Country California

At a press conference Wednesday morning, MCA Nashville announced the official launch of a new Vince Gill Backing Vocals iPhone app. The program for Apple’s popular personal connectivity device allows users to sing any words they’d like and have Gill’s angelic harmonies added in real time through a sophisticated vowel recognition and repetition algorithm, which the company claims should work instantaneously.

Although there was a noticeable lag between singing the words and hearing them back in our tests, MCA promises it will shrink to virtually nothing as the program matures.

Although the iPhone app is just now being developed, the technology itself has existed for quite some time. In fact, the app is based on the same studio technology that has added Gill’s high, angelic voice to countless recordings in all genres of music since 2000, when Gill stopped reporting to the studio for all but his own sessions. It has been used on recent records by Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Terri Clark, Patty Loveless, and Daughtry, among others.

Gill’s manager, Larry Fitzgerald, explained: “If we made Vince report to a studio to personally record all the harmony vocals that get requested of him, he wouldn’t have time to do anything else. This technology was developed out of necessity.” He added: “And his golf game has really improved since we implemented it.”

Capitol Nashville is reportedly developing a similar iPhone app which will allow users to create Keith Urban guitar solos on the fly. The algorithm is based on the work of Dire Straits guitarist and frontman Mark Knopfler.

Concept by Farce the Music