Not every project wants a voice. A YouTube video needs a bed under the narration, a wedding entry needs a tune, a rapper needs a beat, and a podcast needs something soft between segments. An instrumental is also the easiest kind of AI track to get right, because there are no words to mispronounce.
There are two ways to make one on Autunes, and they suit different jobs. This guide covers both, then the prompts, the steps, how to shape the result, and the licence you need to use it.
Two routes: generate it instrumental, or remove the vocal later
Route one is to switch on Instrumental only before you generate. The track is made with no singing at all. This is the route for background music, beats, solo pieces and anything where you never wanted a vocal.
Route two is to make a full song first and then split it. Stems separate a finished song into six parts: vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano and other. Leave out the vocal stem and you have the backing track of that exact song, useful for a karaoke or minus-one version. Stems cost 5 credits a song on Pro and Creator, come as 256 kbps MP3 files, and take about a minute for a four-minute song. You then combine the five non-vocal stems in any audio editor.
If you only need music, route one is cheaper and cleaner. If you need the instrumental of a song you already made and love, use route two.
What to put in an instrumental prompt
Without lyrics, the style description does all the steering. Cover these six things and the result gets much more predictable.
- Genre or setting: lo-fi hip hop, cinematic, Indian classical fusion, corporate pop, ambient, Punjabi bhangra.
- Lead instrument: the one that carries the melody, such as piano, sitar, bansuri, violin, electric guitar or synth.
- Tempo: a number or a range. Calm background music usually sits around 70-90 BPM, upbeat vlog music around 110-125, dance tracks around 120-130.
- Mood: warm, tense, hopeful, playful, nostalgic.
- Energy over time: 'starts soft, builds in the middle, gentle ending' gives the track a shape.
- Use: 'background music for a cooking video, stays under narration' tells the arrangement to stay uncluttered.
Solo instrument pieces
When Instrumental only is on, Autunes offers solo picks alongside a full band: piano, guitar, acoustic guitar, flute, violin, saxophone, cello, harp, sitar, bansuri, tabla, synth ambient pads and electronic beats only. A solo piece suits meditation audio, a yoga class, a temple or wedding setting, or a quiet product video.
A solo sitar or bansuri piece will not follow a strict raga on every take. If you want a particular raga, name it along with the time of day and mood, generate more than one take, and treat the result as raga-inspired rather than a classical performance.
Copy-ready instrumental prompts
Paste one of these into the style box with Instrumental only switched on, then adjust the details for your project.
- Lo-fi hip hop, warm electric piano, dusty drums, soft vinyl crackle, 80 BPM, calm and nostalgic
- Upbeat acoustic background music for a travel vlog, ukulele, claps, light percussion, 118 BPM, sunny, leaves room for voice-over
- Indian wedding entry instrumental, shehnai melody, dhol and strings, 100 BPM, grand and joyful
- Soft solo piano, slow and reflective, 66 BPM, for a memorial slideshow
- Hard-hitting Hindi hip-hop beat, deep 808, crisp hi-hats, dhol accents, 92 BPM
- Corporate explainer music, clean piano and plucked synth, light drums, 112 BPM, confident and friendly
- Morning meditation, bansuri over a tanpura drone, no percussion, very slow and peaceful
Step by step in Autunes
Everything happens in the browser at www.autunes.com. New accounts get 15 credits once, enough for one track.
- Open the song creator and switch on Instrumental only.
- Pick a genre preset or type your own style, and choose a solo instrument or the full band.
- In Custom mode, set the optional key, BPM and time signature if you know what you want.
- Choose the engine: Zori5 Turbo at 10 credits a track or Zori5.5 XL at 15 credits for a richer sound. Free users get XL only when they paste their own lyrics, so a free instrumental runs on Turbo.
- Generate. A track is usually ready in 2-4 minutes, up to 3 minutes long on Free and Pro and up to 5 minutes on Creator.
- For a reel or ad, use short-form audio instead: 15, 30 or 60 seconds for 2, 3 or 5 credits.
Shaping the result
A prompt steers the music; it does not lock every detail. Expect the first take to be close, and plan a round or two of changes.
- Variation: a fresh take of the same track for 5 credits. Choose Subtle, Fresh take or Reimagine for how far it moves. Select part of the waveform first and only that section changes. The free plan includes one variation; Pro and Creator are unlimited.
- Cut: on Pro and Creator, drag over a passage you do not want and remove it; the two sides are joined with a short crossfade.
- Layer Studio: add an instrument such as tabla, strings or guitar on top, 5 credits a layer, on Pro and Creator.
- MIDI export: on Pro and Creator, take the notes into your own music software to rebuild or extend a part.
Where you can use it, and the licence
Free-plan tracks are for personal use and are published publicly by default. To download one, buy its licence for ₹9 in India (US$1.79 or €1.59 elsewhere); that includes a commercial licence for that track, forever. On Pro (₹599 for 30 days) and Creator (₹2,999 for 30 days) every track can be downloaded and used commercially: monetised YouTube, reels, podcasts, ads, client work and films, with no royalty and no credit to Autunes. Creator also downloads lossless FLAC.
Splitting someone else's song into stems does not make the instrumental yours; it still belongs to them. Autunes asks you to confirm you own or have the rights to anything you upload, and only your own or properly licensed music is safe to publish.
Common mistakes
- Typing 'instrumental' in the prompt but leaving the switch off with lyrics in the box. The switch decides.
- Asking for a choir or vocal chops, which can bring voice-like sounds back into a no-vocals track.
- A busy track under narration. Ask for a sparse arrangement with fewer lead lines.
- No tempo. 'Slow' means different things on different takes; a BPM number is clearer.
- Expecting a seamless loop straight out. AI tracks have an intro and an ending; trim them in an editor if you need a loop.