The Family That Sings Together…
By MNJ
| Posted in Writer's Block
I have an ongoing recording project with a local band. The singer/guitarist/keyboard player – who has a great voice – has some pretty nifty songs, so I offered him and his band some studio time. The backing tracks are all completed except for a few overdubs and the vocals. At the end of one of the sessions he wanted to put a guide vocal on one of the tracks which needed a harmony part. As it happened, his teenage son was with him and he’s a pretty good singer too, so I suggested they sing together. I’m already aware of how good family members can sound singing in harmony together but had never experienced it close up. Although their speaking voices are totally different, the tonal similarities between the father’s and son’s singing voices gave the harmony parts a totally unique resonance which I don’t think is possible to achieve with singers that are not related.
The physical act of producing a vocal sound involves many variants, but the simple act of just breathing, the larynx opening and closing, and the articulation and shaping of the sound produced must contain similarities if the two singers are from the same family. Now, I don’t presume to understand the science behind this phenomenon and I don’t even think the phrase ‘physiological make up’ covers it adequately or even accurately, all I know is that it’s true. It’s even better if there are three or even more family members involved but for me, and this is based on the examples that follow, it’s the sound produced by two or more brothers harmonising together that more than proves the theory.
The first group that I became aware of that took advantage of this special sound was the Louvin Brothers, Charlie and Ira, who wrote and recorded many seminal gospel and country songs throughout their career, which spanned two decades from the mid-1940s. The blend of their two voices is extraordinary, and for me they have never been surpassed in this area. Their close harmony work was a direct influence on the Everly Brothers, who sang everything in a simple two part, and became massively successful with their sound. In turn, they were an inspiration for more brothers to form bands and sing together, and there have been many throughout pop history, from The Kinks to the Proclaimers.
The ultimate example of course is the Beach Boys who were made up of the three Wilson brothers and their cousin Mike Love. Not content to simply produce derivative rock and roll and sit a basic three part harmony on top, Brian Wilson developed into a writer of some of the most sophisticated rock and pop music ever recorded with the complex vocal harmonies to match. The blend of the brothers’ voices in their music is just sublime. Listen to The Warmth of the Sun or Surf’s Up and you’ll hear it.
There have been many more – The Isley Brothers, The Jackson 5, The Osmond Brothers, the Bee Gees and more recently the Corrs – actually three sisters and a brother – and the Kings of Leon. For anybody out there involved in recording harmony singing from whatever genre, get your session singer or vocalist to bring their brother or sister along too – and make it a family affair.
Tags: home recording, recording vocal harmonies, vocal harmonies
Brilliant,
But doesn’t the Louvin Brother on the left pay more than a passing resemblance to our very own Mr Lumsden!
Gareth Bevan