Remove Background Music from Video and Blur Photo Backgrounds: A Practical Guide

Learning how to remove background music from a video is one of those skills that sounds simple until you actually try it. Music is often mixed into video files at the same frequencies as dialogue, making clean separation difficult without the right tools. Whether you’re editing a client video, repurposing footage for a new project, or simply cleaning up a recording, this guide gives you practical methods.

This guide also covers how to blur background of photo for portraits and product images, using pink and white striped background setups for clean product shots, and covering the full editing workflow from audio to visual removal.

How to Remove Background Music from a Video

Using AI-Based Audio Separation Tools

The most reliable way to remove background music from video is using an AI audio separation tool. Adobe Podcast (formerly Project Shasta) offers a free web-based option that separates voice from music with accuracy that was impossible a few years ago. Upload your video’s audio track, process it, and download the cleaned vocal track.

For offline processing, Audacity with the Spleeter plugin or iZotope RX (the industry standard for audio repair) gives you full control. How to remove background music from a video in iZotope RX involves using the Music Rebalance module, which lets you reduce music amplitude by up to 24dB while preserving voice frequencies.

When Separation Is Not Possible

Some video files have the music mixed so deeply into the dialogue track that no tool can fully separate them. In these cases, your options are to replace the audio entirely with a clean voiceover recorded separately, or to accept some residual music bleed and use a high-pass filter around 200Hz to reduce low-frequency music content.

Always work on a copy of your original file. Audio processing changes are destructive, and you may need to return to the original if your first attempt degrades dialogue quality too much.

How to Blur Background of Photo for Clean Subjects

Understanding how to blur background of photo is different from video audio work, but the goal is the same: isolate your subject from unwanted background content. In Photoshop, use Select Subject, then refine the selection with Select and Mask to get clean edges around hair and complex shapes.

Once your subject is selected, invert the selection to target the background, then apply Gaussian Blur at a radius between 15 and 40 pixels depending on how much separation you want. For portraits, 20 to 25 pixels produces a natural-looking blur that simulates shallow depth of field.

Using Pink and White Striped Background for Product Photography

A pink and white striped background is a popular choice for product photography aimed at lifestyle and beauty brands. The stripes create visual interest without competing with the product. Shoot with a 90mm or 100mm macro lens at f/8 to keep both the stripes and the product sharp across the frame.

If you need to remove the striped background entirely in post, a consistent, evenly lit background is much easier to select cleanly than a patterned one. Shoot at a distance that keeps the stripes slightly out of focus for easier selection later. Combining these techniques, removing unwanted background music from accompanying video and cleaning up background on stills, gives your final product content a polished, professional look.