• S0C9
  • VC Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 10

Topic: Harmony-G questions

Just got an HG !!  AWESOME harmonies.
I'm NOT the lead singer in the band, I'm the guitar player, and also the harmony vocalist. There's just the two of us that sing. We are a variety cover band that many times needs 3 or 4 part harmonies [Think Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Eagles or Beatles]. Our sound guy often does the 3rd harmony [when he's not busy and remembers to do so]. Sometimes we sub for him at gigs, which means NO 3rd vocal !! So I went with the HG 'cus the two extra voices is w-a-y more than enuf for us and means we can sound the same with what we have singing on stage.

So-o-o-o... I get to use it at practice tomorrow night for the 1st time. Challenge I've had so far is that most of the time I only need one of the two available voices, and I'm already singing the harmony line, so the HG appears to be adding a 3 or 5th above MY harmony, not the main vocal [which isn't even present]. This isn't as bad as it may sound in print, as the HG seems to follow the guitar chords in determining the 3rd/5th, but puts it higher??. What I think this means is that I may have to move some of my harmony lines down, [or double lead vox] so there's no chipmunks singing !!
I'd rather not do that as we often have a female singer guest with us at larger events or weddings... i.e. I'd have to different sets of harmonies on same songs. NOT !~!!   That dog will not hunt !   At those events, I would not use the HG.

FWIW - I play a Roland VG99. It's stereo. So far, I run the Left out into the HG and the Right directly to the snake. The guitar THRU on the HG then connects to the 2nd guitar channel on the snake. It works on 12-string, bass and [so far] on the alternate tunings I have tried it on, so chord recognition is VERY good.

FYI - I can't put the HG on the lead singer as he's wireless and is very audience interactive, meaning he's seldom on the stage, but out working the crowd.

Any suggestions as to how best for me to make use of the HG - given that I'm already singing a harmony line - would be appreciated. We play from ABBA to ZZTop [no ABBA really] and cover Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Funk and other genres.

TIA
Steve

  • Registered: 2009-11-24
  • Posts: 1

Re: Harmony-G questions

S0C9 wrote:

FYI - I can't put the HG on the lead singer as he's wireless and is very audience interactive, meaning he's seldom on the stage, but out working the crowd.

You could still plug him into it and you could be the one to control it. Other than that, I suspect the technical answer is that it wasn't really designed for what you're asking it to do.

I agree with you that it can produce some great harmonies, although I tell myself not to over do it.

  • S0C9
  • VC Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 10

Re: Harmony-G questions

and.. practice tonight got cancelled, so I have an extra week to figure this out. We gig Sat night but I will not bring in a new piece of rig without checking it out in practice... though I'm hoping that

sonicland wrote:

I suspect the technical answer is that it wasn't really designed for what you're asking it to do.

is not the right answer smile

  • Nyng
  • VC Top Contributor
  • Offline
  • From: Waghäusel - Germany
  • Registered: 2008-02-11
  • Posts: 65

Re: Harmony-G questions

Hi Steve,

you can still use the device on your gig. Just don't activate the harmonies. You can benefit from the TONE function and if you wanna try also from the double feature while singing your usual background voice. Maybe you wanna try to go stereo to your mixer so the doubling will be even more impressive. That should improve your performance without having to rehearse with it. As guitarist you will also appreciate to have a tuner always at hand.

Best regards,
Nyng

  • Registered: 2009-06-19
  • Posts: 1,183

Re: Harmony-G questions

S0C9 wrote:

Just got an HG !!  AWESOME harmonies.
I'm NOT the lead singer in the band, I'm the guitar player, and also the harmony vocalist. There's just the two of us that sing. We are a variety cover band that many times needs 3 or 4 part harmonies [Think Earth Wind and Fire, Chicago, Eagles or Beatles]. Our sound guy often does the 3rd harmony [when he's not busy and remembers to do so]. Sometimes we sub for him at gigs, which means NO 3rd vocal !! So I went with the HG 'cus the two extra voices is w-a-y more than enuf for us and means we can sound the same with what we have singing on stage.

So-o-o-o... I get to use it at practice tomorrow night for the 1st time. Challenge I've had so far is that most of the time I only need one of the two available voices, and I'm already singing the harmony line, so the HG appears to be adding a 3 or 5th above MY harmony, not the main vocal [which isn't even present]. This isn't as bad as it may sound in print, as the HG seems to follow the guitar chords in determining the 3rd/5th, but puts it higher??. What I think this means is that I may have to move some of my harmony lines down, [or double lead vox] so there's no chipmunks singing !!
I'd rather not do that as we often have a female singer guest with us at larger events or weddings... i.e. I'd have to different sets of harmonies on same songs. NOT !~!!   That dog will not hunt !   At those events, I would not use the HG.

FWIW - I play a Roland VG99. It's stereo. So far, I run the Left out into the HG and the Right directly to the snake. The guitar THRU on the HG then connects to the 2nd guitar channel on the snake. It works on 12-string, bass and [so far] on the alternate tunings I have tried it on, so chord recognition is VERY good.

FYI - I can't put the HG on the lead singer as he's wireless and is very audience interactive, meaning he's seldom on the stage, but out working the crowd.

Any suggestions as to how best for me to make use of the HG - given that I'm already singing a harmony line - would be appreciated. We play from ABBA to ZZTop [no ABBA really] and cover Rock, Blues, Country, R&B, Funk and other genres.

TIA
Steve

Hiya Steve,

There are a few things I could suggest for you here.

Firstly, I understand the issue you are having with the voice not getting the harmony you require. This can be changed by altering the interval of the harmonies, however, may still not acheive what you need. It is worth experimenting with these during practice and trying different combinations for each song and then saving them as a preset etc.

Secondly, and maybe more manageable is the option of you switching the harmonies on and off for your lead singer. Even when he is not on stage you could still actually control the harmonies as I presume they are still being triggered by your guitar. This would seem to make the most sense as then you could fill in the "missing note" as it were and leave the Harmony-G to take the main harmony in sync with the lead vocal. I understand the challenge in doing this if he is wireless but feel it may be worth the effort.

Hope this helps a bit! Let me know how you get on with this smile.

Best wishes,

Joey

  • S0C9
  • VC Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 10

Re: Harmony-G questions

Joey @ TC Helicon wrote:

Hiya Steve,

There are a few things I could suggest for you here.

Firstly, I understand the issue you are having with the voice not getting the harmony you require. This can be changed by altering the interval of the harmonies, however, may still not acheive what you need. It is worth experimenting with these during practice and trying different combinations for each song and then saving them as a preset etc.

Joey,
thanks for the reply... I figured I may have to go this route... and I have no issues with your suggested approach - but it will take a little more time to work out which songs need what and adjust accordingly.

Joey @ TC Helicon wrote:

Secondly, and maybe more manageable is the option of you switching the harmonies on and off for your lead singer. Even when he is not on stage you could still actually control the harmonies as I presume they are still being triggered by your guitar. This would seem to make the most sense as then you could fill in the "missing note" as it were and leave the Harmony-G to take the main harmony in sync with the lead vocal. I understand the challenge in doing this if he is wireless but feel it may be worth the effort.

Hope this helps a bit! Let me know how you get on with this smile.

Best wishes,

Joey

I'm not convinced that putting the HG on our front man will work, even if its under my control. As I mentioned, he's very energetic and spends most of his time working the crowd. He often talks with audience members while the band plays over him and other things are going on [like backing vox] or lead breaks, etc.  Plus, I DO sing a couple of the songs, so he would then be in the same situation I now find myself doing backing vocals with the HG.
Will take all of the suggestions under advisement, try some things out at practice next week and report back to you on progress. The feedback will hopefully help out someone else who may have this predicament smile

  • Registered: 2009-06-19
  • Posts: 1,183

Re: Harmony-G questions

Hiya Steve,

No worries at all, sorry I couldn't be of more help with this one! If I come up with any more bright ideas - I'll be sure to pop back and let you know smile.

Best wishes,

Joey

  • mpacey
  • VC New Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2011-03-27
  • Posts: 1

Re: Harmony-G questions

SOC9 (or anyone else) -- have you been able to work out a good approach to using the HG for background vocals? I have a HG-XT on order so I can't experiment yet. I play in a three-piece where the guitarist and me are the only singers. My role in the band is to sing lead on a few songs, but my strength is really harmonies, and I was interested in the HG-XT because of the tone options and the possibility of adding a 'third voice'. Is anyone else using it in this manner (i.e., in a way that it wasn't designed to be used)?

Cheers,
Mike