How to produce background vocals that complement a lead

It's no secret that the presence of good background vocals can really make a vocal sound professional. Whether you're crafting lush harmonies or subtle supporting layers, good background vocals can take your music to new heights.

In this tutorial, we'll be walking through how to create and mix outstanding backing vocals, delving into some tips on how to ensure they not only complement the lead vocals but also sit seamlessly in any track, providing important depth and texture to your sound like this:

Follow along with a free demo of the new Nectar 4 vocal mixing plugin. It has a ton of new features that can make your vocal mixing process easier and faster, including a new Vocal Assistant, AI-powered background vocal processing, and more. 

Demo Nectar Free

Remember the role of background vocals

It’s important to remember the role background vocals are meant to play in any song. Background vocals are there to support and enhance the lead vocal, not steal the show. After all, nobody’s ever said, “Wow, those background vocals were so expressive and powerful!” So, when it comes to mixing background vocals, don't worry if they’re in the…well…background.

Before you start messing around with any background vocals, it helps to have at least a rough mix of the lead vocal and instrument tracks to work with. That way you can make decisions that fit the vibe of the whole mix and make sure the background vocals are sitting nicely in context. For example, you’ll want to keep things pretty simple on an intimate piano ballad, but you can spring for a much bigger group vocal in a busy mix.

Knowing where, when, and why you’re throwing additional vocals into a mix is crucial to being able to produce a background vocal section that serves a purpose. So if you’re in the recording studio laying down vocal tracks, make sure to plan out the background parts before you hit the record button. Otherwise you may just waste time and end up with a bunch of unnecessary takes that don't quite fit.

At the end of the day, backup vocals are kind of like the wingmen of the music world. They exist only to hype up the leads and improve the overall arrangement of your track. So, keep that in mind as we dive into some more technical tips for how to create and mix background vocals.

How to create background vocals

Before we dive into how to mix background vocals, you need to have some backup vocals to work with. There are a few different ways you can create background vocals for a track, so let’s take a look at the options. 

1. Record your own background vocals

The first option for creating background vocals to record your own! For this, you could have the lead vocalist record duplicates of the lead vocal (known as “vocal doubles”) while they’re still in the recording booth. 

Depending on the needs of your track, you could also have them lay down a few harmonies or some adlibs to throw into the mix. 

Another option is to have an additional vocalist (or two) sing the doubles, harmonies, and adlibs. It all really depends on the vibe you’re trying to accomplish.

Regardless of how you run your recording session, you’ll want to make sure each final background vocal is perfectly in line with your lead vocal. If different vocals start and end at drastically different times, it’ll muddy up the mix, ruin the intelligibility of the lead vocal, and give you an odd echo effect that is not pleasing on the ears. So make whatever timing adjustments are necessary to keep those background vocals tightly synced with the lead.

Also, you’ll want to make sure each vocal take is perfectly pitched. For pitch correction, I run all of my vocals through the Pitch module in Nectar. Simply set the key, range, speed, and amount of correction that best suits your track, and you’re good to go!
 

Hear the Pitch module in action in the before and after audio examples below.

Now, let’s take that lead vocal and have some fun with it as we explore the next two options.

2. Create textured background vocals with Backer

Let’s say you don’t have a handful of trained backup vocalists on retainer, but you still want the texture of a separate singer for your background vocals. In Nectar, there’s a really innovative new module called “Backer.” The Backer module allows you to quickly and easily create background singers that sit behind your main vocal.