Hatsune Miku: The Fans Behind The Voice.

We know the voice, but who is it that makes her work?

So, we all know who Hatsune Miku is now (If not I did an article on her, stop reading this and read that first), but who is behind the voice that is taking the world be storm?

Well, she has thousands of mixers behind the voice, some more famous than others, so I wanted to talk to one of them. However, the famous ones never got back to me, so over to my plan A 2.0. I interviewed a fan of Miku, who also works with the diva.

Meet Shiro! An 18-year-old, American fan that does a lot of awesome work with Miku! I was able to talk to him over the internet and ask why he loves working with the pop princess.

When did you first find out about the Vocaloids?

I have been listening to Vocaloids for years, even before it was popular. I think my first song was ‘World is Mine’ or ‘Trick and Treat’. I used to play this game called ‘Whirled’ and my friend would tell me all about Miku but I didn’t really think anything of her until about a year later. The first major Vocaloids I fell in love with were Rin and Len as I liked mixing them and playing with their voice banks. I liked the way Len can sing high-pitched notes and still sound male.

When did you start making covers and working with the software?

I used to be part of a MMD (Miku Miku Dance) group on Facebook, I used MMD all the time when I was younger and that’s when I started to fall in love with the Vocaloids. When it came to making all these cool friends in the group, there was one person that we had to kick out due to doing illegal things with the modules, which then ended up leading to him hacking us. A lot of the MMDs stuff on Deviant Art at the time was really bad, so I ended up not using it anymore. After the MMD stuff happened, I ended up making friends with a girl called Sarah, who is now busy and unable to do things but she was the person that taught me how to mix. My first properly mixed cover was with kyaami’s voice bank, for the song ‘I’m sorry I’m sorry’. I use Adobe Edition CS6 to help tune my Vocaloids. I hate using FL Studio but I still get by using it. It’s not just the music that gets to me, it’s that every song is a story, and that how it’s so easy to relate to the stories.

Are you able to speak any Japanese to help with the covers?

I’m very fluent in saying Japanese phrases, but when it comes to keeping a conversation or translating I find it a bit difficult but I can manage with it. I can read Hiragana and a good amount of Katakana! But not Kanji. I’ve never been a fan of learning off anime, so I learned off Japanese Educational YouTube videos to Start, Then Utau and Vocaloid REALLY pushed me to getting to memorize everything.

What inspired you to make your cover of ‘The Lost Ones Weeping’?

This song is very inspiring to me as it’s about the school system. You are trapped and have nowhere to go, you blame yourself and eventually your heart turns black. I’ve dealt with the same situation to the point I dropped out in 8th Grade (UK year 9), but I really loved Kyaami’s mix on her channel, it took me a long time to find the remix off vocal for this song to cover it. I also wanted to test a few things for the song, so I wanted to make the voices switch sides on the speakers to make it sound like there was more than one voice in your head, and that your lost on what one to choose. The only clear voice you hear is the one crying for help in the end is clawing and scratching for freedom. As a bonus I kinda signature my covers with rapid use of the “Toy” effect.

Lastly, If you HAD to, What Vocaloid would you use the most?

Actually, any type of power bank, any bank with a good scream! I will use any good power bank, but I do enjoy using Len power v4x mostly.

If you would like to hear more of Shiro’s work then head over to his souncloud!