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Red Velvet's raw vocals

by kbrecordzz July 22, 2024 Red Velvet, general thoughts

Red Velvet's members obviously sing well, so it was a disappointment when their visit at dingo music's "Killing Voice" turned out to be so over-edited that they all sound like perfectly pitched synths.

Red Velvet's music usually lies somewhere between raw vocal takes and sterile perfection, and this is how they shine: as a well-polished musical product filled with raw talent. It's edited, planned, re-taken and polished into something that is close (emphasis on close!) to perfection. And there is an art to edit the right things. You're supposed to remove things that sounds way too out of tune but keep those that sound just a little bit wrong, because those will give the song character. And add some reverb and desired effects to get a richer sound. So while they are both ways to edit music in order to get a polished product, the over-anxious editing in the Killing Voice clip has nothing to do with the artistic editing on the Red Velvet studio songs. So you won't get away with something like "everyone edits/uses autotune", or some claim that their real unedited voices would not sound good enough to be presented, because they could have been edited in a good way and I wouldn't have complained. Killing Voice just edited the soul out of Red Velvet, and somehow got away with it.

I know that the pop industry is fake and that K-pop artists don't always sing unedited live, but on a show that focuses on the VOICES, with a group like Red Velvet, who are known for their vocal harmonies and the rich tone that comes out of the combination of their voices with all their imperfections, treating their voices like something to be "fixed" is strange. Watch the EXID Killing Voice to see how you show off great singers' raw voices with no fear. I really wonder if it was dingo music or someone at Red Velvet's side that decided that Red Velvet shouldn't shine at what they're good at, on a show where you're supposed to do exactly that thing.

(And the fact that vocal coach "react Youtubers" play along and believe that Red Velvet actually sing like in the clip, is... I don't know. It's not surprising, but it is something. I wonder what they're judging about their voices, since there's nothing but perfectly pitched synths to judge?)


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