Question How to Mix VFlower?

[AmeKinoko]

Hi, new here! I'm in a real bind and I made this account hoping to find some help...

The long and the short of it: how can I compress/EQ/whatever else VFlower to make her sound good? I've tried stacking multiple EQs, dynamic EQ, stacking multiband compressors, and I still can't seem to reach a middle ground between "screeching directly into my ear" and "weirdly muffled." Mixing is my weakness, but this is even more frustrating than usual.

Any tips appreciated

 

[poser]

if shes screetchy, she might too high on her range. maybe moving the VSQ down by 12 notches/an octave will help make her sound less screechy i hope

 

[___]

When EQing her you should focus on boosting her lows to avoid the screechyness.

 

[AmeKinoko]

Hmm, I don't think it's octave; the highest note I use is D4, which should be within her recommended range. Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion... Here's a clip.(Here. Ignore the lack of other effects lol) It just feels like her higher notes, especially "i" and "a" sounds have *too much* presence and are really oppressive to listen to.

This is what my current EQ looks like:


Cutting mid to prs~treble helps, but ruins her consonants and leaves things sounding really muffled (since only the lows are coming through). Boosting the lows just makes it really muddy and close.
Songs like Abnormality Dancing Girl and Ironina keep flower sounding really clear, but somehow manage to avoid this problem on the higher notes. I don't know how they do it...

Am I just going nuts from listening to this over and over?

 

[morrysillusion]

so i cant claim i have the Best knowledge on how to mix flower but shes also the vocaloid i use 90% of the time and have been mixing her for years and like what i have settled with in terms of mixing. but this is also coming from soneone who really doesnt understand most things about EQing even haha.. but id be glad to send you my FL mixing preset i use for her, if you're curious.



i have more recently been learning and tweaking from this usual preset, but pretty much for years ive used some slight variation of Equo, Fruity Limiter, and Fruity Compressor. in Vocaloid, i make sure the mixer volume is at 0.0 (no quieter or louder) and i dont use any effects in vocaloid itself... it may be good to mess with some Velocity and Opening settings on her notes if you havent, since that can help with her "harsher" sound- or BRI on those high notes to dull them out. otherwise i will lower the gain or add a desser after all the above and tweak from there. she is tricky and even after using her for over five years i still have times where i struggle with a mix due to her voice.

this is just what i have used and like the sound of so it may or may not sound good to you! admittedly i tend to go for a 'sharper' sound in my mixes and try to keep flower on a very low range. there is also just... part of accepting that shes harsh in many parts of the render and trying to over tune a bit in order to distract from it lol. and i feel you on just listening to the mix too much, its not bad to take a step back and maybe revisit it with fresher ears that aren't so sensitive to the flaws in her voice!

heres some vocals (only reverb + those things above)

 

[Ronny777]

I've never worked with V Flower but when I need to soften the sound of a vowel I usually add an extra tiny (n) note at the end of the word.Works better it its the last word of the sentence. (m) or (n_0) might do the trick too.

 

[inactive]

Saturation can both tame harshness and add colour to dull sounds. It's not a guaranteed fix, but it's worth a shot.