Ad-libs and backing vocals

Reviewed conventions, examples, and the sources behind them.

The checks below catch specific patterns in your text. They support your review; passing them does not verify every part of a convention.

Transcribe every ad-lib

Genius staff guidance

Ad-libs

Every ad-lib belongs in the transcription — the most complete lyrics possible are the goal — written in parentheses with its first letter capitalized.

Correct

Racing down the boulevard (Skrrt)

Exceptions and context

The linter checks the shape once an ad-lib is written — the parentheses, the space before them, the separators between run-together ad-libs; hearing one and writing it down is the half only the transcriber can do.

What LyricLint checks

A lowercase ad-lib in parentheses
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
(yeah)
```
This is a short recognized ad-lib inside parentheses. The suggestion is contextual and requires preview.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
(Yeah)
```
See trigger and fix
Two ad-libs run together
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
(Yeah yeah yeah)
```
One ad-lib follows another with nothing between them. A comma separates them as distinct calls and a hyphen combines them into one; which one fits is a phrasing call, so both edits are preview-only.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
(Yeah, yeah, yeah)
```
See trigger and fix
A parenthesis flush against a letter
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Hold me close(Yeah)
```
A parenthesized vocal is a word of its own, so the parenthesis does not sit flush against the letter beside it. Inserting the space is mechanically safe. This spacing check is derived from how the reviewed ad-lib examples are set, not an explicit Genius rule.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
Hold me close (Yeah)
```
See trigger and fix
A parenthesis left open in a lyric
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
Hold me close (Yeah
```
Parentheses wrap a vocal sitting behind the lead, so every opening mark needs its closing half on the same line. Detecting the imbalance is a product-safety check derived from that convention, not an explicit Genius catalog of every malformed case — and where the mark should close is a judgment about the vocal, so no automatic repair is offered.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
Hold me close (Yeah)
```
See trigger and fix

Echo repeats are not ad-libs

Genius staff guidance

Ad-libs

Words repeated by an echo or delay effect on the vocal are not ad-libs, and the repeats are not transcribed.

Asterisks mark produced sounds, not vocals

Genius staff guidance

Sound effects

A sound effect in the production — a money counter, a gunshot — is wrapped in asterisks either side (*beep*); a sound the artist vocalizes with their own voice is a lyric and is written plain, without them.

Correct

*cash register* Countin' it up all night

Exceptions and context

The linter flags braces and other wrappers around a likely sound effect; whether a sound came from the booth or the board is a judgment only the transcriber can hear.

What LyricLint checks

A sound effect not wrapped in stars
Flagged example
```
[Verse]
{laughs}
```
The braces wrap a recognized sound-effect phrase. Confirm the contextual classification before replacing the wrapper.
Accepted by this check
```
[Verse]
*laughs*
```
See trigger and fix

Bracket a yodel you cannot make out

Editor-reviewed Genius annotation

Yodeling and scatting

A yodel or a scat run is transcribed syllable by syllable, dashes joining the syllables of one run, no dash where a small pause falls, and a comma closing each section; a transcriber not confident of the syllables writes [Yodeling] or [Scatting] where the passage occurs instead of guessing at them.

Correct

Lay-ee-oh-del-ay-hee, oh-del-ay-hee-hoo

Exceptions and context

A yodeling page also takes the Yodel tag. Yodels draw on a small set of recurring syllables — dee, del, ee, ho, la, lay, oh, oo, ro, yo — while scatting is free-form and has no such set, so only its segmentation is conventional. The dash itself is the hyphen convention stated with the other dash rules.

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