Points of Advice for the Aspiring Vocaloid/UTAU Producer

Kiyoteru

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Try a lot of DAWs. To start, you need to have music software to use. Find trials for everything you can find, figure out how the functions work, how to navigate it, etc. In the end, everything can produce the same quality of music with the right instruments/effects/samples, so the most important thing about your choice is the workflow. If it feels awkward or you get lost, it’s not the DAW for you. But try giving the manual a quick read first.

Learn the basics of music theory. You don’t need to learn about fancy jazz chord progressions and all that stuff. But you absolutely need to understand basic things like tempo, measures/bars, what “bass” means, and staying in key. It’s an important tool to help you get started, but once you know the rules well, they’re fine to break. Theory is to expand your abilities, not limit them.

Try to start with the instrumental first. It’s absolutely possible to start with the lyrics first, or the melody first. However, being that vocalsynth is a very vocal-focused fandom, people often forget that it’s really only another instrument in the entire song. Starting with the music can help you focus on bringing all the right notes together before you worry about what the rhymes will be or how you’re going to tune all the pitchbends.

Analyze music that you like. No formal training required. Just listen to one of your favorite songs and pick out the different parts. How long is the intro, if there is one? Where’s the verse and where’s the chorus? Which instruments did they use in each of the sections? How long are the parts without vocals? How does the song end? Ask yourself lots of questions about how the song was put together.

Remix! This continues from the last point. Take that favorite song and import it to your DAW, then try to remake it. Listen carefully to find the notes that it uses and then figure out how it sounds good. Figure out how it flows from one section to another, to keep you interested in listening. Does it gradually add instruments as it goes from the verse to the chorus? Does the drum beat change in the bridge? When you figure out how a good song is put together and why it works, you can use what you’ve learned to write your own songs.

You don’t need a -P name. It seems like a merit badge to be awarded with such a huge honor, but nowadays it’s just another option of a name to go by as a producer. You can pick anything as an alias, even your current internet username. (“Skrillex” is already taken, sorry.) Reasons to specifically use a P would be
  1. to evoke thoughts of late 2000s crypton vocaloid music
  2. for a horribly clever pun
  3. as originally used, an Idolm@ster reference

Know an instrument? Use it. Piano or guitar skills are excellent for songwriting, but if you play other instruments, go ahead record something to put in your music!




I created this thread because I notice that a lot of aspiring vocaloid/utau producers don’t really know where to start, so this is just a little poke in what’s hopefully the right direction. Please feel free to reply with questions about writing vocalsynth songs, or ask for links to actual resources.

Once people try to start, they often feel discouraged because it seems too difficult. Again, it’s the mentality of the vocals being the star of the show, with the music just being extra bits. Writing music does take a lot of work but when you know what you’re getting into it can be very fun and rewarding.
 

Kiyoteru

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Earlier I said that it’s possible for someone to start writing a song from a melody or lyrics first, but I noticed that the reason a lot of people start off by making a UST or VSQ is because they’re used to working inside of UTAU/Vocaloid all the time, and the rest of the song is just “background instrumental to save for last”.

If you are starting melody first: Write that melody in your DAW with any instrument, and then on another track, figure out the key that you’re in and put down some chords that fit behind it. The chords will help you start building your instrumental and further develop your ideas.

If you are starting lyrics first: Pick out a few instruments and presets that you think fit the theme or mood of the song.

If you’re doing both: Do both of the above. Heck, do both of the above anyway even if you only started with one.

The process of writing music means that you must be writing music from the start. This helps the two parts often seen separately, music and vocals, mesh together and interact with each other into one coherent piece. Nothing’s more beautiful than hearing parts meant to go together.

An extremely useful VST to use as a placeholder vocal part is Plogue’s Alter/Ego. You can use this in order to hear your melodies and lyrics inside the project you’re working on, instead of switching back and forth between Vocaloid/UTAU and your DAW in an awkward way. When you finish the song you can simply export the MIDI from the placeholder track and do all the vocal tuning you want in your original vocal synth of choice.
 

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