Singing Harmony

[john]

Hey

I thought I'd start a thread for tips on singing harmony vocals.

Try and keep to 1 tip per post. Hopefully this will make it easier to find particular tips!

Cheers

John

[john]

Hearing Yourself During Practice:

Cup your fingers round the back of your ears with the heal of your hand coming down towards your mouth. This will help single your voice out from the other voices. Experiment with the shape to get a balance that suites you.

[Nightwolf]

Hearing Yourself During Practice:

Cup your fingers round the back of your ears with the heal of your hand coming down towards your mouth. This will help single your voice out from the other voices. Experiment with the shape to get a balance that suites you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great idea, good start to a great thread. I would suggest this is a practice only for ..umm practice.

[Nightwolf]

Experiment

IMHO Garfunkle was the driving force in Simon and Garfunkle. He is the best harmony vocalist to date. He is a master, why? cause he doesn't ride a straight 3rd. He meanders around the main vocal, dipping and diving. Experiment with going up when the main is going down and vice verse. This really adds diversity to the sound of the harmony vocals!!

Peace,

The other John

[Alistair]

sing in a group that has some loud singers in it. Experiment with different harmonies in that group, but quietly so that if you get it wrong, it doesn't mess up the whole thing. Or just record yourself and sing along with that.

[FinnArild]

Sing in your main melody and sing one choir to that. Mute that track. Sing a new one. Repeat 16 times. Unmute all the tracks.

[Steve]

If you're not sure of the notes to sing, find them first on the keyboard or guitar. Once you know what they should be, it's easier to follow the melody line.

[merciful evans]

when you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything

[Donna]

Finn, can you explain what you mean by muting/unmuting tracks and what-not? Are you talking about recording a melody w/ voice, then adding a harmony (16 times, or 16 different harmonies)?

[Donna]

Listen (and watch) the lead singer. If the lead is singing "die-yan" for the word "dying", don't sing "die-ING".

[Donna]

Sometimes a better blend is obtained by not singing harmony in full voice...sometimes it sounds better to be weaker (not just volume wise)or more breathy (esp if the harmony notes are in higher range).

imo.

[Nightwolf]

Finn, can you explain what you mean by muting/unmuting tracks and what-not? Are you talking about recording a melody w/ voice, then adding a harmony (16 times, or 16 different harmonies)?

What Finn means (correct me if I'm wrong) is to record the main line and then do a harmony to that. Then mute(turn off) the first one, then treat the second vocal as the main part and do a harmony for that. Keep repeating this until you have 16 tracks that are all the harmony of the one before it. Then umute (turn on) all of the tracks. Done right this can create a choir effect.

[Donna]

got it, thx.

[john]

Take some time to listen to the other singers. Timing is as important as the harmony you sing. Listening to the timing and intonation of the other singers will help the vocals tighten up. Poorly timed harmony adds little to a song.

[Guest voclizr]

Great thread, John, but I think we should differentiate between singing an already created harmony part as opposed to arranging a harmony (or harmonies) in a song.

John B.

[john]

I wouldn't say timing is part of arrangement. Vocal phrasing is one thing not completely captured by melody. Each singer can easily have a slightly different "feel", which effectively makes the combined harmony performance a bit scrappy.

After all, singing a harmony on it's own IS just singing a melody. The fundamental difference with singing a harmony is that you are singing with other vocalists. Singers have to be aware of phrasing / timing / melody and relative vocal volumes and tonality.

[Donna]

Case closed!

Truly, Mon Capitaine just gave the whole recipe.

[john]

Someone else must have some tips? I know I do, but I don't want to just put 'em all down cos I wanted to see what suggestions others had.

Oh go on. You know you want to

Cheers

John

[Guest hazyjames]

Hear the harmony part in your head first, then your voice will more accurately hit the part. This gives you a target to aim at. When you hear the part, you are hearing a combination of the 2 or more voices as a single sound, not as seperate sounds but as a whole. It helped me after losing the harmony singer in our band and I had to start singing harmony. I could hear how the end result was supposed to sound since I had been hearing the former band member doing for so long.

This will help you better imagine how a harmony part should sound when creating a part on your own.

This has helped me.

[Steve]

To practice, sing the harmony lines to established songs. (The Eagles Spring to mind) It will give you a feel for your own, or others harmony lines.