Recording Harmonies & Multiple Voices

T

Theowlbum

New member
Short, to the point question. How would I go about recording harmonies for a song? Examples are the Ending Of Frank Ocean's "Self Control", Chance the rappers "How great", Or Dvsn's "Too Deep". I have lyrics written that I intend to use that recording technique for but want some background info on how to execute it before recording. I've looked on YouTube, google, etc. And can't find anything on how it's done. Thank you for your time!

- Sincerely J.T. Moorer:o
 
You need singers, or to have a good range yourself and a lot of patience. Or you can use software or a "harmony machine" to a halfway decent effect, depending on what you're trying to do. You need a vocal arrangement. Do you know how to create one? Otherwise, you'll need a vocal arranger as well. Unless it's simple "oohs" and "ahhs," in which case you _might_ get away with a keyboard patch or software, highly dependent on what you're trying to do.

It's really a rather broad and vague question, like "How do I put cool orchestra stuff on my song?" You need to be a little more specific to get a more specific answer.

GJ
 
I actually don't know how to create vocal arrangements. And it's not the "Oohs" and "ahhs" it's more of the effect where a singer or group of people sing the notes and I guess because of the multiple voices it sounds more "full" if you understand what I mean.
 
I checked-out the Chance the Rapper thing, and it was a Gospel type of arrangement.

If you don't know anything about singing/vocal harmony, but want the effect of a large group of voices, you could try a technique called "gang vocals," which is just a lot of people singing in unison or mostly in unison (unison=the same melody/same notes). Add a number of your own vocal overdubs, but also add as many others as you can get to sing; one at a time or in small groups of two to three or four. Let them sing naturally, trying to match whatever melody and phrasing you have for them, but not being too worried if their take comes out a little different. Have them stand at slightly different distances from the microphone. Done well, the effect will sound something like the end of this song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sCtZUHLdY-0 .

GJ
 
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THANK YOU ! I'm currently looking at how to create vocal arrangements etc and I'll practice them in studio to see how it goes. I appreciate that
 
I grew up playing gospel in church and therefore working with vocal harmonies was standard for anyone participating in the service. I've also worked with great lead singers who couldn't hear harmonies instinctively. I guess the fact that you have posed this question means you may well need to understand what vocal parts make up a 3,4,5 part harmony before you think about recording them. My advice would be to find a good vocalist who understands the technical side of vocal arrangement and can lay down a 3 or 4 part harmony against your melody. By working with someone like this you get to learn the process and feel how things build up in parts. Essentially you are creating chords with vocals so find someone who is good at that and learn from them. You may well find that you become good at working the parts out yourself in a short period of time. Now if you wanna hear some of the best vocal harmonies ever recorded check out a group called Take 6.
Good luck.
 
Dr. Duce said:
I grew up playing gospel in church and therefore working with vocal harmonies was standard for anyone participating in the service. I've also worked with great lead singers who couldn't hear harmonies instinctively. I guess the fact that you have posed this question means you may well need to understand what vocal parts make up a 3,4,5 part harmony before you think about recording them. My advice would be to find a good vocalist who understands the technical side of vocal arrangement and can lay down a 3 or 4 part harmony against your melody. By working with someone like this you get to learn the process and feel how things build up in parts. Essentially you are creating chords with vocals so find someone who is good at that and learn from them. You may well find that you become good at working the parts out yourself in a short period of time. Now if you wanna hear some of the best vocal harmonies ever recorded check out a group called Take 6.
Good luck.
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Thank You DR.DUCE. I have a friend who's an amazing singer and he has a similar background(Was a part of the choir since 5 he's 19 now) So I'll go to him for advice on it and observe him to get a grasp on the concept. I understand it to a small degree just from hearing it in songs, but I want to get it down packed from a technical aspect so I'm able to better explain it to artists or do it myself. I'll be sure to check out "Take 6" Immediately. Thank you once again.
 
Just stack em up 1 at a time, you can try using more distance from the mic if the harmony needs to be more in the back compared to other ones. I also find that sending all of the harmonies to a buss and compressing that bus really helps to keep it smooth
 
there are great tech options out there. i use izotope's nectar 2; you can tell it the key (ie A minor), and set up to 4 harmony notes for a vocal line... you can even play chords on a midi keyboard to make the harmonies.

so dope! sounds a little unreal, but so what? it's so good, and i use it a lot.
 
Tory Lanez usually does one vocal for his main, limited harmonies (if any). He does another line of ad libs which is usually filtered with a telephone effect with a lot of reverb. This is just a starting point. Here’s a video of one way harmonies are built YouTube
 
AceWorld said:
have you done this before using the video ?
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I actually have used this technique prior to me finding the video. It’s funny because even though I used this technique with singers I record, I was guessing my process. Once I ran into the video it just confirmed I was moving in the right direction. That also gave me the realization to trust the process.
 
alright cool yea i am going top check it out now been reealy busy thanks for the info. Do you have a soundcloud or instagram ?
 
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