Aurora Chorum - Virtual Choral Ensemble

AURORA CHORUM

Virtual Choral Ensemble

An Experiment: Create a Virtual Vocal Group

The Thought

One day the thought crossed my mind: would it be possible, using software that creates virtual pop singer vocals, to create a serious virtual vocal ensemble?

I decided to try it with an Appalachian Christmas carol titled "Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head." I have always liked the song, and had arranged it for SSAA, though the arrangement had never been performed.

Was the experiment successful? Well, it does not sound "real." The vowel sounds are not quite right, and certain letters—particularly the letter "r" at the end of a word—caused difficulties. But still, it was a cool experiment.

Here is the result: the virtual vocal group AURORA CHORUM, performing "live" at Aquilonaris Cathedrali (an imaginary place with nice acoustics).

The Vocal Score

The Arrangement

For those interested in the arrangement (SSAA), you may download it here. Permission is given for public performance, and for making not-for-profit copies of the score.

AURORACHORUM-JesusJesusRestYourHead-SSAA.pdf

The Process

Tools

The arrangement was written using Sibelius First.

The four voice parts were entered into VOCALOID to create the vocal track. The exported audio did not have any effects.

The exported audio was loaded into Logic Pro X. Plug-ins were added: De-essing, EQ, a mastering preset in Ozone 8, and reverb from a PSP plate reverb.

Then over to iMovie where the slides made in PhotoShop were added to the audio exported from Logic Pro X.

© Copyright 2019 Stephen Mugglin

AURORA CHORUM is part of MugglinWorks.com.


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