Vocal Harmonies and arrangements?

An Absent Friend · August 13th, 2006, 06:19 PM

Vocal Harmonies and arrangements?

I wonder how many of you are interested in writing music but I am having troubles about this fact. I hear most of the amateurs music and there is no vocal in it ( Mostly , especially here ). But SW is one of my biggest influences and I am interested in vocal harmonies and that stuff too. For example he says his influence about this was The Beach Boys ( 1965-73 ). But I think it's interesting.

I wonder how many of you are trying this thing. But it's for sure that it's a lot harder than writing songs on guitar or piano for me.

And do you guys know what can help me. I can do some , but it's not enough for me.

Id · August 13th, 2006, 06:23 PM

Write the melody lines on guitar/piano then harmonize them then sing them I guess

a síctia · August 13th, 2006, 06:29 PM

listen stuff and do stuff

or only do it
you dont have do copy anything, use your own harmonies/disharmonies...
voice.

worldwide_suicide · August 13th, 2006, 06:34 PM

^+1@Id'spost

Keith! · August 13th, 2006, 06:50 PM

If theres a hard part it's coming up with a good melody, harmonizing just adds to it.

An Absent Friend · August 14th, 2006, 09:21 AM

Well Thank U.

soundave · August 14th, 2006, 09:41 AM

Vocal harmonies can be really tough. A knowledge of theory certainly helps. The cool thing about harmony writing is that you have to take into account the horizontal as well as the vertical. So, the harmony should sound good as a melody all by itself, and it should sound good against the other voices. You need to keep in mind that you're really making chords, and that some intervals will sound right together and some won't. Just as some melodic movement sounds good and some does not.

Listen to harmonies that you think are good and see if you can recreate them to see what the artist was doing. Experiment with contrary motion (one voice goes up, the other goes down). Experiment with voices that stay put. Go with what sounds good.

I've always felt that a piano is easier to use to write harmony lines than a guitar. It's laid out much better, and it's easier to see what's going on. But that may be just me. Seriously, you should learn some very basic music theory (particularly voice leading) and that will help. There are probably a million websites out there that can help you with that. Just google it.

Heavenscent · August 14th, 2006, 10:29 AM

Get a good book, on orchestration or choir singing. They're out there, just haven't had the time to properly find one for you.

An Absent Friend · August 14th, 2006, 10:49 AM

Well Dave , thank U a lot for your ideas. And yeah I have written my coolest stuff on piano too. I will try does out. For ex I can listen some PT and arrange my own harmonies with the help of SW

And yeah I will get a book.

And maybe I can have a help from you. I have a song called Starship Virgo. Avaible at www.myspace.com/moonloopaty please listen to first one. Should I put some vocals on it? And I hope you like it , it's a sample recorded in sound recorder

Heavenscent · August 14th, 2006, 12:25 PM

I would say no. It sounds more like an intro to a song anyway. Maybe some incoherent mumbling would be kind of interesting though.

An Absent Friend · August 14th, 2006, 12:56 PM

Yeah I agree it's more like a intro. But my friends kept insisting

And did you like it as the theme? The second one is the later stages of the song by th way.

August 13th, 2006, 06:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
An Absent Friend Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 351	Vocal Harmonies and arrangements? Vocal Harmonies and arrangements? I wonder how many of you are interested in writing music but I am having troubles about this fact. I hear most of the amateurs music and there is no vocal in it ( Mostly , especially here ). But SW is one of my biggest influences and I am interested in vocal harmonies and that stuff too. For example he says his influence about this was The Beach Boys ( 1965-73 ). But I think it's interesting. I wonder how many of you are trying this thing. But it's for sure that it's a lot harder than writing songs on guitar or piano for me. And do you guys know what can help me. I can do some , but it's not enough for me.

August 13th, 2006, 06:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
Id Senior's Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Southern California Posts: 1,230	Write the melody lines on guitar/piano then harmonize them then sing them I guess __________________ http://opethforum.net Authentic Opethforum.net merchandise http://www.cafepress.com/opethforum

August 13th, 2006, 06:34 PM	#4 (permalink)
worldwide_suicide Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,812	^+1@Id'spost __________________

August 13th, 2006, 06:29 PM	#3 (permalink)
a síctia grande terreno Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 75	listen stuff and do stuff or only do it you dont have do copy anything, use your own harmonies/disharmonies... voice.

August 14th, 2006, 09:21 AM	#6 (permalink)
An Absent Friend Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 351	Well Thank U.

August 14th, 2006, 09:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
soundave Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: MA Posts: 2,121	Vocal harmonies can be really tough. A knowledge of theory certainly helps. The cool thing about harmony writing is that you have to take into account the horizontal as well as the vertical. So, the harmony should sound good as a melody all by itself, and it should sound good against the other voices. You need to keep in mind that you're really making chords, and that some intervals will sound right together and some won't. Just as some melodic movement sounds good and some does not. Listen to harmonies that you think are good and see if you can recreate them to see what the artist was doing. Experiment with contrary motion (one voice goes up, the other goes down). Experiment with voices that stay put. Go with what sounds good. I've always felt that a piano is easier to use to write harmony lines than a guitar. It's laid out much better, and it's easier to see what's going on. But that may be just me. Seriously, you should learn some very basic music theory (particularly voice leading) and that will help. There are probably a million websites out there that can help you with that. Just google it.

August 14th, 2006, 10:49 AM	#9 (permalink)
An Absent Friend Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 351	Well Dave , thank U a lot for your ideas. And yeah I have written my coolest stuff on piano too. I will try does out. For ex I can listen some PT and arrange my own harmonies with the help of SW And yeah I will get a book. And maybe I can have a help from you. I have a song called Starship Virgo. Avaible at www.myspace.com/moonloopaty please listen to first one. Should I put some vocals on it? And I hope you like it , it's a sample recorded in sound recorder

August 14th, 2006, 12:56 PM	#11 (permalink)
An Absent Friend Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 351	Yeah I agree it's more like a intro. But my friends kept insisting And did you like it as the theme? The second one is the later stages of the song by th way.