INFO: Creating DIY Acapellas and Instrumentals

If you want to create a mashup or remix of a track, but can't get hold of the official studio instrumental or acapella via the sources listed here, then there a number of ways to create DIY acapellas and instrumentals or obtain unofficial or alternative versions of instrumentals and acapellas. Read on for a list of the main ways this can be done but keep in mind that there is no guarantee that any of these methods will actually produce a quality acapella/instrumental of a particular song.

INFO: Where To Find Official Instrumental and Acapella Tracks

Okay so lets say you want to find a download link for a studio instrumental or acapella version of a song, the first thing you probably want do is search for it using Google. However you will probably find that for many tracks it is not as simple as searching and finding a working download link to the official instrumental or acapella you need. If an official instrumental or acapella does not appear on the first few pages of search results, it is likely that it hasn't been made available to the public yet and it is possible it never will be.

However by knowing where most official instrumental and acapella tracks originate from, it may be possible for you to locate the track yourself. Read on for a list of ways you might get hold of an official instrumental or acapella track.

FREE DOWNLOAD: kn0ck0ut 0.8 - DIY Acapella Creation Software - Knockout

Download link: Free Download of kn0ck0ut v0.8 by St3pan0va

Kn0ck0ut v0.8 is VST plugin which allows you to create a DIY acapella using your DAW by spectrally analysing the instrumental and original versions of a track.

This software is by St3pan0va but as their original host site for the free download has since disappeared, I have uploaded it via niallspence.com.

The software is totally free to download, and checkout the read me that comes with the zip download for more information about kn0ck0ut (pronounced knockout). Please note this download is fully legal as the software is distributed as freeware.

While the results using this plugin are far from perfect I decided it would be worth uploading knockout to the internet once more as it still garners interest on sites such as acapellas4u.co.uk.

Also if you run LV2 compatible software then there is a port of the kno0ck0ut plugin with improved performance available here.

Have fun creating acapellas and thanks for reading!

Niall
@NiallSpence

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To search niallspence.com please use the search bar in the navigation bar at the top of the page. If you are browsing the mobile site the search feature is currently in development.

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Credits

Thank You!

...for visiting my website; niallspence.com. I'd also like to say thanks for anyone who has taken the time to listen, share or click like on any of the mashups or music featured here.

Also thank you to friends and family who have listened to and offered me advice on music, mashups and the site.

I would also like to say thank you to anyone online who has given me feedback on my tracks or helped out in other ways as well. In particular those on soundcloud, twitter and also at mashstix.com.

Also can I say thank you to anyone who has shared images online under Creative Commons licences or similar. Without your efforts and talents this site would simply be an unappealing wall of text!

Site Credits

As of July 2014, niallspence.com was designed and brought together by me, with the use of various third party tools, as well as my own programming. I thought it would be cool to mention all the resources used in this site, in case anybody browsing would like to implement similar features on their own site/blog.

Credits for the photos used on this site are listed separately at the bottom of this page.

First off the site is a blogger blog. The URL niallspence.com simply redirects to this blog. The template is a standard template with a few HTML, CSS3, javascript, PHP and SQL additions by me.

The image slider used on the homepage is the javascript image slider by menucool. To install it onto my site I followed the instructions given on this blog page and adapted the image slider to suit the site's requirements.

HTML, CSS and javascript knowledge was mainly gained from the w3cschools site. This is in addition to many other blogs, of which there are far too many to mention.

Google Chrome's developer features, including the 'inspect element' menu option, were vital for debugging and updating the site.

The social media follow buttons, and the share buttons on blog posts and other pages, are by addthis.

The niallspence.com search feature uses Google and was loosely based on processing.org's search feature.

Dropbox is used to store various files used on the site such as images and javascript. If you wish to use dropbox in a similar way you will need to learn how to create a 'public' dropbox folder.

The 'more from niallspence.com' links at the bottom of blog posts are automatically created using the nRelate related content plugin.

Features of the site which I designed and impleneted without the use of third party code include the static navigation bar, the features database PHP script and SQL database and the photo credits PHP script. Other blog tweaks I implemented include the redirect from niallspence.blogspot.co.uk to the static homepage and hiding page elements on the static homepage.

Music Credits

The music featured in my mashups is obviously owned by the copyright holder of each piece of music used, and by posting the mashups on a site such as YouTube any royalties generated from views of these videos will be distributed to the appropriate artists.

None of the mashups featured on this site are endorsed by the artists, and are all 100% unofficial.

Photography and Image Credits

All images used on the site are to the best of my knowledge used without infringing upon anyone's copyright. If you feel this site uses one of your photos without permission please contact me and I will resolve this matter as soon as possible.

None of the images of third parties used on the site are used for the purposes of advertising, they are simply simply used to illustrate the news features on the site.

Information on the licence types for each third party image that has been used on the site can be found here.

Full List of Third Party Photography and Image Credits

TUTORIAL: Making a Music Mashup Video

Have you ever tried to create a video for a music mashup or remix you have made? After trying to make one for the first time recently I have decided to share what I've learnt so far as there aren't really any tutorials dedicated to this subject online. The benefit of making a video for your mashup is that theoretically it will be more interesting to watch for your viewers than a simple 'still' video such as this.

Let me point out that this post is concerned with making a music mashup video, which involves is two or more songs mashed together like this. This post is not concerned with mashup videos like this, where the mashup is of two or more films or television programs that don't accompany a song.

Approach 1 - Use the official videos of the songs in the mashup.

In mashup music videos like this the video has been created by combining scenes from the original videos of the songs used in the mashup. To create a video like this you will need a video editing software application, your mashup audio file and digital file versions of any videos you wish to use in your mashup video. Once you have these things you can set about making your video.

Niall Spence Mashups by Genre

Listen to Niall Spence mashups based on their genre:

Rock, Metal and Indie | Dance and Electro | Rap and Hip Hop

The genres are are pretty vague as I didn't want to get bogged down deciding which tracks fit in which genre - for instance is 'Starships' pop or rap, or is 'Slow Life' dance or indie? If you want to hear all of my mashups regardless of genre, click on this page.

Rock, Metal and Indie mashups by Niallspence

View this playlist on YouTube

Dance and Electro mashups by Niall Spence

View this playlist on YouTube

Rap and Hip Hop mashups by Niall Spence

View this playlist on YouTube

LISTEN: Christina Aguilera vs Neon Neon - Dirrty Raquel - Mashup by Niall Spence

Hi everyone! Time for a brand new mashup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDnEeHQHLVw

Christina Aguilera ft Redman vs Neon Neon - Dirrty Raquel

This mashup was created using the acapella version of 'Dirrty' by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman and the instrumental version of 'Raquel' by Neon Neon.

This mashup was meant to have a video but YouTube blocked it so all you mashup fans will have to make do with the plain old still video instead :)

If you aren't familiar with Neon Neon they are comprised of Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys, who is perhaps best known as lead singer of the Super Furry Animals. The original version of the track 'Raquel' can be found on Neon Neon's debut album - Stainless Style.

If you do like this mashup feel free to let the world know by using the buttons at the bottom of this post to share on your favourite social platforms! :)

Also if you would like to hear my other mashups please click here. And to be the first to hear about my new mashups, please follow me on Twitter (@NiallSpence) or hit like on my facebook page: facebook.com/niallspence.

Thanks for listening!

Niall
@NiallSpence