How Do Background Vocals Transform R&B Music? (ft. Linda Diaz)
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- Опубліковано 31 січ 2022
- If you’ve ever listened to a song SUPER closely, you might have noticed the arrangement of vocals floating around in the background. These are called backing vocals! And believe it or not, there’s a lot of skill that goes into crafting perfectly-placed backing vocals.
In this video, we’re going to look at some ICONIC backing vocals from our favorite R&B songs, and our host, Linda Diaz, is going to explain how she came up with the backing vocals for her hit song “Green Tea Ice Cream”
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As a choir nerd - backing vocals are often things that I just automatically listen for, and often times sing along myself with them instead of the lead singer. I used to also harmonize with songs on the radio - well, attempt to harmonize, anyway. Groups like Boyz 2 Men were the kind of R&B I grew up with - and things like Sound of Music and Queen were the sorts of music I heard constantly at home. Harmony was just simply all around me in the musical sense. It's fascinating to me all the things that we can do today with recording, multi-track, and all the other nifty tech tricks that can be at a musician's literal fingertips. Great video once again, y'all! I'm so grateful that you continue to make wonderful content and I look forward to the next!
Same or anything with choirs or choir type harmonies vocals always instantly my favourite
As a music major, it’s so cool to hear people talking about their musical experiences outside of an academic sense- like just enjoying musical concepts like harmony because they’re enjoyable- it’s such a beautiful thing to have in your life and I’m very happy for you :)
I’m the same way but with pianos/keys 🤓
Brandy, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Amerie do this amazingly.
jazmine Sullivan. And aaliyah.
And Mariah
Everyone
Beyonce a master of this too
Brandy Norwood
Had such a good time making this episode! Thanks everyone for watching and for your sweet comments 💗
I love your voice. Thanks for sharing with us these tips and tricks!
Beautiful with a very beautiful voice. I will definitely listen to your music. Thanks for the video. Keep up the good work. 👍🏽
I have to say, your voice is buttery smooth!
Also you look really cute too!
Enjoyed your vocals as well. Fire!
Great job!
Mariah’s Fourths Of July background vocals and harmonies are simply amazing
YES!
Mariah Carey is my favorite when it comes to Riffs and Runs, Brandy is amazing when it comes to stacking vocals and Kelly Rowland is a student of both with a heavenly vocal tone, her songs Red Wine, Better without you and love again are some of my favorite background vocals from her.
jazmine sullivan and aaliyah ledisi
@@maryannappiagyei4277 I was about to say Jasmine Sullivan, she is a beast with the riffs and runs and Brandi is also great with the riffs and runs...but it's so many. Keeper Wyatt aswell
my most favorite background vocals/vocal layers in songs:
- the roof, underneath the stars, lullaby, Can't let go - Mariah Carey
- full moon, sittin up in my room - Brandy
- get well soon, positions - Ariana Grande
I think Brandy is the queen when it comes to layering background vocals.
She has been known to get it spot on perfectly matched making the engineer job much easier.
You're all forgetting the MARIAH CAREY!!!
That's janet jackson
Mariah.
@@ardent.arch93 Exactly. How is Mariah not in this convo?
Mariah Carey is my favorite, the way she arranges her vocals in songs like Breakdown is perfect.
Yes Babydoll, Breakdown, Caution (song), and many many more are excellent crafts of vocal layering, Mariah is so talented
I'm an "enthusiastic" yet untutored hobbyist singer. While I love singing lead, I'm also aware of the limitations of my voice, so I actually have more "fun" singing in the background, especially when I can get into a groove with the lead, and support wherever they're trying to take the song. I can already do a fair amount of background improvising, but this video has given me SEVERAL ideas I can't wait to try!
totally! imo its almost funner working with a shitty voice cause it forces me to find whats interesting in it, even when the intrigue is just the fact that my voice is hard to listen too if that makes sense lol
Nobody cares.
@@user-ux1vj9vx7s then why are you here? Singing is all about sharing yourself with other ppl- it’s literally what you as a person sound like. If you’re not interested in other’s experiences with singing, there’s no need to click on the video in the first place
Marvin Gaye("Let's Get It On" "I Want You" & "Hear My Dear" albums), Michael Jackson"(most of solo albums like "Off The Wall", "Thriller", "Bad" & "Dangerous" albums) & Prince(especially tracks like "Adore") are The Masters when it comes to multi background vocals.
Adore!
Alex Isley - into orbit is one of my absolutely favorite songs and does backing beautifully!!! She just gets it. Makes sense since she was vocally trained in jazz
THANK YOU!
And being an Isley daughter.
Brandy Borderline has one of my fav background vocals
A new trend that I hear in modern vocal production is the use of heavy auto-tune on background vocals while the main vocal stays intact. To me… this really changes up the flavour of the background vocals as you hear them as distinct copies of the singer- the idea being that they’re not quite as real as the main vocal.
Background vocals have been treated more like instruments like strings since the 60s before Auto-Tune someone auto-tune was invented it was only natural that they would try that
I think what you're trying to describe is the use of vocoders in backing vocals rather than auto tune
Thats why i love r&b music the added voice in the music gives me goosebumps😩
Love this, Linda u rock!! Can u guys do an evolution of R&B video pls 🥲
Yes! And compare and contrast to Soul.
I grew up on 77-WABC in NYC in the 70s. Top 40. So much great music that I still love to this day. Motown, Soul, R&B is all a beautiful synesthetic music experience for me. I eventually discovered album oriented rock on FM stations, then jazz, a tiny tiny bit of opera and classical mixed in. And of course I still have my Dad's Ray Charles record. I've even gotten into some of the great old Country people.
Yes
Using background vocals to throw some shade is one of my favourite things.
Whenever I think about background vocals, one person comes to mind and that's Janet Jackson. Her textures are amazing and brilliantly layered through the record so much so that they become an entirely different instrument all together. "Come Back To Me" is a great reference for that and "Can't B Good"
Linda, you have a beautiful voice and the way you went about educating the audience was both engaging and entertaining. I've always loved RnB backing vocals. You have a new fan, for sure.
First heard of Linda on a Botez sisters stream, glad to see that she's winning in life
Absolutely loved this. Ad libs are often that extra spice that makes the song have more kick to it. ❤️
SWV harmonies 🤤
my favorite background vocals? Probably Say a Little Prayer by Aretha. As for new ones I love the background vocals from Silk Sonic the most.
❤️
Say a little prayer ...Omg 😍be still my ❤!!
Mariah Carey and Brandy are the absolute Queens of vocal layering!! But it's so cool to hear it from a wide range of singers too
In case I don't submit a video...
A few of my favorite R&B background vocals are "Body and Soul" (Anita Baker), "Love's In Need of Love Today" (Stevie Wonder), and "Your Love is My Love" (Whitney Houston & Bobby Brown).
How you've made an entire 8 minute video of vocal layering without mentioning MARIAH CAREY?????
It's so insane to me.
now you make one.
Brandy is the vocal bible and the queen of background vocals and layering different vocals. I haven’t noticed anyone mention her yet but I definitely think Sza is a great newer artist with out of this world and earthy backing vocals (Beyonce great with backing vocals as well)
Loved this! Linda rocks!
Who else is transcribing that little G minor vocal riff that Linda does at 6:01? ✋🏾
LINDA YOU ARE ONE OF THE PRETTIEST PEOPLE YOU SPEAK TO MY SOUL I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU OMLL
First!
Awwwww......
Another banger
That's cheating
Lol.
Very eye opening and informative, I've always been interested in how background harmonies are "fitted" into a song
I need this lesson! Thank you mama!
Beyonce and Brandy are vocal layering queens
lol beyonce is far from a queen. Shes overrated trash. Ever heard of Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Tony Braxton etc. Beyonce doesnt even come close lol
Brandy is good.
@@DjIceCnS go check out the full sail video of beyonce dissecting her vocals she layered 96 different vocal takes
jazmine sullivan and ledisi
@@DjIceCnS your opinion is trash. You can't be serious.
Her Peers definitely don't think so. It's just your untrained ear.
@@wpbdog1625 lol untrained ear. That's one of the stupidest things I've ever read.
Anthony Hamilton Charlene was a great mix of lead and back ground vocals he did a lot chats and call back in his verse and vamps and drove the song with strong adlibs to end the song
Leave the door open background vocals!! 🤯
Damnnn she's amazing! Super informative and inspiring stuff. Thank you 🙏
Wow, very informative, thank you for sharing!
This was awesome.. just what I was searching on UA-cam for.. thank u, and you are super pretty 😍
Dem Raw vocals sound Amazing!!!⚡️🌪⚡️
Wow she's great! Gorgeous too
Really informative and entertaining! Thanks
more R&B content please!!!
this is one of those questions that i'd never considered but as soon as i read the title i was like YEAH how do they do the background vocals
As a musician, I didn't really get a lot out of the basic definitions of backing vox, the super brief rundowns of how they've evolved over history, and other kinda musician 101 stuff. But I was definitely interested in hearing some of the things that make RnB backing vocals in particular unique, and I would definitely watch a sequel that focuses more on that. I come from a mostly rock background, so my ideal for backing vocals tends to be Queen. Right now in my life I'm very interested in figuring out how to make backing vocals more than just some doubles and harmonies of what the lead is doing, and really having them become their own through line within the song that sometimes meet the lead and sometimes do their own thing. Like Somebody To Love. I'd love more of a guide video for how to write those sorts of backing vocals and what kinds of harmony techniques to use.
And then you’ll be happy?
@@user-ux1vj9vx7s I'm already happy. That's just something that would make me a little extra happy!
Try to listen Mariah Carey, she's really a Genius making background vocals. I recommend you songs like Babydoll, Breakdown, Caution, The one
@@joshuarodriguez1533 Okay, I'll check her out! Thank you for the rec!
Linda per usual with the bangers
There is a metal album, Deranged Headtrip by Cilice, where vocalist Daniël de Jongh used this technique well outside its usual genre. If you aren't directly put off by metal music, give it a listen. Its awesome :)
Thanks for the recommendation!
Amazing! 💕
Mereba does amazing vocal things
Well done
This was awesome😍
like brandy said janet jackson is the queen of background vocals, from control to all for you and she does them all herself.
so inspirational 🎚🎶
Be Without You by Mary J Blige has insane background vocals
Wow this video was amazing 🙏🏾💯
Super cool episode. 👌🏾
Mariah Carey's "Giving me life" ad libs are GIVING ME LIFE!
and Brandy's "Borderline" OH MY!
this is gonna be so good, y'all. 💕💕💕
well done!
Such a good video, I'm in rnb singer myself, and that was an useful lesson
ima save this
This is such an incredible video 🦋💕
Really a great video thank you.
Thanks a lot ! it will help me a lot
this is inspiring.
well one thing is doing the background vocals but another is having her voice that sounds soo well
Me enanto el video. Muy buena edicion y muy bien explicado por Linda, ella es muy carismatica y su forma de hablar me resulto muy familiar! Me encanta
Wow she's amazing. I'm gonna watch the video agian just for her.
Nice! I don't write much near an RnB kinda style but this is still helpful for my music!
Thanks for the excellent information provided Ms.Diaz. You have a beautiful voice and your music is beautiful. Keep on doing what you’re doing 👍🏾
Ps I wish that i could sing!!!
This Video is Fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Helps Alot!!!!
I'm surprised i learned more from this video than i thought i would. I've always interested with how R&B has depths to it which isn't that common in pop (though i think it's starting to be implemented more nowadays in pop music).
Dope video content. ✨
I Love This ♥️ 💯
dan thank you fir this , this past few months kinda digging the bts of ariana grande's recording process,, and Linda you have a phenomenal voice !!
"Take 6" are the precursors
good tutorial
Yes for the Nao shout out!
Great video! very informative
Thank you
I'll Be Around, The Spinners. All day.
Sweet Thing, Rufus and Chaka Khan. All night.
Easy, by Commodores (Lionel). All morning on (you guessed it) Sunday mornings.
Roy Hargrove did vocal style backgrounds with his trumpet!
Drunk On Love By Basia has some really nice backing vocals also the whole The Sweetest Illusion album by her has great backing vocals throughout.
I think it’s depends with the engineers and the vocals directors’ organization. And also the idea of the music is more about the harmonies and chorus. And then the leads vocals. it’s require more work and time
Wow she's beautiful
Polyphonic singing is done at lot at Christian churches. They all ad-lib on the spot, different words, different notes, just gorgeous!
Great video, Linda. I am new to learning music. Just started learning the guitar. I stick to the acoustic guitar and raw singing with no electronic help at all because it is just a hobby for me. Would just like to see how far I can go the natural way. Of course a professional musician needs all the electronic tools available in order to stay in the market. Anyway, you have just improved my vocabulary - polyphonic, organum. Ha ha ha.
Thanks so Much 🙏🏾.. what’s your mic sethings for vocal recordings? The roll off on or off ? Presense etc I mean
Brandy Brandy Brandy hands down with those bgvs baby!
Here are some of my favorite songs with great background vocals “Higher” by D’Angelo, “My Heart Belongs To You” by Jodeci. “Say A Prayer” Aretha Franklin
I like perry Como "catch the falling star"
It's really interesting to hear how different artists and genres approach background harmonies. Though, of course, the lines have been getting increasingly blurred for a lot of genres.
I always loved the way Mariah Carey did on her songs
Yes, she's one of kind
The background vocals on Gyakie "Need Me" are plush. Yemi Alade has great adlibs in general
The pic you chose for thank you next omg..........
Nice vidéo
Rakiyah is an artist with great vocal layering. Check out her project "Into the Cosmos" if you haven't already.
Would have been interesting to see her interview some other people on how they go do their backing vocals, like maybe that expert guy that was randomly name dropped before changing the subject.
R&B goes much darker than that it's what comes from the soul.
So when does the video start?
love the wardrobe changes lol!
--- definetly try and experiment with panning for harmonies if you don't already. i assumed you didnt bother to do all that mixing for the video coz it sounds fine as is. maybe you were thinking of ppl who are listening on mono speakers such as phones. but, yeah. :) cool vid