This is a super helpful starting formula for coming up with BGV. I've been working on a couple songs the past few months and just been banging my head on the desk every day trying to get the bgv composition to work and all I really needed was this video. Thanks Joe!
Your acoustic guitar mixing and vocal mixing is just classy. Together with your singing skills that makes it a win win win whenever you record it and share it. Thx a lot, bro
It sounds very good Joe. I think it's worth mentioning that the specific notes you choose to incorporate into the backup vocals should be chosen with the instruments in mind, for example; if you have an instrument that domintaes the low-mid range of the song, then choose backup vocal notes that don't use the low-mid range too much. And if you have instruments that dominate the high-mid range, choose backup vocal notes that don't use the high-mid range too much. That is an arrangement choice which will make a song much easier to mix, and will give a song much more depth and loudness. It will also make it much easier to achieve the suitable loudness for the song, minimizing the artifacts that come from compression/limiting in the mixing/mastering stage of the production.
Hey Joe, I just completed three songs with a virtual choir using Audimee. One good way to add female voices is to convert them using Audimee's website. You sing in the part and have Audimee convert it to one of their artists. It's time-consuming and tedious, but if you can't bring a choir together, it's one way to go. For my songs, I sang in each part (3 sop, 3 alto, 3 tenor, 3 bass -- so 12 parts alltogether) and then assigned each wav file to a different singer in Audimee. For the women's parts, I sang the parts an octave lower and then transposed them up an octave in Audimee. Wish I could share the results with you with a link, but I don't think RUclips will allow.
Very good, funny to see that you also have trouble keeping the note when the monitor is on the same recording, taking headphone a bit aside solves it hehe. I have discovered a phenomenon on the S1 Pro 7, clip recording, that it does not play back audio when in loop mode. Bitwig does not have this bug. I will have to make a video about it soon, because I like the S1. What was difficult in Bitwig was saving a template track. I have to learn that, but S1 is king there.
I like to 'frame' my background vocals by adding an almost static root note as well as a fifth, with this rule: you can change it by more than a semitone. Then I double / triple track and pan them.
Sounds great. I usually pan the doubles at 45 degrees instead of LCR. It makes the BGV’s sound like they are in the background and not so much forward in the mix.
Alright Joe you seem like the best teacher to learn mixing from. I assume you have an absolute beginners course where you explain side chains and EQ and all these fancy fandangled mixing concepts?
It makes sense to only use two notes for the harmony as the lead voice is also contributing to the chord as well. Plus They're only there to support the lead vocal, not compete or overwhelm with it.
@deweybrowderiii5969 In which genres? How many chord tones are being sung before it becomes less apparent to which is the lead voice? Or becomes too muddy? The more vocals you have, the more sparse your instrumental portion may need to be in order to make space for all those voices. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule. It just creates space for all the parts to breathe.
@@brettmarlar4154 If you really study R&B music (90's to present, the BGVOX are just as important to the song as the beat. Normally it is the BGVOX that drive the hook so they are where most of the magic happens in the song (i.e. Michael Jackson, Babyface etc.)
Joe I absolutely love your content and appreciate all of you insight and knowledge. I would love for you to listen to one of my mixes and offer some advice. I feel like I'm really close but not quite there.
Hi Joe, great video. Do you use delay for bgv? Also for scenario then the bgvs are not sent to a bus for top down mixing, should we also pan our sends before sending them to fx like reverbs and/or delays?
Hi Joe, regarding double track vocals that are meant to just thicken the lead and maybe widen up a bit too, would it be better to record them just 6 inches further from the mic than the lead vocal? Or keep the same distance and cut the lows with EQ? I'm able to match my doubles really tight with the lead but at the same distance from the mic they sound exactly the same and I end up cutting a ton of low and mid range with eq.
The "sus" in a chord name is for "suspend" whereas around 08:00 it seemed you were saying it was for "sustain". Just nit-pickin when I should be finger-pickin
You're right - I think he meant to say "the suspension of the sus chord" rather than "the sustain of the sus chord". He was talking about how the sus4 note (the B note) in the F#sus4 chord was being resolved to the Major Third (an A# note), turning the sus4 chord into a normal major chord. To me, the big takeaway is that if you're using a sus4 on the V chord in a progression (instead of using a dominant 7 chord), the sus4 note is actually the root note of the progressions' key. This make perfect sense, seeing as though a fifth is five up from the root, and the root is a fourth down from the fifth (Circle of fifths is also actually the circle of fourths). So any four/five relationships are strongly connected. It's also one of the key elements to jazz theory and modulating away from (and back into) the diatonic notes in a progression. Finding which chords share many of the same notes, and then using those chords to modulate away from the diatonic notes (the normal scale notes).
▶︎▶︎ Ultimate Recording Checklist: www.homestudiocorner.com/checklist
it starts on lower E 12th fret and goes downwards into cooking up ...i give it away if u can decode it its real easyfloating
Hey just wanted to say thank you so much for your videos! I've learned so much from watching them!😊
This is a super helpful starting formula for coming up with BGV. I've been working on a couple songs the past few months and just been banging my head on the desk every day trying to get the bgv composition to work and all I really needed was this video. Thanks Joe!
Your acoustic guitar mixing and vocal mixing is just classy. Together with your singing skills that makes it a win win win whenever you record it and share it. Thx a lot, bro
It sounds very good Joe.
I think it's worth mentioning that the specific notes you choose to incorporate into the backup vocals should be chosen with the instruments in mind, for example; if you have an instrument that domintaes the low-mid range of the song, then choose backup vocal notes that don't use the low-mid range too much.
And if you have instruments that dominate the high-mid range, choose backup vocal notes that don't use the high-mid range too much.
That is an arrangement choice which will make a song much easier to mix, and will give a song much more depth and loudness. It will also make it much easier to achieve the suitable loudness for the song, minimizing the artifacts that come from compression/limiting in the mixing/mastering stage of the production.
Double-tracking is king for background vocals! Couldn't agree more with this approach. :D
Hey Joe, I just completed three songs with a virtual choir using Audimee. One good way to add female voices is to convert them using Audimee's website. You sing in the part and have Audimee convert it to one of their artists. It's time-consuming and tedious, but if you can't bring a choir together, it's one way to go. For my songs, I sang in each part (3 sop, 3 alto, 3 tenor, 3 bass -- so 12 parts alltogether) and then assigned each wav file to a different singer in Audimee. For the women's parts, I sang the parts an octave lower and then transposed them up an octave in Audimee. Wish I could share the results with you with a link, but I don't think RUclips will allow.
Using the harmony wizard to flesh out BGV harmony has been great as well. Love your stuff!
That's great, Joe. Thanks again.
Very good, funny to see that you also have trouble keeping the note when the monitor is on the same recording, taking headphone a bit aside solves it hehe. I have discovered a phenomenon on the S1 Pro 7, clip recording, that it does not play back audio when in loop mode. Bitwig does not have this bug. I will have to make a video about it soon, because I like the S1. What was difficult in Bitwig was saving a template track. I have to learn that, but S1 is king there.
Love your BGV videos!!
now that riff is stuck in my head. good job lol
Awesome Information. Big Help!!!
I love your videos man
Love it Joe! - Thanks!
Always fun. 👍😎
I like to 'frame' my background vocals by adding an almost static root note as well as a fifth, with this rule: you can change it by more than a semitone. Then I double / triple track and pan them.
Sounds great. I usually pan the doubles at 45 degrees instead of LCR. It makes the BGV’s sound like they are in the background and not so much forward in the mix.
Team LCR all day every day.
Alright Joe you seem like the best teacher to learn mixing from. I assume you have an absolute beginners course where you explain side chains and EQ and all these fancy fandangled mixing concepts?
It makes sense to only use two notes for the harmony as the lead voice is also contributing to the chord as well. Plus They're only there to support the lead vocal, not compete or overwhelm with it.
Understood, but depends on genre-not applicable for urban music
@deweybrowderiii5969 In which genres? How many chord tones are being sung before it becomes less apparent to which is the lead voice? Or becomes too muddy? The more vocals you have, the more sparse your instrumental portion may need to be in order to make space for all those voices.
Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule. It just creates space for all the parts to breathe.
@@brettmarlar4154 If you really study R&B music (90's to present, the BGVOX are just as important to the song as the beat. Normally it is the BGVOX that drive the hook so they are where most of the magic happens in the song (i.e. Michael Jackson, Babyface etc.)
Joe I absolutely love your content and appreciate all of you insight and knowledge. I would love for you to listen to one of my mixes and offer some advice. I feel like I'm really close but not quite there.
Ooooooh? No. Aaaaaaaah? No. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Someone needs to try this (personally, I'm afraid to).
Great content, as always.
Absotively posilutely fantabulous!
Thank You! Great! Maybe to add compressor for leveling on the bgv bus?
Nah
A cool trick for BGV's is to use SoundToys MicroShift on the bus at around 20% mix. Gives them interesting 'dimension'.
thx
So gfoooooooood.........
sorry for the spelling....
yup!
Bro i do this
Good stuff
was the stew reference from Arrested development?
🎉 🎉 🎉
Hi Joe, great video. Do you use delay for bgv? Also for scenario then the bgvs are not sent to a bus for top down mixing, should we also pan our sends before sending them to fx like reverbs and/or delays?
AAAAAAAAAAAwesome 🤗👍
First of all - be sure to plugin your microphone!☝😀
Thanks for the videos!✌
Release the track but with the title: you gotta poop yourself instant hit
Hi Joe, regarding double track vocals that are meant to just thicken the lead and maybe widen up a bit too, would it be better to record them just 6 inches further from the mic than the lead vocal? Or keep the same distance and cut the lows with EQ? I'm able to match my doubles really tight with the lead but at the same distance from the mic they sound exactly the same and I end up cutting a ton of low and mid range with eq.
Yup
Buddy, you got a stew going
Carl Weathers would be proud of this stew
You win everything.
R.I.P. Carl Weathers
The "sus" in a chord name is for "suspend" whereas around 08:00 it seemed you were saying it was for "sustain". Just nit-pickin when I should be finger-pickin
He said “I sang the sustain *of* the sus chord”.
You're right - I think he meant to say "the suspension of the sus chord" rather than "the sustain of the sus chord". He was talking about how the sus4 note (the B note) in the F#sus4 chord was being resolved to the Major Third (an A# note), turning the sus4 chord into a normal major chord.
To me, the big takeaway is that if you're using a sus4 on the V chord in a progression (instead of using a dominant 7 chord), the sus4 note is actually the root note of the progressions' key. This make perfect sense, seeing as though a fifth is five up from the root, and the root is a fourth down from the fifth (Circle of fifths is also actually the circle of fourths).
So any four/five relationships are strongly connected.
It's also one of the key elements to jazz theory and modulating away from (and back into) the diatonic notes in a progression. Finding which chords share many of the same notes, and then using those chords to modulate away from the diatonic notes (the normal scale notes).
6:40 Mutt Lange has entered the chat.
What bout a lil bitsy delay!?
Awesome video Joe! I also found this video so helpful: ruclips.net/video/urZoxWljlXw/видео.html
Ooooo i hope you erased them after making the video. Cause they sucked ! 😊
Beautiful! Also, thanks for getting a song stuck in my head that I can’t go and listen to…🫠