If you are a singer with a prospect and you are struggling to keep a band together, then you should continue reading this. It is not fun when you rehearse songs with a band, and the next minute before the performance one of the backup bails for some reason – can be a grandma’s second death or a big offer to join a better band. Either way, you are screwed, and you and cannot let this happen again. Well, unless you do not care about your music career, you should make sure you keep your team together at all cost or find a better alternative – going solo might not be a bad idea, don’t you think?
Before you begin to print fliers to get new vocalists in your band, have you heard of vocal harmonizers? If you have heard of it, then congratulations. If you have not, let us do some schooling. A vocal harmonizer is a type of pitch shifting device that combines an original pitch with its shifted pitch to create two or more notes in harmony. It is a method of pitch shifting that alters the original pitch to produce diverse pitches at various wavelengths. Often, the device is called a pitch shifter; a device or sound effects unit that raises or lowers the pitch, by a preset interval, gotten from an audio signal. All you need is one voice in the audio input, and a range of 1 to 5 voices are produced. The number of voices produced is dependent on what setting you use and the model of harmonizer you are using.
Using a vocal harmonizer as a solo singer
Since you have concluded that you are tired of people and you feel that a vocal harmonizer would do the trick, then you should figure out the essentials of purchasing one. There are two types of vocal harmonizers – software and hardware. The software is suitable for studio productions while the hardware is best for live performances. Since you are a live performer, you are very smart to guess that what you need is a hardware vocal harmonizer. Using a hardware vocal harmonizer for live performances would require a pedal or foot switch. The footswitch enables you to make the vocal harmonization while you are performing. All you have to do is to step on the footswitch to select the desired effect you want, and there you have it.
Foot switches often come in different forms. Some have
knobs, while some have switches that are controlled by foot. There are others,
also, that are combinations of knobs and switches. The type of pedal is
dependent on the price and the quality of the effects it produces. Foot
switches are capable of producing up to five different voices at a time. Some
are known to produce the three major harmonization parts in singing. Once you
sing into the microphone, the three parts come out or a combination of your
original voice and the three parts. Is this
device a savior? To an extent. In as much as vocal harmonizers can do
the trick, there are not replacements for real backup singers. However, they
are a great substitute for the backup
singer if you do not have any. Besides, why worry about getting different
people to sing the way you want on short
notice when you can do it yourself? – If you want something done well, do it yourself!
Augmenting your live performance
Asides using the vocal harmonizer as a substitute for backup singers, there are numerous reasons why you should use a vocal harmonizer. The most important and common reason to augment your singing. We all agree that your voice is good naturally, but imagine a keyboard with only one voice – unless it’s a grand piano, it would not attract much attention. A little vocal effect here and a little there might just be the magical touch your music needed all along. Do not be surprised to find out that a lot of the top artists use vocal effects on both studio productions and live performances. Adding vocal effects to your singing brings life to it, and even you cannot deny this. You must have heard a lot of singers whose voice carried a particular atmosphere or aura at a particular part of the song. It is not the song or the voice; it’s an effect. Maybe if you have heard the word ‘reverb‘, you would understand the concept fully.
Bring life to your music and enhance your vocal presence during live performances, and you might begin signing more autographs than you expected. Just don’t get caught up in the moment and forget that your natural voice is what you started with and no effect can produce that except you.