#pray for me. pray for me

[bmpmp3]

I MENTIONED this before but I kind of want to start doing a bit of routine blogging about music! Just for fun, I'm gonna start with a weekly little thing highlighting some covers and remixes I really like.

In general, there will be a bit of vocal synth focus in these posts because 1) I am. unwell. about vocal synthesis rn it haunts my every waking moment i see parameter curves when i close my eyes BUT ALSO 2) the vocal synthesizer community has always been built on covers, remixes, parodies, etc. so its only natural. Songs will likely be originally sung by synths but vocal synth community adjacent songs are also fair game, and who knows I might get bored and talk about a completely unrelated song at some point LOL

BUT of course, the covers, etc. highlighted will not all be sung by synthesizers: anythings fair game here too -> human covers, synth covers, instrumental covers and arranges, remixes, anything! And of course, my dearest twenty still-active followers among the legion of abandoned accounts in our midst, if you have anything you'd like to add on feel free to reblog! I'm always searching. I'm always searching.

I'm not sure if I'll keep this up or how things will go but. well. it's my blog, so we will have a bit of fun! For now, I will call these posts..............Cover-Remix Weekend (I am very good at misjudging how well I can keep to schedule so I'm gonna give myself a two day window to do this LOL and maybe I might post 2......the future is a mystery) for now at least. Maybe someday I will think of a better name (I will probably not) <3

SO with all that out of the way, to begin our very first Cover-Remix Weekend, let's go with a real classic: Koi wa Sensou (恋は戦争) (en: Love is War) by Ryo of Supercell!

You know Ryo, the Melt guy, the World is Mine guy, the Black Rock Shooter guy, the... well, he only worked with Vocaloid specifically for a few years before moving onto other things - but like basically every Vocaloid song he put out ended up becoming a huge vocal synth classic so that's one hell of a legacy for the community.

Koi wa Sensou specifically is one of my favourites: using Miku on the vocals (likely her original Vocaloid 2 release since the song came out in 2008 and I don't think her appends came out until a couple years later), it's a moody, intensely late-00s rock song, brings to mind some of the Linkin Park albums I listened to so much growing up: maybe that's why for years in middle school this was my favourite Vocaloid song...

Really strong, I love a good rock-y tune but what I love most is when there's quiet bits to push up the louder parts, some of those background twinkly synth keyboard sounds (?) really amp it up for me, plus that second verse fuzzy radio effect on the vocals + the reverb. God I love reverb. You can never take reverb away from me. She's my wife. Anyway the song is a love triangle with the singer declaring "war" in her (likely futile) pursuits of her love's affection. Good stuff!

And of course we can't forget this 3D music video by kkkk! Genuinely still really cool looking in my opinion:

(Sorry if the NND links aren't accessible without an account, I forgot if it's still restricted or not. I'm sure it's available on streaming somewhere though, check it out!)

You know, the first Vocaloid song I ever heard was... Melt (like a lot of people at the time LOL) BUT the very first time I had ever heard an utaite (cover singers basically for those who aren't familiar) was with a cover of Koi wa Sensou! Specifically, I was, again, still in middle school, looking up Vocaloid songs on Youtube and stumbling across a half-mislabelled reupload of this cover:

The reupload was called "Love is War - Kaito" with no specification of the singer or credits or anything. It was the way the scene was on Youtube in '08 unfortunately <3

This cover is actually by Nodoame (のど飴), an utaite who was pretty popular in the early days! It seems he's not really active anymore, but his covers were really nice, he's got a solid medium tone with a lot of power and expression. A nice nasal tone + some great bits of distortion on his vocals - one thing you will learn about me through these posts is what my vocal tastes are, and one thing specifically is how much I LOVE screaming HJEKDSJHlkdsfdsfds but for real the "ore no aishaku wo" at the end of that first chorus is fantastic.

Now, the reason I said "half-mislabelled" is because as the video for Nodoame's cover implies, the version of Koi wa Sensou he's singing is not the same as the Hatsune Miku sung original: the lyrics were changed! "Ai wa Sensou" (愛は戦争):

PROBABLY so Kaito and in turn, Nodoame, wouldn't have to sing about their skirts fluttering in the wind. It was 2008 and gendered language changing sure was the thing LOL I don't see it very often anymore, in general music regardless of language nor in vocal synth music specifically: people tend to just keep pronouns and other gendered terms the same nowadays since it doesn't matter too much + you don't have to worry about cadence in changes and such. But it's interesting, a few older Vocaloid tunes I'll talk about will probably have something similar -> lyric-changed versions for different characters, etc.

Now for something a little bit newer (although still nearly a decade old...) The Mwk remix!

A fun wubby and bwaaaaaa-y remix with an upped pace. I like this remix but I'm not super huge into it by itself - but you know who was enamoured by it? The vocal synth cover community LOL I'm not totally sure why it got so popular, maybe because it was a popular remix already + someone released an UST? Sometimes that's all that's needed to get us going, some project files so we don't have to try to make a midi ourselves <3 but that's just me, there might be something else.

But back on topic, what I do love is the covers people make of this remix, people have so much fun and it always sounds SO good! A classic is this Defoko cover by kimchi-tan:

Some quick background for those who aren't familiar (a couple IRL friends follow me blog and I am thinking of them when I write these kind of messy explanations. Hewwo fwiends) Uta Utane also known as Defoko (defaultina........) is the default voice built into the free vocal synthesizer program UTAU.

Sidetrack explanation incoming: UTAU is unique in that it was one of the earliest (or maybe the earliest?) vocal synth software that lets anyone make their own voicebanks just by recording audio and writing a configuration file! There are many ways an UTAU vocal synth can be made, and it largely has to do with the way they are recorded and how those recordings play together. For Japanese specifically, two of the most popular recording methods is CV and VCV, consonant-vowel and vowel-consonant-vowel respectively. CV is the easiest and simplest recording method, it doesn't take too long and its a small list of recordings needed to make up Japanese words: each record is a single syllable with every vowel sound + every consonant attached to every vowel, maybe an AH あ sound and then an EE (い) sound, then a BAH (ば) sound and a BEE (び) sound, etc. While this is small, quick, and very solid, it can sound a little choppy since each syllable recording is just silence and then the consonant and vowel, all being stitched together by the program. This is where VCV comes in: instead of recording each syllable individual, you record a string of syllables transitioning together ("AaAhEeAhOohEhAh" type deal) so the program can place the tiniest transition sound between two notes, instead of, say, saying the word baby (I know I'm using english to explain a Japanese recording system shhhh) in CV it would be like. BEH. BEE. vs VCV it would be like BEH. yBEE. that little "y" being the transition sound as it fades one audio file to the next. Lot of recording work but it can sound fantastic, honestly there's plenty of VCV UTAU voicebanks I think sound more high quality and smoother than commercial synths even. Although don't get me wrong, I do love the robotic choppy sound of a CV bank a lot too!

ANYWAY explanation sidetrack over, back on topic: Defoko is interesting in that her recordings were not from a person directly recording for UTAU like most UTAU voicebanks are: they were from a text-to-speech software a la Microsoft Sam, MacinTalk, etc. She has a very unique voice because of this double-synthesis nature: first her voice (Josei 1 in AquesTalk) was synthesized to say basic syllables in a speaking voice, and then those audio files were put into UTAU and stretched and looped to be sung! Really neat. Also this is why I know so much about speech synthesis in general btw, once you get into vocal synths this is what happens to you LOL

Anyway Defoko is a CV bank, but sometimes people will take the original AquesTalk software to make their own VCV banks with the same voice. It's kind of a legal gray area from what I can tell, the guy who makes UTAU has permission from AquesTalk to distribute Defoko in his program if I remember correctly but no one else does - so you won't see any downloads for a Defoko VCV, you can make one yourself for personal use though and people don't really mind! Distribution rights are a big and sometimes messy thing in vocal synth.

BUT what I'm trying to get at is Defoko has a really unique, moody sound to her because of her unusual origins which already works great for this Koi wa Sensou remix, but combined with the smoother sound of the VCV recording method plus kimchi-tan's tuning, this cover sounds really expressive! I love the softer, breathy "baka da na" before the powerful "watashi" before the first chorus especially.

And another Mwk remix cover I like, this one this one by Andyfined - P featuring an early SynthV Editor (pre-SynthV Studio!) version of Genbu:

I'm assuming based off the description this may have been a beta version of Genbu specifically (I don't remember 2019 super well in regards to vocal synths so I forget his release trajectory orz) but I think he sounds really great here, Genbu's legacy versions have this really nice steadiness in his vocals that I do love.

ONE MORE THING one more thing I prommy I'm almost done. I'm almost done. For today *ominous horror movie music starts playing*

While looking around for title translations I found out that there was a remix project for Koi wa Sensou! It really was like one of the biggest vocaloid songs out there huh... Anyway, Eager Love Revenge is the name, released at Comiket 76, check it out if you have the chance and you just can't get enough of Koi wa Sensou. I haven't listened to it all yet but I'm really enjoying the NTMG Mix by baker (ARPK + Fluffoughts composer if you're familiar):

I like this producer's house-y style work a lot! The chorus sounds great especially.

AND that is all..........................................................for now. The thing is I really love covers, remixes, all that - I know we all always say we're addicted to music but for me I really am like. Insatiable. Sometimes you love a song so much you need it MORE, not music similar to it but just "MORE"... stuff like this really scratches that itch for me. It really is a way to get MORE of something that there is only one of. I've mentioned before that I'm greedy with music, gluttonous about it, but isn't that a nice thing to be greedy about... it's something so easily shared!

And so I take my leave, thank u and goodnight. (flutters my skirt the wrong way and falls off the radio tower to my doom never to be seen again)

[chiptrillino-art]

something stranger and more wonderful

(ID in ALT text)

my art for @faux-fires (ao3 Link) fic "something stranger and more wonderful"

beta red by @ranilla-bean (ao3 Link) for this years @zukkabigbang2024 event. its truly a beautiful fic. Keeping you on your toes while reading. making you worry about sokka exposed to the whims of nature and zuko, all alone.

big thank you to reikah and rana for all the handholding during this project! And stoping me form overthinking details.

[duckysprouts]

if you were at your worst, if you’re a villain or a screwup or whatever, there is a goth man dressed as a giant bat who keeps coming after you, bothering you. he sabotages your journey of self destruction over and over. ur ready to give up but he won’t let you. you think, today he won’t come. today he will give up on me too. he never does.

[spectre777]

[thecourtofteeth]

my contribution to the fandom

[bittsandpieces]

sweet like honey, sweet like a summer day

[emberglowfox]

Keeper -- a short comic about an angel meeting a robotic lighthouse keeper that doesn't know the world has already ended. Made in about 18 hours for a 24-hour 24-page* black and white comic challenge (that I arrived late to, ha.)

*the actual submission does not include the cover, which was created after the fact for this post.

This was a really great learning experience as someone who's... never really made a completed comic. I ended up really attached to the story by the end of the project (possibly due to all-nighter deliriousness lol) and ultimately am very proud of what I made.There are some things I'd still like to change, particularly text placement, but in keeping with the spirit of the challenge I've elected to leave it as is.

[cubbyhole-for-flea-bee]

(Not) an approved use of the Power Of Friendship

[abilai]

A lil kiss on a boat because they’re in love

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[adaki]

Yk I think Toby is by far the least freaky crp in design but the thought of an encounter with him is terrifying.

[londytellsall]

ppl don’t talk abt surfer boy daisuke enough imo!!!!!

finished version!! ^^

[abigail]

just dutch x the met museum ♡ miffy and melanie in outfits inspired by the artwork of edgar degas

[speltfields]

theyre (hes) watching season 15 episode nine of the bachelorette (2019)

[zionmantis]

Hoooo boy. It's finally finished. This only took me eight months to paint. T.T

Disco Elysium is soooo good y'all; I feel like I'll never give it the credit it deserves.

I'm not even sure it's finished, but I'm just going to set this down now, though.

Clip studio paint and a ton of downloaded watercolor and acrylic brushes.

Let me know if you want me to pull out any closeups or anything

[tyquu]

Western Rebels!

I’ve been too sick to draw anything new, and It’s been like 4 months since I started these cowboy designs and I know for a fact they aren’t getting finished so I’m just gonna dump what I had so far here and dip ✌️