Good news, everyone! DJs Acapellas4U is back online after a 6-month hiatus. For 15 years, the UK-based site has been delivering studio-quality DJ acapellas for their sets. After going down earlier in the year, we’re pleased to announce that you can stock up on new stems. Here’s the news.
Why did Acapellas4U go down?
It was a combination of things. Server issues, by the sounds of it. But mostly just that the person running it needed a break! Also, there’s a major shortage of web developers volunteering on these types of community-led projects. You see, this isn’t some giant company. It’s a labor of love one-man-show and we should all be grateful that it’s back at all.
What are DJ acapellas?
Acapellas are vocals-only versions of full tracks. They’re played back over house or hip hop beats during a DJ set. Having access to the vocals-only version means that you can make your own remixes and mashups of a well-known song. It’s a great way to introduce your style to people. A DJ might play a well-known hip hop vocal over a melodic house track, blowing multiple minds in the process. Check out what professional DJs are up to. There’s always some new version of a track in their set.
Who needs acapellas when we have stems?
A lot of DJ playback systems now include real-time stem separation. Why would you need to pre-download a vocal stem if you can just do it live? For one thing, the quality of real-time stem separation isn’t really as high as the studio-quality stuff on Acapellas4U. And if there’s one part of the tune which needs to be high-quality, it’s the vocal. Acapellas4U has been delivering all the goods for a very long time. Hit them up with a donation when you next go vocal-hunting. And while you’re spending, get into the DJ Courses Online DJ tutorials catalog.
All DJs learn sooner or later that you ARE your collection. Having special, rare tunes is what makes you special and rare. Sites like Acapellas4U are run independently, meaning that they haven’t signed deals with content providers. This means that the collection of music on the site isn’t broadly available everywhere. From a DJ perspective, sites like this are golden. The site still has a ways to go in terms of user experience, especially on mobile. But hey, don’t complain about your experience when it’s a free one! Welcome back, Acapellas4U and thanks for showing up again.