The `vocals_path` from the response can be used as `audio_path` in **any** Augent tool: `transcribe_audio`, `search_audio`, `deep_search`, `chapters`, `identify_speakers`, `batch_search`, and more.</Tip>

<Tip>For best quality on difficult audio (heavy overlapping voices and music), use `model: "htdemucs_ft"`. It is slower but produces cleaner separation.</Tip>