Karaoke Forums

I have always enjoyed singing and peforming songs with three part harmonies. Early on, before I could find anyone who could sing harmony, I used to triple track my own voice. In my teens I was recruited by a very successful group because I could go up into the stratosphere (in those days in high range) and sing the top part in harmonies. Yet I could still drop down and carry a passable lead vocal when I finally moved through several different groups.

There were several female vocalists I performed with whose voices just seemed to resonate when we would hit certain harmonies. Others, not just because of pitch (because if your pitch is off - harmonizing can become truly evil) just sounded like two seperate people singing different melodies.

Oldie singers such as the Everyly Brothers, the Hollies, the Beatles, ESPECIALLY Crosby Stills and Nash (and Young) could pull this off as well.

And of course several singers used to manually double track their own voice. Lennon refused to use a doubler I had heard and insisted on voice overing his own tracks himself.

Finding someone (Syber is one of the best for me) whose voice blends with your own is something truly special.

Sometimes you can close your eyes, when you are warmed up, on pitch and try some real killer harmony things like Deep Purple (not the group) or the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B (before my time)
Nino Temple and April Stevens also did Whispering.

Joni Mitchell used to hit some 5ths and totally bizarre self harmonies in the song Song to Aging Children - and Suzanne Vega positively resonates in "casual match in a very dry field."

If you have posted a duo with cool harmony, please post a name here of the sub. Also, we would like to find someone to do a third part on our album song Flow Down the River. I have never re-recorded it with two female voices since I triple tracked it myself many years ago.

So, what do you think about people whose voices are very good but simply do not blend. What is (getting all philosophical) the thing that makes two voices ring in harmony and sound like one.

jvj

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There are no accidents in a perfect world   - Blondie

I positively LOVE songs that feature great harmonies.

I remember the 1st song I believe that you and Syber posted it and was much impressed with you two.

I used to sing with a trio (3 girls) and we would switch around harmonies all the time. I've tried to triple track my voice before, but was never pleased with the results. The only song I've got on here that I did the background vocals on is 'Tears in Heaven' and it's just a little bit. I wish there were more karaoke tracks W/O background vocals.

Check out Tammy's subs for some awesome harmonies. I'm thinkin' Kass has some too...

What's a doubler?

Great topic man! I just love when you harmonize with someone, and you get that "buzzing sound" because the harmony is so crisp! I've only met two people who I've gotten that buzzing sound with so far, and that would be my best friend, Ben, and Diana (spritelyish). I'm always jazzed when she asks to do a duet with me, because I know it'll blend perfectly without a major effort on either part.

As to what it is that causes it..., the hopeless romantic in me says it's because we're made for each other...., the cynic in me says it's just one of those things, but truthfully, I think it's just a matter of attitude, loving the music that you are doing together, and wanting to blend perfectly. There are times when I'm singing with someone who I like a lot, but really don't want to be with at that point in time, for one reason or another, and I can't find the blend. Then there are other times, where voices just do not blend at all and never will. It may or may not be a subconscious thing, I dunno.

All I know for sure is that when it happens, it's a beautiful thing!

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Simon: Alright, so we're missing the echo! Robert, I can honestly say you're the worst singer I've ever heard in my life!"

Robert: Thank you!

From X Factor.

Not sure why it happens... of course related people harmonize well (if they can sing) My brother and I harmonize really well.. you have over tones all over the place!
I think it has to do with voice quality and I don't mean how GOOD you sound. Some voices that are actually very different blend well. like Bing Crosby and David Bowie - who woulda thunk it right?
Then there is Dolly and Kenny... think it is the vibrato there.
Some songs work some songs don't. I think Tammy and I blend very well on songs.. and besides I really enjoy working with her. We seem to have the same ideas as to how the song should sound.
A perfect example of strange duets is the Album Country Rhythm and Blues... or Rhythm Country and Blues something like that. It combines Country and Blues singers together and some of the most beautiful songs I have heard come from that album.
I think my favorite reason is simply FATE.

Bubba

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You can choose to be an Actor in your own life... or a Reactor in someone elses.

Tammy is by far the most impressive when it comes to harmonies in my book...Ive done alot of duets over the last few years with some awesome talent online..and I really enjoy the collaborations...One thing you have to remember, however...is...most people singing together here dont live in the same house..
or the same country..or even on the same continent!..they are using different pcs, mics.. sound boards..techniques...
Getting a nice vocal blend..while maybe not the most crisp..is truly something special..
a good duet isnt always about the most perfect crisp vocals either...sometimes..its the personality and charisma of the people doin it...the new country duo..BIG n Rich come to mind..their voices to me seem like the least likely two voices I would have ever put together..yet somehow..they are throwing out hits...anyhowsoever.... just my coupla pennies!

Awwww, hear that Jean? heheh *poke*

I think the real thing is that 'backup' singers, sound better if they have more of a 'smooth' voice they can use to do the harmonies with. Of course, pitch is important too.

Lots of really interesting comments here. Since the musician will always be in there, my true love I think would always have to be able to sing, and the fact Sybers voice and mind blended well was a major start for our current group. Thinking about the comment on the chemistry between the singers, (sometimes I miss the obvious), is totally true. The idea of a singing John Travolta and Olivia Nuetron Bomb was a wierd concept, but even ONJ in Xanadu with the switching back and forth of music styles from the Tubes to Big Band was odd but interesting.

SPECIAL REQUEST - knight show, dumb drums, and tigrr27 doing Mr. Sandman. I especially look forward to the that first part lead in.

jvj

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There are no accidents in a perfect world   - Blondie

First in reference to this, I think it was Phil Silverstein (rock and roll buffs) the infamous sound mixer for the Beatles who really started using a lot of new recording tricks. Not sure if chorusing was called that in those days, since even the melatron on Lucy in the Sky was a first time thing in history I think, but John Lennon as I said, refused to use it and double tracked a lot of his vocals.

I haven't done a ton of research on this but my misnomer is called a Chorus Acoustic Duet in Cool Edit. It lays your own voice on top of itself to give it an extra fullness with out the cave effect of 50s reverb.

I strongly suspect if you hear Phil Collins singing in the shower, he would sound very different and that this doubling has given him his classic kind of wide voice sound. It is so subtle if set correctly it doesn't sound like two people singing togther, and to me it is the equivalent of a ringing harmony on a single note.

More than you ever wanted to know probably. But on some recordings this can really pump up a voice that is a little weak in parts and put in a fullness not anatomically possible with normal human vocal chords.

It is to the voice (to me) what the phase shifter was to the guitar. I mean you can only use a fuzz box for so long, and Peter Frampton's wah wah pedal and "Do you feel like I do" vocal wah, had to be replaced by some more sophisticated guitar or vocal tweaks.

Little off topic here, but with the coming of Digital, something had to be done to "cheat a little" to make a voice sound better, but echo was kinda of prehistoric in a DVD world.

Try it sometime. Just grab Cool edit, do a vocal acapella track, and then run the chorus on it. Better yet do a few harmony tracks, put the chorus on those, and you will get this very interesting haunting harmony thing.

(special note to Miss Milo. I have listened to your tracks and you are a natural, so with a smidge of reverb your voice doesn't need any tweaking at all.)

Of course, be careful not to pull all the instruments in as well, because then you wind up having a chorused drum set or bass and you begin to wander into Moody Blues territory where you are on the edge of "over production" of a recording.

Silence is a BIG part of music. Ramble, ramble. Oh the topic was harmony - well actually my "doubler" Thought it worthy of a comment.

jvj

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There are no accidents in a perfect world   - Blondie