Yamaha VOCALOID 5: Practical Vocal Production Techniques

Creating a Melody with VOCALOID 5

Let's enter a melody over the backing track.

Choosing a Singer

Our theme is a dance-oriented J-pop song with a male singer, so we selected Ken, a voicebank well suited to this style.

Using Phrases

When you are searching for the core melody early in production, we recommend using the Phrase feature to help you get started.
VOCALOID 5 includes more than 2,000 phrases covering a wide range of genres.
Finding a phrase you like and bringing it into your song gives you a useful starting point for writing a melody.

Select Ken under VOICE and Soulful Phrase under TYPE, then look through the filtered phrases for one that suits the song.

When importing a phrase into a track, you need to match the phrase's key to the song's key.
We selected E♭, the key of our song, under TRANSPOSE.

Once you have chosen a phrase, drag it onto the desired track.
We added a second phrase in the same way.
Combining phrases helps develop your ideas for the song further.

You can also customize an imported phrase to suit your preferences more closely.
Simply double-click the part and edit its notes into the line you want.

Using expressive phrases like these can spark melodic ideas and help production flow more smoothly.
Although Yamaha owns all of the phrases, the original article states that you are permitted to use them freely, so give them a try if writing melodies is not your strong suit.

For more detail, see the section on using phrases and editing parts in the following article.

Resetting a Phrase's Vocal Expression

Imported phrases may contain lyrics and have Attack & Release Effects applied, which we will discuss later.
We will eventually bring these elements together to finish the vocal track. However, if they make it difficult to judge the melody at this stage, reset the settings to a neutral state first.

Select multiple VOCALOID parts and right-click.
Choose Join VOCALOID Parts from the menu.
This combines them into one part, making it easier to apply the same settings and edits throughout.

First, replace all the lyrics with the Japanese vowel “a.”
Right-click the part and choose Insert Lyrics to change the lyrics in bulk.

Here, we set every note to “a.”

For Attack & Release Effects, select the area you want to change and set each value to 0 to turn the effects off.
All the notes are now neutral, removing the patchwork feel and letting you concentrate on composing the melody itself.

Adding Human Expression with Style

Once you have created the melody in this neutral state, let's add expression to make it sound more human.
STYLE makes it easy to add expression to a vocal track.

STYLE offers presets covering a wide range of vocal tones and nuances.
Each has its own character and is ready to use in a production, so try different options and choose one you like.

We selected Lead Vocal because this melody is intended for the main vocal.
We wanted a simple sound without strong coloration, so we selected Clean under COLOR and applied Deep Shimmer from the matching presets.

This alone sounds quite good, but to fine-tune the expression further,

open CUSTOMIZE at the lower right and

go to SINGING SKILL.
Here, we reduced Soulful slightly because we wanted less pitch movement.

This STYLE also includes audio effects.
If you do not need these effects and want to start from a neutral sound, switch off the power button for each effect to disable it.

Adding Vibrato with Release Effects

In the previous section, we added expression to individual notes with Attack Effects.
Now we will use Release Effects to shape the latter part of each note.

We will demonstrate this on the pre-chorus.

The notes in this phrase felt a little short on expression.
Let's add vibrato to bring them to life.

As with Attack Effects, select the target note and choose the desired style.
Here, we will try the vibrato types under PITCH.

We felt that Vib Normal was simple and suited the song.
After choosing the effect, adjust its amount.

The timing of the vibrato onset matters, because it affects vocal expression and groove.
You can fine-tune this timing as well.

Let's make the vibrato begin slightly later.
Move the pointer to the latter half of the target note and drag the start of the orange region to adjust the effect's timing.
The key is to move it back gradually while previewing and listening to the result.

This is closer to the expression we want, but we will also adjust the vibrato speed slightly.

Click inside the orange region to fine-tune vibrato along its vertical and horizontal axes.

The vertical axis controls the amount, and the horizontal axis controls vibrato speed. Positioning the point on this XY display adjusts both parameters together.
We moved the point slightly to the right to speed up the vibrato.

These edits are also reflected in the pitch curve.
Other effects can likewise be adjusted directly on the note.

For effects other than vibrato, you can adjust the strength of the style's effect.

Adding a Vocal Run

Let's add expression to the release of another note.

We will give this “ta” a pitch movement resembling a vocal run.
Release Effects include options that change the pitch substantially.

At the default setting, the pitch movement is large enough to change the melody itself.
We will adjust it while referring to the displayed pitch curve.

The original pitch is F, so move the note until the curve lands on F.

This gives us a more human-sounding expression.

Splitting Notes

If a style cannot produce the expression you have in mind, you can shape the pitch by splitting the note.
First, reset the Release Effect we adjusted to a neutral setting, then let's try this technique.

Split the note into as many sections as needed.

Here, we want the pitch to rise and then fall, so we split it into three.

Keep “ta” on the first note and set the remaining notes to the vowel-extension mark.
When you move those split notes to other pitches, they retain the pronunciation specified by the preceding note.

Raise the second note to create a subtle pitch inflection.

Combining Release Effects and note splitting to suit your needs and musical intent can make the vocal sound more human.

Creating a Robot Voice

Let's look at the robot voice used at the beginning of the chorus.

This technique uses the sound produced by applying strong pitch correction.
You can apply it with Robot Voice.

Pitch correction becomes stronger toward the right, so select the far-right option for the strongest effect.
For now, we have applied it to a vocal entered without expressive editing.

Here is how it sounds at this stage.

Applied to an unedited vocal like this, the result lacks musical interest.
We will therefore deliberately add pitch movement.

Adding upward scoops with Attack Effects at the beginnings of phrases and on ascending notes introduces musical expression.

The previously static pitch now has more movement.

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How did you find these techniques?
VOCALOID 5's new features let you improve vocal tracks by choosing and adjusting ready-made effects, without the complex settings required in earlier workflows.
Try using these styles and Attack & Release Effects to bring the techniques from this tutorial into your own productions!