A (very basic) Introduction to Utattemita

[fascinates]

Most people who visit this community obviously already know what "utattemita" is and the people involved in it. But for those who want to have a proper intro to the category and/or invite friends into the fandom, I hope this post will be helpful. Note that there cannot be an encompassingly perfect intro or guide into utattemita, since the best way to go around this fandom is to explore. :) So, this'll be common knowledge, very basic. I'm sure you guys can handle the rest.



I. "UTATTEMITA"

Utattemita (歌ってみた） is a subcategory of the Yattemita （やってみた） section in Nico Nico Douga. Utattemita literally means "tried to sing", that is why you will see that most of the uploads under this category have the "[song name]を歌ってみた" title (or variations of such). To be precise, the utattemita category is where amateur singers upload covers of various songs.

* Yattemita (tried to do) is a section of Nico Nico Douga where people upload videos of them "trying to do things". There are currently five subcategories in this section: utattemita (tried to sing), odottemita (tried to dance), egaitemita (tried to draw), ensoushitemita (tried to do a musical performance), and nico nico gijutsu-bu (arts and technology department).

* Utattemita (歌ってみた）is different from Awasetemita (合わせてみた). The latter means a mashup of two or more renditions of a song. Therefore it is not an original upload of the singer. Rather, someone took a few singers' covers and mashed them up to make a chorus-like version.


II. "UTAITE"

→ A person who uploads his/her cover in the utattemita section is called an utaite (歌い手) or 'singer'. You cannot call a person 'utattemita' since it refers to the place or section, not the person. Most utaite exclusively cover songs and upload under the utattemita section, but some of them have doujin circles and release original music/drama CDs during events like Comic Market and Vocaloid Master. A few utaite also have become partly or wholly professional singers and have released/will release their albums under official labels. Recently, utaite appearing in concerts and live events have also become popular and have become more prolific and public.

Here are some utaite who are part of doujin circles/who have released original CDs in events.
• Aerogel - Soy-SOUTH
• Hanatan - Cordelia
• Pokota - Egamyer
• Panyo - Romaria Crusade
• Usa, Yamai - Usa Colony
* As this is a part of the fandom I am not completely familiar with, I'll leave it to you guys to explore this part more, especially the Touhou section of this ^^;

Here are some utaite who have partially/officially gone pro and have released original albums under labels.
• Gazelle (now YanagiNagi) - part of supercell
• halyosy and that - part of absorb; have released singles under Crown Records
• Piko - to release "Story" under Sony Music Entertainment
• Clear - to release "Dearest" under avex trax
• Valshe - to release her second album "Storyteller" under Geneon Entertainment

→ An utaite/singer's wonderful covers are attributed not only because of his/her beautiful rendition but also because of the dexterous mixing and encoding of the song so it sounds high-quality. Sometimes, singers themselves mix their own songs, although some rely on mixers to perfect their songs.

Examples of singers who are also mixers (mixes their own songs or other people's songs)
• Wotamin (has mixed for clear, valshe, dasoku etc.)
• Asamaru (has mixed for Choucho, Jack, Keisen, etc.)

Examples of some popular mixers are:
• HYBRID SENSE
• madamxx
• PUPI
• AtarimeP
*AtarimeP and PUPI also upload their own covers, but they mostly mix for other people

→ If you are into Vocaloid, you know of Vocaloid producers, who are people involved in composing original songs or tuning Vocaloids to cover existing songs. Some of these people also sing and upload their covers under the utattemita category. The most famous (so far) producer who also sings is Tourai (minato/RyuuseiP). You can refer to this list for more producers who have also taken a liking to covering songs. You can find covers by producers in Nico Nico Douga under the tag "歌うPシリーズ" which literally means "singing producers series".


III. COVERS

At present, most of the covers uploaded in the utattemita category are Vocaloid covers. However, they're not the only ones composing the section. Earliest covers in the category are of songs from anime, musicals, sentai series, J-pop and even English songs. But since Vocaloid is the most prolific and probably one of the most popular community in Nico Nico Douga, most singers cover songs from there.

Here are examples of anime/jpop songs covered by popular utaite:
• Shangri-La (Piko) - original by Angela; from Soukyuu no Fafner
• Northern Cross (clear) - original by May'n; from Macross Frontier
• Karma (Jack) - original by Bump of Chicken; from Tales of the Abyss
• In My Dream (wotamin) - from Brain Powered
• Daybreak's Bell (Beeeeige) - original by L'arc~en~Ciel; from Gundam 00
• Laughmaker (Asamaru) - original by Bump of Chicken

Here are examples of songs from Tenimyu covered by utaite:
• Hand in Hand (Enari) - original by Aiba Hiroki
• Do Your Best (crack version) (Akito) - original from Imperial Match Hyoutei


IV. STARTING

There is no guide large and comprehensive enough to teach people the ways in the utattemita fandom because while the community is limited to the utattemita category and sometimes, the doujin music scene, it has a lot of personalities involved, a lot of songs, a lot of merchandise and events. Hence, it depends on the person on how to approach learning about the utattemita community ^^. Here's some helpful stuff you can do:

1) Make a Nico Nico Douga account. You cannot live in this fandom if you do not have an account to the website that started it all. There are tons of guides in the Internet on how to make one. And with an account, you can not only watch uploads, you can also view namahousou (live broadcast) of utaite you're interested in. You can learn about namahousou and watching them here.
* Some people prefer watching utattemita stuff in Youtube, which is definitely easier since it's in English. However, some songs aren't uploaded in YT (community only uploads, etc.) and sometimes people ask their works to be removed from YT. Therefore, a NND account is the best way to go.

2) Find your interests. One reason people enter the utattemita fandom is because it collides with a current fandom they have. For example, Hetalia fans get into utattemita because of the Hetalia MAD covers (this is also the same for Durarara, K-on and Haruhi fans). Of course, if you're into Vocaloid, it's even easier to learn about utattemita, as they are kind of inseparable partners now :).

Examples of utaite doing parodies/covers related to anime.
• Uta ni Oyabun (Hetalia)
• Limone-sensei (Durarara)
• Urata (Gintama)

3) Find your favorites. Trying to know as many singers as possible might not be good if you're just starting, since the influx of style, genre and information might discourage you. Also, the largely varied genre might confuse you at first. Hence, it might be important to find a type of voice that you like and go explore from there. Later on, you can try listening to one singer/genre at a time and see if you like their styles.

For example:

Males with medium-boy-next-door voices
- clear
- ShounenT
- Rumdarjun
- Anima

Males with high-idk-if-it's-male voices
- Kogeinu
- Piko
- Vip-tenchou

Males with deep-ikemenish voices
- Tourai
- Mucchi
- Miichan

Males with deep-so-sexy-i-died voices
- Dasoku
- Panyo

Males with rockish-my-throat-can-die voices
- Nodoame
- Gero
- Hagane Tsuwamono/Kouhei

Females with high-vocal-cords-can-break voices
- F9
- Choucho
- Ritsuka

Females with deep-so-sexy-i-died voices
- Yamai
- Yoru
- Saiya

Females with moderate-rich-voices
- Usa
- Mitani Nana
- Wotamin

Females with low-idk-if-it's-female voices
- Valshe
- che:Sakurai
- Hitori


V. LINKS

Here's a list of websites that can help you explore the fandom more.

informative:
list of utaite (might be incomplete)
Japanese utattemita wiki
Nico Nico utattemita community - good way to get to know new singers

for ripping .mp3s off videos
nicosound
nicomimi

for communities, updates, etc.
mixi


---------------

I told you it's very basic/short. Nevertheless, I hope it'll be of help /o/. And no, I don't think I'll be making an intro to Vocaloid OTL. I think there are already a lot of those (a good Vocaloid writeup can be found in singing_robots :D).

If you have any beginner's question, feel free to leave a comment here ;_;.

Comments

[hyperactivemuse.livejournal.com]

yay~ BASIC INTRO <333
I will use this to lure other people...XDDD
thanks~~ ^^

LOL I like your categories - - - > "Males with medium-boy-next-door voices" XD <333 XD

[jarlehberg.livejournal.com]

So Dasoku = Males with deep-so-sexy-i-died voices
LOL.
I fully support that. xD

[fascinates]

LOL Thank you. I hope you get friends to join you in the fandom :)

[frodoshopuser.livejournal.com]

x3 Your categories are awesome ~Though, is there a category of people-who-does-basically-everything-pwnfully voices or a cracked-covers voices ?

[crimsonfire3]

and then insert Yoppei 8D AHAHAHA

[crimsonfire3]

*sob* Sad. ;_; Faneru used to be their mixer too ;__;

Same here :/ I can't understand the doujin circles OTL

LOL is Jack in the idk-if-it's-male or boy-next-door? AHAHAHA I have no idea anymore XDD;

[crimsonfire3]

and I said no fandoms until Finals OTL iyaaaa~

[koochie-koo.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha your categories!!! xD Woohoo now I can use this to get my friends finally into it so they won't think I'm insane for being obsessed over non-professional singers >_>

[fascinates]

LOL Glad to be of help? XD

[sillygrl1990.livejournal.com]

Very nice intro! :D
And I loved your singer-genre-voice-list thing! XD

[fascinates]

LOL Thank you!

[stephieku.livejournal.com]

The grouping really made me laugh, really cheered up my day.

Although for mixi, don't you need like a Japanese cellphone to join?

[fascinates]

It was just an example, please do not try it at home /shot XD. I mean, each person can make their own categories XD.

Yup. I think now you do need a cellphone e-mail. Although older accounts can still be used without the need for that :)

[southerncross]

Nikki~ I had Lei read this so I can get her into utattemita more. Her exposure is just limited to all JBF Piano versions and Nero's Bye Bye Lover. Don't ask. IDK why either! :D

I love how you divided them into categories! <3333 Good job with it!

[ureshiitoki]

Males with medium-boy-next-door voices
- clear
- ShounenT
- Rumdarjun
- Anima

I love how you classified the voices. i think I'll show people this whenever I find another person on an utaite video going "Is she a new vocaloid? O_______O"

This fandom takes a lot of video hopping to discover new artists (as well as looking at rankings and stuff) ^^;;

[sanzycheshire.blogspot.com]

xD lol at the voice categories~❤


Males with medium-boy-next-door voices = lovelovelove ❤

[lunahonou.livejournal.com]

Males with rockish-my-throat-can-die voices
- Nodoame

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*cough*
Rumdarjun （*´▽｀*）

lol @ Males with deep-so-sexy-i-died voices xDD

[suminon]

Ehehehehe I like your voice categories (=w=)b

Thanks for this guide! I finally know the singingP tag and what a musical instrument yattemita is called.

[cherry-blossom-rain.blogspot.com]

Oh my goodness~! 8) Thank you very much! I have had so many questions and you have answered them! You are satisfying my thirst for information on this fandom. XD

[kyahgyahhya.livejournal.com]

thank you for this guide! (: its very helpful especially ur catergories! *w*

[shinigamikouryu.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the list.
But I wonder, what categories Faneru will be?
And it is really great he's back. I love his voice. XD
I totally laugh at your list though.
Thanks again! :3

Programs

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone know the programs that the mixers use on NND?

Re: Programs

[stephieku]

There are a lot! They usually say in the Utattemita no Hon which mixing program they use (I don't have it with me, so i can't check now, but..) generally a lot of people use Cubase. Some people use Audacity since it's free, but I don't think famous mixers are using it. I'll look it up when I get home... Asamaru uses SONAR.

[(Anonymous)]

Would Glutamine belong in the Males with rockish-my-throat-can-die voices category?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh forgot to give reference link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqz1T6zTO7c&feature=related

um

[(Anonymous)]

i wanna upload covers to NND... but i dunno where to start.... ahh.. please help???

[(Anonymous)]

uhmm... how do you call a person who tried to dance? [odottemita]? thanks. :)

[fascinates]

That would be an "odorite" or a dancer :)

[(Anonymous)]

really helpful, but I wanna know..
to upload cover (who takes videos from mylist) is usually giving some credits and i usually always see 'this time i was allowed to sing--'. did the coverist ask a permission first or they just put the source link?
i'm confused of this. sorry.

[stephieku]

I'm not sure if this is the answer that you're looking for, since I'm not too knowledgeable about this...
but often producers/composers have a terms and conditions about whether or not you can use their music and where it can be uploaded, etc. For example, some producers only allow covers of their songs to be uploaded on nico nico douga. This is often where you downloaded the off-vocal (i.e. piapro or their website) or in the zipped file. If there isn't anything like that it would be best to ask for permission via email or twitter, etc. If I remember correctly, if the karaoke/song is on Piapro, you're allowed to use it, but you need to leave a message on that song's page that you're using it and thank the original artist.

Also some songs (such as Aimai Elegy) aren't allowed to be covered unless you have direct permission from the artists because they're professional works.

So be careful! It's a good thing to leave credits, but it is often not enough.

Thanks for the intro~ XD

[(Anonymous)]

I came here because of some search for Dasoku.
And that is a very nice intro yo~~

Your categories are LOL, nice~ XD
Love the 'Males with deep-so-sexy-i-died voices'

Oh my GOSH, thanks so much for this ;; u ;; Just one question -

[(Anonymous)]

How long do you think it takes to become a popular utaite, or at least what people like in a voice? ; ;
It has recently been my goal and DREAM to become an utaite, and I chose my avatar, name thingy, and everything, but I really want to know what people like in a voice... ;;
My voice.. Um.. Actually, it's kind of like a mix between 96neko, Valshe, and Faneru.. (...Yes. I'm a girl.) I have a trap voice, but I'm pretty young, so I'm not sure how it'll work out.
I'm 11.. So.. Will people find my age cute, or will they think I'm just a child?
ahjaklajlkafd;kfakjfjk;al;sdfjk *headdesk*

Re: Oh my GOSH, thanks so much for this ;; u ;; Just one question -

[stephieku]

Sorry for the late reply! I didn't see this comment in my inbox until now OTL

Regarding your dreams, there's no answer to how long. People get famous due to luck or connections, there's no guaranteed way. Of course singing ability matters, but there are a lot of skilled singers who don't get popular :(

I don't recommend trying to become popular on niconico unless you're good at Japanese, or know someone good at Japanese. However trying on Youtube, or getting into the Youtube Utattemita scene might help out more than what I can recommend.

I don't think people care about age for the most part. Many famous utaite keep their personal info private, so we have no idea, maybe they're also 11! Although if you have a wonderful voice, you can use the "I'm only 11!" as a selling point, but it might cause the wrong reactions. As for voice type, there are fans of all types, I wouldn't worry (since changing voice type is difficult). I would recommend developing your own style, so your voice is recognizable.

Some ways to get popular: (That I just made up right now)
- Having a lot of talent. Even though many skilled singers go unnoticed, if you're not any good, it's even less likely. If you're talented and people notice, you'll get popular on your own without much help.
- Luck!! (Someone finds your upload and likes it, it gets spread on the net, success!)
- Connections (collabing with someone popular... but this is just as hard as getting popular yourself)
- Do something special with your cover, such as rewriting the lyrics in a different language, having a special PV, or doing a parody version of a song.
- Being prolific and covering a lot of songs. This will make it more likely for people to see your covers
- Make sure your songs are tagged properly!
- Enter contests?
- Having a distinct style. If you sound like everyone else, it's harder to stand out D:
- If you're good at Japanese, it might help to do namamhousou/live broadcast. If people like your personality, they'll naturally listen to your music. If you're good singing live, people will check out your songs. If you're not, but you have a good personality, people will still check them out.
- I guess if you keep on promoting your songs places it might help? But It can be annoying too. More views help, but Mylist adds are more important.
- Getting ranked in Utattemita rankings (you kinda have to achieve a good amount of views/mylists first, but once you get ranked, things snowball from there)
- I still recommend getting advice and help from English communities (such as the Youtube one), refine your skills (singing, mixing, etc.). This way it's easier to improve. Then you can post on Niconico too.

And that's all I can think of for now...

LOL

[(Anonymous)]

I love this, though I'm surprised that 96Neko wasn't included, she'd fall into the Females with deep-so-sexy-I-died category

Re: LOL

[stephieku]

This article is pretty old :) Back when this was published 96neko wasn't as popular as a regular utaite (she was primarily a namanushi I believe?) . Most of her popular covers back then were parodies.

Want to ask~!

[(Anonymous)]

When the youtube singers (sing anime,vocaloid,j-pop,games,etc) only have a 3-5 upload song on her/him youtube account and with-the-little-watches (20-25 watches). Is She/He can called Utaite?

Re: Want to ask~!

[stephieku]

To be honest, I'm not sure. Some people consider anyone who is an amateur or was an amateur who do those sorts of covers are utaite (as we generally do on UtaiteDB), but some other believe it only applies to those related to niconico (we tend to focus on those here on ofurotaimu) or even more strictly, the only those who achieve popularity (how popular is popular is subjective).

There is no strict definition.