This is possible in Cubase, but the process is not as straightforward. This might be one that doesn’t follow the chord structure behind it, for example, or jumps between the various standard lines. The harmonies that Cubase creates are what music theorists would describe as ‘standard’ SATB (Soprano, Alto, Treble, Bass) harmonies, but there might be occasions when you want a very specific harmony line. When created from the original melody, all of the resulting shapes will be based around it, but if you create harmonies from a harmony – select one of the harmonies you’ve already created and repeat the process described above – Cubase generates different shapes that can fill out a track and add texture. This is different from creating more harmonies from the original melody via the dropdown menus and gives quite different results. Something I enjoy doing is creating harmonies of harmonies. By default Cubase presents them all at an equal volume, so you may need to balance the volumes of the parts against one another as well as the original to make the whole sound more natural. However, to my ears at least the parts do sound very processed and auto-tuned, but when mixed appropriately within a track their synthetic qualities aren’t that obvious and you should find that the original line masks any such shortcomings. Your newly created harmonies should now be displayed in the Arrange window and, depending on the source material, they should be relatively similar in musical shape to the original part. Now, Hollin Jones explored its capabilities only a few months ago (Issue 119, February 2013) so I won’t repeat too much of what he wrote, but a quick recap is worthwhile before we move on. One of the most talked-about new features in Cubase 7 is the Chord Track, and with it the ability to generate harmonies for both MIDI and audio tracks from its chords. But if you don’t fall into that camp, don’t despair: Cubase has been equipped for some time with the kinds of tools you’ll need to create convincing harmonies – and in version 7 it’s even easier. Even for those of us who are sufficiently blessed to be natural multi-instrumentalists and vocalists, the ability to create harmonies takes no small measure of knowledge and skill – not to mention practice. You won’t, however, fall out with said bandmates over ‘creative differences’…Īnd on the subject of musical interaction, anyone who has worked in a band will know that one of the hardest skills to develop – and from personal experience one of the last – is the ability to create/perform harmony lines, and vocal harmonies in particular. But this ‘solitary’ approach has downsides, too: creating complex arrangements and interaction between instruments is now all down to you alone, and an authentic-sounding performance becomes harder to physically re-create.
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