Ray - Hololive Gen 0 cover

 

Bump of Chicken's Ray is one of my favorite songs. That's why when this cover released, I take my time to embrace some defects that may appeared on the cover song. This is because seldom a cover can best the original. 

Btw, why I like Ray is because Bump of Chicken uses Miku. My fascination for that song is because the singer and Miku harmonization. Such a great technique that I haven't heard of before. May be someone already did it before Ray, but for me it was my first-time hearing Miku incorporated as duet singer with a human.

I know there is a version without Miku. It's not bad, but the usage of Miku is what, for me, making this song special. 

Btw, about the cover. I don't think there is a special mention. My note for this is about Suisei's voice. She needs to learn to soften her voice if she wants to sing with soft-spoken singers. Her voice is too heavy compared to other members. 

To get my point, the most obvious is at 3:37. We can compare this to the 3:41 Bump of Chicken version.

Her bass voice for the backing vocal also seems a little bit not blending well. I think this probably the missing alto voice in the mix. Her duet sings with soft voice in high register making her voice too noticeable.

I tried to compare this with Bump of Chicken. The vocalist takes the range note a little bit mid to higher register. That's why his voice blends well with Miku's.

Btw, I found out about the arrangements with bass. I try to compare Sui's voice with Project Sekai's version (LEO). I think I know the problem. Sui voice is too distinctive. Her voice should be lowered and put a little bit behind. I can hear her vocal techniques while she should be a background singer.

In LEO's version, the bass voice sang the voice uniformly. Also, the voice is a little bit behind so that we can hear the lead singer well. I don't know if the Holo version is intentionally move Sui's voice forward. But, that makes me a little bit weird.

For me, the cover is not my cup of tea. The way they arrange the singing part a little bit too much for me. I know they need to balance the section for each singer, but the different voice textures make me a little bit overwhelmed listening to the whole song.

It's a good cover, but these things make me unable to listen this repeatedly.