VCV recording tips?

[Slyukine]

I've been listening to UTAU since 2015 and today I got the chance to make my own voicebank, is there any tips that I could get? Should I really refrain from using noise reduction to edit the voice, do I need to record falsetto, or is it okay to adjust the pitch of the whole voicebank with another app to make the VB sound different from my voice?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Kiyoteru]

If you're making your very first voicebank, I would recommend starting with CV Japanese instead of jumping straight to VCV. CV Japanese will allow you to create a complete voicebank with a minimal amount of recording and become familiar with the process of setting up and configuring voicebanks. Here's a guide you can follow for configuring CV: https://utaforum.net/resources/cv-otoing-guide.269/

Should I really refrain from using noise reduction to edit the voice,

The best way to reduce noise is to avoid sources of noise in your environment. Turn off air conditioning/electric fans/etc. Ask others near your room to be quiet. If there's additional noise from outdoors, wait for a time of day when there's less of it.
You might also encounter a noise floor coming from your recording equipment itself, which may sound like constant white noise or constant humming. This can be fixed with equipment upgrades, which will improve the quality of the recordings in general.

Only taking all of those measures should you consider editing files after they're already recorded. Audacity's noise reduction and other free noise reduction software are optimized for speaking vocals, which means that you will be able to understand words more clearly, but the tone of the voice will sound lower quality. Professional-grade software like Izotope RX can help preserve the quality of the vocal while carefully eliminating defects. You may be able to find people in the community who can offer this as a service.

do I need to record falsetto

You don't need to, but you can record multiple pitches or multiple expressions if you want to. Again, if this is your first UTAU voicebank, you should stick with the basics until you're comfortable with the process and are willing to repeat things on a larger scale.

is it okay to adjust the pitch of the whole voicebank with another app to make the VB sound different from my voice?

You could if you wanted it to be permanent, but you can also just use g flags within UTAU. Go to Project > Project Property, and in Rendering Options you can type "g+(number)" to make it sound more masculine or "g-(number)" to make it sound more feminine.

 

[Slyukine]

If you're making your very first voicebank, I would recommend starting with CV Japanese instead of jumping straight to VCV. CV Japanese will allow you to create a complete voicebank with a minimal amount of recording and become familiar with the process of setting up and configuring voicebanks. Here's a guide you can follow for configuring CV: https://utaforum.net/resources/cv-otoing-guide.269/



The best way to reduce noise is to avoid sources of noise in your environment. Turn off air conditioning/electric fans/etc. Ask others near your room to be quiet. If there's additional noise from outdoors, wait for a time of day when there's less of it.
You might also encounter a noise floor coming from your recording equipment itself, which may sound like constant white noise or constant humming. This can be fixed with equipment upgrades, which will improve the quality of the recordings in general.

Only taking all of those measures should you consider editing files after they're already recorded. Audacity's noise reduction and other free noise reduction software are optimized for speaking vocals, which means that you will be able to understand words more clearly, but the tone of the voice will sound lower quality. Professional-grade software like Izotope RX can help preserve the quality of the vocal while carefully eliminating defects. You may be able to find people in the community who can offer this as a service.



You don't need to, but you can record multiple pitches or multiple expressions if you want to. Again, if this is your first UTAU voicebank, you should stick with the basics until you're comfortable with the process and are willing to repeat things on a larger scale.



You could if you wanted it to be permanent, but you can also just use g flags within UTAU. Go to Project > Project Property, and in Rendering Options you can type "g+(number)" to make it sound more masculine or "g-(number)" to make it sound more feminine.

Thank you so much for your kind reply!

I have a CV voicebank and it worked great! but still doesn't sound like what I expected so I might re-record again. I'll buy a better recording equipment then because just like you said, it has constant white noise which caused me to need noise reduction. I've tried out g-15 flag on my experimental VCV but I think I'll just re-record when I have better equipment. It sounded nice with that flag.

 

[Namumi]

I've been listening to UTAU since 2015 and today I got the chance to make my own voicebank, is there any tips that I could get? Should I really refrain from using noise reduction to edit the voice, do I need to record falsetto, or is it okay to adjust the pitch of the whole voicebank with another app to make the VB sound different from my voice?

Thank you in advance!

In fact if you've already known and learning about UTAU recording systems enough, You can have VCV voicebank for your first voicebank as well. But for the beginner of VCV I'd like to recommend you to record only 1 pitch(mono-pitch VCV) first because of in 1 VCV voicebank there're a lot of voice and alias details in the oto.ini and you need to take a time while making oto.ini for VCV files. Many of my friends in UTAU community make VCV voicebank for their 1st VB and it's so possible that you can make your VCV in the best quality even it's your first VB. For the noise reduction fx just use for delete some noise in the gab lines btw, you should check your microphone quality before recording VCV!! If your microphone isn't good enough or have a lot noise in the vocal your VCV will becomes bad quality So it properly waste your time and your feeling...
Recording VCV you don't need to record in falsetto voice because the falsetto most in the multi-pitch VCV , just use your natural or any voice style which you can do

And the last one if you wanna make your UTAUloid sound different from your real voice just use fx called "change pitch" in audacity to making your vocal higher or lower as you prefered.

OK!! If you sure that you wanna make VCV as your very first VB here some of tutorial video

(Recording with Oremo)

If you really can't install Oremo here another way for recording VCV with out Oremo



Anyway I'd recommend you to use Oremo for recording VCV cuz it's help you record VCV faster and easier. Also it's can make oto.ini base for your VCV

Good luck I'm looking forward to hear your VCV as first VB :D

It's possible!!

 

[Slyukine]

In fact if you've already known and learning about UTAU recording systems enough, You can have VCV voicebank for your first voicebank as well. But for the beginner of VCV I'd like to recommend you to record only 1 pitch(mono-pitch VCV) first because of in 1 VCV voicebank there're a lot of voice and alias details in the oto.ini and you need to take a time while making oto.ini for VCV files. Many of my friends in UTAU community make VCV voicebank for their 1st VB and it's so possible that you can make your VCV in the best quality even it's your first VB. For the noise reduction fx just use for delete some noise in the gab lines btw, you should check your microphone quality before recording VCV!! If your microphone isn't good enough or have a lot noise in the vocal your VCV will becomes bad quality So it properly waste your time and your feeling...
Recording VCV you don't need to record in falsetto voice because the falsetto most in the multi-pitch VCV , just use your natural or any voice style which you can do

And the last one if you wanna make your UTAUloid sound different from your real voice just use fx called "change pitch" in audacity to making your vocal higher or lower as you prefered.

OK!! If you sure that you wanna make VCV as your very first VB here some of tutorial video

(Recording with Oremo)

If you really can't install Oremo here another way for recording VCV with out Oremo



Anyway I'd recommend you to use Oremo for recording VCV cuz it's help you record VCV faster and easier. Also it's can make oto.ini base for your VCV

Good luck I'm looking forward to hear your VCV as first VB :D

It's possible!!

Thank you so much for the support! I'll be sure to remember to tell you when my first VCV is finished! I can't wait either, but for now I'll wait until I change my Mic hehe.