nulut cover: Fragile
Source Material
Lyrics:
[Subs for Original Version]
Vocal Design
Voice banks & V5 style presets utilized in this project:
Melody- Iroha V4 Natural at -40, Great Vibration
First harmony- Iroha V4 Natural at -40, Warm Whisper
Second harmony- Iroha V4 Natural at -40, Deep Shimmer
I added a harmony line a full octave lower, as I often do to give a more gravelly vocal. Attack and release effects are numerous, as this was another intensively tuned project. There is an unusally high use of enka-style attacks, as it seemed to fit this particular song in a unique way, and of course, growl [the V4 banks all have an excellent capacity for it]. Alternating crescendo and decrescendo mirror the cyclic nature of the music. The tuning, along with Hoheto’s rather strong vocals, gives what I consider a very utau-like impression.
Reflections
I received Len before I started working on this cover, but I’d heard the tiniest smattering of songs featuring Iroha’s genderbend Hoheto and was really excited about recreating the voice. Up until this point, I’ve always used Iroha in her lower ranges, where she sounds strongest. Iroha is to me what Flower is to most people, a great example of an agender voice, despite her design. I don’t favor high-pitched Vocaloids. Even when working with those capable of reliably producing higher notes, I tend to drop their voices down an octave.
Hoheto reminds me very much of a utauloid. I’ve never dabbled in utau, mostly because it seems very difficult to learn a new editor when I’m still constantly finding hidden features in the old one, but some of my favorite ‘loids belong to that category.
I like him very much, and I intend to keep using him. It’s just frustrating that he’s such a niche character.
Iroha’s voicebank itself is extremely underated. It has excellent power and great versatility.
As far as this particular song is concerned, one day it just kept repeating itself over and over again in my head, especially the ‘arabes-su-ka’ line. I was completely fascinated at the prospect of finding the word ‘arabesque’ in any song whatsoever, in any language. This is essentially a relationship-on-the-way-to-a-break-up song, but there’s an undertone of the singer’s connection to reality itself being just as tenuous.
