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Who is Yoyo帮尼?
Yoyo帮尼 is a male producer from Taiwan and his specialty lies in voice tuning. However, he does music compositions and music arrangements as well. With his natural talent in voice tuning, he can even do some talkloid and create rap genre songs. He uses Japanese, English, and Chinese VOCALOIDs, although mostly Chinese.
He is known for his covers of “红尘客栈“, “这里并不存在正义” (Chinese version of “Criminal” from Michaewl Jackson), “Love is an Open Door“, “時の流れに身をまかせ“, “Re;Last Message“, “比翼“, and several others.
Original songs include “生日快乐“, “女表口力口“, and more.
Interview
Yueye: How did you discover VOCALOID at first?
Yoyo: Around 2008, I was introduced to the “Leek song” and I saw this VOCALOID thing as some “new era toy”. I did not have any interest in getting involved in VOCALOID back then.
Yoyo: My first time using VOCALOID would be in 2010. I used Miku for making a “glove puppetry” song but it didn’t sound good so I never used it again. But then, I heard the news about Luo Tianyi during the year of 2012. I was interested so I started to get involved in tuning. To be honest, I didn’t really like or dislike VOCALOID at first but now I love them, they are amazing!
Yoyo: The pros would be that it will never get off-key, it is always stable, and it will not have trouble hitting the right note. But when it comes to the cons, there are a lot like lack of emotion, they have monotonic pronunciation, and they only have one tone (because they only record words without emotions). It cannot deliver strong emotions like a real singer due to the nature of the voice synthesis process.
Yueye: Who is your favorite VOCALOID?
Yoyo: If speaking of voice bank I prefer Xin Hua the most, but as for the character it would be GUMI (the difference between working and a hobby, haha).
Yueye: XinHua has a cute voice indeed.
Yoyo: Her voice is soft like a pillow, hahaha.
Yueye: There are not many rap songs in VOCALOID. Why did you choose to make Xin Hua and Xin Yu Yao rap?
Yoyo: The two were competing during their release, sort of like ring fighting. I thought it was funny so I simply suggested it. I never thought I would actually do it in the end. Since it was the battle between the two sides of the fandom, I chose to make it in a “rap battle”, which is very popular in the western fandom (by the way, I have never seen people do that in VOCALOID).
Yoyo: Yup, that is it. I was also influenced from another video named “Geek vs. Nerd“.
Yueye: I see. Speaking about Frozen, I remember you did the cover of one of the songs in the movie, that duet of KAITO and MEIKO in “Love is an Open Door“. I found it very cute! Did you make it using the V3 English voice bank?
Yoyo: Yup, both are V3. Up untill now it seemed impossible that I actually made them talkloids. Although I feel like I could make it better when I look back at my work.
Yueye: You already had a natural talent in tuning talkloid. Do you have any tips for tuning that you would like to share with us?
Yoyo: This kind of question makes me choke on my words. I have so many things to share but to convert it from ideas into words and make sure people who are reading it understand, it is really difficult. Not everyone is qualified to become a teacher.
If you want to learn about tuning, you may listen to and observe how a real singer sings. The tone and emotion in the words have their pattern. For example, the pitch of the singer. It’s impossible to hit the exact note when they sing on their first lyric, as it usually starts from a portamento from the lower note to the higher one; this is how our vocal cords works. Using this method will make your virtual singer sound less “MIDI-ish”.
Yueye: You uploaded a short version of “我呸” on YouTube, so will you release a completed version in the future?
Yoyo: I didn’t really plan to, since it was supposed to be a testing video for Xin Hua and it has already been quite a while. I’m worried I might not have the same skills as I did when making the short version, but since so many people are asking for it, I’ll consider completing it when I have got the time. (This song has since been completed and you can find the full version here.)
Yueye: Did you ever consider making songs using other things except a hanging fan?
Yoyo: Oh god, that one, haha. I was inspired by a short video from another county so I made one for myself, too. Hmm… using other things… maybe I can make an original based on that. Gonna keep it in my notes.
Yueye: I’ll be waiting for it…
Yueye: You seem to like online games very much?
Yoyo: Eh? Not really though, I rarely play online games? If you mean that “Love Forever” cover from Ragnarok Online, that’s just me testing Xia Yu Yao‘s Japanese voice bank with YOHIOloid because they look good together (seems like quite a lot of people agree with that). I might consider making a Japanese ballad duet for them in the future.
Yueye: Who is your favorite producer?
Yoyo: It would be Mitchie M, as he has quite a unique music style and of course the wonderful tuning that shapes Miku’s voice into the signature MM-style. He is a very recognizable producer in VOCALOID music.
Yueye: Does he inspire you?
Yoyo: I get a lot of inspiration from him in my tuning, but his music composition is just too good and I can’t seem to catch up anymore, haha.
Yueye: Is there any song of yours that you want to introduce to your fans?
Yoyo: “比翼“, the duet song of Tianyi and YANHE. That was the song that I actually put a great amount of effort in tuning.
Fan Questions
Q1: What is your favorite music style while composing music?
Yoyo: I am capable of doing Rock, Punk, or Funk. To be honest, I don’t even know what is my own preferred style…
Q2: Are you looking forward to YueZheng Longya’s release?
Yoyo: Of course, since there has never been a real male Chinese VOCALOID! Don’t make YANHE be the guy in the song all the time, haha.
Yueye: The interview is about to end here. Is there anything you want to say to the fans?
Yoyo: Just want to say we always need people to support the VOCALOID fandom, and VOCALOID can only grow with your support. Whether you get used to the fandom or not, we will still do our best in making good music. Also, thank you to every VOCALOID producer, thank you for the effort you made for the fandom, and it brings changes to the music industry. Although it is not easy, but if we do our best and not give up on our goal, we will make it to the end.
You can find more songs from Yoyo帮尼 at the following:
