FAQ/where's Lira?
NG collabs in stores:
Synthetica EP - A Moonless Blue - nal1200 feat. Lira Yin
Approaching Nirvana's Sounds of Summer - the two tracks These Walls and Break Away feat. Lira Yin
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Rock & roll, kids.

cheers,

Lira

Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ
In stores:
Synthetica EP - A Moonless Blue - nal1200 feat. Lira Yin
Approaching Nirvana's Sounds of Summer - the two tracks These Walls and Break Away feat. Lira Yin
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sup guise. Short on free time as hell, but updates updates--

- Worked on nal1200's Synthetica EP #2 demo. BE SURPRISED.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /276379

-ElectricalBypass has been polite and persistent; I did some quick ambient vox for him on this video game track: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /279709

- Signed vocal track. It'll be both my debut release, and the debut vocal release of 7th Gate Recordings, the new label launch of a bunch of established trance artists from Andromeda/Elliptical Recordings. They've all received major support & airplay before-- I'm talking Ferry Corsten, Judge Jules, etc. Cheers to Angra Mainyu, the evil brains behind it all. Working on a second track with him.

- Experimenting with doing vocals on SolusLunes's pet classical track to keep me from burning the fuck out on EDM.

- various other trance/house projects, and even an acoustic/live project on campus. OH THE MUSICNESS OF IT ALL

Thanks for the support as always, NG. I luff joo niblets.

cheers,

Lira

Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ
In stores:
Synthetica EP - A Moonless Blue - nal1200 feat. Lira Yin
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Hi, everyone. Just a few quick updates:

- I've done two songs on Approaching Nirvana's upcoming second EP, to be released later this summer. Working with them has been a privilege, and definitely exciting. Their style is fantastic.
Previews of both "These Walls," for which I wrote the lyrics and composed the melody, and "Break Away" can be found on my musician's page:
Lira Yin on MySpace

- With very few exceptions, I'm now no longer doing NG-only original tracks.

Good luck to everyone, & thanks for the support! :D

cheers,

Lira

Lira Yin
vocalist
myspace.com/lirayin
Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ

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Hey, everyone. I'm still alive, but as a second-semester college sophomore, things just get busier and busier.

But onto the music updates:

-The Synthetica EP is now in store and with it, A Moonless Blue - nal1200 feat. Lira Yin has been getting support from many of my fans & friends. I'm glad to hear the generally positive feedback for the EP, and nal1200 deserves kudos not only for putting the entire project together, but his amazing production job on our track. Cheers!

Please consider purchasing it if you're interested.

-Down To Earth - Brittany Barrett & Lira Yin hit number 4 on the top 30 a week or two ago. Thanks for all the support, guys!

-Amnesiac (MCN Mix) - Lira & Mrmilkcarton was selected by Karco for his 4th best of January. Thanks, Karco!

-Speaking of Karco, I've written lyrics and am hoping to work out vocals to a house rework of his fantastic track-- and one of my all-time NG favorites-- "Time For Morning". Although our schedules keep conflicting, here's hoping!

-Currently in limbo on professional collabs. Pulstate and another artist who's collaborating on a track with him may not need my vocals, but please wish them all the best. You may have noticed that I did write vocals for his track "More Than Words" just for fun, and came up with More Than Words (Lira Yin's Vocal Mix)-- I loved that track.

Thanks for supporting and listening!

Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ
[not considering any more collaborations until the end of January]

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Happy 2009, everyone! Although I'm swimming in academic agony right now (final exams and papers through to January 24th...you're not going to be hearing me mention much else until then if you ask me "how are you?" as people on MSN have found out), it's still an exciting season for music. The highlights that have made my little vocalist's heart happy are as follows:

Down To Earth - Brittany Barrett & Lira Yin

To be fair, I don't actually think I deserve the joint credit for the song in the title. This is one of those few times I didn't write the lyrics-- I sang and arranged them. She's done some fantastic things with vocal cuts, so listen all the way through!

Amnesiac (MCN Mix) - Lira & Mrmilkcarton

Out of the blue, Mrmilkcarton messaged me and said that he'd done a track using my not-really-trackworthy clip "Amnesiac" as source material. The song comments pretty much say it all-- I'm still very impressed with what he's managed to do with a vocal clip that was not intended for use, and was a mellow acoustic clip. This mix is an experimental dance track with a dark feel..

A Moonless Blue - nal1200 feat. Lira Yin

As part of Synthetica, an electronic EP collaboration done by a bunch of NG artists, nal1200 put together an experimental electronic jazz/lounge music piece. He wrote the lyrics for this as well, and they suit the song brilliantly-- I was stunned by the way everything fit together when he sent them to me, and I pretty much dropped everything I was doing to record the track.

A sample can be heard on my MySpace, or in the Synthetica EP demo track in my favorites, but we'd love it if you considered buying the track.

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Lira
vocalist
myspace.com/lirayin
Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ

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I have my voice back! Mostly. My mother's sick, and since I'm home from college for winter break, I'm doing my damnedest not to catch a cold again. I have a slight cough. It doesn't affect my voice anymore, though, which I'm rather relieved about because I suddenly have quite a lot on the to-do list-- five songs in total, four of which I'm providing the lyrics/partial melodic composition for. Aaack. I'm very excited for them all-- ASOT, we're coming your way! ...This would be a bad time to get writer's block.

I'm also looking for a classical/acoustic/ambient composer to work with on a song I've written and developed the melody for. It's a song I owe to a friend, for his flash animation, who's been a huge support to my singing; I wouldn't be here today without his help.

But for those of you who've requested that I upload something onto NG so you can favorite me as an artist, here you go! The first two verses of a song I jokingly call "Amnesiac" -- for some reason, its working title in my Audacity file the first time I recorded it in June was "Timeless", which has nothing to do with the lyrics. Go figure.

...The reason I only uploaded the first two verses is because the chorus has ridiculous high notes, and I can't get them to stop doing an EQ overload. Oops. Poor microphone. But it's no big loss. Besides, it's easier on your ears.

While I'm at it...let me plug the second WIP of Kazmo's "Still Alive" remix, which I did vocals for again. Our first WIP made weekly top 5, but the second one sounds much better (I recorded the first one when I had the flu...)-- so have a listen! I think it's rather underrated, and it has quite a bit more to it than the first WIP.

As always, all of the NG collabs I've done are in the top of my favorites (although now there are a couple of other artists' works in my list as well, which I think are underrated-- listen to them all!) if you need a quick reference.

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EDIT: Jan. 2: After a week and a half and a PM, the clip's been approved. Now I'm favorite-able, for those of you who requested it; you get a half-baked singing clip. Cheers. :)

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen /197698

Lira
vocalist
myspace.com/lirayin
Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ

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While my immune system isn't really bad, per se, it seems that each time I do get sick, the first things to fall are my lungs.

I can still sing. But my vocal control is somewhat shot, and occasionally punctuated by coughs. And after a couple of days, the coughs have started making my chest hurt. Exhibit A: the first clip I ever posted on my MySpace was done out of boredom while I was sick. It's shaky and at the end, I gave up and started coughing. But it's amusing, anyway, and seems to have made enough of an impression on people.

Which brings me to the actual update-- I'm currently working on two collaborations with professional producers (one of whom is our own rising star Pulstate), which is an unexpected occurrence but a total joy to do. The trance world is vast, and to contribute with talented people is humbling. Hopefully both of these endeavors will fly through-- even if not, it's been fun!

Now if only my academic situation were looking nearly as optimistic...

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EDIT: Dec. 6: I've finished vocals for Kazmo's remix of Lisa Miskovsky's "Still Alive"-- I'm looking forward to that. When I'm sick, my voice almost sounds like hers. Go figure.

Lira
vocalist
myspace.com/lirayin
Newgrounds/collaboration FAQ

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I wrote this in a follow-up message to a review I made, and decided to post it here and at my page because it describes a lot of my opinion on vocal trance.

As a vocalist, I'm terribly biased-ly fond of vocal trance songs, but I don't believe that a song can ride completely on its vocals, no matter how good they are.

It's a nice thought. but I'm a vocalist with a well-rounded and self-critical perspective, not an ego trip, regarding vocals. :P Unfortunately, this also makes me very harsh not only with myself in judging vocal songs, but the instrumentation. I've never even done a collaboration I was completely satisfied with. Here's hoping that changes in the future.

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I tend to think that really quality vocal trance has instrumentals that still bring a LOT to the table even without vocals-- ever noticed that a lot of the released dub mixes of vocal trance songs have few to no vocals? And sometimes, instrumental tracks are released on singles, too. A lot of vocal trance probably wouldn't be able to stand on its own, true. But would you settle for that?

For me, that's what distinguishes unique trance from mainstream dance hits. They have widespread appeal because of simplistic catchy vocals-- give the mainstream something more complex and they go "it all sounds the same!" unless it has vocals. People listen not to instrumental subtleties, but singers. Usually only vocal trance tracks or melodic tracks with simple catchy melodies ("Traffic", anyone?) make it big in the mainstream.

Okay, that was probably a needlessly long-winded intro. Point is, you can depend on the vocals for a vocal track and get away with it just fine, but you could always soar past that level. Because the remixes that are really remembered out there stand out because of their unique twists and differences from the original-- not just using the vocal track but building on it. Classics like the remixes of Delerium's "Silence", for instance.

hey, NG;

Due to time constraints, I'm no longer working on amateur NG productions. Thanks for all the experiences, the cracked up Audio Portal world, and the good times, you crazy kids-- I learned a lot, and wish you well.

best wishes,

Lira

facebook.com/lirayin
soundcloud.com/lirayin
twitter: @lirayin