wanna know a secret? there's basically no such thing as "raw vocals" in kpop.
there are some rare, specific moments in kpop that are completely raw but they're so rare, they're pretty unremarkable. for a majority of fans, it's difficult for them to understand what raw vocals are, especially when all they've heard is a voice with vocal processing affecting their every syllable. but when you get into mixing (live or studio) and you actually hear raw vocals and your job is to make them sound not raw, it's easy to pinpoint where the vocal processing is.
it's difficult for kpop fans to understand that they almost never hear their idols sing completely unprocessed and insulting for some reason? it shouldn't be insulting though, every single artist out there uses vocal processing. kpop, western, etc. and the thing about vocal processing? it isn't just so that they hit the right notes or their voice doesn't sound shaky. it's also about making sure that their dynamic level stays even so they aren't either inaudible or making your ears bleed. it's about cutting down cutting down certain frequencies so that you aren't flinching cause when they hit certain notes it sounds like an icepick to your ears. it's about making sure their mic isn't picking up the noise around them and making the mix muddy or feeding back.
have we heard jimin's raw vocals? actually yes. when you see a clip of jimin, or anyone in bts, singing without a mic, that's raw. it's kinda hard to explain, but i think the best example is bts's perfect man performance. i made a video (of course i did)
so in the first clip, i really hate to say it because the behind the scenes showed that bts was completely capable of singing the song live, but the official released performance is lipsynced. i mean, it's really really obvious. but that makes this performance perfect for a comparison.
in the first clip, jimin's vocals are completely flat. as in there are no pitch deviations or shakiness, which is only possible through autotune and pitch correction. no singer, no matter how good they are, can sing a song with notes so perfect their note looks completely flat. additionally, his volume, or dynamics, stay completely the same. when you sing, especially while dancing, some words and parts of the phrase are going to come out louder or quieter. his dynamic range does not change in the first clip. his voice is completely smooth. it's perfect. which just is not possible
in the second clip, you can hear the natural "shakiness" or his voice. now i don't mean his voice is shaky or pitchy, i just don't know how to put it. our voices aren't pianos that can produce a perfectly on tune note. you can hear that in the second clip. you can also hear his dynamics and how he gets louder and quieter on different words. it's not perfect. which is how he actually sounds.
i think bts fans are lucky that we have so many behind the scenes, lives, and variety episodes where we do get an opportunity to hear bts's raw vocals because tons of artists dont have those types of things online (because their companies know that their raw voice doesn't sound how it does on the records).
if you have any questions about this, like a clip that you think might be raw, or a clip you want analyzed, or something that you're confused about, just send me an ask! i can tell you if a clip is lipsynced, backtrack, live, etc. not with 100% accuracy but my job is to listen to raw vocals and make them sound...not raw and i grew up around this stuff, so i have an ear for it.
