Meaningless lyrics: Do they add anything?

inthesto · Post by **inthesto** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 4:17 pm

This is an odd question I pose that I bet does not apply to anyone else, but it's something I'm wondering.

I'm a real fan of the Guilty Gear Vocal Image Collection albums. I've made two AMVs using music from them, and I plan on making at least four more. However, the dilemma I face is this:

The lyrics for all three allbums are almost all in Japanese, making them absolutely meaningless to me. I've looked for lyric translations, but only three songs out of all three albums have been translated. The thing is, every song on the albums also has an instrumental version.

So the question is, if the lyrics don't add anything (since I can't really lyric sync in this situation), is there any point to them being there? One could argue that they just don't need to be there, but on the other hand, it's still nice to have the vocals there.

Just something I've been chewing on.

fyrtenheimer · Post by **fyrtenheimer** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 4:20 pm

if that's the case then there'd be no point to these instrumental amvs floating around.

just do whatever. it's not lyrics +music + anime, it's just anime music videos.

pen-pen2002 · Post by **pen-pen2002** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:31 pm

Firstly, you should not lyric synch to the translations. Very few people here speak Japanese fluently so there is really no point and it will just be confusing. That doesn't mean you should take them out necessarily, you can treat them like just another instrument. ( a similar dilemma came up in the Instrumental AMV project - we eventually decided that vocals were OK as long as it was choral or sounded different enough from English.)

Do they really not add anything? Vocals usually carry the melody and are an important part of the song musically. What it comes down to is which one you think sounds better and what you are trying to do. Are you trying to build a narrative or a mood video? Are you planning to use titles? (which a disproportionate number of instrumental videos seem to) If so you will probably want an instrumental version.

fyrtenheimer wrote:if that's the case then there'd be no point to these instrumental amvs floating around.

Beware the floating AMV's of doom! They are plotting against you!

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 6:49 pm

pen-pen2002 wrote:Firstly, you should not lyric synch to the translations. Very few people here speak Japanese fluently so there is really no point and it will just be confusing. That doesn't mean you should take them out necessarily, you can treat them like just another instrument. ( a similar dilemma came up in the Instrumental AMV project - we eventually decided that vocals were OK as long as it was choral or sounded different enough from English.)

Do they really not add anything? Vocals usually carry the melody and are an important part of the song musically. What it comes down to is which one you think sounds better and what you are trying to do. Are you trying to build a narrative or a mood video? Are you planning to use titles? (which a disproportionate number of instrumental videos seem to) If so you will probably want an instrumental version.

fyrtenheimer wrote:if that's the case then there'd be no point to these instrumental amvs floating around.
Beware the floating AMV's of doom! They are plotting against you!

8)

Nekoboy Sal · Post by **Nekoboy Sal** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:03 pm

I think you should try to lyric sync it. It would be fun to learn new japanese from watching an AMV. If its realy confusing, I don't care! Do it. I'd download it. I watch my anime all the time with out subtitles. And I doutb once you do find the english lyrics your won't at leat post them in the Video discription.
There's always Babelfish.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:29 pm

Nekoboy Sal wrote:There's always Babelfish.

Except for the fact that Babelfish won't take romanji, so you'd have to find the lyrics in kanji/kana...

inthesto · Post by **inthesto** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 7:34 pm

I also forgot to mention that I can't find lyrics in Japanese for any of the songs either (save for the three that I found translated).

And the other thing is that in the instrumental versions, the instruments take the vocal melody instead.

Nekoboy Sal · Post by **Nekoboy Sal** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:05 pm

inthesto wrote:I also forgot to mention that I can't find lyrics in Japanese for any of the songs either (save for the three that I found translated).

!
You, for lack of a better word, are potatoed.
If I can get a copy I can try my best to translate it for you. But I'm not the best. Especialy when they start singing in English. Man thats hard to understand!

Unsent Vibes · Post by **Unsent Vibes** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:03 pm

I read somewhere that songs in a different language are great to listen to because you don't listen to the lyrics, rather the vocals become an instrument in of themselves.

l2urouni · Post by **l2urouni** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:14 pm

it wouldn't really matter if we understand it or not. that just forces you to focus on choosing the right scenes to create your own story instead of relying on the lyrics to create the story. even though i say this, i wouldn't make an amv unless the song was in english because it'd be weird to me. i've seen a couple good amv's that were in japanese though like Tainted Donuts and this one Fruits Basket video...forgot the song name but yea.

just if you make amv's that aren't in english, try to create your own story that people can see without having to use the lyrics as a guide.