Removing artificial lawn and prepping ground for grass seed.

Hello. Completely new to gardening so assume complete ignorance. I am moving to a new property and one of the first jobs is to remove the artificial lawn (looks terrible, don't like them in general) and replace with natural grass. I have watched a dozen videos on how to prep the ground for grass seed (budget can't stretch to turf) and have the general gist. However, I am aware that underneath most artificial lawns there will be a layer of sharp sand or silica sand. Do I need to remove this or can it be dug over into the soil underneath? Would a layer of top soil be required? Many thanks.