"Tomare!" Full English Version - feat. Cristina Vee, CinnamonPunch and RukaTrinidad

[Merr]

Links:
Tomare Full English Version

http://www.4shared.com/file/235941762/f18ce090/Tomare_Full_English_Version.html

"Tomare!" from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"

Featuring:
RukaTrinidad (http://www.youtube.com/user/rukatrinidad) as Mikuru
CinnamonPunch (http://www.youtube.com/user/CinnamonPunch) as Yuki
Cristina Vee (http://www.youtube.com/user/ValliereVee) as Haruhi

It's finally done! For a four minute song, this thing took an obscene amount of time to mix.

I'll post more in the morning, but for now, here are the lyrics.

*stumbles off to bed*

---------

Mikuru:
Saw a star and made a little wish, but
gotta wonder how it's gonna get to you
With the wishes everybody's wishing all on one little star

Yuki:
I'm thinking something is wrong with this
All the time I'm wondering where you are
But you don't seem to understand that something's going on

Haruhi:
So just stop!
Think back, take a look at me
Cause you can't erase, replace, or ever get rid of me

All:
(No way, no how!)

Say you won't forget (Say you know it's true)
How it felt when we first met (How much I love you)
You and I were instantaneous
Cause all my life I had been dreaming of you
Used to seem so hard (I remember)
But I guess we've come that far (Things get better)
When I think of the way that we used to behave it's kind of funny
Can't believe that I forgot
So I'm searching for your heart

Mikuru:
Walkin' home I felt a little rain drop
Got me thinkin' just how much I'm missin' you
No escapin' every little tear that's falling down from above

Yuki:
Keep lookin', someone ha got to know
How to find the key to unlock that door
You'll see that maybe you could be stronger than before

Haruhi:
So just stop!
I know, this ain't paradise
But you can't deny that you and I have gotten it right

All:
(I'll show you how)

Harmony resounds (I can hear that song)
I can feel it all around (playing in my heart)
Building up, it's instantaneous
And all my life I'm gonna hear it with you
Now I've got to try (now I've got to try)
Gotta keep my head held high (I can get there)
But I'm lookin' around and I can't figure out where this is going
Gonna prove what I can do
It'll bring me back to you

Haruhi:
Stop!
Think back, take a look at me
Cause you can't erase replace or ever get rid of me

All:
(No way, no how!)
(Scream out and shout!)

Say you won't forget (Say you know it's true)
How it felt when we first met (How much I love you)
You and I were instantaneous
Cause all my life I had been dreaming of you
Used to seem so hard (I remember)
But I guess we've come that far (Things get better)
When I think of the way that we used to behave it's kind of funny
Can't believe that I forgot

Harmony for you
Harmony for two
[guitar solo]
And all my life I will be dreaming with you
Now I've got to try (now I've got to try)
Gotta keep my head held high (I can get there)
But I'm lookin' around and I can't figure out where this is going
Gonna prove what I can do
It'll bring me back to you

Gonna run till I can see
What it is that I should be

Can't believe that I forgot
So I'm searching for your heart

[ElliottSkywalker]

Wow. This is incredible! I wish I could sing as well as you guys did! Such emotion and strong vocals! I almost thought I was listening to the actual song(and better) XD. Great job guys. The lyrics and voices were just outstanding. Wonderful performance!

[KouYamiAura]

I said this on the YouTube posting, but I think it'll get a bit further here.

There doesn't seem much of a difference in their voices. Of course, their voices are great, I can't deny that. I actually liked listening to this song. But I just can't get over the fact that they all sound almost the same. Though Ms. Vee's voice stands out a bit more when she hits the high notes, but otherwise not much.

I still think it's a pleasure to listen to, and you did a great job mixing it, too~

[Merr]

There doesn't seem much of a difference in their voices. Of course, their voices are great, I can't deny that. I actually liked listening to this song. But I just can't get over the fact that they all sound almost the same. Though Ms. Vee's voice stands out a bit more when she hits the high notes, but otherwise not much.

That might be because Ruka sings the harmonies during CP's solos.

Also, for the chorus, I used VocAlign to blend everyone's voices together really tightly. I tried making each voice more separate for those parts, but it just sounded too crowded when combined with the harmonies (to the point where you couldn't understand any of the lyrics).

If you listen to the Japanese version, the chorus actually sounds like it's sung by one person it's so tightly synchronized. They make up for that by having about eight layers of harmony though. We weren't able to record that much (although Cristina did record four harmonies per line, which is amazing), so that might be why it doesn't sound as rich.

[/b/lackup]

I said this on the YouTube posting, but I think it'll get a bit further here.

There doesn't seem much of a difference in their voices. Of course, their voices are great, I can't deny that. I actually liked listening to this song. But I just can't get over the fact that they all sound almost the same. Though Ms. Vee's voice stands out a bit more when she hits the high notes, but otherwise not much.

I still think it's a pleasure to listen to, and you did a great job mixing it, too~

I agree with this; the song is great and I put it in my Youtube favorites because of its greatness, but at the same time the voices can mesh together.

Other than that, fantastic work!

[TsukinoKei]

Pat McCarthy you know what you are doing:)
The mixing was perfect, sounded like a professional song that you would hear on a Soundtrack.

::Cristina:: Your voice was very fitting for Haruhi afterall Haruhi does have a strong powerful voice.

::Ruka:: could of been a bit more higher pitch for Mikuru. But Great Singing

::Cinnamon Punch:: was very fitting for Yuki. The pitch was bery similair to Yuki's.

However its extremely hard to sing in a character voice . So I give A lot props to all 3 girls:) And to Pat who did a excellent job mixing this.

Great Job Everyone you should be Soo proud!

But I have to agree with KouYamiAura & OutOfTheInfinity. The Voices did sound a lot similar to Ms Vee.

[DaelynD]

This is really well sung and mixed! I love how the english lyrics flowed so well. Mixing was pro.

As for the voices, they were all on tune, on beat, and very powerful. (Which is hard to do XD) They all worked together quite well, though there were a few parts where the three sounded a bit too similar, separate from their characters. Though that can be difficult to do ^^

Overall, this sounds amazing and everyone should be proud of this :3

-Daelyn

[ichigo_m]

trio made in heaven. Great job girls~

[martialmichael126]

Oh my God, this is absolutly GREAT!!! *downloads*

[Y. Chang]

I really like this. I think it's funny how people are saying they don't sound like the characters when that's not the point; the original singers certainly didn't, and it's not an image song after all. Also, summa y'alls saying they sound too similar? I think it's just good blending. Iunno, whatevs. You laydeez sound pro.

Merr, I love your words and I'll shamelessly admit that I've like already half memorized them. Great mixing, great dub!

[Chioku]

I heard this a few days ago and I still think it is amazing.
Ruka, Cristina and CP are all fantastic singers, and your lyrics are great. The mixing is, in my opinion, so professional. I love everything about it, total five stars! *thumbs up!* ^^

[James_The_Composer]

This is insanely well mixed. Well done. =)

[Reutan]

This was absolutely amazing. It feels very professional, and even gives an impression of being a Japanese-style anime song, even in english. I'm not one for listening to this type of song for the most part, but I really enjoyed it.

[traviata]

This is great! I haven't heard the original, but I know I love this rendition. You all have amazing voices, and it sounds like you had fun doing this song :D Hooray!

Also, the lyrics are fantastic. They don't sound awkward at all, which is a big accomplishment (in my opinion) when you're trying to translate lyrics, fit them to a song, and maintain the original meaning, all at the same time.

[Merr]

I think it's funny how people are saying they don't sound like the characters when that's not the point; the original singers certainly didn't, and it's not an image song after all.
Exactly. The Japanese singers aren't singing in character, so I never told any of the girls that they had to do that either. Ruka especially has been getting a lot of flack for that and I think it's completely unfair. I explicitly told her to sing as herself, not as Mikuru, and the work she did was nearly flawless. She may not be all warbley like Yuko Goto, but she sounds amazing.

Also, the lyrics are fantastic. They don't sound awkward at all, which is a big accomplishment (in my opinion) when you're trying to translate lyrics, fit them to a song, and maintain the original meaning, all at the same time.
Thank you. That was exactly what I was going for. My goal was mostly to capture the sound of the original, and then just paraphrase the lyrics so that they fit within that structure. This song has a really weird meter, so there are some parts that I still think sound awkward, but I'm glad everyone likes the way it turned out.

Also, Traviata, I want to thank you for inspiring me to start adapting songs like this in the first place. About five years ago, I listened to an English version of 'Ningyo Hime' that you recorded. The lyrics all flowed so smoothly and sounded very natural, so I was like, "Cool! I want to do that!" And that's how I got started :)

[tomatocars]

I can't believe I never got around to commenting here! I love what you did here Merr, as someone stated earlier, your lyrics flow so well. I also want to recognize all the work that you must have put into this. After hours on end of me just mixing my own TV sized version, I can't even imagine how long it must have took you to put the final touches on the full song - not to mention 3 singers!!

It's nice to see that there are still people out there who work out every detail not because they have to, but because they want to. Keep mixing songs Merr, you're fantastic!

[traviata]

Also, Traviata, I want to thank you for inspiring me to start adapting songs like this in the first place. About five years ago, I listened to an English version of 'Ningyo Hime' that you recorded. The lyrics all flowed so smoothly and sounded very natural, so I was like, "Cool! I want to do that!" And that's how I got started :)

Whoa. No way. Wow, that makes me really really happy. :D I inspired someone... that's nuts. I remember recording that song, too. I noticed that people often spend so much time trying to get an exact translation of the lyrics that they miss the overall meaning of the song, and I wanted to do an adaptation that sort of turned that whole thing around. Was it really that long ago? I feel old ^.^;;

I'm also pretty darn jealous of your 1337 mixing skillz. What do you use for your multitrack/mixing program?

[Merr]

I'm also pretty darn jealous of your 1337 mixing skillz. What do you use for your multitrack/mixing program?
I use Adobe Audition to do all the mixing. The only special trick I use is to put dynamics processing on the vocals and then futz with the equalizers a bit. For this song I also used VocAlign to synchronize everybody's vocals really tightly. It's hard for people to sing in perfect synch when they record separately, so the software helps fix that.

[Monotori]

Sorry I don't tend to listen to this kind of music, otherwise it would go straight on my playlist. If I hadn't been told, I would wholeheartedly believe this was the real thing. I don't know any of the characters so I don't know what they sound like; and although they did sound pretty similar, I could tell that it was three different characters, and they probably shouldn't sound too different anyway! I can imagine that three totally different voices would sound pretty awkward, especially for this kind of song.

I also agree that the lyrics were fantastic; again, I haven't heard the original but I can believe that this makes the most sense. It was fluid and seemed like nobody had too much trouble. Along with the perfect pitch and everything else, damn. You guys are perfect together. Sing more songs.

[traviata]

I use Adobe Audition to do all the mixing. The only special trick I use is to put dynamics processing on the vocals and then futz with the equalizers a bit. For this song I also used VocAlign to synchronize everybody's vocals really tightly. It's hard for people to sing in perfect synch when they record separately, so the software helps fix that.

Ah, Adobe Audition. I wish they had a version for OS X. It's much friendlier than GarageBand for voice acting as well as multitracking stuff; GB is pretty useless for anything but songs.

And dang. VocAlign looks pretty pricey, but certainly seems worth the money if you've got to get the timing right for people singing their parts separately.

[Merr]

And dang. VocAlign looks pretty pricey, but certainly seems worth the money if you've got to get the timing right for people singing their parts separately.
My uncle is a record producer, so I got my copy from him, but I think you can find it online for free through *cough* certain channels. It's a useful program, but it's definitely not worth $325.

[traviata]

Jealousy! My only hookup is the guy at GuitarCenter who gives me free stuff because he pities my po' hobo ass. Have you picked up any tips from your uncle?

[Merr]

Have you picked up any tips from your uncle?
Not really. He lives in Wisconsin, so I hardly ever see him. He does give me free software though XD

[greanseal]

Do you know that I found this forum from Google?
And I make this account solely to comment this workpiece?

I'm really really really really really really really...... appreciate this work you know?
I love it!

I just found that you may switched the role of Haruhi and Nagato...

Yeay!

[Cristina]

Thank you. I'm happy people are still enjoying this after over a year :).