How to create vocal harmonies the easy way

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rgraves

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Hey everyone,

I have heard that using certain programs you can take a vocal track and alter the pitch of a vocal line and then use that as harmony track(s). I believe I understood antares autotune was one of those.

Is this a common way to create harmony tracks if the vocalist isn't good enough or in my, there just isn't enough time to track anymore? Also, what is the best way or program to do that with?

Thanks!
 
I wouldn't recommend it...it won't sound good at all...antares is a pitch correction plug, and although you CAN draw in notes, it WILL sound like a yodel, or possibly even Cher... :mad:
 
Not to be a smart ass, but really.... the easy way to create vocal harmonies is to sing them. If you really can't do that, the next easiest way is to have someone else do it. The hardest way to get decent harmonies is to try to do it electronically. Unless it's a genre where you actually want them to sound artificial, it's damn hard to create real sounding harmonies that have been pitch shifted. If you're bent on trying, I was at a friends house the other day, and he had a TC Helicon that sounded kinda cool.
 
Yes, there is a vocalist programme where apparently you can type in the lyrics and it sings them. I think it's called 'Leon' and made by Yamaha. Unfortunately it sounds about as realistic as Robbie Williams.

Steer well clear and record your own is the best advice.
 
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The easiest and most basic way - though not necessarily always the best - is to use a "chorus" device or plug. These are pretty standard algorithms that come with most editors and are freely available all over the net, though there are some better-sounding ones available for nominal cost (or as settings on most good hardware reverbs.)

G.
 
Well, is it true that most pro places use some type of autotune on vocal tracks, even if they're 100% on pitch, just to get that "sparkle"??
 
NOOOO!!! sorry...if you're 100% on, autotune won't do anything but ruin that 100% IMO...sparkle is usually added with other things...although most modern pop/r & b/hip-hop producers will use it even if the singer is on the money, because the sound of today is super polished/digital sounding singers...
 
rgraves said:
Well, is it true that most pro places use some type of autotune on vocal tracks, even if they're 100% on pitch, just to get that "sparkle"??
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Most "pro places" use auto tune these days because so many huge "artists" like Britney Spears, Madonna, Ashlee Simpson, etc. couldn't sound good singing naked in the shower.

You ever see the episode of the Simpsons where Bart and his friends were turned into a boy band? That's not as big of a stretch as you might think.

But if you have someone who has a pleasant voice and can actually sing, the last thing you'd want to do is mess with their intonation for anything other than special effect.

Yvan eht nioj!

G.
 
Sorry but there's no "E" short cut to harmony. For one thing harmonies will "move" around (at one point maybe a third above, then a fifth or seventh not to mention minors, etc). You'd have to do some automation to make a device or plug track that.
 
Track Rat said:
Sorry but there's no "E" short cut to harmony. For one thing harmonies will "move" around (at one point maybe a third above, then a fifth or seventh not to mention minors, etc). You'd have to do some automation to make a device or plug track that.
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Well, I mean if you know each note to your song and the accompianing harmonies you intend to create, which in this case is exactly what we've got. The guy I'm dealing with has all his songs written out in score, but just simply isn't good at singing harmonies since he's not really a vocalist. I could of course slice and dice the tracks to accomadate for any tonic chords (fourths), which would be about the only time we would need to deviate from an all thirds pitch shift. This isn't going to be thick harmonies, it's rock after all, but it would also be nice to be able to just try to hear how it would sound without having to track it again to hear it.

Hmm, on another note, as I gain more experience I find it often misleading to insist that Britney Spears,Madonna, Ashleigh Simpson and such are all autotuned to death or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand any of the music they come up with, I am after all in the metal genre of preference, but it's not like they can't hold a tune to save their life. I mean you have to be able to come pretty close to singing a song well to record it even with autotune. If there is anything amusing about the whole situation it is that they don't come up with any of the songs that they perform...but that's quite common in a lot of genres...

And yes i saw that Simpsons episode...it was one of the funniest ones ever!
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Most "pro places" use auto tune these days because so many huge "artists" like Britney Spears, Madonna, Ashlee Simpson, etc. couldn't sound good singing naked in the shower.
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Um, I've yet to hear a woman singing naked in the shower that didn't sound good to me, but then I'm usually listening with my other head at that point, and it doesn't have very good ears. :D
 
If you insist on doing it electronically, give Celemony Melodyne a try. But yeah, the best way to do harmony vocals is to actually sing them. To me it's not even a "natural" sound vs. "electronic" sound, it's more of a "human" feel vs. "rigit robotic" feel, kinda like the difference between actually playing a synth part and inputing it into a sequencer using step entry.
 
The Digitech Vocalist can generate two and three part harmonies (if you like backing vox by Alvin and the Chipmonks) and can be driven by midi to "track" where you want the harmonies to be. I had a guy bring one into my studio and left it with me for a couple of weeks to play with it. I hated it but that's just me.
 
haha, Alvin and the Chipmunks...that's awesome. That sounds like this karaoke machine I have.

I would think that using the same vocal track and pitch shifting it and delaying it slightly or using the verse from a different section of the song and blah blah blah would make it sound ok, but perhaps this guy just needs to sing the harmony like a real man. :)
 
rgraves said:
Hmm, on another note, as I gain more experience I find it often misleading to insist that Britney Spears,Madonna, Ashleigh Simpson and such are all autotuned to death or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I can't stand any of the music they come up with, I am after all in the metal genre of preference, but it's not like they can't hold a tune to save their life.
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Well, OK, maybe "can't hold a tune to save their life" might be just a tad extreme, but not by much. These people are not signed for their musical skills, they are neither musicians or vocalists. They are performers packaged to sell records to a demographic. They are the 21st century version of The Monkees without Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Davy Jones :rolleyes: . Frankly their producers couldn't care less if they can sing or not, so long as they're photogenic, can learn a few dance moves, and are liked by teenagers spending on their daddy's credit cards.

Seriously, listen to just how the the vocals are produced these days. The New Mousketeers and their like typically get a shitload of hyper-compresed and autotuned or chorused layers stacked together with a ton of background vocals by Nashville Kittens who *can* sing, and the lead vocal style is barely sung; with almost no sustained notes, glissandos, etc.

Compare that with gals who can actually sing (whether we like their style or not) like Celeine Dion, Carrie Underwood, etc. They still get the hyper-pro packaging and promotion treatment, but their vocals are left relatively alone, they actually hold a note for longer than a syllable, and the backup singers are there to back them up, not to cover their asses. They can actually sing.

Those that can sing are left alone (not counting the normal and usual amounts of compression and EQ that come with the territory.) Those that can't sing are processed to sound like mellotrons with nameless human accompaniment, and are not really singing any more or better than your average Sally Housecoat. The amount of vocal processing is a litmus test that is in direct inverse proportion to the performer's ability to actually sing. The heavily processed ones are often not processed that way for style so much as they are to cover the fact that they can't sing.

G.
 
I have tried various hardware devices designed to create multi part harmonies. I have a TC Electronics unit that originally went for about $1500 (I bought it for $1,000) and I've owned a couple of Digitech units. The software applications I've seen do the same thing - simply software, vs. hardware. I've heard good things about Melodyne - although I read good things about all the other vocal harmony processors I've tried, and have always been disappoited.

After spending a few thousand dollars and more hours than I want to admit, I've determined there is no electonic devise that can provide realistic harmonies - none!!!!

These devises can have value to double certain harmonies and layer them with live voices - or possibly have live voices cover the root and 3rd or 5th and then have the electonic harmony create the 4th (or whatever) mixed in low. But when you isolate the electonic harmonies they always sound artificial.

If you can't cover the harmonies, find someone who can. If you have to pay them - it is a better use of your money than hardware/sofeware that at best does a half ass job!!!
 
this is easy...

automate a pitch shift a major third up. if it needs to be a minor third, just flatten by a half step. if need be, automate the cents too.

hopefully its just for the chorus or something. i could do it in no time.
 
ermm... i have no musical talent or idea how to create music, least of all time to make things so good, can anyone recommend a plugin for me that will sound cool? thanks in advance
--
drunk and deflated, still, new day tomorrow
 
$ .02

personally i don tlike the things but if your gonna use it anyhow try comping a track of several other people singing poorly as well and use that to harmonize... the added timbre should help minamize the obvious factor....
 
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