5 Background Vocal Recording Techniques to Elevate Your Lead | 2/4 Pop Vocal Production

Recording background vocals can make your lead vocal pop and stand out. In this background vocal tutorial, music producer Alex Wilke and artist Francis Karel demonstrate a variety of techniques that can add power and punch to your song. Simply doubling the lead can add width and emotion, and moving it up or down an octave expands the range and dimension. A whisper track can create an entirely new sonic character and emphasize certain words in the lyrics. A close harmony backing vocal can thicken the texture-while using a pedal tone can provide a similar effect while leaving more space in the frequency spectrum. Vowel tracks can add that background vocal ear candy that captivates listeners. Even if you aren't able to record all these layers, you can mine alternate takes, use samples from Hooked, and pitch shift existing material to a similar effect.
Listen to the final result, after comping, editing and processing the background vocal takes: s.disco.ac/hbpxhlnyscgl
Watch the whole series: • Pop Vocal Production
See how the song they are working on was inspired by a Hooked vocal sample:
• Write a Catchy Pop Son...
00:00 Intro
00:27 Doubles
02:15 Octaves
03:44 Whisper
04:14 Harmony
04:53 Pedal Tones
05:43 Vowel Tracks
06:21 Final Thoughts
Find inspiring samples and loops in Arcade: go.output.com/3XeeO0n
Keep up with Alex Wilke: / wilkeway
Subscribe to ‪@FrancisKarelOfficial‬ and check out his music: / francis_karel
#musicproduction #vocalproducer #ableton

[@Outputsounds]

What are your favorite background vocal techniques?

[@dafingaz]

Record each part 2-5 times (usually 3 or 4).

[@andrewagarcia]

My favorite vocals to do

[@lo-dose]

These videos are excellent!!

[@normjones6916]

perfect lesson

[@Chrisjenkinstvg]

thanks for this video I learned some new ideas to take into the studio

[@dafingaz]

Let's go!

[@azzanporter4377]

Thank you this was very helpful instrumental has always been easy to me but vocals is by far the hardest

[@Outputsounds]

Glad to hear you found it helpful!

[@BondyMMG]

Thanks💪😍

[@Outputsounds]

Thanks for watching! 💛

[@HaharuRecords]

Arn't we are hearing the processes vocals all the time? (eventhough we see them singing real time)

[@Outputsounds]

You're hearing the playback or what's in his headphones (that's processed), along with his singing in real time which is unprocessed feed from a lav microphone under his shirt. His voice just sounds that good ;)

[@andy_et_cetera]

Thank you for this breakdown of some good techniques, but I gotta also say that, having no playthrough of what the voices sound like together, was incredibly anti-climactic. I'd really wanna hear what the various harmonies and added elements does to the song overall, otherwise, you didn't really showcase the contributions of the techniques at all. Techniques are solid tho. I use all these regularly. Don't forget to have at least 2 tracks of each background vocal role, panned.

[@Outputsounds]

More in this series to come, stay tuned for the vocal editing one where Alex shows how he makes all of these layers work together. We'll post the link here too when it is live, and thank you for watching!

[@IanGibsonmusic]

Yeah you really needed to play it through

[@Outputsounds]

s.disco.ac/hbpxhlnyscgl Here is a listen to the final track after comping/editing/processing. Hope this helps and stay tuned for the upcoming video where we cover these topics!

[@Outputsounds]

Here's the new video where they show off some of the processing techniques: ruclips.net/video/Se_KE-j9qRk/видео.html