Relationship between singer and instrument

[rego21]

Hello, I'm a beginner music producer, I want to be able to create productions for singers in the pop genre, but I'm having a little difficulty understanding the role of the melody and the relationship between instrument and singer, is it typical in a pop verse to have instrumentation just playing the chords while the singer is singing the melody? or is it typical for the instrumentation to play both a melodic line and chords, while the singer is singing a melody different or the same as the melody played by the instrument?

[CS70]

Not sure there is any "typical".

Contrasting or counterpointing instrumental lines together with vocals can be fantastic or catastrophic devices - depending on the material, the registry they occupy and how they are mixed. In general however in any kind of popular music the vocals stand supreme, so perhaps that's your typical.

[BJG145]

I don't know, but if you're in a band and you try to solo over the singer - they'll hate you for ever.

Just saying.

[Sam Spoons]

Welcome to the forums rigo21.

As an aspiring music producer your biggest asset is your ears so listen to and analyse as much music as you can, not just in your chosen genre but in as many other related (and unrelated but interesting) genres as possible.

But, yes, I would agree with BG and CS that the vocal is far and away the most important element of most popular music.

[RichardT]

If you’re going to have both singer and backing instruments singing and playing separate melody lines then you have to be very careful. The instrumental lines must not interfere with the vocal. You can do this by choosing different registers (pitch ranges) and different rhythms (for example, a slowly moving line) for the instrumental lines. Also you can choose instrumental sounds that don’t clash with vocal sound.

Have a listen to some tracks you like and admire and see what they do.

[rego21]

.

Thanks a lot for all this great info, appreciate it a lot