Harmony

[john]

Hey

Harmony is one thing that may or may not be present in your vocal arrangements but it is a vital part of the arrangement of a song.

How do you go about arrangement of vocal harmonies? Trial and error? Theory based? Do you start with a clear idea of the style of harmony you want to use?

For example, if you wanted to include a vocal harmony style such as barber shop quartet, how would you go about that?

For that matter, are you aware of many vocal harmony styles? How are they comprised?

Cheers

John

[Tally]

Hi John,.. that is a very very good and valid question. .. I am a huge lover of harmonies, as you may find out when you listen to my stuff,.. I love anything from Choirs .. Opera .. Barbershop .. and do all of my own vocals,.. having said that,.. a production can also have to many harmonies,.. I always say you can get too much of a good thing.. in the past bands like, E.L.O. .. Smokie .. and some others .. had a distinctive harmony sound which I still love .. and then some bands just put a beautiful harmony in a couple of places,.. and lifts the song. I supose its just down to personal preferences,.. but I think harmonies have to be produced in the right place.... I love doing them.

Tally

[melodybeals]

http://forums.songst...rmonizing-tips/

Hey please become a member of my new group for harmonies!!! It's designed to help people harmonize or for the back up singer to help pick out harmonies better

You can join to Get help...or HELP OTHERS

Edited October 15, 2012 by melodybeals

[MikeRobinson]

Harmonies generally form chords. The alto singer often sings one-third down from the main melody. Other harmony lines are for some reason or another much more difficult to pick-out by ear (as you sometimes hear around you in church services when those around you try to do so).

[LayneGreene]

I tend to approach harmonies more when I'm adding electric guitar tracks, my vocal harmonies are never terribly complex, but when I'm adding guitar tracks I'm trying to think about what sound I want each note to have in relation to the chord structure. I try and build the tension there, but thats just my take on it.

[Hannah7]

Harmonies are what carry the song. I am new to this thread and also to songwriting. A friend of mine let me go with her to an actual tracking session in Nashville. The songwriter was a professional songwriter by the name of Todd Ashburn. He and Glen Duncan the fiddle player were talking about the art of harmonies and how they pertain to the song. I was listening in pretty heavily and learned a few things while there. I have written some songs in the past that were pretty good but not great. Learning by listening to others if you get a chance, I believe, is very important and I will use this in the future. Thanks for the thread!! My new song I will enter in the contest. Maybe?

[Rudi]

Harmonies can be suggested with just an incidental note leading from one bar to another.

 

Harmonies can reinforce what you already expect or anticipate.

 

Harmonies can surprise. When unexpected, they can disappoint, making you feel regret, thinking 'NO, I dont want it to go that way!). When a surprise is welcome though, It can sound fantastic.

[Brad Barnett]

For my bands it's all about trial and error with harmonies, and all other aspects of song writing.  Put in the time to perfect your art and you will be rewarded.  We usually have our backup singer come up with a harmony while jamming and then somebody in the band will offer advice on a better harmony if a better one is thought of.  We always at least try new ideas anyone comes up with because don't truly know how something is going to sound until you actually hear it.

[Rudi]

When doing BGs I try to add a 5th below

[Jim of Seattle]

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!