AcaSpot News

Did you know you can pull your members’ bios from Acaspot through an iframe for your website?  All you have to do is copy and insert the following code:

<iframe frameBorder="0" src="http://www.acaspot.com/group?g=1&i=1" style="width: 600px; height: 470px"></iframe>

However, the URL in this code must match your particular group id.  Go to your Acaspot home page and click on your group’s profile.  The URL will be something similar to:

http://www.acaspot.com/group?g=1

All you have to do is add &i=1 to the URL (which tells Acaspot to return the page formatted correctly for a 600px wide iframe) and put it into the iframe code above, then use the code on your website.

Tired of sitting around for 2 hours waiting to see if anyone will be showing up for your open auditions?  Or did you find yourself wishing you had scheduled another night because you had no way of knowing THAT many people would show up?  Did you lose that amazing soloist’s cell phone number and have no way of telling her she made the group?

With AcaSpot, you can post audition timeslots for your a cappella group.  Your auditionees can go to www.acaspot.com/audition and sign up for a time slot.  You can also customize a questionnaire for them to fill out (contact information, musical experience) that is saved in your AcaSpot system for you to refer to.

 To set up your group’s auditions, go to Group-> Auditions from your AcaSpot homepage.

Under the “Customize” tab, you choose which information your auditionees must provide and you can customize the confirmation e-mail they receive when their registration is complete.

Under the “Schedule” Tab, you can schedule Individual auditions or Group auditions.  Individual only allows a single person to sign up for each timeslot, while Group auditions allows an unlimited number of people.  Choose the date, start time, and duration of the audition and click “add”.  You can also cancel a block of auditions.

When an auditionee signs up for a timeslot, their name will appear next to their timeslot on your Group->Auditions page.   Clicking on a name will take you to their questionnaire answers.

Just send your auditionees to http://www.acaspot.com/audition.  It’s that easy!

Next Step:  Minutes & Attendance

Track your recording progress, discuss tracks with your members and producers, and post unfinished clips for member or producer comments with AcaSpot.

You can manage your recording projects by clicking on “CD Projects” on the “Music” tab from your AcaSpot home page.   Add your Mix Engineer/Producer as an associate member to your AcaSpot group and stay organized with all of AcaSpot’s project managing features:

1. Create a new album by clicking the “New” tab.
2. Create and order tracks for your album by selecting “New Track”.
3. Manage album and track details for your liner notes by clicking “Album Details” or “Track Details”.
4. Upload files associated with your album for your members or producer to comment on by selecting “Upload File” next to the appropriate track.
5. Once you’ve listed the voice parts on the track details, you can track the recording progress for each track by clicking “Progress”.
6. Post comments and responses and prioritize your group’s feedback for your producer under the “Discuss” tab.

Next Step:  Schedule Auditions with AcaSpot!

Once you have set up your group’s arrangement library, you can use AcaSpot’s Set List Builder to help you plan your set lists.

 The Set List Builder uses the arrangements and part assignments to find songs that your group is prepared to perform.  Say you have a gig for a Christmas party and 10 out of your 12 members can be there.  Normally you have to sit down and look at each song in your repertoire to figure out which songs are performable.  AcaSpot can give you a possible set list in just seconds.

1. Log in to AcaSpot, go to Music -> Arrangements and click on Build Set List
2. Select the members of your group that will be present and select “Find Songs”.   The Set List Builder will return a list of songs from your group’s arrangement library with either active or retired status with all parts covered according to your part assignments.

It’s that easy! 

 Next Step:  Use AcaSpot to manage your recording projects

To manage your group’s arrangements, go to Music -> Arrangements.

Adding a New Arrangement

To add a new arrangement to your library, click on the “New” tab.   Fill in the details, choose the group and arranger, and then “Add”.

 The Arrangement Library can be sorted by any of the table columns, making it easy to see which songs are retired, which songs were arranged by a particular member, or which arrangement was most recently edited.

Editing Arrangement Details

Once you’ve created the arrangement, you can edit the details and arrangement attributes.

• Status: The arrangement status allows users to browse only finished arrangements and build a set list from only active and retired repertoire.
• Parts:  Select the voice parts that the arrangement has so that you can assign parts to members.

Assigning Voice Parts

For each arrangement, you can assign members to voice parts.  Do this by clicking on “Assign Parts” for the arrangement and filling out the table.  Current members are listed first, in alphabetical order, and then alumni are listed in alphabetical order.  Clicking a table cell toggles between assigning a primary part, assigning a secondary/back-up part, and unassigning that member to that voice part.   The Set List Builder uses the part assignments to search for songs that you can perform with a selected group of people.  In order for the Set List Builder to be as beneficial as possible, be sure to keep your part assignments up to date.

Uploading Files

You can upload related files to your arrangement for collaboration.  Be sure to read the AcaSpot Terms of Service.

A video tutorial is also available.

Next Step: Using the Set List Builder