Advice on making a Vocaloid cover?

[CryBloodwing]

So I just got Vocaloid5 and I wanted to make covers of some songs I enjoy, with Amy as the vocals. I was wondering what is the easiest way to do this.


So far I have tried downloading an instrumental version of the song Shatter Me(ft. Lzzy Hale) by Lindsey Stirling to mess around and test stuff out.
I found the first page of sheet music online that included vocals and was able to add notes and lyrics that way with the instrumental track added. I have no problem reading sheet music at all. However, the only problem is that not all songs have instrumental versions or vocal sheet music (which is very expensive). I saw things online about using MIDI files, but I also know not all songs have MIDI files.

Any overall suggestions? Does it just depend on the song?

I especially want to do songs by Epica, Celldweller, and some of the FFXIV Videogame Songs (Rise, Fiend, Answers, Equilibrium).

Thanks!

 

[Vegetaljuce]

Yeah, I usually use midis, but like you said, more obscure songs often don't have them. You're going to have to learn how to make your own VSQs (or whatever the new V5 file name is, lol) from scratch. I'm no pro at that myself, but what I find helpful is to put the original song (with vocals and everything) into Vocaloid as a .wav, and then have that lined up in the background while you're placing notes. That way you can check if your timing/pitch is right by playing the two tracks together and listening for any discrepancies. And of course, make sure to set the tempo correctly, but it sounds like you're someone who probably knows that.

 

[Kona]

If you have a hard time recognizing pitch and picking the right note, doing things by scratch might be difficult at first, so do some ear training in the meantime so you can move away from sheet music.

One thing I did before my ears were trained was to look up Synthesia videos of the song on Youtube. If the song I was looking for had one, I could then just load up the instrumental and put down the notes as they appeared on the video, only needing to figure out timing.

Another thing you can do if you have a piano nearby, is try playing the melody on that piano, then all you have to do is transcribe what you played into Vocaloid, and that still gives you room to adjust notes if you got a pitch slightly off. When doing this, if you have a hard time identifying pitch with singers, it might help to look up an instrumental version with an instrumental lead in place of vocals, or a karaoke that has a vocal guide/reference in it.