BACK VOCAL TECHNIQUES Pt.1

If you’re writing and arranging for a band, don’t miss out on the chance to include backing vocals. They can add depth, richness and interest to your sounds.
But how should you go about arranging your music for backing vocalists? If you’re working on short songs you should be able to do it without writing anything down, making things much easier if your backing singers (or you) can’t read music. You may, however, have to teach backing vocalists their exact lines and get them to practice working in harmony with the lead singer. Here are some general bits of advice:

• Good backing vocalists may be able to come up with their own lines. If they have a really good musical sense and feel for the music, it can be a good idea to let them do this. Even if you’re set on imposing your own melodies on backing singers, at least listen to their advice about what works and what doesn’t. If you’re asking them to sing a line that doesn’t ‘feel’ right, or - worse - a line that is hard to sing, you’re not going to get the best results.

• Rehearse your lead vocalist with the backing singers, especially if he or she is relatively inexperienced and hasn’t share vocals before. Anyone who is not a practiced singer can be really put off - and, indeed, quite freaked out - by the experience of someone else simultaneously singing the same tune a third or a fifth up the scale.

Make sure all your vocalists – including the lead – really listen to each other. It sounds simple, but it’s all too easy to become absorbed in your own part (this can be especially problematic for lead singers, see above). Remind everyone that their parts, though vital, are just that: components of the whole piece of music. If just one stands out more than it should, it will affect all the others and you won’t get a balanced sound. If your singers are not listening to each other, it will show: you risk losing the balance of timing, rhythm and tuning and, more obviously to an audience, you won’t get any satisfaction from the experience. To make good music you need a good team.

• When writing for backing vocalists, a little music theory goes a long way. ‘Learn some theory’ is a pretty regular refrain on Jam cast, and this is another of those instances where a little knowledge really does make a difference. When you’re putting together harmonies for backing singers, it’s very useful to have an understanding of intervals: they’re the musical measurements that musicians are using when they talk about singing ‘a third above’ or ‘a fourth below’ a particular line.