I think the most useful advice I can give here is listen to Mick and Keith singing in the Rolling Stones. Keef is a good, but not exceptional singer. Jagger has an exceptional voice, but an unskilled one in many ways. The two of them together do some great stuff. Listen to Wild Horses, and Dead Flowers (youtube them) as a start.

Why they're a good model is that neither is a super skilled singer. But they make a damn nice noise together. I think there's very little point in unison singing unless you're going for the punk all-the-lads-roar-here stuff. But harmonies don't have to be an octave apart. In fact that would just be weird. Harmonies can be thought of as complimentary melodies. So each of you is singing a different tune, but in such a way that they sound nice together.

Delta Male wrote: Is there good way to determine what the back-up vocalist will sing?

You don't have to sing in different octaves and unison singing has its place, but you have to learn to sing in harmony. You don't have to sing notes that are far apart on the scale (refer the Everly Brothers: Bye Bye love; Dream, Dream, Dream or Let It Be Me, et. al.).

Best way to do this is learn some theory - then simply sing the intervals (third's, fifths, sevenths, etc. - both above and below). Otherwise work out a harmony by trial and error and then simply practice until you can nail it every time. If you play the guitar along, you can often figure out what note in the chord the melody is and then simply pick out one of the other notes from the chord as the harmony note.

Here is a good explanation:

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In studio, I often "cheat" and use a harmoniser to create a harmony vocal that works in my limited range, then I solo that vocal part and learn how to sing in unison with that. ? Practice that to death until I'm completely comfortable singing it. Then I can practice singing it with the melody.

You could sing one of the harmonic notes (3rd or 5th) (either higher or lower than the main singer)

BTW - if you get a chance, check out the band For Folk's Sake - even if folk isn't your thing. Richard and Jono Tait with Gareth Smit and Glen Swart. Often seen at Richard Tait's Alma Cafe in Obs. They do beautiful covers of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young harmony vocals. I've had the extreme pleasure of doing sound for them and every single member in the band can really sing and harmonise. It's not often that a band can pull me out of the analytical mindset of mixing and get me to simply stare in wonder, but these guys do on occasion. Also check out The Hedges if you can, who are Gareth and Jono (the two young guns in FFS).

Of the more popular bands, the Eagles have cool harmonies, often like someone singing the same song with a slightly different melody.

Also The Beatles have some creative examples, "here, there and everywhere" as well as "drive my car" being among my favourite harmony singing.

If you listen to the song "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow, you will notice she sings along the whole song but lower and slightly softer on the recording.

There are so many examples, listen out in every song and practice with your ears. Then you will start hearing them and it will come out your mouth.

Donovan Banks wrote: Of the more popular bands, the Eagles have cool harmonies, often like someone singing the same song with a slightly different melody.

Also The Beatles have some creative examples, "here, there and everywhere" as well as "drive my car" being among my favourite harmony singing.

If you listen to the song "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow, you will notice she sings along the whole song but lower and slightly softer on the recording.

There are so many examples, listen out in every song and practice with your ears. Then you will start hearing them and it will come out your mouth.

And what about them Beach Boys and The Lettermen...awesome harmonies ?

Guys, thank you all so much. Tomorrow me and my brother are gonna practice apart from the rest of the band and concentrate on vocal harmonies. All these replies I got really makes so much sense, and I'm sure it's going to help us out of the position were stuck in. I'll definitly check out the artists that were mentioned to get an idea of what it's about. And Allan, that is a great tip for anyone in a studio, and I think it's only cheating if you don't go through all the trouble of working to actually be able to sing that specific part..

Get a good backing vocalist. We have a couple coming in and just singing the tune. Not bad, but not wow either. Harmonising is what you need and a good harmonising backing vocalist just hears stuff differently. While I'm driving I listen to the radio and try to sing harmonies to songs that are popular currently. Sometimes it isn't even harmonising but just singing something a little ballsier than the lead vocalist does....