Members Vito Corleone Posted September 25, 2011 Members Share Posted September 25, 2011 In most cases that means a single short pop of that note all by itself, I'll do that too sometimes. One of the advantages of being the keyboard player, I think. Although guitarists can often "pop" a note as well. Bass players, drummers and stand-alone vocalists....not so much. Harmony singing can be a learned skill. At least it was in my case. When I first started singing backups in bands when I was a teen, I couldn't do anything more than double-the-lead-vocal. Then it was carefully working out every note of the harmony and practicing it very hard. After years of singing both higher and lower harmonies, both in full voice and falsetto, I've become a very-capable harmony singer and can usually just "find" my note and sing the full line that fits on the first or second try. Not quite as well as those naturally-gifted harmony singers I know who just do it all instinctively, but pretty close. If I can learn to do it, anybody can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RupertB Posted September 26, 2011 Members Share Posted September 26, 2011 I sing lead and need to hear a realistic representation of the blend that's going out of the FOH. My vocals are, by default, more prominent in the mix, but I control how prominent with my mic technique and volume. I have to be able to stand out and blend into the background at will.Louis +1 on both. I've played shows where the monitors were set up so that each vocalist heard only themselves. Hated it. I want to hear everything as close to FOH sound as possible, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arf-boy Posted September 27, 2011 Members Share Posted September 27, 2011 +1 on both. I've played shows where the monitors were set up so that each vocalist heard only themselves. Hated it. I want to hear everything as close to FOH sound as possible, please. FOH includes a bunch of sounds that are already powerful on stage -- guitar or keyboard amps, bass and sometimes drums. Why put all that into monitors when it's already there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RupertB Posted September 27, 2011 Members Share Posted September 27, 2011 FOH includes a bunch of sounds that are already powerful on stage -- guitar or keyboard amps, bass and sometimes drums. Why put all that into monitors when it's already there? Sorry, should have been more clear: I want to hear all the vocalists, acoustic instruments, etc., essentially anything that isn't naturally up to stage volume, through the monitor. I don't need absolutely everything in my monitor if it is already present in the stage mix. The point is that I hear everything being played/sung clearly, preferably within spitting distance of the FOH mix. The last thing I need is "all me." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted September 27, 2011 Members Share Posted September 27, 2011 None of us are that picky at all. As long as I can hear all the vocalists to some degree, I'm fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arf-boy Posted September 27, 2011 Members Share Posted September 27, 2011 Sorry, should have been more clear: I want to hear all the vocalists, acoustic instruments, etc., essentially anything that isn't naturally up to stage volume, through the monitor. I don't need absolutely everything in my monitor if it is already present in the stage mix. The point is that I hear everything being played/sung clearly, preferably within spitting distance of the FOH mix. The last thing I need is "all me." Makes sense to me now. Thanks for the clarification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rog951 Posted September 29, 2011 Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 As far as finding the proper vocal harmony, I've had some problems with that myself. I was always fine with 2-part stuff, but as soon as a 3rd part got introduced, my brain would convince me to sing the wrong part. What has helped me most is learning the part on guitar first. Committing it to memory on guitar seems to straighten-out whatever my brain is doing to derail the vocal part. Once I've got it down 100% pat on guitar, I'll practice "singing along" while playing the part, mimicking the guitar sound with my voice (not singing actual words but just sorta producing a tone). I don't even mess with the words til I've got the notes DOWN. I also don't generally practice the vocal with the song playing. Once I learn the vocal part on guitar, I tend to avoid listening to the song until I feel like I'm ready to go for real. There's something about hearing the other vocal parts that can muddy things up for me, at least while I'm still in the process of memorizing. Once I go through this process, I'm usually okay, though I might need a minor refresher every couple months or so. As far as monitors go, I primarily need to hear myself. If I can't, I'm lost. I also want enough lead singer to know what he's doing, but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted September 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2011 As far as finding the proper vocal harmony, I've had some problems with that myself. I was always fine with 2-part stuff, but as soon as a 3rd part got introduced, my brain would convince me to sing the wrong part. What has helped me most is learning the part on guitar first. Committing it to memory on guitar seems to straighten-out whatever my brain is doing to derail the vocal part. Once I've got it down 100% pat on guitar, I'll practice "singing along" while playing the part, mimicking the guitar sound with my voice (not singing actual words but just sorta producing a tone). I don't even mess with the words til I've got the notes DOWN. I also don't generally practice the vocal with the song playing. Once I learn the vocal part on guitar, I tend to avoid listening to the song until I feel like I'm ready to go for real. There's something about hearing the other vocal parts that can muddy things up for me, at least while I'm still in the process of memorizing. Once I go through this process, I'm usually okay, though I might need a minor refresher every couple months or so.As far as monitors go, I primarily need to hear myself. If I can't, I'm lost. I also want enough lead singer to know what he's doing, but that's about it. Great points--thanks. Yeah, I guess the #1 thing is getting it in my head before anything else. For some reason this one tune is just a mental block for me. I'll drill the {censored} out of it. I actually talked to my vocal teacher today about this and she's going to do more ear work with me, drilling me on picking individual notes out of chords and stuff like that. Hopefully that will clear things up. Bottom line: I just need to work on it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted September 30, 2011 Members Share Posted September 30, 2011 I actually talked to my vocal teacher today about this and she's going to more some ear work with me, drilling me on picking individual notes out of chords and stuff like that. That's good. It really helps to familiarize yourself with what a 3rd or 4th 5th or 6th or whatever from the root sounds like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MikeyParent Posted September 30, 2011 Members Share Posted September 30, 2011 Me, my keys, other vocals, guitar - in that order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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