[Vocals and First-Year Students] 20. 'Copy!' Meeting a Giant's Masterpiece Without Losing Yourself

*This content was translated by AI.

Yesterday, I visited a recording studio for a rookie group.

The members, who practiced day and night with eyes sparkling as brightly as their glamorous visuals, were there. However, as they took turns singing short sections inside the recording booth, a lingering sense of incompleteness remained. Their voices, despite their passionate eyes, sounded somewhat unnatural and awkward.

During the break, the producer, who had turned off the monitor speakers, quietly offered his serious opinion. The producer said, "It's not a matter of these friends' skills or passion; perhaps we need to carefully re-examine the approach of 'copying' the demo track." Those words posed a weighty question for me as well, someone who has long pondered vocal training.

Today, the K-pop industry operates its own efficient production process to reflect global trends most quickly. Once a demo track arrives, Korean lyrics are layered onto that foundation to complete the song. In this process, the task of naturally integrating the original song's intricate nuances into Korean lyrics through demo track copying is extremely important and serves as an essential stepping stone for students learning to sing.

The problem is that the quantity and criteria of 'copying' that many trainees think of often differ from the standards of producers or vocal directors. From the trainee's perspective, they may have prepared diligently to the best of their ability, yet still be in a state insufficient for recording a professional album.

Entering the recording studio with an unprepared copy inevitably leads to getting lost inside the booth. Directors and trainees engage in fragmented adjustments like "a little longer" or "shorter than now," mechanically repeating recordings multiple times. As this process drags on, vocalists feel less the sense of musical achievement that comes from boosting their performance during recording and more the fatigue of energy depletion. The recording booth should be a space where artists' capabilities are elevated by the director's detailed 'guidance.' It must not become a classroom for receiving basic 'teaching.'

Another point not to miss while copying is the fact that a song is essentially 'music.' One must copy along with musical principles such as chord progression logic and rhythm patterns. However, if this part is omitted and practice is conducted with only the lyric text, the song becomes a flat, two-dimensional piece lacking the vertical axis (Y-axis) that creates the three-dimensional feel of music, possessing only the horizontal axis (X-axis).

Ultimately, to stand on the shoulders of giants and gaze upon a broader musical horizon, the process of meticulously digging into music must come first. The singing of a great artist is like a single, intricate blueprint completed by interlocking meticulous musical interpretations.

What we, meaning music industry professionals and composers, call 'copying' goes beyond simply following pitch and rhythm. It is a tenacious pursuit of the design's underlying logic: why the composer cut off breath at that specific timing, why they pushed the sound at that word, and why they released power there.

When we understand the musical context, such as "Why was falsetto chosen instead of chest voice in this high note?" or "Why was a rather flat tone used in this passionate melody?", the subjective justification for singing the song is finally created within us.

Thus, the process of copying touched so delicately is itself the 'method of correctly standing on the shoulders of giants without losing oneself.' To avoid falling into a superficial skim that lacks detail, a tenacious copying process that dives deep into the essence of music is necessary.

Now, before starting to sing, let's first sketch the song's blueprint while copying. Put down the equipment for a moment, analyze and write down the hidden meaning in the margins of the lyrics—the 'subtext'—review the chord progressions, and unfold the sheet music to grasp the melody line.

Analyzing and copying the reason for the breath the composer held before uttering the first note. That is the starting point to becoming a true vocalist who can sing confidently in front of the recording studio microphone.

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*This content was translated by AI.