Is fully understanding japanese / being able to speak japanese fluently a requirement of becoming an utaite? I want to become one, but I think I may be underaged, still, when I saw Kino Hiko's article of her becoming an utaite at the age of 13, it relieved me. I'm about her age. Of course, I can just become a youtaite, but I think utaites are more popular, I see a lot of nico nico choruses and wanted to be included in there. Plus, when utaites do collabs, do they meet each other in real life / skype or just send their recordings by email, etc.? I'm not able to speak japanese fluently, and sometimes I forget the kanji, and stuff, I want to sing songs like Childish War but I need a collab partner for that. If I'm not able to speak japanese, I can't do collabs with other utaites. And I don't know whether or not my voice is that. . . nice. If I spent money buying mics, editors, and other stuff and my voice isn't good, I will seriously get scolded by my parents. Can anyone give me tips and answer my questions?
I'll answer in my opinion.
For utaite, Japanese is more than just super recommended. Becos, well, the community itself is like a Japanese community that isn't exclusively for Japanese (not sure how to phrase it).
Age isn't important. I know an utaite who started when he is a 5th grader. And now he is a highschooler.
Well, I personally can't agree with utaite being more popular than youtaites. There are also lots of amazing youtaite choruses too. For someone who can't speak/understand Japanese, uploading in youtube is more than highly recommended. Not just becos of language, but the community itself is more approachable from overseas/non-Japanese.
Well, when they chorus, they don't meet in RL. Cos if they do, I can't imagine what happens with medleys with like 80 people or maybe more. Plus, even if they are all Japanese, it doesn't mean they all live in the same place. Example is this. Misoshiru is from Hokkaido while Nicoa is from Toyama. Both are Japan but, those places aren't near. Plus, that chorus group sang three songs uploaded in different time. So I find it quite impossible. Though maybe there are cases where they have RL meetings or such.
So yeah. I suggest you become an youtaite or utaite or both with simple stuff first. Start with just audacity and earphone microphone (that isn't too bad quality). Try to find friends in the community, feel the difference and see where you belong. When you feel like you get better, start saving and buy equipments one by one, starting with what you think you need most.
If you want to 'improve' Japanese (it means you at least know the basics), some sites I recommend are HiNative, Lang8 and Jisho.org
Good Luckk
I'll answer in my opinion.
For utaite, Japanese is more than just super recommended. Becos, well, the community itself is like a Japanese community that isn't exclusively for Japanese (not sure how to phrase it).
Age isn't important. I know an utaite who started when he is a 5th grader. And now he is a highschooler.
Well, I personally can't agree with utaite being more popular than youtaites. There are also lots of amazing youtaite choruses too. For someone who can't speak/understand Japanese, uploading in youtube is more than highly recommended. Not just becos of language, but the community itself is more approachable from overseas/non-Japanese.
Well, when they chorus, they don't meet in RL. Cos if they do, I can't imagine what happens with medleys with like 80 people or maybe more. Plus, even if they are all Japanese, it doesn't mean they all live in the same place. Example is this. Misoshiru is from Hokkaido while Nicoa is from Toyama. Both are Japan but, those places aren't near. Plus, that chorus group sang three songs uploaded in different time. So I find it quite impossible. Though maybe there are cases where they have RL meetings or such.
So yeah. I suggest you become an youtaite or utaite or both with simple stuff first. Start with just audacity and earphone microphone (that isn't too bad quality). Try to find friends in the community, feel the difference and see where you belong. When you feel like you get better, start saving and buy equipments one by one, starting with what you think you need most.
If you want to 'improve' Japanese (it means you at least know the basics), some sites I recommend are HiNative, Lang8 and Jisho.org
Good Luckk
Thx for the advice. Another question, do utaites sing REAL live concerts? I've seen some utaites sing on stages. My parents are REALLY strict, they won't let me show my appearance to the community. And, maybe I'll consider your suggestion and start in YouTube. (Do you know any youtaites that sing with utaites?)
From what I observe, I'll classify them.
One is the Big, Popular LIVE. like ATR's live (Soraru & Mafumafu's live). It's like, really 'hyped'.
Some others are smaller LIVEs. Maybe cafe lives or just smaller lives. From somewhere I've read (don't remember where; so I might be wrong.), some utaites are 'utaite' as job, even though it's not their main job. Like, they get money from there. So LIVE concerts are important to them. But if you want to just,, have fun,, then there is no need for LIVE. plus LIVE cost a lot of money.
And another live is,,, not a live concert but a live broadcast. utaites ususally use nnd live or twitcasting.tv. Some show faces (kaodashi), some only sings without showing face (koedashi).
Well, I can't really understand what you mean with 'youtaites that sing with utaites' but I think you mean someone like Reirei . She is both an utaite who uploads on both yt and nnd. She is not Japanese, she is filipino (?). More active on nnd community, but also active in yt community.
What do you think?