Vocal Arrangement Quotes

I think singing is such an important and incredible art form and it is quite undervalued at times.

We're fans of stuff like Maiden, but I think we generally get it from weirder places. For me, the Eagles' 'Hotel California' represents one of the most brilliant harmony approaches to music. Boston did it very well, too.

I have a really hard time writing my own lyrics for this record, because one, I had to write so many and also I was kind of perplexed by the idea of how I was going to sing and play... because at that time, we hadn't really thought about asking someone else.

I'm always going to take an experience and a fire beat and marry it all together with adult melodies. I try to paint, just like Frank Ocean paints with his lyrics. I try in similar ways to paint my life into these songs.

I work with this wonderful five-piece band, The Tony Guerrero Quintet, along with Kate Flannery, who was Meredith the Drunk in The Office, and Tim Davis, who was the vocal arranger on Glee. The three of us sing, and the band is amazing. We've been working together for about two years. So, we decided to do a Christmas album in July.

I know a lot of a cappella groups, but none of them are doing backflips while singing, for sure.

I always layer my vocals a lot. I sing a minimum of three layers of the same line every time, and then it's always one or two or sometimes even more harmonies.

We did an a cappella version, which I have always wanted to do, of the "Coventry Carol." It's beautiful, and we did it in three part harmony with no accompaniment. We have two a cappella songs that, in my opinion, are just gorgeous.

Singing and playing live can be difficult. Like, in the studio, I would record either the music track first or the vocal first. I don't necessarily do them together.

I don't think there's anybody that has such a keen sense of vocal production and attention to detail as Dre.

I want to make an a cappella record to release for free.

Whenever I write anything, I do sing to it, to try and make sure it's interesting or compelling to sing to. I've gotten in the habit of sharing that with other, more charismatic vocalists.

Singing background has always been such a precious thing. I'm always going to be excited to sing behind an artist and learn from them.

I have the background singers of Ray Charles, the background singers of Smokey Robinson, and the background singers of Barry White and I built a choir around that.

You hear it in your brain. Whatever makes sense. Some songs work well as quartet songs, sometimes they don't.

It's a particular skill, I think, doing backing vocals. You're blending the vocals between the gaps, between the music.

I think if you go to 'Strength of the World,' a song like that, the chorus isn't that great, but you go into the bridge and other things and the catchier parts and the better melodies we were really focused on.

I now do my own cabaret act, singing and telling stories about my life.

We've recorded over our voices once and double the harmonies, make them thick. The Four Freshmen do that.

Not everybody has to sing the melody.

I do not like the raw sound of the human voice in unison unless it is under the discipline of music.

That's what I like to do, I like to make songs.

I'm afraid of a cappella. I don't read music, and I have a hard time harmonizing. Basically, I'm a melody singer only.

Along with 'Free,' where I sing quite a bit, there are additional songs on 'Skin' where you can hear my voice in the background - lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs.' But more often than not, I use my vocals to prompt other rappers and singers to feel calmer, better, bolder.

To me, I don't think a song's complete unless it's got a great variety of different textures.