Brigade

The Brigade turns your harmonies into a group of singers on a stage. Each harmony voice becomes a section of several singers, and every singer stands at their own place: a bit left or right, nearer or further away, slightly out of step with the others. You hear an ensemble, not four copies of the same voice.

Open it with the BRIGADE button next to MONITOR / EDITOR, or click the BRIGADE label on the Voices card.

The stage

• Left and right is the stereo position of each singer.
• Near and far is the distance. A singer further back sounds later, quieter and darker, like in a real room. The dashed NATURAL DISTANCE line is where a real choir would stand. Above it the distance becomes exaggerated (ARTIFICIAL DISTANCE).
• The colored chips at the bottom (V1–V4) are the sections. Drag a chip to move the whole section left or right. This is the same pan as on the voice ladder. Double-click to center it.
• Drag a single singer to place it by hand.
• The LEAD chip shows where your lead vocal stands.

Controls

The people icon on the right edge of the stage opens the Brigade menu.

• Layout: Rows spreads each section from near to far. Front puts everyone up front, spread wide. Moving singers by hand turns it into Custom.
• New Brigade: a fresh random brigade, with new distances and positions for every singer.
• Mix: how loud the Brigade is next to the lead and the harmonies. At 0 it is off. The Brigade knob on the Voices card is the same control.

The second icon opens the Room menu:

• Reverb: how much room the Brigade gets.
• Room type: Room is a small, close room with a short reverb. Hall is a bigger hall with a longer tail.

Right-click a singer to solo it and hear where it stands.

When to use it

• Gospel and choir hooks: Thirds Up or Full Stack, Layout Rows, Hall, Mix around 50 %.
• Gang vocals and chants: Unison, Layout Front, Room, Mix high. Instantly sounds like a group shouting together.
• Background “crowd” pads: Octaves Down or Deep, Hall, lots of Reverb, Lead vs. Voices to the right.

Next: Master