Using the same voice for melody and harmony

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In a lot of my recordings I have used my own voice for the harmonies as well as the melodies, especially when I can't find anyone else to sing them for me. I sometimes worry that it's difficult to distinguish one voice singing two parts layered over one another, as the tone and timbre will be the same.

I'd like to hear some other opinions on this. Does anyone know examples of songs in which this has or has not worked? Are there tricks I could use in mixing that would help set the melody and harmony apart more even if they're sung by the same voice?

Any opinions and/or suggestions are welcome!

Thanks,
Peter
 
I do all my vocals. While a second voice might sometimes come in handy, it works. Alot of groups have the lead singer doing all the back-ups, especially if he's the only one that can sing. I hear Steve Perry's voice singing along with himself all the time. I don't know if he does ALL the harmonies on Journey songs, but his voice is defintely in there. Led Zeppelin doesn't have alot of harmonies, but when they do, it's Robert Plant doing them over his own voice. It shouldn't be hard to distinguish each voice if they're both singing different notes (which is what harmonies should be).

You can do different things if you want to make sure you get a different quality on each track. A different mic, a different room, flipping the phase, singing a little more nasally or otherwise slightly changing your voice, etc...all just examples.

If you care to go to my site, go to the MUSIC page and play "Mundane Monday", the chorus has a 3 part harmony which is all me. Almost all my songs have harmonies and they're all me. Not trying to show off my music as some shining example of incredible harmonies, because I'm an average singer at best...Just trying to give you some examples.
 
The only danger in this is reproducing that sound when performing live. Otherwise, it is widely practiced, and has been since the advent of the multi-track recorder.
 
depends on what the song calls for...

generally If i'm harmonizing, I will definitely switch out mics, & pres...at least do this...it will keep it flavored, and not so stagnate
 
TC Helicon fixes the live reproduction issue. I 4 tracked an entire 80's tape (Kudos to the good ole Tascam 4 track and the HR 16B!!) and did all the harmonies. If I get a chance, Ill post. Bon Jovi is another good example (Especially Blaze of Glory CD) He is all over the backing tracks. Female leads are the biggest offenders. Check out Janet Jackson (Rythm Nation), Jessica/Ashley Simpson, Joan Jet (Mrs unison backing track herself..), Oh ya and that Spears girl. Anyway its very common for the singer to participate in recorded backing vocals. Its also not uncommon to see them using Helicons or the like or even using backing tracks (Can you say Simpson and SNL?) live.
If you really wanna hear something cool, record 2 or 3 tracks in unison and pan them out. Then record 3 or 4 tracks of a third above melody in unison, pan them out. You'll have about 6 - 8 tracks of the same singer but it sounds like a football field full of people singin...Ala Def Leppard...Mutt Lang taught us that trick to the n'th degree.

Peace.
 
Melody vs. harmony tracks are not the same thing as backing tracks.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Melody vs. harmony tracks are not the same thing as backing tracks.

G.
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Exactly. I was wondering what he was going on about. :confused:
 
One of the best tricks is to sing the harmony part a 3rd higher, or a 4th lower depending on the range and song. It's the variation in pronounciation that really makes voices stand out as different voices, it's rare to find two people who pronounce every word exactly the same, and it's hard for one person to achieve that difference consistently on seperate tracks.
 
Dani Pace said:
One of the best tricks is to sing the harmony part a 3rd higher, or a 4th lower depending on the range and song.
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Umm... isn't that what makes it harmony? Or are you talking about different inversions?
 
Man, this thread has gone so off-topic.
I don't think songing a third or a fifth or fourth under is a "trick". You sing whatever you think the song needs. It has nothing to do with the original question of how to make ONE person doing all the harmonies sounds like DIFFERENT people doing all the harmonies.
 
andyhix said:
Please elaborate.
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Well, maybe I should have said that the kind of backing tracks cecerre are referring to are just one very narrow subset of "harmony tracks", which have a slightly different purpose than the classic definition of "harmony vocals".

The kind of modern "backing tracks" he referrs to, which is really just a layering of tracks to thicken and reenforce otherwise anemic lead vocals, is really not much more than sophisticated version of chorusing when you boil it down to it's essentials.

"Harmonizing vocals" in general can be much more than that. The harmonies can not only use any member of the lead chord (and not necessarily just follow the same distance from the melody), but they can also be singing entirely different vocal parts at entirely different tempos, etc. As long as they are singing in harmony - the notes they are singing are harmonious to the melody - is all that matters. They don't necessarily have to be singing the melody itself.

It's like the difference between three choral singers who are basically singing the basic chords of a melody, and someone like Manhattan Transfer who are singing thre-part harmonies, but are singing chords whose inversions even follow a modulated progression and even split off to different vocal riffs at times. Or even your typical Motown backup singer who is just doing some call-and-response with the lead but doing it in harmony with the lead without following the melody line.

G.
 
RAMI said:
You can do different things if you want to make sure you get a different quality on each track. A different mic, a different room, flipping the phase, singing a little more nasally or otherwise slightly changing your voice, etc...all just examples.
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Just so there is no confusion: a different mic, room, etc. will change the quality of a sung part. Flipping the phase will not change the sound of an individual track. It may change the way it interacts with other tracks, but by itself you will hear no difference.

Often I will compress and EQ background vocal tracks completely differently than the lead vocal, whether they are being sung by the same person or not. This can help to keep the lead in its own seperate space.
 
Okay, thanks for the replies!

I'll definitely change up the mic and use different compression and eq, though I don't know if I can change the room. Perhaps changing the position in the room will also be effective?

I've also heard that vocal harmonies blend in better if the consonants are softened (not enunciated). Anyone know about that?

Thanks!
Peter
 
littledog said:
Flipping the phase will not change the sound of an individual track. It may change the way it interacts with other tracks, but by itself you will hear no difference.
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Exactly. His question pertains to tracks interacting with each other.
 
If you are using the backing vocals to thicken the main vocal, don't try to sing every word of every line. Add the extra vocal on the lines or words that you want to stand out or have more impact. Some lines will sound better with only one voice while others (or partial lines) will sound better with more. Keep the main vocal in the center while panning the backing almost fully to the sides to help define them as seperate voices. You might also want to EQ the backing voice(s) a little higher and add a little reverb/delay to give them more depth.
 
I've got another example of how it works... Any Michael Jackson song. He does the lead vocals, and backing harmony sections on pretty much every song of his, and they don't merge.
 
Fusco said:
I've got another example of how it works... Any Michael Jackson song. He does the lead vocals, and backing harmony sections on pretty much every song of his, and they don't merge.
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Good example.






(I think he'd prefer to "merge" with little boys anyaway...)
 
blueroommusic said:
depends on what the song calls for...

generally If i'm harmonizing, I will definitely switch out mics, & pres...at least do this...it will keep it flavored, and not so stagnate
Click to expand...

It's basic, but it's real helpful. If you're gonna use the same voice, experiment with switching out some gear.
 
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