Jim of Seattle

So what you're telling me is that there's no way to get out of actual hard work? Damn, I feared as much.

I've been producing my own music for years now, and have learned a lot about production, but it's really not all that fun for me to spend all the time it takes to EQ the bass just right, get the right reverb on the backing vocals, make that bassoon pop out, all that stuff. I would love to have someone else do that part of things for me, but I don't know anyone who would do it. I'm not going to pay anybody, and I don't make any money off it myself. While my work is professionally released on a real label, it's just a fun labor of love, and I'm not trying to "make it". Also, my music can be exceedingly complicated, sometimes using 50 different instruments and 10 vocal tracks, crossing genres, changing keys and time sigs, all this crazy stuff. Which is part of the reason the audio production is such an overwhelming job. I'm thinking about how to improve the voice leading at that minor seventh chord in the brass section at the same time I'm thinking about whether the tambourine needs more rolled off the low end. It can be exhausting, and every song feels like a monster. Are there people in the world who just enjoy mixing other peoples' work? Is that even a thing? I am pretty isolated from the music world, so it occurs to me that maybe there is a group of really talented people who would love to do this that I never knew existed. Or is it a chore for everyone, and no one likes to do it? I'm worried also that my standards are really high and my music is too challenging for anyone to devote the kind of time these things would take. I wouldn't want to use a beginner,because I have a lot f skills myself, but I'm not the greatest in the world at it either. If such people exist, how do I find them? Advice?

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone has seen the Residents documentary Theory of Obscurity. I've been a big Residents fan since 1980 and they're a huge influence. Are they a band people around here know about at all? They're so niche, and since I've been a fan so long I'm sort of on the inside looking out in terms of how well people know or appreciate them. So I'm curious. The release of this movie as well as a song I'm working on have gotten me to start listening to them again, and I'm finding I am now loving some of their stuff that I used to never notice.

Dont worry about stealing a chord progression, those aren't copyrightable. In fact, it can be a great way to start the juices flowing. I can usually tell when I'm borrowing something existing because suddenly the process flows differently, and I notice the next note or chord comes more easily and from a different part of my head. I guess anytime the writing comes in any way easy I get suspicious.

Since you're talking specifically about vocal harmonies, sounds like, I'll just talk about that, (though most of the concepts apply to instrumental harmony as well). First off, the biggest factor in how harmonies will sound is the voices you have to work with. While the traditional ensemble includes soprano, alto, tenor and bass, that is by no means a rule, and any variation is fair game. I must take issue with some previous comments here that something should be voices a fifth here or a third there. There are no such rules. You'll get the best sound by trusting your ear. The actual note writing for a barbershop is not very different from that of any choral writing, but what makes that barbershop sound is more about the vocal style being sung, the a cappella-ness of it, the fact that it's four men, and the kinds of songs typically sung. Crosby Still & Nash's sound is definitely not barbershop, but it's three men, so why not? Because of everything just stated. What makes CSN sound so good is how in sync they are. Listen to "Helplessly Hoping", how every vowel is voiced exactly the same, every inflection in volume matches, and their cutoffs are in perfect sync. They also were lucky in that their voices just had a nice blend. Peter Paul and Mary were also good for those reasons. Contrast that with something like the BG vocs for the Carpenters, smooth as a baby's cheek, which had to do with how they were recorded and the meticulous nature of the blend. Likewise, Mancini's harmonies for a song like Charade is distinctive because he's got four male parts against two or even only one female part, which gives it that rich deep warmth. As for writing them, first become familiar with the vocal ranges of your singers, and try to stay in the ranges that are most comfortable for them. If any one part gets too low or high, you'll have balance and tone problems. Know the chords ahead of time of course, and then it's a relatively simple matter of making sure every chord is spelled out with at least one voice. Where it gets sticky, and where the real art comes into it, is in the considerations of the HORIZONTAL aspect. Harmonies will sound much better if each part sounds like a real melody that would be OK if sung on its own. Basically, avoid big leaps. Even though our ears may not be able to pick out those melodies when everyone sings together, the fact that they're in there makes a much better sound. Spend a lot of time on that. Also, try to prevent voice crossings (where one voice is higher than another, then their lines "cross" so that that voice is now lower), because that's awkward to hear and also to perform. It's like doing Sudoku sometimes, because you need to make sure all the chords are represented, each voice sounds like a melody, and everyone is singing in their range. But it's not really that hard. The above paragraph is in cases where the voices are doing all the harmonic heavy lifting, but in many cases the vocal harmonies are mostly for color and aren't holding up the whole harmonic structure. In that case you have a lot more freedom, and are probably writing fewer parts, but the same rules apply. Make each line its own melody, try to prevent voice crossing, make them easy to sing. HTH!