5 quick ways to add backing vocals

So, your song is ready – lyrics, melody and all – and now you need a little something extra to make it special.

How about adding a second voice? A third?

Singing together (even in unison) is a way for us not only to be part of the sum (to belong) but also to become more than just a part in the sum.

Vocal harmonies hark back to the primitive joy of making music together in a bid to transcend our limited selves and the mundane trajectories of our existence.

Isn’t that why people burst into song when they get drunk in pubs (i.e. when they get back to basics)?

So, whether you have singing buddies or find yourself alone with a DAW, here are a few simple ways to inject joy and intensity into your musical creations and amplify your solitary voice.

1. When in doubt, double

You are already singing a melody. Now record it again or have someone sing it with you.

You don’t need different notes — use the same ones. That’s what people do in pubs or at football matches, where everybody sings in unison (or so they think).

A doubled (tripled, etc.) vocal immediately raises the energy level and ups the stakes of the respective section of the song, all the more so if there are different voices and thus different timbres (colours, harmonics) added up. It’s a chorus effect before the invention of circuitry.

Singing in unison is the simplest of harmonies and probably not the first thing you imagine when thinking about backing vocals, but it gives an immediate boost to the vocal presence in the song.

2. Alternatively, octaves

If you want to be less predictable than unison, try octaves.

It is the same idea as above with a twist — you are still singing the same notes, but an octave higher or lower.

The added benefit here is the clear distinction of two (or more) voices, while maintaining a high level of comfort and cosiness, because the notes are the same (have the same names, even if their frequencies are different).

This is an easy trick, but its effect is unbeatable. Thankfully, it works even if you don’t have ginger hair.

3. Ultimately, chords

Once you move past unison and octaves, however, you can rarely choose an interval (a third? a fifth?) and just transpose the melody up or down, especially over more than one chord.

In other words, it is no longer enough to think horizontally (pay attention only to the melody) – you need think vertically too (pay attention to the chords and the chord changes).

In this case, your best strategy when adding backing vocals is to complete the chords.

It’s worth remembering that this is exactly what happens in a choir or in an a cappela group. When there are no musical instruments, it is the voices which perform their tasks. The lowest voice stands in for the bass line (usually by singing roots and fifths), the highest voice sings the main melody and the middle voices fill in the blanks (thirds, fifths, sevenths) for the chord instruments.

For example, if the main melody uses the fifth of the current chord, the backing voices may add the third and/or the root of the chord. Then, when the melody uses, say, the root of the next chord, the backing voices may add the third and/or the fifth of that chord.

Your choice will depend on whether you are aiming for (more or less) parallel melodic lines or for something more dynamic – see next 2 points.

4. Pedal note

The most straightforward way to have a backing vocal move differently from the main vocal is to make it hold the same note.

This note doesn’t necessarily have to be part of (all) the chords being played – it is exactly for its potential for tension that it is often used.

A pedal point (note, tone, Capone) often occurs in the bass, but can also be used for the highest voice, as in the beginning of the verse of Please Please Me by the Beatles, or in the middle voice, as in Blackbird.

Of course, the pedal can also be in the leading voice, as in the chorus of Yellow Submarine or as in One Note Samba, in which case it is the backup singers and/or instruments that provide the movement beneath the single note.

5. Rhythmic variation

When you have exhausted 2- and 3-part harmonies, or even before that, you can also have the backing vocals play off the lead vocal rhythmically.

This is apparent in In the Still of the Night and many doo-wop numbers from the 50s and 60s, in which the backing vocalists fill in the blanks not only harmonically, but also rhythmically. There’s clearly a leading voice, a bass and a rhythm section (shoo-doop, shoo-be-doop).

When instruments do their part, backup singers can create call-and-response structures, as in California Dreamin, where they not only hold their own against the lead, but also introduce rhythmic variety.

If you think about it, that last bit goes back to gospels (pastor and congregation), rituals (shaman and tribe) and what I was talking about in the introduction above – cave people trying to have a good time.

6. But where?

So which parts of the song should you harmonize?

Clearly, if you used vocal harmonies throughout your song, part of their effect might be lost. Even harmony-heavy (and savvy!) groups like the Rainbow Girls alternate between one, two and three voices depending on (where they are in) the song.

Choruses, as in Come Together, We Will Rock You, etc., or tags as in My Sharona, are the logical place to have harmonies – an open invitation for everybody to join in.

But you can also use backing vocals stylistically – as a bold or italic font – to highlight stuff. It can be a word, a phrase, a line.

Shape Of Me, mentioned above, is a good case in point. The verses use a single vocal, the prechoruses – two (first in unison, then in octaves), the chorus is in octaves, and the bridge starts in octaves and ends in three-part harmonies! And let’s not forget the Mm-mms and the Oo-ah-oo-ahs providing rhythmic interest during the verses and during the chorus!

In the end, it’s up to you and your taste and good judgment. And the needs of the song!

7. Practice makes…

So yeah, grab your highlighter, imagine instruments as voices, call you choir chums, fire up the DAW and get harmonizing!

Even if you overdub your own voice, the lightbulbs will be crackling with static, you can count on it!

Feel free to share your own examples, as well as your best tips and tricks, in the comments below. And if you know somebody who would enjoy this post, do share!