I think that a big part of it was that the vocals were so muted, you could barely hear her at times during the TV recording. Sometimes you would hear PECO over Ayu in chorus segments where there is supposed to be harmony... and you wonder where Ayu's voice went.

It has been said before here that perhaps just being there at the concert makes things sound way better than they do. I recall SunshineSlayer mentioning that she saw a CDL live and thought it was fine, and then she watched the TV version and was like: "Wait, why does her voice sound so weird? I WAS THERE IT SOUNDED FINE." so... hm.

Maybe you could watch this Sunrise live and see if it sounds a bit different to you?

Note: I LOVE this live arrangement.

On another note: How ridiculous does Ayu look when she's introducing Yocchan? I feel like this happens every year, hahahaha.

No, it's not just you. That's why I thought her vocals here were an improvement from her last two tours and CDL's in a lot of the songs. I'm happy she toned it down because her unnecessary vibrato bugs me more than anything else.

One thing I'll say is: I'm confirmed that the TV live soundtrack was altered.

Why? Because at the start of the song, from 0:15 to 0:26 in the clip, you can distinctly hear Yo-chan on the guitar, playing the chorus of Sunrise. However, when I was there, Yo-chan's mic was turned really low. As a result, nobody could hear him, and because of the new arrangement, all of us there didn't know what song this was till ayu started to sing.

And yeah, ayu sounds different too. When I was there, her voice was the -only- voice you can hear. The backup singers were really just a very faint backup lol!! Maybe they turned up her mic or something, because the impression I got was that her voice was really strong and powerful, not like the almost breathless voice I'm hearing in this video.

But I guess it's true, what SunshineSlayer said. Lives do make everything sound better. That's why everyone should go watch her perform live at least, just to experience the power of her singing, and not judge her voice based on recorded TV performances where they do who-knows-what editting to her voice. :P

Yeah, I love this arrangement for Sunrise too!! ^^

^ As I said earlier, there's probably two seperate teams...one making the mix for the audience and one making the mix for TBS

Well, there really shouldn't have been any editing done since it was a live broadcast, there is just no time to do any serious editing. But yes, the experience of being "there" makes anything better. I believe it was CDL 06-07 where I thought her vocals sounded pretty strong but then when I saw it on tv they weren't as strong as I had remembered. :)

There is a very simple technical reason though for the differences in the sound you are describing - the live audience is hearing what is coming out of the speakers, however the tv audience is hearing it directly from the sound board. The soundboard you can much more clearly hear each individual instrument, singer, etc. With the speakers at the show though, everything just kind of gets all muddled together and it can be difficult to make out individual parts unless you are in a building with amazing accoustics. (which Yoyogi is not. it was not built as a concert venue.) Of all the venues I've been to over there I would say it probably has the worst sound.

Has the encore aired? Since I don't really...since I don't watch cdl performances, this being my first I don't know what they show and what they don't show. I feel like the encore performance is out there somewhere and I missed it.

And I'd love to see her perform live and get the full experience. that would be amazing. If only i spoke japanese and had the money. Even if I had the money, the fact that I don't speak the languge, it would prob. be really really difficult for me to get around japan, and even to the place. So the chance that I'd ever go to one of her concerts is slim to none.

it was aired.the one truehappiness posted is one of the song she sang during encore.

True.. I went for Arena Tour 2008 too (that was my first ayu live), and I was disappointed when I watched the DVD and found that her voice wasn't as perfect as I remembered it lol! :P

Yeah, Yoyogi's probably not the best place to hold a musical concert, but I can't bring myself to go anywhere else to watch her. I always have the mentality that "the last show will definitely be the best" and since Yoyogi's always the last stop, I haven't ventured to any other venue yet. :thud

After reading some stuff here, so this CDL is basically something like a Best of CDL except that it is borrowing ideas from before with new songs replacing the older songs and not just directly repeating.

I havent watched the rips because I just dun like downloading an entire show or watching them from the com. But seems to me like the REAL live and the aired version differed? Hmm...so can we trust the REAL live or what? It's so dubious now.

(And I think MissElin said Because of you was better on the first night, so I think they might use that one in the DVD...)

General comments:

It's awesome!!! But i find that ayu strained her vocals voice much from I am... to Pride such that the from INSPIRE onwards, her voice went haywire. Not good. :(

For I am..., i felt that the opening video could have been re-recorded to suit her new hairstyle and oufit.. It's kinda detached from the whole performance.

i LOVE EnergizE!!!!!!! i felt that it's the best performance!! I had goosebumps the 3 times i watched this performance. I also quite like the "circus" theme of this segment.

felt that Pride was also kinda detached from the whole concert. Pride is a solemn song and after that is INSPIRE. lol.. =x

Because of you had REALLY bad vocals and i kinda find that a pity. But who cares? DVD has perfect audio.

Ending the concert with Startin' is good. I didnt feel that this song can get audience to go high!!!

The way that the real live sounded differed. I think that what ended up happening was that as everything got mixed together for the TV broadcast, Ayu's voice got lost in the whole equation. For a lot of the TV broadcast, you could barely hear her over the band (clearest vocal of the night is teddy bear imo, which has just a piano backing her) and at times you wouldn't even be able to hear her singing (during Startin', there were quite a few moments where you'd be watching and she'd be singing, but her voice is barely there) but you'd hear PECO and Princess clear as day!

Sort of makes me wonder if the rebroadcast yesterday will be "fixed" in terms of the sound, hm...