Rich Vocal Harmonies Made Simple!

Vocal harmony can sometimes make or break a worship song. Harmony adds texture and color to a song and adds interest.

But, what do you do when you have no one on your worship team that can either make up harmony on the spot or even learn written harmonies and “hold their own” while singing their part? And on top of that- what do you do when you have someone who can learn harmonies if they are written out – yet the majority of worship songs have no written out harmony? A good option is to consider using a voice modulator when the vocal harmonies are hard for the singers of your worship team to hear.

Within the last year we have found our TC Helicon voice modulator to be a HUGE blessing to the vocal sounds of our worship team. The vocalists within our team have good voices and are truly worshippers. However, only one of them is able to learn harmonies and yet very few worship song charts include harmonies. And our time to teach the harmonies or write them out is so limited. So about a year ago we purchased a TC Helicon voice modulator to use for our harmonies. What a difference it has made! Now, those who might never have tried singing a little harmony are periodically harmonizing with the harmonies of the modulator!

As we shopped around for the highest quality and price for a modulator, we ended up using TC Helicon VoiceWorksPlus (http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp)

How does it work? The modulator is a small unit that you plug into a keyboard midi or a guitar midi. (We use it with our keyboard. For the sake of explaining how it works we’ll use the example of plugging it into the midi of a keyboard.) The modulator is run through the midi of the keyboard which then produces vocal harmonies based upon the notes or chords (various types of harmonies that you choose are either created from the chord or the exact notes that are being played) played on the keyboard. A microphone is also plugged in through the modulator then to the sound board. So, whomever you would choose to sing into this particular microphone becomes the vocalist that is used by the modulator. As the keyboard plays and as the vocalist sings, the modulator creates harmonies with the exact words that the vocalist is singing! It’s amazing. Watch the video and you’ll see how this works: http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp

Will the purchase of a voice modulator bust your budget? Probably not! We purchased the TC Helicon VoiceWorksPlus for around $700. Check out their website: www.tchelicon.com and under “products” go to “Just find a dealer in your area” and “contact the dealer.” If you want to look at the VoiceWorksPlus and watch a video on how it works click here (http://www.tc-helicon.com/voiceworksplus.asp). If you end up purchasing one, you will also need to purchase the footswitch (http://www.tc-helicon.com/switch-3.asp) so that you can change the sounds while playing the keyboard or the guitar.

If the dealer close to you has one on hand, go and check it out in person. For us, every penny spent on the voice modulator was more than worth it to the quality of our worship. We use it all the time - and we’ve only begun to tap into what it can do!

I'd like to hear from you! How do you create harmonies with the worship and praise songs that you use in worship? Do you teach them to your group? Do you have singers who are able to improvise parts? If so, did you help them develop them? What's your greatest frustrations with vocal harmonies?