Quote Of The Day:
“Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, mmmm just a little bit mmmm just a little bit”
Aretha’s background singers
Being a background (bg) or back-up singer can be a really fun gig. Recently I wrote a blog about learning to finesse your voice in order to achieve that glorious vocal blend when singing with other singers. In this blog, I want to talk a little bit more specifically about being a good background singer.
One of the first and most important qualifications of a background singer is the ability to sing harmony. If you fancy yourself only a melody singer and have a hard time staying on a harmony part when singing with others, you might want to wait awhile before auditioning for a band that is advertising for a bg singer. If it doesn’t come naturally, you can learn to sing harmony eventually, but it takes a lot of practice and patience from the people you are singing with. (I will expand upon how to do that in another blog sometime).
Another important quality of a bg singer is the ability to manipulate their tone in order to blend with the other singers onstage. When singing in a bg section, what you are is a part of that section that strives to sound like a unit, not someone whose vocal tone can shatter glass or sticks out of the section like a turd in a sugar bowl. (haha – that’s my Dad’s saying and I love using it as it really makes a point!) This also applies to being able to manipulate your vibrato to match other singer’s vibratos. If you have a machine gun rapid fire vibrato and another singer has a vibrato so wide you can throw a cat through it, you both will have to be able to change to meet each other on a common vibrato sound or it will sound “messy” – you’ll be “zigging” when they are “zagging” . This also applies when working in the studio when producers ask you to sing with no vibrato or insert vibrato at a certain point in the phrase. Learn to control it and sing with more than one type of vibrato style then you can sing with anyone.
Good bg singer etiquette is also to make sure the volume on your microphone is not obnoxiously louder than any of the other singer’s microphones, especially the lead singer’s (you won’t get hired again). If there is a sound technician, the vocal balance for the “front of house” sound should be their responsibility, but being too loud applies to volume in the stage monitors as well which are adjusted at your request. If you are working without a sound technician, proximity to the microphone can help you blend well with the other singers. If you are hearing yourself too much, back off the mic a bit more until you are not as obtrusive in the mix and if you aren’t hearing enough of yourself, get closer to the mic. Good communication between singers on stage is respectful and ensures that everyone is hearing what they need to hear in order to do the best job possible.
These are just a few helpful hints to guide you when singing back-ups in your own band or when singing for someone else’s act. Getting to sing with other great singers is such a euphoric high and is the epitome of making great music together.
Until next time… Breathe and Happy Singing!
Angela
www.5pointsingingsystem.com/live/manual
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