The Cuckoo Bird's Beautiful Youth (Midori Youyou) feat. Sukone Tei and Sekka Yufu
About the song:
After hearing it once before somewhere and sort of liking it, plus knowing it was composed by iroha (sasaki), I decided to have another listen. I was glad I did, as (coincidentally) exactly like Meltdown I fell in love with this song on the 2nd listen. I have never enjoyed VY1's voice that much, but it seemed to fit perfectly for this song. At first I did not hear Rin, but soon realised she was singing the solo bridge. The beginning and chorus particularly are my favourite parts, with a very climatic opening as the stylised title appears. The chorus' harmonies are gorgeous as wel, and over the whole song had me hooked.
I do like to note that the title can be translated different ways, I'm using the one translated by Occasional Subs, but usually I call the song 'Midori Youyou', which is how iroha (sasaki) has stated it should be read as in Japanese （三鳥夭夭）.
About the cover:
A few months ago a VOCALOID/UTAU song contest popped up on VocaloidOtaku, asking if anyone was interested in making originals or covers for a little friendly competition. Me, obviously not wanting to stress myself out with trying to make an original, but still wanting to participate, went for the latter option.
The rules stated that the song had to be made from scratch; no WIPs, no using MIDI files or base USTs/VSQs.
Luckily, at the time I had just rediscovered this song.
I initially started with an idea of Namine Ritsu Kire on melody and Megurine Luka with harmonies. I began searching for other voices, namely Tei, who I remembered had a VCV that I really enjoyed. Her voice was just what I was looking for; calm and smooth, with still a little bit of streghth (I was worrying the Ritsu would be too strong for this song). That left it as a Tei/Luka duet.
Unfortunately, I soon discovered my skill with Luka was not what I thought it was; she sounded reeeeally bad with this particular song. So, with the melody pretty much complete, I set out looking for another UTAU to add to my collection. Rin was quite soft in the bridge, so I wanted a vocal that matched that, and eventually setteled on Sekka Yufu's 'Funwari' voicebank. To even out the parts, I transferred Tei's harmonies over to Yufu; the original song has VY1 on all parts.
Now, after a few months of hard work and tuning and mixing constantly to get the best sound, I have completed it, and I think it's worked out really well! Of course, I'd love feedback to help me get even better!
Next time I update, I'll be giving my lowdown on all things Eurovision 2014.
Until then, SeeU!!
