Another simple ditty I’ve had in my head for a while so thought I’d finally put it down.
Today’s challenge was to create a four part harmony, a style of music that usually involves four distinct parts: soprano (very high), alto (high), tenor (not so high), and bass. I suppose in some cases the four part harmony is actually all sung together to create one cohesive note but I couldn’t get out of my mind the style of old barbershop quartets.
I’ve had this idea in mind for quite a while and find myself singing it quite a bit. Now that it’s out there, maybe I’ll stop singing it so often. However, when I recorded it, I realized that I only ever sang the lower two registers but never the higher registers. I also realize that I usually only ever sang it as one unit rather than four separate parts all of which meant that I found that, after a few recordings, three layers seemed to be enough. But the challenge said four so I tried to add a fourth which I call the “regular” line because it’s closer to a regular voice than a singing voice.
Where did the melody come from? No idea. I think it’s part of the old A&W tuba melody that was part of the company’s marketing campaign in the 1990s, but it’s different enough that I shouldn’t get any copyright claim letters.
Why didn’t I use any words or find a song made for four-part harmonies?
Part of the reason is because I wasn’t sure I’d actually be able to sing all four parts. Another reason was because of copyright. It’s one thing to do a cover song on your own but then once you upload those tracks, copyright claims start flying around and it takes the fun out of the music. So, by using my own words I avoid that issue.
Anyway, here’s a look at the project:
Originally I had the higher register moving through the whole track but, after letting the track sit for an hour or so, I decided to cut out some of it. I wasn’t always on key and it was more distracting than anything else. I think this works a little bit better.
The true four part harmony seems to happen right at the end of the track in the last fifteen seconds or so wherein the different layers come together in some type of unison.
I didn’t do much by way of effects or plugins, using only the Expansion plugin to kill room noice and some sort of buzzing sound the H4n creates from time to time, in addition to the Chromaverb’s Vocal Ambience but only so slightly.
So I think that will do for this challenge. I realize that this track is very similar to some of the other stuff I’ve already published (notably the a cappella track) but they’re not exact duplicates.
I’ve found as this month progresses, things are getting easier to put together and the workflow seems to be a lot smoother now than at the beginning. This is a positive development. I’m still recording externally into my Zoom H4n and that seems to take the most time to add and line up in Logic. There are fixes for this (such as getting an input device) but I’m holding off on anything like that for now. I could route the Zoom H4n right into the computer but then the bit rate would be limited to 16 bit 44.1KHz, which is “only” CD quality and not the higher rate I record at now.
