Background vocal Blending

[Phred]

I am sitting here listening to a recording that my band made at a recent gig. We are recording using a Zoom recorder, that is sitting on the stage with us, and picking up our the vocals from the monitors. Assuming I can trust the sound from this recording, the harmony vocals on some of the songs don't blend very well, even when the notes are right . On others the blendage is perfect. The problem is, that live I believed that all the harmonies blended well.

 

Some examples of issues seem to be:

. singers volumes are out of whack

. one singer holds a note longer than another singer

. singers vibratos clash

. phrasing is slightly different between singers.

. sometimes it is not clear what is cauing the funny non-blending, everything sounds ok, but it doesn't blend (make sense??)

 

These things pop out on the recording, but were not noticed while we played live.

 

How can you tell, while you are playing live, if you are blending vocals well? Especially when you run your own sound and a sound guy isn't at the back of the room tweaking on the fly.

 

Things I have learned on the job is to basically nix doing vibrato, and watch phrasing carefully. Any other tips?

 

I realize that the recording method is the best to determine blending, but I think that my question is still valid.

[Blue JC]

Do you have one monitor mix for everyone?

Does everyone have the same gain level in the monitors?

Are there effects in the monitors?

Is everyone using the same type of mic? No windscreens?

Is everyone using good mic technique?

 

If you eliminate the mechanical/technical stuff AND you get an idea of what is really coming out of the FOH main speakers, then you can narrow it down to performance.

 

If your band is anything like most bands, monitor gain levels are all over the place. The deaf guitar player wants his cranked while the bass player wants just enough level to keep his place and not cover up the glory and majesty that is his bass playing.

 

I suggest vocal rehearsals with no instruments other than a piano or acoustic guitar for pitch. That's the best way for people to learn to sing vocal harmony in my opinion. Practice rhythm, dynamics, start and stop times as well as pitch and blend. If you're doing 4-part harmony, stop as soon as you can't hear all four parts clearly and distinctly. Don't perpetuate bad habits.

[Phred]

Good advice.

 

Some answers:

 

> Do you have one monitor mix for everyone?

Mostly. I believe that we have two mixes that are virtually identical.

 

> Does everyone have the same gain level in the monitors?

I am not sure - Good point... If you are quiet on stage, you will sing loud and be louder out front...

 

>Are there effects in the monitors?

No. What is your opinion on this? I personally think having effects in the monitors muddy what I am hearing, but my singer would rather us have effects in the montiors.

 

>Is everyone using the same type of mic? No windscreens?

Yes. Shure beta 58s. No windscreen.

 

>Is everyone using good mic technique?

Great question. I doubt it. At lot of these things tie together. If you can't hear, you get closer to the mic, and then the other guy can't hear, so he gets closer to the mic.

 

 

 

[Mr. Nightime]

We've basically got one monitor mix on stage for the guitarplayers and bassplayer, and the drummer and I have a seperate mix...sort of. Due to a bad output on our main board, my monitor, which feeds the drummer's monitor, has the FOH mix. But, even when we're in a situation where there are multiple mixes, I'll tell the sound guy that I want the same vocal mix as FOH. it's rather difficult to tell if you're blending if your mike is softer or louder than the others.

 

While I like to hear effects on the monitors, they can mask mistakes, and keep the vocals from ever blending correctly.

 

I remember hearing a story that the Everly Brothers were told early on in their career that they needed to really concentrate on their phrasing and starting and stopping notes at the same time. That would set them apart from the other vocal duos and groups of the era. Worked for them.

 

[Blue JC]

I personally dislike effects in the monitors but it's more important to hear what the FOH is hearing. Especially if you are mixing from the stage.

 

Another point: if the group sings well together, they also play well together. Vocal groups have better musical phrasing of all kinds and much better control of tempo.

[Joe Muscara]

I'm not so sure you can trust the sound of the recording based on where you say it is located. I would either have someone trusted with the recorder at an audience location or find a good place to put it that's secure or hidden from view of thieves but still somewhat representative of an audience member.

 

When the recorder is on stage, it could be picking up all different mixes from the stage monitors, which are not representative of the house sound with everyone doing the "more me" routine during soundcheck.

 

However, the suggestions that have been made so far are good ideas in any case.

[Phred]

Thanks everyone.

 

Regarding the location of the recorder; that is an extremely good point that I had thought of.

 

My concern is more like - how do I KNOW that I am doing it right... Then when I hear a recording that is not blended well, I can say "well, that's not how it sounded live - must be the recorder was in the wrong spot". As it stands now I have no idea if the levels, phrasing, etc, were good.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I love the idea of a vocal practise. I have done those before and they are great. Really helps iron out any rough spots and make people be SURE of notes - no hiding behind the wall of noise.

[loumi]

I agree with Joe: get a recording from the audience so you can hear the way it REALLY sounds. Monitors and board mix levels are not always representative of the way the sound is actually heard.

 

Another thing you could try is to just sing the vocals without the other instruments (I know, it ain't easy). And again record that from the audience. It might show an imbalance in levels. If there is an imbalance, it could be caused by improper levels to the monitors. Or, it could be one or more vocalists are fighting to dominate. The monitor problem is probably the simpler of the two. If someone is trying to dominate, play the recording of just the vocals for them and show how they are stepping on others.

 

Are you using in-ear monitors (IEM) or floor wedges? If floor monitors are used, sometimes stage sound can throw off a vocalist, making them think they have to sing louder to get through. IEMs can help with that by blocking out the stage sound almost completely. Obviously, the more monitor channels you can get for monitoring, the better things will be.

 

Lou

[Dave Pierce]

One thing you touched on that is so often overlooked -- it's very important that all singers release their notes at the same time. You can nail the pitch, the phrasing, and blend really well -- but if the releases are all over the map the vocals will still sound sloppy.

 

Have a vocal rehearsal and work out the release points for long-held notes and parts with more than two vocalists. Once everyone becomes aware of this, you'll learn to start following your lead vocalist. And, hopefully, the lead vocalist will learn that on lines with backups, it's important to release consistently.

 

For me, good harmony vocals are the main thing that makes a band a BAND, and not just a random collection of musicians.

 

Good luck with it!

 

--Dave

[Ian Sharrock]

+1 with record from the audience. The audience never hears PA or backline in isolation, it's always a balance of both.

 

My tuppeny's worth is to place the mic at the sweet spot if possible (Get a trusted Bruiser to mind it) i.e. twice the distance of the speaker separation from centre stage to even out PA and backline volume. That should give a fairer representative of what your audience hears.

 

The obvious downside is that if your audience ain't keeping quiet when you're playing, the recording mic will pick the noise up. Maybe you could hire a club just to record without an audience.

 

As for the actual backing vocals, I'm afraid it's down to practice & discipline (same as any instrument really).

 

 

[Phred]

For me, good harmony vocals are the main thing that makes a band a BAND, and not just a random collection of musicians.

--Dave

 

+1 - This is precisely why I am reviewing the tapes. I am looking for that 'sounds like 4 notes coming from one person sound', if you know what I mean. Sometimes we get that and I am overjoyed. Other times it sounds like four people hitting different notes.

 

As for the actual backing vocals, I'm afraid it's down to practice & discipline (same as any instrument really).

 

We have gone from a band with unison bgvox to a 3 and sometimes 4 part harmony parts. I have basically appointed myself the bgvox police, and we have made HUGE progress. But there is still a ways to go. In a typical song with four part harmony (eg Listen to the Music) we NAIL the parts by the third chorus. The first two are warmup... Still working on getting the first time through as tight as the last time through.

 

Even with all the progress that we have made, most of us (myself included ) only practise bgvox at full band rehearsal and at gigs... Why is it that we tend to 'rehearse' the stuff that doesn't need rehearsing, and neglect the stuff that does?