The Road to Producers: An Interview with Project OverDoze

Part One into Part Two

With the Advent of VCCV for UTAU, Will You Ever Try UTAU Originals?

Tsus: Well, we did do an Utau Original (“Lost and Pound“) for Empath-P‘s album “Pack and Pride“. Utau for me is a wonderful way of getting diverse vocals and achieving a level of sound that you can’t get from Vocaloid. Personally, VCCV is a bit too difficult for me, but I’d have to see if the UTAU’s sound is what I want. Another thing about UTAU is just that the licensing is so different from Vocaloid, I wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes in that sense.

Steampianist: My partner Tsus might make an Utau song. But for me personally, it’s a nope. Nopity-nope. Nopity-nope-nope-no.

Hoshi: Could I ask Steampianist why it’s such a big nope? Lol. xD Has he had a bad experience with UTAU or is it just not his thing?

Tsus: I would ask, but he’s not on. Personally, I don’t think he likes the editing system… Utau is a bit awkward to use if you already know Vocaloid.

Hoshi: UTAU is awkward to use, period, in English from what I’ve experienced. I’m trying to learn it so I can make stupid little English covers of songs, and it’s so complicated. orz

Tsus: Yea, UTAU’s phonetic system is inconsistent from voice bank to voice bank, and it becomes difficult to master with so many different variations.

Hoshi: I’ve tried the Vocaloid free trial and it seemed to work pretty well.

But yeah, the phonetic system is a huge bunch of confusion for me as well. It’s like, “Wait, that worked on the other one… well, great.”

So how did all of you meet?

Tsus: Me and Steam met when he was looking to do collabs for his Assorted Vocanuts album. After we worked so well together on “La Llorona“, I suggested we continue working together. So we started an ad looking for artists and animators. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of people sent us applications and portfolios but, in the end, Shius, Stars, and three others made it here. Some things occurred and we lost those three members.

Nova had seen Kaleidoscope Haze and loved it, so she made a fan-made PV, which I fell in love with. I just had to have her as part of my team, so I asked her to join and she did!

A still from .Nova's fan pv.
A still from .Nova’s PV.

Hoshi: That’s awesome. It’s always great to find a huge fan who’s willing to help.
You mentioned that there’s a song featuring Miriam coming out. Are you guys going to be focusing on older Engloids as well as the newer ones?

Tsus: We’ll be focusing on almost all the Vocaloids. I own a lot so I’m hoping to write songs for all of them.

Hoshi: That’s awesome. It’s great to see you guys are going to focus on a lot of VOCALOIDs. Do you have any you really want to focus on in the near future?

Tsus: Well, I really wanna try in home on the Spanish Vocaloids. I come from a Hispanic background, so my mom is always asking me to make salsa originals. xD

Hoshi: Haha. xD I can’t make any complaints there; I absolutely love the Spanish Vocaloids. Seeing more original content with them would be awesome.

Some people actually make Vocaloids sing salsa quite a bit. Interestingly enough, though, I usually see the Japanese Vocaloids singing in Spanish. xD

So I know you guys have a Patreon up now. One of the big rewards is an album. Do you all have plans to ever release an album (even just a digital download)? I’m sure fans would love to buy it.

Tsus: Ah~ Well, we have a very special album coming out soon but I can’t say much about it! And Kaleidoscope Haze is getting its album before the summer, so everyone will finally be able to piece the puzzle together and see the end of that saga.

Hoshi: I’ll definitely be watching for that. I was surprised to see a sadder version of Kaleidoscope Haze, and then when it came out as a chapter instead of just a remix of sorts, I got even more curious. xD Everyone’s been commenting about seeing Ruby for a split second in the video, so I think quite a few fans are waiting for the next puzzle piece.

Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Tsus: I just want to thank them for giving us the time of day and the support that we get. Making something for a community like this is incredibly fun and I really appreciate the different interpretations that we get for certain songs. I just want them to know that they mean a lot to me and I hope they continue to enjoy our content.

About Hoshi

She's a huge VOCALOID fan, a figure collector, and an all around nerd. Hoshi's been in the VOCALOID fandom since 2008 and has been a hardcore VOCALOID fan since 2013.