Harmony Vocals: The Biggest Money Drainer

What better way to use a recording studio than to just hand out money to the studio for standing there? This is effectively what you’re doing when overlooking this simple step of preparing for the studio. You’ve come all this way recording all of the instruments and just got done tracking vocals when suddenly this next step hits you by surprise. Don’t let this happen to you. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place at the right time! This article will be talking about harmony vocals.

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Harmony Vocals: The Big Money Drainer

The biggest step of the recording process that I’ve found eats up the most time and drains your pockets is recording harmony vocals. This seems like such an easy, quick step right?

Unfortunately, it gets overlooked. Like a lot. In cases where the vocalist isn’t exactly familiar with harmonizing, it takes nearly 3-4 times as long recording one part as it does recording the main vocals.

Even then, if the part has been written beforehand but not practiced, those unfamiliar with harmonizing (which is a decent portion of vocalists) take twice as long as what it could be.

Harmonies: The Overlooked

So why is it that harmonies get overlooked? I think it’s because from the vocalist’s point of view, it’s a little less important compared to the main vocals. Which, to a degree is true. But I think the harmonies are much underrated.

Whenever you go see a show with multiple bands, usually there’s a band you gravitate towards the most. Why is that? Assuming they all play the same genre and make no noticeable or unforgivable mistakes, what sets them apart?

Personally, I think it’s the harmonies or lack thereof that separates the novices from the pro’s.

They just fill out the sound and bring the needed attention to the main vocals, something you can’t do much about live other than turning them up and/or adding some reverb or delay. They add a whole new dimension by emphasizing certain words that you can’t do with one voice alone. Luckily in the studio, the main vocalist can also be the harmony vocalists!

Prepare Harmonies Before Recording

So what can you do to prepare for these harmonies? Well first… write them out! Whether you’re musically knowledgeable or not you can write them down in any form you like. Musical staff, scribbles, whatever you can use to remember what lyrics and notes to sing.

The best thing you can do is record yourself with or without the music and harmonize to what you just recorded. If you also record the harmonies, you can actually hear how they sound together before hitting the studio, giving yourself confidence and saving time when it’s your turn to get in front of the mic!

Bring A Friend

If you record yourself and it isn’t the best that it could be, this isn’t the time to hold an ego. Let someone else record the harmony parts!

In fact, I’ve rarely if any found a situation where harmony parts sound better when performed by the same vocalist recording the main vocals. That other person doesn’t have the same timing, feeling, accent, tone, and tendencies you do, making the combined sound of you and the harmonist to be much bigger than when performed both by you alone!

When trying to record a choir all by the same vocalist, it literally just sounds like a bunch of that same vocalist stacked up. It doesn’t sound real and natural. Each person adds their own texture that combines into something much more interesting and pleasant to listen to!

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So, if you have the option to add someone else for the harmonies, do it! Just make sure they’re prepared, with you included :) If you have a song right now with plans of using harmonies, I urge you to go and record the parts on your phone so you can remember and practice them for when it's time they're needed!

If you haven't already, go ahead and sign up to receive email notifications for when a new blog post is published, and you'll get a free guide I've made called the Top-Down Songwriting Pyramid that will help you start writing your songs and help you focus on what's important when writing them!

Until next time!

-Michael