How to use the Acapella app
You will need: wired headphones, a headphone extender if necessary, and iPhone or iPad with the Acapella
App. Headphone extenders can be found on Amazon. Bluetooth headphones are not ideal because the sound
quality is reduced and there is sometimes a slight delay (called latency) between the sound and the picture
1. Open Acapella. Click on the red square with the picture of a microphone on it that looks like this:
2. Press “Record New” to begin a new project.
3. Select a layout (usually the classic layouts are best)
4. Now you can select the shape or size of the various videos. For a string quartet, you might pick the option
that looks like this:
For a soloist and accompaniment, you might pick a layout that has
one large frame for the soloist and smaller frames for the accompa-
nists. e “ratio” should not matter much unless you are planning to
post the video to instagram. Any of the options (1:1, 16:9, 4:5) will
work.
5. Pick one section to get started. Press the “+” sign in
the middle of the square.
6. To record, press the big red button at the bottom of
the screen. e app will begin counting down. If your
headphones aren’t plugged in, the app will remind you
at this point to plug them in. Aer you record, you can
either “redo” your recording or hit continue.
Coaches can chose to upload a “guide” video in this
rst space they play, conduct, count o, or give an
introduction for the group.
Aer you have nished recording, you can hit the red
button again to stop.
e app will automatically play for you what you recording. You have the option to trim the beginning or end
of your video if you wish. en press ‘OK’ in the top right corner.
7. To add the next layer yourself, press the plus sign on the next square you’d like to record on. en press red
the record button. Listen on your headphones to hear what was previously recorded while you play the next
layer.
ere are some other features of Acapella that may
be of interest to faculty and students.
1. You can record using a metronome by pressing
this button. e metronome will sound in the head-
phones, but not on the recording.
2. is button allows you to ip the camera around
and use the rear camera on your phone. is can
get you a nicer picture, but it works best for the rst
video where you don’t need to see the screen.
3. is button allows you to import a video from
your phone into Acapella. It can be a previously re-
corded video or something else entirely. is feature
also allows more than 9 people to appear in one
video, because you can record a video with 9 people,
save it, import it into one square, and record 8 more
squares.
Questions? Email chambermusic@musicinst.org
8. To send your recording to someone else instead,
press “save and share”. en select “collaboration”.
e app will let you chose how to invite someone
to collaborate with you. Email or SMS (text mes-
sage) is probably the easiest way. at person will
receiver a link to open your collaboration.
e recording will open in the next player’s app
like you see on the right. ey will select one of
the empty boxes and can record in that box. Be
careful- if they select the box that you recorded in
accidently, it will delete your recording and replace
it with theirs.
