Studio or Live Recordings?

[Melon]

Another topic brought upon by boredom at work. When I get home I'll add youtubes of the examples. If you answer in the poll post your reasons! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /frown.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':frown:' />



I prefer lives of songs whenever possible. To use a recent example, I thought the song Juicy [email="He@rt"]He@rt[/email] by Buono was mediocre but the live version in Re; Buono made me love it.



Sometimes lives can be grating because the singers aren't being touched by the hands of the mechanical gods, but I enjoy the little mistakes in songs more than constant perfection. The only time I'm completely turned off is if the notes are so out of key it ruins the song. I can take slightly off, but I can't take JpopYuna-esque stumbles.



Because I prefer live 99% of the time, I put that as my choice. Only a few bands/artists get the "studio>live" opinion but they're not high on my list of favorites so it ends up being inconsequential.



OOO! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ebleed.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':nosebleed:' /> We can have 2 poll questions now?! Okay, so part 2:



Lives have a performance aspect that studio recordings do not. So, to equalize, is the preference MVs/PVs or Concert/Television performances?



I prefer the audience interaction/camera interaction more than the static interaction of PVs, but the PVs usually have the better styling.



What is your preference? Why? What draws you to it?

[EmEl]

I usually prefer studio versions. Especially if we're talking idols. Because that live stuff better be well-produced to choke out those annoying wota. Seriously, dudes, if you love the girl enough to chant her name, at least do it when she's not singing.



As for video, I can barely pay attention to any PV or live without losing interest. I can't really watch music (unless I'm actually there).

[Anderei]

When it's just straight up listening, I always prefer a studio version. But I often enjoy watching lives more than MVs. Several songs have grown on me because they're were really enjoyable to watch being performed.

[eri]

Can someone explain who JpopYuna is?



If we're talking live-live, like going to see a show, then

--Classical *must* be listened to live-live

--Rock is 100x more fun live-live but studio recordings are just as fun

--Pop? It depends entirely on the theatrics of the show and that is irrelevant if you sit way in the boonies and can't see anything. Being more commercial, pop usually relies on amazing music videos too. It is kind of up in the air depending on the singer though - ahem, if they can sing or not.



Since Japanese idols can't sing and are designed to be media starlets, I tend to always prefer the PV. There is also the problem that Em-El pointed out - you can't hear ANYTHING in H!P concerts because of all the obnoxious screeching. So, Jpop is the only genre of music that I always prefer a produced version of - studio album + MV to watch.



The only time I thought otherwise was on the Hello Pro Hour and girls did covers of songs with a jazz band. That was amazing.

[Ap2000]

[quote name='eri' timestamp='1311352837' post='104138']



Can someone explain who JpopYuna is?

[/quote]



I can, but I'm not sure if I want to...



We also had her on BBS Idol once. Comedy gold.

[neshcom]

[quote name='Ap2000' timestamp='1311354633' post='104141']

to...

[/quote]



GASPING. Is that?!



UTA-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-EEEEE-EEEE-HE-EEEEEH-HEEEEE-HEEEEEEH



Back on topic, often times, I enjoy live versions better than studio tracks, though my preference is both varied and marginal. Like, I really like hearing Namie Amuro's concert versions (even if avex fucks up the recordings...), especially the re-arranges, but the studio versions are also good too. On the other hand, for H!P stuff, I prefer the studio over the lives because 1) they do a new tour/release every day that ends in -day and 2) they often aren't very great live singers/lipsync a lot.



[edit] Also, I prefer PVs over live TV performances mainly, but I find that, for bigger name artists, I like their concert acts even better than the PVs. Still, I'd generally say I like the music videos. It's...canon? They're a thing that is highly edited and produced (often times) and I enjoy that.

[showraniy]

This is hard choice since it varies so much with every artist I listen to... <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Hm... The only H!P act I've preferred live has been the newest incarnation of Aa! with sans Reina and plus Saho Akari. The studio recording of Yume to Genjitsu is honestly just so boring compared to the thrill I get when listening to it live.



Sometimes the emotion of the song performed live has me prefer that particular live version over the studio recording, but these tend to be rare. And sometimes, the artist just does a whole new rendition of the song live that knocks the studio version out of the water. Those are rarer still these days.



When it comes to PV versus live, though, I tend to prefer PV overall, just because I love my generic pop with all its bells and whistles attached. Most generic pop comes with lipsync permanently attached as well, so I'd rather get my bells and whistles visually if they're vocally going to be exactly the same save for sound tweaking to separate the vocals from the music a bit more (if they care enough to even make it seem live).

[eri]

Some comparisons, using Matsuura songs, from worst to best:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9ljzNlOM-k

Hagiwara singing Mecha Holiday

--------Worst. Why am I watching this? Bring on the studio versions.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQ-4g23Leg

Kamei singing 100 Kai no Kiss

--------Average. Kamei is off tune a number of times but its just boring as all hell unless you're a Kamei fan. There is some novelty in seeing her sing live but, I'd much much rather watch the original cute PV with Ayaya trying on outfits.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4n4lupN90I

Goto and Matsuura covering Memory Seishun no Hikari.

-------Interesting but...Goto has an amazing voice and it is cool to hear them cover this, harmonizing and whatever.

But...they don't add anything to the song. It might as well be H!P karaoke.

Edit: Actually I was just relistening to this and I think my dislike for the original song probably made me biased. Also, yeah, not a Matsuura song anyway. But the point it, these girls are awesome and I'd love to hear them live.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUsOCDkaKIM

Goto and Matsuura covering Watarasebashi

--------Both of them bring, imo, something new to the song. I wish I had an mp3 of this - so gorgeous.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFIU3gRB ... re=related

Melon Kinenbi and Matsuura doing acapella version of Doki Doki Mail

--------Absolutely amazing, right?





Also...I'm just going to forget JpopYuna ever existed.

[tsukinobyouin]

I'm surprised so many people chose live. Those of you that did, do you mean that you actually keep live versions of stuff to listen to all the time (on mp3 players/your computer/etc)? Or just that given the choice, you'd rather go to a concert or put on a concert DVD than you would play the studio CD/mp3?



Personally, while I love going to rock and pop concerts, live music is an experience I only want if I'm actually there or if I'm watching a concert DVD (which I almost always do only once). There are rare occasions when something is unique about the live version, the song only exists as a live version, or it's just really wonderfully preformed. Then I'll make myself an mp3 of it.



Otherwise if I'm just listening to some tunes while doing whatever, I absolutely want studio versions. In fact I usually hate if I accidentally end up downloading the live version of something. I find the clapping and cheering and other extraneous noises (for idols, see: wota) distracting, and the sound quality overall usually isn't as good. It's not that I'm worried about the vocalist sounding studio-perfect, I just don't like the overall quality of most live recordings for the average music listening situation.



As for PVs versus performances, both have their value. I'm also not likely to watch either more than once unless there's something particularly amazing about them or I'm sharing with friends or something.

[showraniy]

I personally don't keep studio versions of the songs I listed above because I really hate aspects of their studio performance. For Yume to Genjitsu, I get bored 1/4th through the song. Utada's "Devil Inside" and "You Make Me Want To Be A Man" aren't bad in their studio versions, but every time I hear those electronic instruments opening the song, I long for the live electric guitars and goosebump-raising adlibs Utada does at the end of the songs in their live renditions which aren't present at all in the studio versions. If I ever get the urge to hear any of those songs, I do a quick Youtube hunt for the live versions and play those.



Also keep in mind that wota are very specific to the idol music subgenre, so as you can see in the videos linked by a few above (eri's included from the Wataraseboshi and Doki Doki Mail performances that I watched), there's no chanting to interfere with the quality of the recording. Honestly, other than H!P acts, I don't know of any other artist I listen to whose fans make as much as a peep during lives. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> If they do make noise, it's to cheer on the artist at the end of the song, or to cheer after a particularly hard note or section of the song that the artist nailed.

[JPope]

Studio over lives, because even the "good" singers in MM aren't very good singers, even by pop idol standards. Yes, I know there are exceptions, but in the history of H!P (and off the top of my head), I can think of exactly five girls who were truly good singers in the definitive sense -- that is, not in the good-for-a-girl-pop-idol definition: Miki Fujimoto, Aya Matsuura, Yuuko Nakazawa, Yuki Maeda, and maybe Ai Takahashi.

[tsukinobyouin]

[quote name='showraniy' timestamp='1311365468' post='104158']

Also keep in mind that wota are very specific to the idol music subgenre, so as you can see in the videos linked by a few above (eri's included from the Wataraseboshi and Doki Doki Mail performances that I watched), there's no chanting to interfere with the quality of the recording. Honestly, other than H!P acts, I don't know of any other artist I listen to whose fans make as much as a peep during lives. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> If they do make noise, it's to cheer on the artist at the end of the song, or to cheer after a particularly hard note or section of the song that the artist nailed.

[/quote]



Try listening to any live recording of The Beatles. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />



I personally dislike hearing any cheering at all when I'm casually listening to music, but the cheering really isn't the biggest part for me. A live recording often has other issues, like occasional puffs of air on the mic or the singer improvising in a way that works great if you're actually at the concert but not so much if you're not. Then there's the simple fact that a studio recording is going to have better sound quality - you're hearing the clean mix of instruments and vocals that's properly balanced. A live recording, unless studio edited afterwords, usually just doesn't have the same quality of sound. I do make some exceptions sometimes, as I said before, if a particular performance is really cool and I happen to like that version better, or if the performance is unique and not on a CD anywhere (like MKB+Aya singing Doki Doki Love Mail a capella).

[Pucchi-Mo]

Both for Both



I guess studio for idols and lives for bands. If a band does a song live, it sounds different each time. I like how songs are usually played faster or with more impact of some sort than the studio version. Of course, an idol singing with a live band is also great. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/wub.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wub:' />



PV vs performance, If a PV is really amazing and does things that could not be duplicated in a live situation, PV wins. However, I'm a big fan of really cool transitions during a concert.



Also, I am very fortunate to listen to artists who have on-key audience participation in their concerts (which actually adds to the song) <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />