The Question
Where do these covers come from? Who sings them? They're not Vocaloids, are they?
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, about a year and a half ago (roughly), Spaz became a Vocaloid Fan. Actually, let's go ahead and call her a Vocafan. This young vocafan began a nightly perusal of Vocaloid songs on Youtube, so she began to get a feel of how these Vocaloids sounded, their quirks and flaws and perfections...
And then she found this. Kaito's cover of a song from a Japanese movie called Paprika. That couldn't be Kaito, she thought, it's too... it's too... human. Vibrato. Broadness of voice. And the usual electronic tonality disappeared! It was almost aria-like... It couldn't be Kaito.
But, that was clearly Rin in the beginning, and why would there be a Vocaloid singing with a human, that wouldn't make sense in that context... and near the end, at like 2:43, that's definitely him, when he's singing normally... but... but...
And then Spaz listened. Really listened. She still wasn't sure... but something about the timbre of the voice... the fact that he was for sure singing at that one part... It was him! Indubitably! And there was much rejoicing.
So the point of that story is to say that sometimes, it's hard to tell a human voice from a Vocaloid's. This will come up later.
Now let's go to a classic of Vocaloid tragedy and creepiness: Hitobashira Alice, or Alice Human Sacrifice. Think back to when you heard it. Now that you know what Meiko, Kaito, Miku, Rin and Len sound like in a few different songs... were those singers those Vocaloids? If it was this version of it, then sadly no, those are real people covering the song. The actual Vocaloid's original of the song is... well, it's rough, to say the least.
So basically-- the covers are real people, usually on Nico Nico Douga. While sometimes it's hard to tell, I can show you a few ways to discern if that's a human singing or not. But I'm rambling!
The Good News
The good news is that these covers are awesome. I mean, Alice Human Sacrifice would not have been as famous without that cover, you know?
Nico Nico Choruses can be found of just about anything. They are often mind-blowingly amazing. Take the Classical Nico Nico Chorus of Servant of Evil, for instance. Tears to my eyes, every. single. time.
They even did one of The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku-DEAD END. Seriously. Super fast lyrics included.
I could link you to all these brilliant Nico Nico Choruses, but that would take a while.
So you can see it, right? These covers are amazing.
The Bad News
The bad news is that young vocafans can mistake a Vocaloid for a real person, and it is very hard for another vocafan to say that no, that human-sounding voice is actually a human.
So, here's some tips on distinguishing a cover from a Vocaloid:
1. Know how the Vocaloid sounds.
A bit elementary, but the more you know the sound of their voice, the better you can tell when it's not them.
2. Look at the title.
Sure, there is the off chance that they won't put the fact that it's a real person in the title... But generally it will be called [Cover] or something. Some people that cover Vocaloid songs will put their name in the title, like Razzy or (maybe) rockleetist.
3. Look at the description.
It's always a good idea to read video descriptions. That's where they put all the useful description and information, like if that's a human or a Vocaloid.
4. Look at the comments.
Okay, not as credible as the above... but still. If there's someone asking the same question you are, pay some attention to the answer.
5. Disregard the pictures.
The cover singer will usually not put a picture of themselves on the video. Generally, it will be a Vocaloid. Like how in the Nico Choruses the singers are represented by pictures of Vocaloids, but they are not Vocaloids themselves.
Conclusion
Vocaloids are awesome and can sound ridiculously human.
Real people covers are awesome and can be mistaken for Vocaloids.
But, they are both awesome.
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