Before you hit the auditions, make sure you are in top vocal shape. Brush up if you need to with lessons. What type of music do they want to hear? Know what key you are going to sing in. Have your sheet music ready, with notes for the accompanist if needed. Have a demo and press kit on hand to leave with the director.
Finally, make sure you are ready for anything! A vocal audition is usually just that, singing. There are, however, a couple of extra things to remember. Show off your voice without showing off remember, you are not lead singer.
Be friendly and courteous, and dress subtly and classy, like you would for a job interview. Listen and stay composed; backup singing is all about being part of a team and being an easy person to work with. The Oscar-winning documentary movie 20 Feet from Stardom is an awesome introduction into the lives of some elite backing vocalists.
Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Photo by U. First thing to become a backup vocalist is to listen closely. Find proper modulation. If it is not treated with care, listeners can be turned off by it. Keep this in mind when arranging any background vocal part. It ought not to be trampled on by or clash with other things in the production—especially not the lead vocal! Some arrangers prefer to have the background vocals mimic or sing the same notes as another instrument is playing.
But however you do it, in addition to thinking about what notes the background vocals sing, so that they match the chords, think too about what rhythms, styles and dynamics are happening in the other instruments, and be sure that the background vocals fit with these.
And, as with the lead vocal, each vocalist has their own set of talents, limitations, stylistic leanings, and points of view about music and their own abilities.
Aspire to being a producer who knows how songs, productions and particularly background vocals work, and being someone who can listen to ideas and make suggestions about them, or come up with completely new ideas. Then you need to be able to communicate them to artists and singers, in a respectful way that keeps everyone happy and excited about the direction the song is heading.
That is a worthwhile talent to develop! As with how to use background vocals, how to mix them is also a big subject. Some producers like them way in the background. Some like them as up front as the lead. Some songs call for one or the other in an obvious way. Others take a bit more experimentation and thinking. Figure 1. One way to check out how all of the vocals are working together is to solo them.
Some of the tracks may need their volume ridden, so that no words or lines poke out. Compression is a great tool to help the background vocals sit well. Often they can take a good deal of compression to help them sound great, to help all the words and parts be audible, and to help them sit just right. After compressing them, you may find they can be turned down a bit more and still be heard. EQ can also be effective in making your background vocals sit well, or speak more in the mix.
Again, soloing the background vocals and the lead is a great idea. Adding some high end to multiple background parts can help add air, roominess and reality to them. Taking out some lows or low mids can often clean up background vocals, and as a result the whole mix.
When there are more than a few background vocals, I tend to use an Aux In channel in Pro Tools as a sub for all of them. This way, by soloing that channel, I can easily hear what they are doing at any point. And I can use one set of plug-ins on all of the background vocals at once, and turn them all up or down with one fader. Also I can easily send that whole mix to a reverb or delay, rather than sending each individual track there.
See Figure 1. This can be particularly useful when there are lots of vocal tracks! Again, I tend to listen a lot, and on different systems, to figure out how the back-ground vocals blend in. As usual, experimentation with some of these ideas is key to figuring out the best way to use them. Have fun and rock on!
Getting Started With Backing Vocals. What does the song need? When to record background vocals This is an important decision. When to bring in background vocals At what point in the song do you bring in background vocals? From a whisper to a roar? Guidance As the producer, it falls on you to let the vocalist s know what to do. To double or not to double Doubling any vocal, lead or background, can add girth and vibe.
Lyrics, or ooos and ahhs The voice is an amazing instrument. Handle with care Throughout this process, it is important to keep in mind that you are dealing with the human voice. The back end—mixing them in As with how to use background vocals, how to mix them is also a big subject.
Successful Vocal Sessions. November 9, Read More. I am not talking about unison, like in a choir will sometimes sing. Depending on the situation we can have up to 4 women all singing the melody, as well as a couple of men. How do I make it sounds a good as it can in this sitch? What steps would you recommend when blending three or four distinct voices in harmony such as the Manhattan Transfer?
Then deciding who needs to own each freq area. For example, if a bass vocal is present, they own the low end. I love when you guys leave up the frequency ranges. Makes getting my objective done so much easier. I always look for to tampering with the eq after reading a post like this. Have regular and separate vocal practices. Keep vocal sessions simple with only a guitar or keyboard as a guide. Always have a key person with a good ear, to lead the session. I think something very important is actively mixing.
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