Producer Spotlight: SmileR

[fascinates]

SmileR

mylist | piapro

SmileR (pronounced "smiler" not "smile-ar") is a very new Vocaloid producer, having started uploading his works in Nico Nico just November of last year. However, he is already well known in the community and even as a newbie, his songs would reach more than 30k hits. He is a fast composer, although because he just started, he only has a few (albeit largely popular) songs up his sleeve.

SmileR's genre is straight pop with lacings of electronica, quite similar to some of kz's works because of his use of high-pitched keyboard music, but different because SmileR's works are more upbeat, sharp and bordering rock music. His songs are often danceable, with happy tunes even if sometimes his lyrics can be poignant. I think it is safe to say that his music is reminiscent of early 2000 girl-group pop and dance songs XD.

SmileR's lone Vocaloid is Miku, and she is often tuned in a way that she sounds even more "electronic" to match the melody. For some people, this might mean a turn-off (since the general consensus is the more human-like Miku sings, the better) but since the base of SmileR's music is electronic pop, Miku does not sound out of place and even complements the beats. She is usually tuned low with barely any straining high notes, making her easy to listen to.

sample works
• Melody Line
• Memories
• Star Box
• Baby, I Love You


nikki says
I loved SmileR the moment I heard his "Memories", which captured me so much. Actually I enjoy all of his music because they do not sound complicated and despite the upbeat nature, are quite easy to listen to. His most recent work, "Baby I Love You" shows a probable slight change in his style (for one there are clearer piano music and the style changed a bit), and I'm looking forward to what more he can compose in the near future.

Utaite Spotlight: Bis

[fascinates]

Bis / びす

mylist | community

Bis is a very prolific male singer in Nico Nico Douga, having started only June last year with Sandscraper, but has uploaded more than 80 covers (that means he uploads every few days or so XD). His dedication and love for covering songs is apparent in his choice of covers. He isn't biased towards any specific genre, style or producer. Because of this, he has become quite popular in the community and his songs have gained various receptions. His most popular song to date is his cover of Kagefumi Etranger.

Bis's voice is thin and has a wide range. In some of his covers, he's often likened to Yuu, because of their uncanny ability to make a song sound creepy mysterious and cool at the same time. Just because his voice is thin, though, doesn't mean it doesn't have the power or force, since he can sing Vocarock songs really well. His earlier works were more towards Vocarock, but recently he's taken a liking to singing fast-paced, confusing songs which kind of became his forte. For the record, his screamo's pretty awesome like in Otona no Omocha. He also has the tendency to sound pretty amazing in a high girly voice, like in Charon.

In the one year that he has been singing, his improvement as well as his choice of music has developed and expanded well.

sample songs
• E? Aa, Sou. (papiyon original)
• DYE (AVTechNO! original)
• Sakurazensen Ijou Nashi (WataruP)
• Anti the Infinite Holic (cosMo original)
• Migi Hidari (koushirou original)
• Chocolate (otetsu original)
• 7/8 (yuyoyuppe original)

sample collab
• Risky Game (with rick; KurousaP original)
• Perfect Crime (with leychal; samfree original)

nikki says
I first encountered Bis in the Utattemita Rankings and I have found a liking for his cover of EAS, despite the tons of covers out there. When I decided that I also liked his Sakurazensen cover (which not many people can cover properly), I've followed all most of his works ever since. I find it great that he's good in screamo, singing in English...basically anything he covers is good. He's a bit hard to follow because he uploads like every other day, but it was fun seeing how he'd cover different styles of songs, especially those not in the vocarock/screamo/fast-paced songs category. (He has a Peropero cover, I mean XD). I'm often in wonder as to how he can cover songs and upload that fast without making the quality of his songs suffer. It's pretty awesome. I...can't name a single favorite because he has many songs and I love more than half of them, but right now my constant loop is his 7/8. :)