Help for Newcomers (Tips, Help, etc.)

Sors

Local Guppie & UTAU Korean Advocate
Tutor
Defender of Defoko
Now, while I myself am kinda experienced with UTAU, a few months ago, I could have used a thread like this. I started this thread, as a help advice for someone who wants to make an UTAU, and/or isn't experienced with our favourite singhthesizer. I looked around, but couldn't find any thread like this, so I thought "Wait. If there is no thread...why not make one?" So here, I will list some help for UTAU newcomers!

1.) The Design

Now, what makes a good design? The answer is simple; originality. However, it should also fit the voice. So if you make an UTAU that is going to be voiced by someone else, I suggest that you make the design AFTER the vb is done. However, the most important aspect truly is originality. With that said, here are some things, you should NOT do:

- Make them complete Miku copies. Just, don't do that. Even if the voice is just excellent, people tend to overlook Miku, Crypton or other Vocaloid or Vipperloid-Esque designs. Of course you can "borrow" small things, if you like them, such as detached sleeves. Now, a lot of people hate those, but they tend to forget that the Cryptonloids didn't invent them. For example, even If I didn't know any Vocaloid, and only UTAUloids, my UTAU would still have his single sleeve.

- Kemonomimi/Animal ears. The worst offender is the Neko, or Cat, trait. While it can look cute, it's been overdone, and is actually frowned upon, due to the unoriginality.

- Something basic. Now, your UTAU cam of course look basic, heck my own UTAU looks pretty basic. However, you should make it interesting, and eye-catching, like with a good pose.

2.) The Voice

- First of all, you can use audacity. But if you want it to be more convenient, use oremo. Oremo, is so much better.

- Don't record with a laptop mic. That is just utter garbage. If you can't afford a good mic, just by a decent headset. Even if it's medium-quality, it's better, trust me.

- Pronounciation is key. Now, I know it's hard, especially if English's your native language, but if you don't pronounce it right, it's gonna sound awful. Watch some anime, drama, heck listen to music or watch youtube tutorials if you can't pronounce it correctly, especially the r. It's not like the english r, it's not an l, it's between a d, l and r. Now, if you speak a roman language, such as spanish, italian or portuguese, it's a lot easier.

3.) The UTAU itself

- Now, this is a very important aspect. Don't give your UTAU a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu personality. This is a synthesizer, for music, so what matters is the voice. A few likes and dislikes, maybe a catchphrase and a short personality is good, like "Cheerful and kind", but not "His/Her Parents died when he was a kid, and he actually hates singing but does it to blah blah blah..." don't. This may sound harsh but most people don't care. This is music, not an OC contest.

- Don't spam your UTAU everywhere. Now, sharing your work is good. I myself - if I think it is really good - share it here on Utaforum. I usually post it once in the chatbox. And that's the keyword; ONCE. It's okay to share, but not 200 times in 5 minutes.

- Don't go and pair your UTAU with other UTAUs as canon. A comedic crush is good, but not a canon relationship. It limits the work. And don't get started with other VOCALOIDS...

- Treat your UTAU and other UTAUs with respect. Don't shame them. If someone didn't record it good, then don't say "OH MA GAWD YOUR UTSU IS SHIT", but rather, tell him nice like "I think your Utau could use a revision" and tell them what they did wrong. And don't say your UTAU is just a device to get to fame, and sing even tho you can't sing. Many people treat their UTAU like an extension of themselves, so if you're harsh with an UTAU, you're also harsh with the creator.

So far...that's it. If you have more tips, write them down in the comments!
 

heta-tan

Genderless Goon
Global Mod
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I'd like to add my two cents as a who's been with UTAU since 2008-2009:
  • Do what you want with your design, if you want a cat girl go ahead. A buff furry man, do it fam. I mean I have a buff burple fish alien, the world's the limit. Life's too short to have people tell you that you shouldn't do x y and z with your design. BUT you also have to remember that your design is probably the first impression people will get, so make that worth while. But in the end of the day, it's your UTAU, not theirs.
  • RECORD WITH OREMO IT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER
  • Try to get a decent mic, I know not everyone has the money to buy an expensive mic. You don't have to go out and get a $300 mic if all you're doing to recording voicebanks. However, if you can, get decent mic.
  • Work on your pronunciation, look at overseas banks for help.
  • To be entirely honest, not everyone wants to hear your UTAU personality and backstory. HOWEVER, that does not mean that you can't and shouldn't feel like making your UTAU one. I recommend not adding a dissertation into your read me, maybe a short paragraph or two plus likes and dislikes, but you can have the full scoop on their site or something similar.
  • Don't be discouraged if you don't get views, likes, comments etc. Very few UTAU actually rise to the top and sometimes it can take years to start to get any sort of attention. I've had my UTAU for 5+ years and I still don't get lots of views and such. What matters is that you are enjoying your content that you're making
  • PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. This goes for OTO'ing, just because it looks hard doesn't mean you just say "sorry, I can't" and dump it on someone else. Learn how to do it, get the hang of it and keep doing it. This also goes for art, mixing, video editing, song writing. If you keep trying and working hard, you can improve.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for help, if you don't know how to do something, there should be no shame in asking for help. It's better to ask and learn then never ask and struggle. Most people *at least here* are very nice and willing to help.
  • Have fun with it, don't make release date deadlines or feel like you have to pull off a multipitch VCV right away because that's what everyone else is doing. If you feel stressed out about UTAU, I think you need to either take a break or maybe try doing something that you're more capable of managing. UTAU is a hobby, not a career.
  • Take criticism and critique with an open mind. If you think you can have some sort of productive dialogue with that comment/feedback such as asking clarifying questions, I think it's worth at least considering. You might need to have to have a dialogue with that person. But don't just disregard someone if they say you could use some improvement because maybe they're right?
Sorry if it's a long list or if it's hard to understand ^^'
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Pretty much--
Aesthetics are probably the least important part of a voicebank. Make it pretty but otherwise the design doesn't matter much.
There is a lot of PR (public relations) involved in getting people to want to use your voicebank. Not only does your voicebank have to be good but people have to like you as a person because the fandom is odd.
No one cares about back story, many either ignore it or will just not use the voicebank.
Don't get offened if someone doesn't draw your voicebank 100% exact and don't post a 5-10 minute rant where you're crying about someone getting the hair color wrong. (people do this and it can destroy everything they've worked for.)
Get a mic that isn't shit, a headset aren't even considered a good mic. You can practice with one but not release a voicebank with it. "Usable" mics start at around $50.
Learn how Utau works. There is no point in it being pretty if you don't know how to use UTAU and your voicebank isn't that good.
Learn how to oto- you may think you know how to oto but there is a difference between knowing and "knowing". There is making something that works and making something that sounds great.
Don't get UTAU tips from deviantArt
Don't get UTAU tips from Facebook
Don't get UTAU tips from Reddit
Don't get UTAU tips from other newbies because they'll make everything difficult for you. Don't let them spread their mistakes on you.
Before you post a thread be sure to use the search feature because it's probably been answered many times.
Don't be gimmicky and try to make a "new method" because no one will use it and it's probably not unique at all.
Don't be afraid to ask questions!
Don't get caught up in the social suicide of the fandom.
Avoid trends and what's popular because popular doesn't mean "good".
Keep studying, learning is a core part of making a voicebank and if you refuse to improve then you will fail and never succeed, as you probably deserve to.
Don't attack people who are trying to help you.
Do your own research, even when given all the answers you need to know the right questions and how it fits together. Some things you will need to learn on your own.
With enough knowledge and understanding you can start doing great things. Once you are able to, feel free to improve upon things on top of previous discoveries and knowledge. As long as you still avoid gimmicks.
UTAU doesn't have EVEC, don't call thr blending of extra vowels EVEC. UTAU users have been doing that forany years before it eas even a concept for Vocaloid.
(Probably) Don't use the default resampler, other resamplers sound better and will make your voicebank more impressive.
Make use of tools others have made, they can make your life easier.
Echo and room noise is your enemy and even high end equipment won't save you from the ill effects of it.
VCV AND CVVC sound the same, if they don't then your oto is probably incorrect.
Don't feel like you absolutely have to make a VCV bank if you don't want to.
START WITH CV- Skipping CV means you miss out on a lot of information and stuff your should be learning.
DO SINGING EXERCISES, they will make recording easier, make it so you can record long, make your voice more stable, improve your tone, and so forth.
Don't speak your samples, UTAU is a singing synthesizer and speech and singing sound totally different.
Don't hurt yourself-- actual thing people do.
Take your time. It can be years before you get to a really good level. There is a lot to ingest.
Don't do it for popularity, you'll be disappointed and bored.
If you get cocky, you will burn.
Let other people proof-read your work if you're ever unsure.
At the end of the day remember that this is still a hobby and even with all the stuff you need to learn you should still enjoy it.

Sorry if this is hard to read, I typed it on my phone.
 

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
With a character design/personality etc I want to add few advices:

Design:

Absolutely NO super bright neon colors! It hurts eyes!

Simple design is better than over detailed but also try avoid to make it look too "generic" aka. Basic monochromatic T-shirt and jeans looks too boring. Try add some detail(s) in clothes - even adding just small things like adding pockets, zippers, buttons or a print on shirt makes a HUGE difference and make it more interesting but: avoid to not overdo it, tho.

Use at least 2 different colors but not use more than 5 or 6 different colors in your character (also skin or fur color is counted).

Using REAL clothes as your reference to design own character's clothes - helps a ton. Try also look indspiration multiple sources and fashion styles.

Do not rip off Miku's or Teto's or any super known/popular UTAU's look and/or color palette.

Understand that some character types are made all ready zillion times in UTAU: Crypton/Macne based designs, 14-11 years old boys who are cross dresser, yandere (psycho killer), wolfs/dogs/cats in animal/anthro UTAU, nekomimi (cat ears) and so on. I'm not saying that you can't create a new dog furry UTAU or Nekomimi shoujo (if you like them, sure! Create one) but if you want to "stand out", you might want consider something else - there's hundreds of them all ready!

Character info:

Avoid stereotypes/steotyping.

It is OK if character is not cis gender but don't put a random gender as a "joke" like Vippers has done in past (*cough cough* Nxxxne Rxxxu), it's not funny. Keep some veracity and be fair. Also, know proper terms for non-binary genders if you want to UTAU to be one (e.g. No using word "trap" to describe a cross dressing male)

Do NOT put in character's dislike list a name of Vocaloid or any other popular UTAU.

Putting other Vocaloid or UTAU character in likes e.g. "John is a fan of Teto-san" is generally ok but something like "John's waifu is Teto and they are engaged and so deep in love and romance ah ah" please DON'T
 
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mallowkey

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
This is pretty general stuff, but I think it needs to be said too
  • Aside from the general don't be a jerk to others, don't be a jerk to those starting off with utau/trying to learn about utau! Remember, you were once like that too.
  • If they ask for questions/help, try to help them to the best of your ability and be patient with them (and if you don't know the answer to a query of theirs, redirect them to a person who can help). Don't get irritated when they don't pick up on it quickly.
  • If people are hating on you for your utau interest, even when you try to explain it to them, leave them be. It hurts, but you'll find better time doing what you like rather than arguing with a brick wall.
  • It's alright to be discouraged with your first voicebank! No one is immediately good on their first try! Learn from it and try to improve from there
  • It's alright to be proud of your first voicebank! It might not sound good to others, but hey! You made your first utau! Congratulations!
  • You don't have to be a super talented artist to make/design utau. Your art skill does not correlate to your utau skills.
 
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