There are certain “thresholds” in DJing – skills that once you cross the boundary, there’s no going back. Beatmixing, scratching, keymixing – and we can definitely add “DJing with acapellas” to that list.
There is literally nothing like fitting an acapella perfectly over an instrumental, especially when the acapella is so new that you suddenly realise you may be the first person in the world ever to have done it! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it…
You may not even realise how frequently DJs do this, so to throw some light on the “dark art” of acapella mixing, here are ten of our favourite acapella mixes, old and new. Some are technically very simple (it’s all about the idea), some a bit more involved, but all show the power of a well-chosen and well-timed acapella to lift a DJ set.
Read this next: Where DJs Get Acapellas
How to do this
Of course, acapella mixing is not easy. Where do you find them? How do you prepare them? How do you get the timing right? What are the “tricks of the trade”? If you’ve ever tried acapella mixing and realised it can be harder than it looks, or you’re just after loads of new ideas for doing this in your own DJing, do check out our How To Mix With Acapellas (& Stems) course, new for 2024 at Digital DJ Tips.
Our 10 Favourite Acapella Mixes
George Michael x Barry White Crowd Pleaser
@pamo0919♬ Originalton – PaMo
This “wow moment” crowd pleaser uses the acapella of George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”, with a teased percussion loop of Barry White’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”, building the tension to a perfectly timed jump to the drop.
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Stevie Wonderful Acapella Mix
One of Jeff’s signature mixes, this smooth blend of Stevie’s “My Cherie Amour” acapella over the top of a classic funky breakbeat, is pure bliss. He ends it by leaving the acapella solo for just a few seconds before masterfully scratching in the next tune.
Read this next: DJ Jazzy Jeff’s 3 Tips For DJing With Stems
Fatboy Slim “All The Ladies” acapella bridge (in the car!)
UK DJs Fatboy Slim and Eats Everything made a cool video driving around Brighton, England, mashing up tunes using a DJ controller in the car, and this particular transition where Fatboy Slim was on the decks, stood out as a great one as he moves between two different house tracks, using an acapella as the “glue” in the middle. It’s a risky and skilful manoeuvre, especially on the move!
Roger Sanchez’s Four Deck Acapella House Mix
Mashing up Shakedown’s classic “At Night” house acapella with three other tracks, then combining fader cuts, effects and a little bit of scratching to create a funky live remix, this routine is packed with the kind of energy that only the “S Man” can deliver.
James Hype’s “Flying Solo” Kanye West Acapella transition
This is not for the faint-hearted! James drops the music completely, leaving just Kanye’s soloed melodic vocals to hype the crowd… “throw your hands up in the sky!”, before looping the vocal and gradually filtering up the next track for a massive drop. Acapella usage at its most effective.
Learn to DJ with James: James Hype’s Mixing Skills
Dido x Drum and bass!
Dido’s “Thank You” acapella, at 85 BPM, is exactly half the tempo of drum & bass at around 170 BPM, and here BYNX creates a ballistic live mashup using this clever mathematic DJ trick. A question for you, then: Have you got any slow jams in your collection that could fit nicely over a track at double the tempo?
Switch Disco’s Euphoric Nelly Furtado Mashup
@switchdisco Reply to @lprice977 ♬ Say It Right x Children – switchdisco
The piano house classic Robert Miles’s “Children” mashed up with Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right?” It sounds crazy but it works! This is one of the best of a growing trend of TikTok mashups that bring together the most unlikely pairings of tracks to create new versions. A lot goes into creating these – from extracting acapella stems, to key matching, timing and the use of effects – and remember if this kind of thing appeals to you, our How To Mix With Acapellas (& Stems) course goes into how it’s all put together.
Chris Villa’s “Deep Inside” Tempo Change Word Play
US DJ Chris Villa plays some of the biggest venues out there, often during the gaps between play in baseball games. He only gets a few seconds to make an impression and he’s become a master at short, crowd-pleasing routines like this one. Here he shifts from a 104 BPM Adele acapella blend to a 126 BPM house classic (Deep Inside) using a clever wordplay performance, with skill, creativity and flair.
Todd Terry’s Acapella Cue Point Stabs
This is a real crowd pleaser, or should we say, crowd teaser! House music legend Todd Terry tears the roof off Ministry of Sound in London with his clever teasing of a massive house track, layered with acapellas and effects.
Aviel Brant’s “1 Acapella, 4 Mashups in 60 Seconds”
A hit-packed mashup with four different beats laid under Dennis Lloyd’s “Alien” acapella is 60 seconds of mayhem made for social media! Michael Jackson, Amy Whitehouse and more feature here in this next-level acapella mix!
Learn to do this in your own sets: How To Mix With Acapellas (& Stems)
Finally…
Did any of these particularly inspire you? Were you not so fond of any in particular? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. What’s your favourite acapella transition that we haven’t featured here? Feel free to post a link to it below too – we’d love to hear it.
Phil Morse
![The 2024 Acapella & Stems DJing Revolution [Live Q&A]](data:image/svg+xml;nitro-empty-id=NzUyOjcyNw==-1;base64,PHN2ZyB2aWV3Qm94PSIwIDAgMTUwIDE1MCIgd2lkdGg9IjE1MCIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxNTAiIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyI+PC9zdmc+ "The 2024 Acapella & Stems DJing Revolution [Live Q&A]")
