Skip to content
Sound Server

Sample collections

Free vocal samples: chops, a cappellas and shouts

Vocal samples give a track a human hook: a chopped syllable played as a melody, a full a cappella to remix, a crowd shout on the drop or a spoken line in a breakdown. These collections group free vocals by type. Vocals are the samples most often licensed for non-commercial use only, so check the verdict on each card before you release anything.

Updated , from a live search of 41 sites.

5 collections

  • Free acapellas

    Free a cappella vocals for remixes and new tracks, mostly from Creative Commons remix communities, with tempo and key where known and a licence verdict on each.

    24 samples from 2 sources · plays “Acapella Himne F.C. Barcelona”

  • Free choir samples

    Free choir samples: sustained choral notes, chants, ahh and ooh pads and real choirs for cinematic, ambient and gospel-tinged tracks, with licences.

    32 samples from 3 sources · plays “Choir of Voices - Single Chord”

  • Free spoken word samples

    Free spoken word and voice samples: narration, speeches, radio chatter and public-domain recordings for intros and breakdowns, with a licence verdict on each.

    15 samples from 4 sources · plays “South–North Meeting (1948) – Speech of Kim Ku”

  • Free vocal chops

    Free vocal chop samples for house, future bass and pop: short sung syllables, cuts and stutters with BPM and key where known, and a licence verdict on each.

    14 samples from 1 source · plays “Dubstep Vocal Chop”

  • Free vocal shouts and ad-libs

    Free vocal shouts, chants, hype phrases and ad-libs for drops, hooks and transitions in dance and hip hop, each with a preview and a commercial-use verdict.

    17 samples from 4 sources · plays “"A Down Home Shout"”

Kinds of vocal sample

A cappellas are full vocal performances without music, made for remixing. Vocal chops are short slices replayed as rhythms or melodies. Shouts and ad-libs are one-word accents for drops and gaps. Spoken word adds narration or atmosphere, and choirs add size. Each kind is a collection of its own here.

Two rights in every voice

A vocal sample involves the recording and the person whose voice it is, and a sung line also involves the song it comes from. That is why vocals lifted from records, films or interviews are the riskiest samples to release. Vocals recorded by singers for others to use, typically on Creative Commons remix communities, are the safe route.

Credit and licences

Many free vocals are CC BY, which allows a commercial release with a credit to the singer, and a large share are non-commercial. Sound Server shows the verdict and writes the credit line for each, and the bundle download keeps every credit in ATTRIBUTION.md.

Questions

Where do free a cappellas come from?
Mostly from remix communities such as ccMixter, where singers upload their parts under Creative Commons, and from public-domain archives. A cappellas of commercial songs found elsewhere are rarely licensed for reuse.
Can I chop a vocal from a song on YouTube?
Not without permission from the owners of the recording and the song. Use vocals whose licence covers your use, which this hub filters by verdict.
Do I have to credit the singer?
For CC BY vocals, yes: the credit is the condition of the licence. CC0 vocals need no credit, though singers appreciate one.

Search vocal samples live

Each link runs a fresh search of every source for one kind of sound. Results play in the page, show their tempo, key and length where known, and carry a licence verdict; turn on Commercial-safe to keep only sounds you can release.

Also known as: vocals, vocal, vox, acapella, voice samples.

More collections