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Background Vocal Libraries

Dirk Ehlert

Dirk Ehlert
Why has not any single developer so far done a decent, versatile pop/rock/contemporary background vocal library? 2 guys 2 girls, hoo , haa, mmmhh, yeah, woah, in Short and sus, doesn't even need to be legato grmpf. Might be better off doin creating it myself. I know there's Realivox, which is really good but not exactly there yet in terms of "oomph". BFA did "Scream" but it fails the concept of being usable in all keys and "multisampled" . Anyone?
 
Why has not any single developer so far done a decent, versatile pop/rock/contemporary background vocal library? 2 guys 2 girls, hoo , haa, mmmhh, yeah, woah, in Short and sus, doesn't even need to be legato grmpf. Might be better off doin creating it myself. I know there's Realivox, which is really good but not exactly there yet in terms of "oomph". BFA did "Scream" but it fails the concept of being usable in all keys and "multisampled" . Anyone?
I've been wondering the same thing. Other than Realivox, the closest thing I've found is not a sample library, but the background vocals in PG Music's Band in a Box are very good and versatile. There are "realtracks" that create these background vocals. They added a few more in the 2019 update.
 
Yeah that was a nice one I tried it out last year with Biab, and then there's the free vocal library from Soundbetter Singers, which is actually the best so far that I have found, but I think the concept could be taken further. But hey it's free :)
 
There's indie voices by splash Sound but it's very limited.
And then there's Indie vocals by Antonov samples, but seems very small as well.

As far as I can tell Scream is by far the most comprehensive.
It's really baffling that no one has covered it so far, and yet we see a new choir library every other week.

I'll have to check out that Soundbetter singers. Never heard of that one.
 
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Soundbetter Singers isn't very good - good singers, but not well programmed.

I've used synths for this kind of stuff before. Synths have a hard time sounding natural on phoneme transitions in words, but a vowel, mmm or even ha is easy to synthesize convincingly, and can be tweaked ad infinitum. With Alter/Ego you can play parts in live and control the timing and dynamics, if that matters to you (and in the interest of full disclosure, I made the Marie Ork voice for that). Sharpkey and Synthesizer V are also good free options, or you could spring for Vocaloid. Synthesizing a choir of a few people will get more time-consuming, but still probably faster than coordinating a recording session with humans.

What would be REALLY useful is a tool that can take a few minutes of a lead vocalist doing this kind of stuff, and analyze that data to come up with a simple synth voice with a similar timbre.
 
Why has not any single developer so far done a decent, versatile pop/rock/contemporary background vocal library? 2 guys 2 girls, hoo , haa, mmmhh, yeah, woah, in Short and sus, doesn't even need to be legato grmpf. Might be better off doin creating it myself. I know there's Realivox, which is really good but not exactly there yet in terms of "oomph". BFA did "Scream" but it fails the concept of being usable in all keys and "multisampled" . Anyone?
I agree with you... there are 2 libs called shout and scream from, I'm no sure I think it's from best service or big fish, and they're really good, but we really miss a full lib of pop choirs.
https://www.bigfishaudio.com/Shout
https://www.bigfishaudio.com/detail.html?1&24&1::::::::::::SCREAM:518852
 
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I think the https://esoundz.com/sounds/vocal-collection-sampletank-expansion/4740.html (Vocal Collection Expansio)n for SampleTank from eSoundz is a lot of fun and it only costs $5. Lots of unusual vocal textures. My favorite is "Beach Boys 2 Men." It really has a Beach Boys feel to it.

If you don't have SampleTank, I bet the free version would work.

The downside is that it these are very old samples. Don't even think about legato. The sounds shut off as soon as you let go of the keys. But you can adjust the ADSR inside the edit section of SampleTank. I definitely think this is more than worth $5.
 
What Dirk is referring to is not your usual ooh and aah BVs.
It's more the Yeah, woah and woohoo you hear in Indie. Legato is not essential for this. And no, Omnisphere doesn't cover these types of vocals.
 
@R. Soul is pretty much spot on. The fun thing is, the vocals in these Big Fish Audio / Dieguis libs are pretty much spot on, but they're always restricted to the key the construction kit is in (vocals are the least forgiving samples when it comes to pitching, even half a step gets you into chipmunk or demon territory). Scream to me seems like a culmination of a bunch of vocal licks from their other libs, but again, there's no consistency to have at least all the phrasings in all keys, even simple sustains etc. I think I should make clear that I'm specifically looking for that raspy rock / indie quality not these soft pop huhs and hahs, for that Realivox or Omnisphere is fantastic. But I feel some broad stroke vox with balls is really missing in the market.
 
Wasn't Exhale made specifically for pop background vocals?
I didn't try it but I did watch all the videos I could get my hands on.
Exhale seems like it's aimed more at the EDM sort of choppy effected vocals. Not the realistic vocals that we are talking about here.
 
is Synthesizer V's growl emulation in action - sorry I can only find that in Twitter video form. But I seriously think it's the best tool out there right now when you need a few seconds of rock or indie backing vocals and don't need to do lyrics.
 
I was hoping Realivox would do the men soon.

If you can sing, Nectar and Octovox can harmonize a bit. Though I did better copying the doubles and lowering/upping the key using Waves Tune Lite on the last song I did. Lot of work though to get it to sound okay.
 
I think the https://esoundz.com/sounds/vocal-collection-sampletank-expansion/4740.html (Vocal Collection Expansio)n for SampleTank from eSoundz is a lot of fun and it only costs $5. Lots of unusual vocal textures. My favorite is "Beach Boys 2 Men." It really has a Beach Boys feel to it.

If you don't have SampleTank, I bet the free version would work.

The downside is that it these are very old samples. Don't even think about legato. The sounds shut off as soon as you let go of the keys. But you can adjust the ADSR inside the edit section of SampleTank. I definitely think this is more than worth $5.
is Synthesizer V's growl emulation in action - sorry I can only find that in Twitter video form. But I seriously think it's the best tool out there right now when you need a few seconds of rock or indie backing vocals and don't need to do lyrics.

Dsmolken your site is very interesting...
 
I picked the Vocal Collection, and was able to load it in Sample Tank 2 32bit (it comes with an installer for the sounds for ST2) and Sample Tank 3 64 bit..some usable sounds for $5! Not sure what the performances do.. They have more similar expansions (ethnic, etc) anybody tried them (off topic)
 
I picked the Vocal Collection, and was able to load it in Sample Tank 2 32bit (it comes with an installer for the sounds for ST2) and Sample Tank 3 64 bit..some usable sounds for $5! Not sure what the performances do.. They have more similar expansions (ethnic, etc) anybody tried them (off topic)
eSoundz is the retail division for Sonic Reality, which created SampleTank and Sonik Synth for IK, as well as Miroslav, SampleMoog, Neil Peart Drums, and a lot more. They've also done many refills for Reason, REX files, Apple loops, acidized Wav files, etc.

The reason I bought the Vocal Collection is I had fond memories of using it in Reason.

I would say that if you are satisfied with sounds on SampleTank 2, then these libraries are tremendous bargains. I got the World Library, because it was $5. It has a ton of percussion, string, and wind instruments. It is not EthnoWorld, but let me repeat, it is $5.

Sorry to highjack your discussion, Dirk. This isn't what you're looking for. Somebody needs to make it. I think that vocal libraries are very hard to do.
 
Why has not any single developer so far done a decent, versatile pop/rock/contemporary background vocal library? 2 guys 2 girls, hoo , haa, mmmhh, yeah, woah, in Short and sus, doesn't even need to be legato grmpf. Might be better off doin creating it myself. I know there's Realivox, which is really good but not exactly there yet in terms of "oomph". BFA did "Scream" but it fails the concept of being usable in all keys and "multisampled" . Anyone?
I guess isolated harmony vocals are a lot harder to do than choirs. I don’t think it’s for lack of a ready market. In terms of usability and quality, it seems like Realivox is already 90% of the way there except for male voices and a few trendy phrases. Maybe Mike is working on an expansion?
 
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