Harmonies

[scottfisher]

I was wondering what program could do harmonies. In many Top 40 songs, the vocalist will use harmonies (backup singers singing at a different pitch) to make certain lyrics stand out.

Are there any plugins that will do this? Ive heard it in so many songs...

[bennychico11]

harmonies are done by re-recording the singer on a separate track while they sing the new harmony.

there are plugins out there that "kinda" do this, but I doubt you'll ever get the results you're looking for. They do this by pitch shifting the original vocal and giving it a chorusy type of feel. Since they usually only pitch the note up or down by a set number...unfortunately this doesn't always translate well from chord to chord. Transposing the vocal up a third for one harmony may clash in the next chord.
You're better off just learning the harmony part yourself and recording it on another track.

[Dogbreath]

yup...I concur.

I heard one of these plugins before (forget the name) and it just didn't sound all that good. It did pretty well in some places and then ...well.....

Better off just singing the harmonies on another take.

my 2c.........Peace

[seismetr0n]

digital trickery is no match for the real thing

[scottfisher]

Hmm. Well, how would I do harmonies? Just sing higher?

[TripleM]

Originally Posted by scottfisher

Hmm. Well, how would I do harmonies? Just sing higher?

That's part of it. Of course you can't just sing any old higher note and have it blend well with the melody.

I learned by listening to songs with harmonies that I liked. I paid attention to the harmony parts that were being sung, picked them out, and practiced along with the song.

I think practice is most of it.

edit - What you also may be hearing on the songs you like are double tracked harmonies. i.e., harmony parts that are recorded twice (per part).

[Monkey Allen]

I wish I could sing

[metalhead28]

Originally Posted by scottfisher

Hmm. Well, how would I do harmonies? Just sing higher?

Well, you could work out harmony parts on a keyboard or a guitar or something and then try to learn to sing it. I'm wondering if you know the musical theory behind harmonies or if you are using "harmony" as just sort of a generic term. Depending on the tonality of the song, you will sing a certain scale degree higher or lower (depending on where you're starting from) usually like a third, or a fifth (or whatever you like) up the scale of whatever key the song is in. I would play something on a guitar or a keyboard to try to "train" someone what the harmony part would sound like....if that makes any sense. Or of course you could just do it by ear....I'm sure a lot of good singers do that.

[Robert D]

Go to google and type in "musical intervals".

-RD

[NashBackslash]

If you REALLY have the bucks to shell out, you'd get those rack vocal processors... I heard sound clips from their site, and they are really good...

I forgot the brands though... what were they again? Eventide? TC Electronics? There was also one more brand, I completely forgot the name... the website was a dark gray colour scheme... :P

[Alexbt]

Ugh, why bother? I would never ever ever use vocal processing for harmony unless I was going for a specific effect.

No offense, but this is one of the silliest questions I've ever seen.

[gordone]

Question:Are there program that will play guitar for you? Sometimes a Top-40 song will have a guitar playing music (the string vibrate and make noise). If there's not a program to do this, then how do I strum the guitar to sound good?

Answer: Learn to play the guitar

So to answer your question, learn about music theory and take some singing lessons.

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by scottfisher

Hmm. Well, how would I do harmonies? Just sing higher?

Here's a pretty good article on writing harmony parts. It requires some basic knowledge of intervals.

http://www.alandmoore.com/ramblings/vocalharm.htm

[matt rascal]

As far as programs go, Melodyne is capable of making these harmonies from a single vocal track. With its scale-snap feature, this is deceivingly easy. The newest version of sonar (5), this feature comes standard in V-vocal. There are several other programs, most notably Anteros Autotune (I think).
As everyone else has said, there is no substitute for the real thing. A different voice harmonizing adds a lot to a song. Whatever route you take, good luck!

matt rascal

[matt rascal]

oh and p.s.

its a lot cheaper to do record seperate backing tracks (be prepared to shell out some $ for a program thats worth a dam)