Tips for recording soft/whispery banks?

[✧ Elfrida ✧]

Hi there! I just wanted to ask anyone who may be used to recording soft banks in different tones... what advice and you give me? I'm used to recording more powerful vocals, but decided I wanna record a lot of banks for my UTAU and a few of them are soft/whispery banks.

I've recorded a single soft bank before and it wasn't too much of an issue, but I have concerns about recording multiple. I don't want them to sound too similar, but I also don't want them to sound too drastically different. I'm also scared a lot of the recordings won't be as consistent as my power bank, especially once I get into higher pitches as I naturally tend to get louder when I sing.

 

[Sors]

Well, the first thing is: You should go into a lower pitch. If you really want a whisper vb - something I don't recommend in UTAU - you need to exhale a lot of air while doing so. Soft is pretty easy to do, just need to watch your emphasis. it should rely more on the vowels. Remember, on a Power Bank, you're emphasizing and putting more accents on the consonants, so do the opposite on a soft bank. You also should go a bit of airy.

 

[Kale]

Well for softer banks, I tend to use smaller mora, like 4 mora (if you are doing VCV.) I think it makes it easier to make the recordings more consistent. Also drink water-- like when recording any other bank lol
To make them sound a little differently, I tend to listen to different utaites and try to pick out the ones that sound most differently from others... and I try to replicate that type as best I can. I believe having drastic differences in the same voicebank type will help make your utau sound more unique and will give them a bigger variety of songs they can sing.
And as for higher pitches, I'd say to drink a lot of water and practice. It doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it sounds nice// idk what your talking about majo's soft banks are great donut be scared

 

[✧ Elfrida ✧]

Thank you guys a lot. I don't really have to worry about mora as I'm starting off with CVVC and then maybe later down the line I'll make VCV updates. Everything else I'll be sure to keep in mind. also majo only has one soft bank and its alright ig

 

[Kale]

Lol I forgot you were doing CVVC first-- For CVVC I'd suggest using Ritsu EVE's CVVC reclist since it's not stringed. it also includes all the stuff you left in for the cvvc test bank lol

 

[Kiyoteru]

Something you could try is simply singing quietly, but closely to the mic. That way, you won't end up using power to compensate for the distance/quietness.

 

[Kitcat190]

I've recently recorded a few soft banks and noted a couple things into a cheat sheet type of idea for when I go to record any in the future. The banks I've recorded are more so whisper banks and not so much just softer banks, but the rules still apply mostly(?)

~I increased the pickup on my mic as well as decreased the distance between me and the mic. I was so quiet, being next to the pop filter on my mic didn't create any unnecessary breathing or pops in my recording. The increased pickup on my mic also helped to decrease background noise because I was able to record right to it so it picked me up more than anything. This of course depends on your mic and recording environment.

~Recording at a comfy pitch and not a straining one helps to not go flat while recording. This is a problem most users, including myself, have with softer voices. It's very easy to go off pitch.

~For me, the more mora, the easier. Recording at a tempo that you're comfy with helps the most, and I recorded with 8 mora at a tempo around 109-114, I was able to finish faster and happier(?) I was able to get it done without problems.

~As for recording tone, use a breathy head voice. There are many vocal exercises that can help you work on your head and falsetto voice, and can help you open up your vocals. You can still be strong with having a soft voice, verses whisper which is weak and very breathy!

 

[na4a4a]

Soft voices generally lack the "substance" that a louder vocal has which can make them sound quite similar, even two different people can end up with very similar results.

As Klad said, you should record closer to the mic. Since you are going to be recording quietly you will need to get closer to the mic to get a more "intimate" sound. This will help make up for the weakness that you might get and make it so you don't feel a need to make up for the quieter recording. This will also prevent you from increasing your volume and ending up with a lot of noise.

As for different tones, just record them as you normally do. If you apply the same techniques you use for recording different non-soft voices then they will most likely be different enough. Recording in different registers may not give the result you want as you may just limit the range of your voicebank and if you want to record multiple pitches then you couldn't do that anyways as you will be recording through several registers for a single bank.