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I was working on my current musical "turd" and we were building a 3 part harmony.

As I understand it, the harmony is generally like the chord...1-3-5.

We ended up getting a harmony that was maybe a sub harmonic in there somewhere. It was really interesting and yet somehow it got deleted.
(sour look)

Then I was supposed to go back and redo it, only problem was that it wasn't 1-3-5 and even after 20 some odd takes, it's gone...never to return.

So I am a little disappointed and I realize that between the 2 of us working on this tune, neither of us know too much about harmony.

Can someone who knows talk about this a little>?
I understand it's usually a minor 3rd/major 3rd, thus my 1-3-5 guess but what about the oddball ones?

Subharmonic structure?

What about 4 part harmony or 5 part? What's the interval?
I'm confused and cranky now. lol
Music is like math and I don't like math. lol BAAAD MUSIC, NO PEE-PEE/POO-POO IN THE HOUSE.. (rolls up newspaper) NO!!!!

It galls me to no end to lose that harmony and to realize I can't readily do it as easily as I originally spit it out.

HEEEELLLLPPPPP !!!!!!!!!

This is a pretty good outline of what works in vocal harmonies. It can be as simple as a parallel 3rd or deeply complex close harmonies found in vocal jazz.

http://www.alandmoore.com/ramblings/art ... alharm.htm

Chief Engineer Scott wrote:I was working on my current musical "turd" and we were building a 3 part harmony.

As I understand it, the harmony is generally like the chord...1-3-5.

We ended up getting a harmony that was maybe a sub harmonic in there somewhere. It was really interesting and yet somehow it got deleted.
(sour look)

Then I was supposed to go back and redo it, only problem was that it wasn't 1-3-5 and even after 20 some odd takes, it's gone...never to return.

So I am a little disappointed and I realize that between the 2 of us working on this tune, neither of us know too much about harmony.

Can someone who knows talk about this a little>?
I understand it's usually a minor 3rd/major 3rd, thus my 1-3-5 guess but what about the oddball ones?

Subharmonic structure?

What about 4 part harmony or 5 part? What's the interval?
I'm confused and cranky now. lol
Music is like math and I don't like math. lol BAAAD MUSIC, NO PEE-PEE/POO-POO IN THE HOUSE.. (rolls up newspaper) NO!!!!

It galls me to no end to lose that harmony and to realize I can't readily do it as easily as I originally spit it out.

HEEEELLLLPPPPP !!!!!!!!!

Cap'n, it sounds like you were singing a minor 3rd there is only a 1/2 step difference between the two 3rds. Also could have been singing an octave below or above anyone of those notes.

Chief Engineer Scott wrote:I was working on my current musical "turd" and we were building a 3 part harmony.

As I understand it, the harmony is generally like the chord...1-3-5.

We ended up getting a harmony that was maybe a sub harmonic in there somewhere. It was really interesting and yet somehow it got deleted.
(sour look)

Then I was supposed to go back and redo it, only problem was that it wasn't 1-3-5 and even after 20 some odd takes, it's gone...never to return.

So I am a little disappointed and I realize that between the 2 of us working on this tune, neither of us know too much about harmony.

Can someone who knows talk about this a little>?
I understand it's usually a minor 3rd/major 3rd, thus my 1-3-5 guess but what about the oddball ones?

Subharmonic structure?

What about 4 part harmony or 5 part? What's the interval?
I'm confused and cranky now. lol
Music is like math and I don't like math. lol BAAAD MUSIC, NO PEE-PEE/POO-POO IN THE HOUSE.. (rolls up newspaper) NO!!!!

It galls me to no end to lose that harmony and to realize I can't readily do it as easily as I originally spit it out.

HEEEELLLLPPPPP !!!!!!!!!

Harmonies can be tricky, and no two are ever the same twice. Many folks use them as fillers, not realizing they are in and of themselves, a song opportunity within the main song.

I constructed this video a while back to remind myself How i did a set of harmonies for "Homemade Remedies" It explains what I term as "SHoes & Hats" Structured within Tales and Chorals (the purpose description)

At first its painful...but if you can tough it out the first minute or so , you will soon see how it works . http://youtu.be/BAVcvgZOvmw

The thing to remember is that each line of harmony can be an oblique counter melody in the theme, and/or it can be a direct parallel with the main melody (See "Drawing Me closer" on my profile for example of that)

If you remember that simple principle, you wont need to worry if you lost a line.
Also, I tend to construct each line in pairs on a piano or a guitar. If it works for me I test it in vocal.

Hope this helps...

didn't you ask this question a few months ago?

Capt if the recording software you guys are using has a harmonizer you could play with it off your lead vocal to find what you are looking for and then try to replicate it with another vocal track.

Whenever I got deep into vocal harmonys on my own stuff I used to do this, ussually I liked to have my main vocal straight up the middle of the stereo spectrum then do two tracks a full octave up, if I could hit is, then occasionally a major 3rd. If you blend things like this well enough you can almost get a single vocal track out of 3-5 tracks.

I sat in with some guys sat night and got to play guitar and sing, the bassist was doing these great harmonys with me, I tryed to trick him and went high on him, but he was good and countered by going lower, its not very often I get to sing with someone like that. It was cooler to me than the awesome guitar licks I was throwing in there. Made my vocals sound really good.

Just keep playing with it. If it was lower it could have been a 5th down.

Also consider it may have been a 6th, 7th or maj7th note. Or even a 9th.
Don't limit yourself to just plain minor/major (1-3-5) chords!
Even the 4th (which is the 'sus' - suspended - note) can work sometimes.

It has taken me a lifetime to realize the people at the bar will identify or like your music much better if the vocals are sweet.
I try to sing but its total mess.
Without vocals its just guitars wanking.

Dane Ellis Allen wrote:didn't you ask this question a few months ago?

Yes sir, I did indeed...

See this is the whole problem, we got a really SWEEEET harmonic but it wasn't 1-3-5 and Sven (our new electric cello player/drummer) ended up causally deleting it. I think the cry was something like, "Yea that was good, but you can do better".

The problem lies in the fact that no one including me knew what that harmonic was really and instead of casually rerecording it while the original was muted, the harmonic was deleted, lost to space and the infinite beyond.

(I almost cried when we couldn't get it back. "I tried to exit the airlock and go get it but I was restrained by the ship's doctor and when I awoke we were already light years past that point and I was groggy from the hypo he shot me up with". "I am just glad I didn't end up in restraints or in the brig, nobody has a good time in the brig".)

(MEAN LOOK AT SVEN) lol

What color was it?
What did it sound like?

Deadguitars wrote:It has taken me a lifetime to realize the people at the bar will identify or like your music much better if the vocals are sweet.
I try to sing but its total mess.
Without vocals its just guitars wanking.

Not necessarily.

dittos

I don't have Chromesthesia, but i wish i did.

And I wracked my poor, swiss cheese brain to recreate it but like always, my creation sense is a flash in the pan and either you got a recording of it initially so we could try to make it better after listening to it or you did not and it's gone.

After that harmonic track(s) was deleted, it was just plain gone.

We got a simple 1-3-5 in it's place and I feel like I might have been shot with something non-lethal but it's making me want to hit the sick bay cause the effort made my nose bleed.

The good news is that now the Capt. thinks that I paid him the 1000 credits I lost in that poker game on deck 3 the other night. lol

PS Without a decent vocal, it's just wanking..

Deadguitars wrote:It has taken me a lifetime to realize the people at the bar will identify or like your music much better if the vocals are sweet.
I try to sing but its total mess.
Without vocals its just guitars wanking.

That would not explain the whole 'screaming' style!

Slacker G wrote:

Deadguitars wrote:It has taken me a lifetime to realize the people at the bar will identify or like your music much better if the vocals are sweet.
I try to sing but its total mess.
Without vocals its just guitars wanking.

Not necessarily.

You are right .... Just my perspective as a 'week end warrior'.