Help me spice up my UTAU's names ?

Miawerz

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
At the moment, the names I thought of are rather... uninteresting and uncreative lel
Yuuki and Yuki are the first utau's I finished making and I was wondering if someone could help me stylize/spice up (something like symbols or number stuff) their names cuz I tried thinking of some ideas but I'm not really good at that stuff.

For some info, they're supposed to be singing partners(but well, not all the time) also they are opposites, introvert and extrovert, cold and warm.
Further info in their demo vid

I'm not really interested in giving them surnames but if someone suggests something really good then I'll think about it ^ ^. I want their original names to stay cause they somehow means something to me lel but it's just so bland xD
 

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I think that their name as that is totally fine. I don't see any reason to add numbers/symbols in their name. (In fact it's better that name is short and easy to remember than being very long and hard to write/say).

Like you said, you can add family name for they - if you want to. If you want to be more "original" with name, you could give no-Japanese name (what sounds good with their first name).
[doublepost=1467111156][/doublepost]You probably wouldn't but I want to just add that NEVER use Google Translate to name your character (at least, don't trust to it 100% specially if you want give a Japanese name for your character).
 

Miawerz

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
I think that their name as that is totally fine. I don't see any reason to add numbers/symbols in their name.
I just think it lacks a tad bit of uniqueness
[doublepost=1467111156][/doublepost]You probably wouldn't but I want to just add that NEVER use Google Translate to name your character (at least, don't trust to it 100% specially if you want give a Japanese name for your character).
too late, I now announce their surname as Ogazumune which means [the sound of orgasm]
i'm joking lol
 

Truly

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
hi, i'm late to the party (but still not so late as to be necroposting)

if you're throwing these two together as opposites, you can always rely on the inherent and perceived qualities of many things-- but you can always trace back to yin/yang.

looking at your demo video there, i think you're playing against type a bit, giving the fiery, fun one (red, "hot,") a soft sounding voice, and giving your cool, calm one a "strong" voice. even if they don't look their type, you'd think that their personalities would match their voices-- the excitable one would have a strong voice, the calm one would have a calm voice. for further example, you can look at yuki and point out that she's going to be the one doing Luka Luka Night Fever-- like, even if it doesn't fit perfectly with her personality, of the two of them, she's more likely.

see, that's the thing i think you have to keep in mind. when you're going for contrast between characters, it's easiest to either take two very very similar characters and then show nuanced differences between them, (see rin and len) or just have them be extremes from the start. these two look like they're going to be extremes-- but then you went and gave them reasonable personalities. they're not similar enough to begin with that being different from one another makes them anything more than just different people, and they're not far enough apart from one another that they clash in an interesting way. their height is a great, clear example of this: one isn't short, the other tall; they're not exactly the same height; they're slightly different, both totally reasonable heights.

for another example, you can look at the characters in Inuyasha-- say, inuyasha and sesshomaru. inuyasha is brash and loud and fighty, he wanders around a lot, and fights wildly with his claws, or wildly with his sword. sesshomaru is regal and composed, cool to the point of being cold, he sets a goal and pursues it, and fights skillfully only with a blade, never with his hands. these two are (half) brothers, so there's some reason to naturally compare them, but they still end up being extremely different.
on the other hand, i'd put your characters more in the places of, say, kikyo and miroku. they're still plenty deep, as characters go, but they don't have any chemistry together-- or at least, they're never shown together. they aren't similar, they don't contrast. they could probably be fine friends, in another setting, but there is nothing interesting in comparing them.
tl;dr, your characters remind me of two university students who are in the same circles, but not friends. or maybe they are friends. who knows?

anyway, you might consider that yuuki is kuudere or dandere, because he is. or, from the demo, he doesn't sound tsundere. plus, you could have a bert/ernie dynamic between them if yuuki is dandere, but will open up with a little goading from yuki... i don't know how you'd portray that in song, though.

lastly, if these two are supposed to be a set, maybe modify their costumes to seem like they're a set. or give them alternate "vocaloid" costumes-- i get the appeal of plainclothes, but these don't have matching colors, they don't have matching patterns, there's no logo or signature on them, nothing to make them pop. nothing to identify or unify them.
if yuuki takes off his hoodie and ties it around his waist, that could potentially match yuki's skirt. if he is wearing a tank top that kind of follows the style of yuki's jumper, with ice-blue straps and a white body, that could work. maybe.


[EDIT]
yeah wow, i really missed the point of this thread, didn't i? sorry for that... =_=
 
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Miawerz

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
@Truly don't worry, I really like in-depth analysis stuff ^ ^
I did intend the unmatching voice from the personality [s=]cuz I like confusing people[/s] I just think it'll make them more interesting and deviate from the norm [s=] cuz you know, hipster sh*t[/s]

I never knew that tsundere's a voice type >_> i just thought that is his personality(like hard on the outside, soft on the inside) but maybe it is not accurate since the abundance of dere's lel
Yuki's personality, however, is like borderline to a Mary Sue one so I thought maybe add some issues about her to make her personality more complex-ish. Same goes for Yuuki (like instead of the "he's a cold person and doesn't like hoomans" i'd at least put a reason why) but when you look at them from the outside, yuuki's a cold arrogant biatch and yuki's the warm loveable person. (Also i could say their personalities are also inspired by my own personality.... I could either be silent and pretty much don't care or I could be outgoing and fun..... really depends on the people I'm with >_>)

They're supposed to be a [I=]romantic[/I] couple. I already planned to make their release song "suki kirai" with yuuki singing rin's part and yuki singing len's (since that's the song where their personalities are)

For their designs..... i'mjustnotthatgoodatdesigningstuffsorry T_T but I would redesign them when I finally release them (probably think of a matching logo)
They're actually supposed to have a hoodie concept but then I was like ihavetoomanycharacterswithhoodies. I think the main idea I have making their current designs is having the color blue and orange since they are complementary colors (it's polar opposites but it's what completes each other... something I actually learned from school lel) and also I made the hair kinda matching(yuuki with white hair and bluish tips and yuki with a dark-ish almost black hair with orang-y tips)

I'm actually planning to make a short comic about their background story and maybe you can read that for more characterization?(but I'd probably do that when college stops sucking out my life) buti'mjustnotthatgoodwithdesigningclothes

[s=] also if it's ok, would you also give some comments about their voice quality (since nobody did it yet) but it's ok if you don't want to lel[/s]

Anyways, thanks for the in-depth analysis/critique(?) I'd keep that in mind :smile:
 

Truly

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
with regards to their personalities, show, don't tell. a comic is good, and ok, maybe you drop a wikia page on how you envision them, but in the end, it's the songs they sing that will really convey their personalities. these are voicebanks first, characters second (traditionally).

obviously, do what you want with your own original characters. there's no harm in making a character based off your UTAU and making it more than just an UTAU. but i'm going under the assumption that these are UTAU and that that's all they'll be taken for. rin, len, kaito, miku-- the vocaloid characters come with very little characterization. you've got the quality of their voices to go off, and the design of the characters, and those are interpreted (or ignored) through song. kaito is not packaged with the yearning and desire to be human and feel love, with the heartbreak of fearing, ironically, that he'll never know true emotion. the nuance in their characters are expressed and interpreted through the songs they're made to sing.

so obviously the solution is to get out there and write some songs for your UTAU that really demonstrate their characters. but alas, utaites at large only publish covers of other people's songs.

and then there's weird ones like Alice Human Sacrifice or Bacterial Contamination, which are really more about a concept or that characterize the producer more than the character.

__
i think the voice quality of your pair is probably fine. i naturally don't much like yuki because you used a slow song for her, which makes me think she'll be more suited toward ballads and it will be difficult to use her in more energetic songs.

imo drop the hoodie concept and go with something else. it's fine to have hoodies, to use hoodies, but don't make it their default. we all have that stage (i'm actually wearing a hoodie right now), but it's not professional, it makes you look like a teen slacker, and it's not cool unless you're like, a rapper or something. it's not the flavor you're going for.

unless there is something specific you're going for, model your characters after pre-existing, japanese, yamaha vocaloids. i'm not telling you to copy the design completely, or even in-part, i'm just saying make something that would fit aesthetically in the Miku Miku Ni Shiteageru music video.

miku hatsune, for instance, has a pretty bold design, despite the muted colors of her outfit. i'm not referring to her hair, either, i mean she has bold, solid colors, and clothes that break those colors up and spread them out. did you know her sleeves aren't attached to anything? just black sleeves that start above the elbow, with the aqua trim. the sleeves connect to the arms, which connect to the vest, which connect to the skirt, which has some trim as well to separate it from the stockings. there's also a bit of Absolute Territory there, but the trim is required for the skirt to match the sleeves, as well as to help separate the black skirt from the black stockings. while it looks fine, it's pretty impractical to have sleeves that don't attach to anything, wouldn't you say? plus the outrageous hair. plus such a short skirt (maybe). but it's perfect for a virtual idol-- the flavor of yamaha's vocaloids.

i'm rambling again. but it might do you some good to start with a high concept of what "kind" of characters yuuki and yuki are. if they aren't pop idols like rin and len and the crew, what are they? if you're going for a more pedestrian flavor, your art makes yuki look like a college student. from her "personality" given and her current design, she strikes me as the sort of girl to be pretty popular and fun, and even if she is insecure, probably has had a lot of boyfriends and is easily flattered. yuuki, though, seems like the type to never make a move-- if they're supposed to be a romantic couple, one of them has to be able to approach the other.
[doublepost=1467937484][/doublepost]i actually wanted to mention something about "mary sues," too.
just because the characters have some aspects of your personality, that doesn't make them bad characters. i believe that's pretty normal of any character we're supposed to like or sympathize with. it would be more of a problem to make a character that had none of your characteristics.

you might go one further and make caricatures of these aspects you possess, because that's an easy way to make a strong character. and since you're working with voicebanks, who will largely be determined by what songs they cover, starting with a strong, simple profile could go a long way.

(still, you need to make sure the voices actually do match the characters. if you make a high-octane shoujo character who has a deep alto voice that's only suitable for sad, slow, operatic pieces, people will take your character and change it.)

inb4 mods merge my posts
 
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Miawerz

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
@Truly , I just like to make up these story stuff xD buuut of course their personality within a song doesn't matter for me. It's up for the user (if someone else would use them). I never really thought that their personality needs to be strongly followed when they are used cause they are... well, utau xD. Yuki could sing pop/rock and Yuuki could sing ballads (the outcome tho... i'm not sure lel)

... maybe I could record a power append for yuki? [s=] hope that it doesn't sound like a wailing ambulance tho cuz my falsetto is crap[/s] (any suggestions on what you think people would like? since I could try changing it up a bit.... no promises tho since my falsetto's not that stable and i'm a voice acting crap lel) and also a soft one for yuuki [I=]somewhere in the future[/I]

Overall I would update their info with a simplified one and expound it with their backstory comic coming [I=]soon[/I] (their new designs would also be revealed there)
Thanks for helping me and stuff! ^ ^

some comment about the last thing you said.... isn't that a thing tho? Like nekomura iroha having a shoujo character with deep voice.... and lily, too (i think)
[s=]I mean namine ritsu is a freaking 6 yr old boy on the description so I thought it didn't really matter, in my defense tho yuuki is cold = cold strong voice, yuki is warm = warm welcoming soft voice... but whatevs we have our own opinions lol[/s]
 
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Truly

Teto's Territory
Defender of Defoko
well, I'd definitely agree that yuki has a warm soft voice. just there was some disparity between that and her design, i thought. i'd like to see a demo of her doing something with more energy, however. if it works out well, it'll show a great range!

did you voice both of these? what makes them separate UTAU rather than just two different pitches of the same VB? (not that you can't have multiple characters come from the same VB, just wondering.) so i take it you used falsetto to record yuki's core bank, and your natural voice to record yuuki's core?
 

Miawerz

Ruko's Ruffians
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
did you voice both of these? what makes them separate UTAU rather than just two different pitches of the same VB? (not that you can't have multiple characters come from the same VB, just wondering.) so i take it you used falsetto to record yuki's core bank, and your natural voice to record yuuki's core?
Yes i voiced them both ^ ^
Yuuki is somehow close to my natural voice but I kinda voice acted a bit just for some uniqueness
As for yuki,
I just wanted to have a female utau lel but actually my normal falsetto kinda sounds different since yuki's is a voice acted one... i'll call it... my trap voice? lel (I'm a guy if that's not obvious enough xD)
 

ShokoraOto

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Taking personality into consideration is a big thing that goes into names, especially Japanese ones, I've noticed.
But it's also good to look at normal Japanese names as well, if that makes sense? Because for English speakers, its easy to just google translate a word that sounds cool and then make it into a name, but in Japanese it's the equivalent of naming an original character "Dark Angelwing Song" and that's...not really a name, haha

Just something to be sure to consider!
 

Tin-Loid

Tin-Loid
Defender of Defoko
At the moment, the names I thought of are rather... uninteresting and uncreative lel
Yuuki and Yuki are the first utau's I finished making and I was wondering if someone could help me stylize/spice up (something like symbols or number stuff) their names cuz I tried thinking of some ideas but I'm not really good at that stuff.

For some info, they're supposed to be singing partners(but well, not all the time) also they are opposites, introvert and extrovert, cold and warm.
Further info in their demo vid

I'm not really interested in giving them surnames but if someone suggests something really good then I'll think about it ^ ^. I want their original names to stay cause they somehow means something to me lel but it's just so bland xD
This is exactly what I was feeling with Tree, so I drew inspiration from vocaloid names like IA Rocks,so I added "sounds" to his name for a fun twist like IA Rocks ( I literally looked at her name was like oh yeah I could put rocks on the end of tree but that sounds really weird so I put sounds )