One-man Chorus

I happened to buy the MD-8 mixer by YAMAHA in the summer of 2000. I recorded the one-man chorus by connecting this to the REV-100 effecter. Now, this turned out to be fun. It takes time, but since I am of a curious nature, I sometimes work on it until dawn. If anyone saw me, it is sure to look queer.

I had uploaded the mp3 files of some of the songs, but Mr. Takao Naoi, guitarist and secretary-general of the Japan Composers & Arrangers Association sent me an email of advice that it infringes upon copyrights, so I had to stop uploading full choruses. Please understand.

That, to allow free access online to CDs sold commercially without permission, is prohibited by copyright laws is what everyone knows, but private arrangements, songs and performances are not allowed, either. In the nick of time… So, this has become the "Mirage of One-man Chorus Page".

	Procedure	Equipments/Software
１．	Decide the style of the chorus, then arrange and write the score for trios and quartets within your own voice range.
２．	Arrange the rhythm and simple chord progression with the Clavinova. Automatic accompaniment in various styles can also be made with Band-in-a-Box. If you are going to do a cappella, then accompaniment is not necessary.	YAMAHA Clavinova Band-in-a-Box
３．	Record the "karaoke" first, then the chorus parts starting with the melody, on separate tracks. This is the most tedious process.	YAMAHA MD-８
４．	Adjust the volume and balance of the chorus parts, then adjust the tone of the acoustics with the effecter and make a stereo recording on cassette tapes or MDs. This is the original recording.	YAMAHA MD-８ YAMAHA REV-100 SONY MDS-PC1
５．	Make a Wave Sound file with the PC recorder. The CD is burned from this.	PolderbitS Sound Reｃorder Adaptec CD Creater 4
６．	Make a compressed file in RealAudio or mp3 format, so it is sized down to a file that is exchangeable online.	RealJukebox Plus
７．	You can carry it around in portable mp3 players. Since the memory size is 64MB, when the files are compressed to 1.5-2MB per song, 30-40 songs can be memorized. Of course, you can copy from CDs. Very handy.	Creative NOMAD II

The good thing about one-man chorus is that it can be done whenever I feel like it, but there is the problem of voice range. The arrangements will have to be made accordingly, since the range of notes will be limited. Finding chorus scores, or copying from recordings can be a chore. Mixed voice choruses are completely out of question.

In Shakushigakudo's case, the limit is 2 octaves. The lower range in the mornings, the higher range at night is the norm.

J to E Translation by SKT