Arashi's Voice Analysis

Arashi's Voice Analysis - The Television Zoom  

A Verification Project

We tried carrying out a voice analysis of Arashi’s vocals

What is the charm behind Arashi’s vocals? 

We asked Suzuki Soushi from the Japan Acoustic Lab to help us analyze the members’ solos; and inspected the respective voices in a scientific manner.

Ohno Satoshi

A talented singer whose voice is stable even within a female vocal range

“Ohno-san’s vocals are rather orthodox. He has no idiosyncrasies, and is skilled when it comes to transiting from one pitch to another and his vibrato.”

Characteristics of his voice: 

- He transits from one pitch to another precisely

- The waveform of his vibrato is precise and beautiful

- He has the technical skill to sing stably at a vocal range that is close to a female’s

Precise, and very stable even in his upper vocal range

As we examine the waveform, the vibrato portion forms a sine wave, as it ought to, and the wave form is even. When he goes from one pitch to another, it sounds very clean, and the transition from his falsetto to his chest voice is smooth as well. We could say that he is a very skilled singer. Moreover, he is extremely stable in his upper vocal range, a range that is twice as high as a normal male’s speaking voice. Because he has the ability to utilize the vibrato in his upper vocal range, his voice can be described as “free”. 

Sakurai Sho

A manly voice which has a precise sense of rhythm

“The green portion at the lower end of the diagram represents the lower part of his vocal range. Normally, a person would control his voice by altering the volume of his mouth cavity, but Sakurai uses his pharynx as well.”

Characteristics of his voice: 

- An accurate sense of rhythm

- A deep voice which impresses the listener with a manly image

- Beautiful enunciation of consonants, which makes it easy to follow his English

A trait that is suited for dance music

When we analyzed his rap, his words weren’t misplaced by a single bit, and aligned with the rhythmic lines perfectly. With strongly rhythmic music like this, a person’s voice can be easily buried if he didn’t enunciate his consonants clearly. However, Sakurai-san enunciates his consonants well, so that makes it easy to follow. As his neck muscles which control the vocal tract are well developed, he’s able to clearly project lower notes in the range of 100 ~ 1000 Hz. This would impress upon the listener that Sakurai-san has a manly charm.

Aiba Masaki

A mischievous voice which appeals to the maternal instinct of each female listener

“His slightly laid-back style of singing, coupled with his character, gives listeners a mischievous image.”

Characteristics of his voice: 

- An invigorating and refreshing voice

- A singing voice which appeals to one’s maternal instincts

- Mastery of abdominal voice projection

A refreshing and unique singing style that is cute

He’s able to carry out basic abdominal projection of his voice to a high degree. According to the structure of Aiba-san’s mouth, he’s able to project sounds around the frequency bandwith of 8500 ~ 10000Hz clearly. When a person projects his voice clearly in this region, we can conclude that it sounds invigorating and refreshing to the listeners. In addition, the unique way in which he sings the ends of his sentences like he’s going to cry imparts a cute image upon his listeners. Perhaps it might appeal to their maternal instincts?

Ninomiya Kazunari

A kaleidoscopic voice, he sings as if he’s acting

“As we go from left to right, the projection of the “ah” vowel becomes progressively stronger. There is a large amount of sound pressure coming from the “ah” vowels. I should think that during the composition of the lyrics, he intentionally wanted the “ah” sounds to be the highlight.

Characteristics of his voice: 

- He can express the same word in diverse ways

- A bright voice which comes across strongly in the frequency range of 7000Hz

- A pretty falsetto

He possesses a bright voice which is capable of a myriad of expressions

The areas surrounded by the rectangles are sounds which end with the “ah” vowel. He sings like he’s talking; and by altering the strength of his falsetto and belting greatly, he’s able to sing expressively. Another characteristic of his voice is that it comes through strongly in the frequency range of 7000Hz. He has a voice like Hosokawa Takashi*, which is bright and cuts across to its listeners clearly. However, he varies his tone depending on the song. In any case, he’s a singer with a diverse range of expressions.

*T/N: Hosokawa Takashi is a Japanese enka singer.

Matsumoto Jun

A singing voice which is rich in overtones

“Normally, a person would alter his voice by modifying the shape of his mouth. However, for his voice to be this rich in overtones, it’s proof that the oscillation of his vocal cords is rather dynamic.”

Characteristics of his voice: 

- A very human voice that is rich in overtones

- The slight noise emphasizes the human aspect of his voice

- Dynamic vocal cord oscillation

A rich and warm voice that is like a violin

On average, he projects overtones up till the frequency of 12500Hz via the oscillation of his vocal cords. A regular person would only be able to project overtones up till 8000Hz, so he has a rich timbre to his voice. He has a voice which resembles stringed instruments, such as a violin; it’s warm, refreshing and rich. Coupled slightly with the noise that comes from the shape of his vocal tract, that again adds to the warmth of his voice. Even after processing his voice through a vocoder, the human quality in it remains.

raw: 炸鸡味爆米花 via saobang
Music beta: nekobot01

 

 

**End**