Beatles Harmony with Vocalist Live 4

[ggalen]

As promised, here is a sample of how the Digitech Vocalist Live 4 works on early Beatles.I took this right out of the PA, it's pretty much how it sounds live. The Digitech floor unit is doing the high harmony, a 3rd above, based on the chords I am playing. I'm playing the chunking "boogie" rhythm in there...Eight Days a Week...http://www.glenngalen.com/EightDaysSample.mp3

[liamkelly]

May 14, 2008, 2:11pm, ggalen wrote:As promised, here is a sample of how the Digitech Vocalist Live 4 works on early Beatles.I took this right out of the PA, it's pretty much how it sounds live. The Digitech floor unit is doing the high harmony, a 3rd above, based on the chords I am playing. I'm playing the chunking "boogie" rhythm in there...Eight Days a Week...http://www.glenngalen.com/EightDaysSamp ... lennThanks for posting. Interesting box. A couple of questions from a rank amateur: in the 'live' environment can the box be triggered by a footswitch? Can you route the harmony to its own track on the mixer? Can you simultaneously layer different harmonies? And finally, can you trigger different harmonies at different parts during one song (3rd for the verse, 5th for the chorus or something).I know I could look this up but I'd rather hear it from someone who's using it. And I'm lazy Respect for posting. Although I did want to see the party Liam

[ggalen]

Liam,I haven't done the party yet...I just fired up the PA and ran through a number just for you and sent it to the DAW.Yes, you can trigger it with a footswitch. There's also a switch to turn reverb and effects off and on as well.You cannot send the harmony to a different output...it mixes the lead and harmony. You can set the relative mix of the two. But in the studio I just record the harmony without any lead vocal and put it on another track.And I can layer diffferent harmonies that way.It will do 3rds above, 3rds below, 5ths above, and 5ths below, plus unisons. 36 combinations of up to 5 part harmony (4 plus the lead vocal). Harmonies can be male, female, or mixed. You can change the balance of "aboves" and "belows"...also add humanization features.It is a lot more fun to just kick this thing on and go, rather than trying to sing the harmonies on a backing track and then sing along to them.I am happy to answer any other questions you all might have.I really like this box.

[liamkelly]

May 14, 2008, 2:42pm, ggalen wrote:Harmonies can be male female, or mixed. You can change the balance of "aboves" and "belows"...also add humanization features.GlennInteresting. I will look it up. Presumably if you wanted layered harmonies you could record, say, the third onto your backing track and program it to do the fifth 'live'.A daft question - you say it does female harmonies. Not on male voices????Liam

[ggalen]

Liam,Yes, it'll turn my voice into a very credible female voice. In fact, you can do weird tricks like only feeding the "harmony" out the box, and having the harmony be a unison...only female...and there you are, singing like a woman.And it will do a 5th and a 3rd live. In fact it will do two unison 3rds below (or above), and two unison 5ths above or below.

[liamkelly]

May 14, 2008, 3:07pm, ggalen wrote:Liam,Yes, it'll turn my voice into a very credible female voice. In fact, you can do weird tricks like only feeding the "harmony" out the box, and having the harmony be a unison...only female...and there you are, singing like a woman.And it will do a 5th and a 3rd live. In fact it will do two unison 3rds below (or above), and two unison 5ths above or below.GlennI really am going to look into this. My problem is not finding musicians that can't hamonise. But more finding ones that can harmonise in English. There are (many, many) great musicians here in Barcelona but few can sing tight harmonies in English. And I can't sing (or write) meaningfully in Spanish or Catalan. I think your box may be an arrow in the quiver. Not the answer... but an added tool.Liam

[Mark Kaufman]

May 14, 2008, 2:11pm, ggalen wrote:AThe Digitech floor unit is doing the high harmony, a 3rd above, based on the chords I am playing. Weird! You mean, it immediately analyzes the all the notes being played by your guitar, and chooses the appropriate major or minor 3rd?Wish I could listen right now at work... Does it ever pick the inappropriate 3rd?Cool concept. We live in the future.

[ggalen]

Mark,That's exactly what it does! And pretty excellently, too. It sounds spot on. It listens to the guitar (or keyboard) going "thru" it.It was designed for guitar, but all reports I've seen by users are that it does fine with keyboards as well.Interestingly, once you work with it a while, you can learn to "play" the harmonies by turning off the lead vocal, strumming a guitar chord (which only has to go into the unit; you don't have to use the guitar output), and just "sing harmony" and put that on a track.Fascinating box.

[Mark Kaufman]

Wow, I just heard it. That is nuts. And it would baffle a crowd at those live gigs too. Thanks for demonstrating that. At first I was completely mystified how it knew that Beatles' unusual harmony...then I broke it down and realized that's the logical way of keeping to the thirds on that song...it's actually the ingenious melody that makes them seem like a constant mix of thirds fourths and fifths...those Beatles never stop challenging my mind. Darned 20-year-olds...

[ggalen]

Yeah, it's pretty interesting. The setting is called Everly Brothers, and I guess the Beatles were emulating the Everly harmonies in the early Beatles period.I can pinch my voice into a Lennon imitation and sound more like the Beatles...but it's too creepy for me to try to imitate them so closely. I feel like an Elvis impersonator or something. That "Everly" setting works for Can't Buy Me Love, I Want to Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, Love Me Do.It's just a 3rd above the lead vocal.