Backing Vocals!!

[Adrenochrome]

1. Good Monitoring.
2. Reverb added at the desk.

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='970358' date='Sep 28 2010, 09:15 AM']1. Good Monitoring.
2. Reverb added at the desk.[/quote]
A very big +1

[martinbass7750]

[quote name='phil.mcglassup' post='967195' date='Sep 24 2010, 10:18 PM']Hi All,

Even though I am not musically technically minded I have always considered myself to be a fairly competent bass player. However, the songs that the band I have just joined cover songs which require me to sing backing vocals. The lead singer is female and the remainder of the band are tone deaf males so that just leaves me to do it. It is about twenty years since I last played bass and sang BV's fairly successfully.

I would like to know:-

1) Because my voice is fairly weak -it's like comparing a single note to a chord- is there an effects 'pedal' available to add character to my voice, say like a chorus effect. Adjusting the EQ on the mixing desk does not help.

2) When looking at copying the harmonies sung by females who support a female lead vocal (quite high)-where does a guy start?

As I said, I'm not technically minded so I hope this post is understandable!! As usual, any help appreciated.[/quote]


have a look at tc electronics - they do various vocal effects units including pitch correction, doubling (which thickens the sound) and also adding harmonies based on either guitar or midi input!

[Sweeneythebass]

I've done BV's for a couple of bands now, what I found was that if I pushed to hard my voice would break and sound shocking, so I learnt to hold back a bit but sing with confidence. Not sure if this is relevant at all but might help you out!

As for singing lead and playing bass, man I find that tough particularly over syncopated bass parts ( I find it near impossible ) ! Much respect to the likes of Sting and Yolanda charles (at bassday a couple of years back she did some crazy funk- slap whilst sing lead S#it, awesome!). Yolanda said she used to practice by playing the syncopated (or just pain funky!) parts and singing an eighth note/quarter note rhythm on a single note to build up the independence.

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='Beedster' post='967437' date='Sep 25 2010, 12:07 PM']...... a decent mic at the right height .......[/quote]

We did a gig with an inexperienced band recently and the two on vocals both had their heads bent over the mics in the soundcheck.
The sound guy jumped up on stage, raised the mics a couple of inches and pointed them upwards. The difference was amazing and they looked so much more confident too.

[algmusic]

The more you do it, the better you get.. forget the eq and signal correction stuff and just start gigging and practice,

your confidence grows as you do it more.. You'll be fine

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='970470' date='Sep 28 2010, 10:51 AM']We did a gig with an inexperienced band recently and the two on vocals both had their heads bent over the mics in the soundcheck.
The sound guy jumped up on stage, raised the mics a couple of inches and pointed them upwards. The difference was amazing and they looked so much more confident too.[/quote]

Best not talk about Sam, then ...

[phil.mcglassup]

All that info makes sense - even the technical stuff!!

When I think about it, most of the backing vocalists I've seen appear confident and look content with the results of their performance. For me it's remembering the vocal line that I need to sing. The song I'm working on at the moment is more difficult because it changes key half way through- though I find the harmony part of the second part easier than the first!! -Maybe because it's that bit higher.

Worst of all, even though I can produce harmonies moderately easily, nearly every time I practice the song I produce a different harmony - some more suitable than others though there is only one which fits and sounds perfect, the others sound naff!! Oh well, practice makes perfect!!

From the replies it looks like I'm not the only one to occasionally make a mess of the BV's !! Though as I've maybe mentioned before, I've asked the rest of the band to be honest and let me know if I sound awful!!

[mep]

Some great comments here that cover a lot of ground. I've been doing bv's for some years now. For me it's best when I'm duplicating the lead part to beef it up. I'll have a go at other independant parts, and here it's confidence that's the key - just go for it. Some notes are easier to pitch for me. I'm lucky as our drummer does bv's as well and will do the part I can't do & viceversa.

Your comment about learning the vocal line is me all over. If it isn't simple it takes forever to learn. After quite a few months I've only just remembered the backing to the chorus in Fire by Kasabian. I used to stick a bit of paper with them printed on to my mic stand. It's also a bit of a weird one to play bass with at the same time. The b line is simple, it's the timing.

One other trick I learnt from an old band is to watch the lead singer as much as you can when doing bv's. We do Footloose and our singer gets the choruses mixed up quite often. I find it helps if I'm looking at him, even if it's the back or side of his head. If he get's it wrong he turns around and smirks in aknowledgement that I followed him ok.