Guide / Reference for Japanese album credits

[Nisto]

Abbreviations
Please note that these are not conclusive lists - one abbreviation could refer to more than what's listed here

General
OP = Opening
ED = Ending
M = Music
CV = Character Voice
OST = Original Soundtrack / Original Sound Track
OSV = Original Sound Version
MV = Music Video

Roles and instruments
A. Gt / Ag = Acoustic Guitar
Apf / A. Piano = Acoustic Piano(forte)
A. Sax = Alto Saxophone
B. Sax = Bariton Saxophone
Ba / Bs = Bass
Cho = Chorus
Cla = Clarinet
Cperc / Cla Perc / C.P = Classic Percussion
Con / Cond = Conductor
Cb = Contrabass
Dr = Drums
EB = Electric Bass
E. Gt / Eg = Electric Guitar
Ep = Electric Piano
Fag = Fagotto
Fl / Flu = Flute
Fr Horn = French Horn
G / Gt / Gtr = Guitar
Hn / Hr = Horn
Key = Keyboard
Lat / Lpc = Latin Percussion
Ob = Oboe
Per / Perc = Percussion
Pf / Pt = Piano(forte)
Sax = Saxophone
St = String
Syn = Synthesizer
T. Sax = Tenor Saxophone
Tb = Trombone
Tp = Trumpet
Va / Vla = Viola
Vn / Vl / Vln = Violin
Vc / Vlc = Violincello
Vo = Vocal
Wb = Wood bass


Japanese credits

General
曲目 = Tracklist
オープニングテーマ / オープニング主題歌 = Opening theme
エンディングテーマ / エンディング主題歌 = Ending theme
挿入歌 = Insert Song (fictional)
劇中歌 = Performed Song (theatrical)
アルバム = Album
オリジナルサウンドトラック = Original Soundtrack
オリジナルサウンドヴァージョン / オリジナルサウンドバージョン = Original Sound Version
オリジナル・カラオケ = Original Karaoke
アニメーション = Animation
ドラマ = Drama

Production
音楽 = Music
曲 = Track / Music / Song
作曲 = Composition
編曲 = Arrangement
作編曲 = Composition and arrangement
作詞 / 詩 = Lyrics
歌 / 唄 = Song (Vocals)
作曲者不明 = Unknown composer
(音響)効果 = Sound effects
合唱団 / 合唱 / コーラス = Chorus
演奏 / 出演 = Performance
訳 = Translation
訳詞 = Lyric translation
英訳 = English translation
アレンジ = Arrange
ボーカル / ヴォーカル = Vocals
ナレーション = Narration
サウンド = Sound
オーケストラ = Orchestra
ゲスト・ミュージシャン = Guest Musicians
ミュージック = Music
版権 = Copyright

Staff
美術監督 = Art Director
助監督 = Assistant Director
撮影監督 = Cinematographer
色彩設計 = Color Design
協力 = Co-operation
構成 = Construction
販売協力 = Cooperating Distributor
監督 = Director
販売元 = Distributor
編集 = Editing
漫画 = Manga (Comic / Cartoon)
原案 = Original Draft
原画 = Original Picture
原作 = Original Work
演出 / 制作 = Production
発行 = Publication
発売元 = Publisher
脚本 = Screenplay / Scenario Writer
音響監督 = Sound Director
音響プロデュース = Sound Produce(r)
監修 = Supervision
キャスト = Cast
ディレクター / ディレクタ = Director
イラスト = Illust(ration)
ミキシング = Mixing
プロデュース = Produce(r)

Instruments
笛 = Flute
口琴 = Harmonica
尺八 = Shakuhachi
三味線 = Shamisen
鼓 = Drums
篳篥 = Hichiriki
篠笛 = Shinobue
琴 = Koto
琵琶 = Biwa
薩摩琵琶 = Satsuma Biwa
津軽三味線 = Tsugaru-jamisen
笙 = Shō
高麗笛 = Komabue
竜笛 = Ryuteki
二胡 = Erhu
鉄琴 = Glockenspiel
鉦鼓 = Shōko
能管 = Nokan
摺鉦 = Surigane
大鼓 = Otsuzumi / Ohkawa
木琴 = Xylophone
ストリングス / 弦 = Strings
キーボード = Keyboard
フルート = Flute
ギター = Guitar
ベース = Bass
コントラバス = Contrabass
ドラム = Drums
パーカッション = Percussion
ブラス = Brass
マンドリン = Mandolin
アコーデイオン = Accordion
ピアノ = Piano
ピアニカ = Pianica (Melodica)
オーボエ = Oboe
クラリネット = Clarinet
ホルン = Horn
サックス / サクソフォーン = Sax / Saxophone
チューバ = Tuba
トランペット = Trumpet
セロ / チェロ = Cello
トロンボーン = Trombone
ヴィオラ = Viola
バイオリン・ソロ = Violin Solo
シンセサイザー = Synthesizer
マンドール = Mandore
バスーン = Bassoon
ファゴット = Fagotto
フィドル = Fiddle
イングリッシュホルン = English Horn
コーラングレ / コール・アングレ = Cor anglais
カヤグム = Kayagum
ホーメイ = Khoomei
イギル = Igil
アナラポス = Analapos
ヘグム = Haegeum
ケンガリ = Kengari
チャッパ = Chappa
チャンゴ = Janggu



Looking up Japanese characters

First of all, you need to know what it is you're looking at. The main characters scripts you need to focus on are kanji, hiragana and katakana.


Kana (hiragana+katakana): Consider the differences between hiragana あうもよつ vs katakana アウモヨツ (both examples are a/u/mo/yo/tsu respectively). You might not agree with me, but in my opinion, most hiragana characters are curvy or rounded in some way, and not as linear as katakana characters (from a "sans-serif font point of view" anyway). This is one thing that really helped me narrow it down in the past (i.e. before I knew most kana characters). Note also that in neither of the examples given are there more than 3 strokes (try to count them!)

Both the hiragana and katakana scripts have few characters (in comparison to kanji anyway), so they can be found allover the net, in many different ways. Before I knew most kana characters and how they were written/read, I preferred to look up the tables on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

If you know how to write your desired kana character(s) in romaji, or maybe just want to get a feel for how any kana is written, you can generate characters directly (in real-time) over on this site. I use this all the time these days.


Kanji: It should be fairly easy to determine if a character is a kanji. A simple rule of thumb: does it have more than 3 strokes? Then you're probably looking at a kanji, because as hinted earlier, most kana don't have more than 3 strokes. I recommend memorizing kanji with 1-3 strokes (there aren't that many), so that you don't go looking for kana when it's a kanji, or vice versa.

Counting strokes was my starting method of looking up kanji. The way I've learned to count strokes is to look at a few stroke order animations of various kanji. You can of course just look at lists ordered by stroke counts and try to guess the strokes, too, but that didn't work well for me in all cases (or it simply took too long to find it). When you think you've got the hang of how most types of strokes are drawn (e.g. 口 and 山 are both 3 strokes, and not 4, as one might think), it should be fairly easy to count the strokes of most kanji. When it's simply too hard to see all the strokes (which I know can happen), you probably want to resort to other methods, which might help narrowing down the possibilities at least. Below are a number of resources and different methods that may help:

I often use these sites when going by the number of strokes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...y_stroke_count
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/c...wwwjdic.cgi?1B

It is also possible to look up characters by combining so-called radicals, which are essentially parts used to compile a kanji. dancey has generously provided a tutorial for us on how this method can be used, and I highly recommend having a look at it if you have no idea what it is, as it will likely be of big help. In fact this is pretty much the only method I use to look up kanji nowadays.

Here are some sites and programs that can be used for radical kanji lookup:
WWWJDIC (web)
Jisho (web)
JquickTrans (software)
WaKan (software)
Tagaini Jisho (software)

You can also try to have an OCR service identify the character(s) by uploading a picture: http://appsv.ocrgrid.org/nhocr/. Unfortunately, it is not always successful in recognizing the (proper) characters from the image, and it often fails, depending on the quality of the picture, the font style, etc. You should try using all the recognition methods available on the site, even if they're not meant to be used for the type of image you upload. I've found that resizing the image, and adding/removing some padding, or even redrawing the character(s) can also improve/affect the results sometimes. Out of respect for the creators/owners, please don't overuse this method. Use it if you're in a rush or if nothing else worked.

It's not over yet: you can even draw characters directly.
http://nciku.com has a pretty good tool which has actually worked good for me plenty of times! Be aware, though: they list some Chinese characters, too, and you wouldn't want to mix a Chinese character with kanji!
http://kanji.sljfaq.org is another alternative, but it has not worked as good as nciku's tool for me.
http://chasen.org/~taku/software/ajax/hwr/ I got this suggestion from dancey. I haven't tried it much.

Final note: sites/programs could very well be missing a character (or even radicals) that you're looking for, so don't always rely on a single site/program.





If there's something important I forgot, or if there is something to correct, please let me know!

[Secret Squirrel]

I've seen "Pf" for piano (aka Pianoforte).

[Nisto]

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

I've seen "Pf" for piano (aka Pianoforte).

Added What's the simple shortened version of just Piano though? I'm certain I've seen one somewhere.

Also, I vaguely remember "Perc" (percussion) being used somewhere, but can someone verify the abbreviation?

[Blitz Lunar]

most likely it'd be Pno.
also Perc is frequently used for Percussion, yeah.

[Nisto]

Hasn't "Pi." been used for piano?

[Dag]

Good idea.

Other JP stuff that may be useful:
演奏: performance
作編曲: composition and arrangement
音楽: music
効果: (sound) effects
サウンド: sound (generic)
アレンジ: arrange (generic)
ヴォーカル/ボーカル: vocals
唄: song (uncommon) (this and 歌 refer to vocals)

This page contains a bunch of abbreviations, but probably not all correspond to what is used in Japanese booklets.

[AcidBeast]

Sometimes the instruments/music staff are in katakana, here are some:

キーボード (keyboard)
フルート (flute)
ギター (Guitar)
ベース (Bass)
ドラム (Drums)
パーカッション (percussion)
コーラス (chorus)
オーケストラ (orchestra)
ブラス (brass)
マンドリン (mandolin)
アコーデイオン (accordion)
ピアノ (Piano)
ストリングス (Strings)
オーボエ (oboe)
クラリネット (clarinet)
ホルン (horn)
トランペット (trumpet)
トロンボーン (trombone)
バイオリン・ソロ (Violin Solo)
ボーカル / ヴォーカル (vocal)
ナレーション (narration)
ミキシング (mixing)
プロデュース (producer)
シンセサイザー (Synthesizer)
ゲスト・ミュージシャン (Guest Musicians)

[Nisto]

Here's another site with some abbreviations:
http://www.edition-peters.com/music/guide.php

[Xenofan 29A]

Here, on pp. 7-8, Lat. is used to refer to latin percussion.

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Nisto

鼓 = Drums

It should be judged on a case by case basis, but I think this is basically supposed to represent more traditional Japanese percussions, and like Taiko, I think it's the best to keep it in Romaji (Tsuzumi).

One of the most oddest I ever came across is "Prog" (see this scan). Progressive Rock Arrangement, maybe?

[Gigablah]

I was under the impression that "prog" was short for "programming" (e.g. synthesizer programming).

[Nisto]

AcidBeast suggested the Kanji for me. She said it was specifically "hand drums". But the hand part was apparently not so important, so I decided to leave it out. She also said she had only seen it used in a booklet once, so maybe we should leave it out for now?

[Carl]

A good reference, nice idea Nisto.
And ditto what Blah said (prog = programming)

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Gigablah

I was under the impression that "prog" was short for "programming" (e.g. synthesizer programming).

How couldn't I think of that *facepalm*

Originally Posted by Nisto

She also said she had only seen it used in a booklet once, so maybe we should leave it out for now?

If your list is intended for reference, it's okay. I suggested keeping it Romaji (like Taiko) if you translate the performance credits from Japanese to English. Some instruments such as 二胡 is fine to replace by the English name like Erhu, though.

[Nisto]

I just saw 初回封入特典, on a sticker. Does this indeed simply mean first print?

[Xenofan 29A]

It means first print (初回) pack-in (封入) bonus item (特典).

[Nisto]

I added a little tutorial on looking up Japanese characters. Any expert; feel free to revise it, heh.

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Nisto

アナラボス = Anarabosu

It has to be アナラポス / Analapos, I think. A very rare instrument created by a Japanese.
http://www.akiosuzuki.com/web/profile01.html
http://www.geocities.jp/city_memo/kaneda/ana.htm

[Nisto]

Originally Posted by Cedille

It has to be アナラポス / Analapos, I think. A very rare instrument created by a Japanese.
http://www.akiosuzuki.com/web/profile01.html
http://www.geocities.jp/city_memo/kaneda/ana.htm

Good catch. I've gone ahead and changed it.

[dancey]

It might also be worth noting the katakana for "Drama" (dorama). There is also this site that I've used but I think it's weighted more on the stroke count and less on the OCR of the kanji:

http://chasen.org/~taku/software/ajax/hwr/

I am at work write now but I wouldn't mind screenshotting a simple guide on how to use jQuickTrans to rebuild kanji. I do this all the time

[dancey]

Another common katakana I see in booklets is "Irasuto" which is short for Illustration.

[Nisto]

I've added Illustration and Drama. I'll add the link, too.

If you could do a tutorial on compiling via radicals, that'd be great! I'd like to get more experienced in that, too.

[dancey]

Sure, I'll work on that tonight when I get home!

[Dag]

For drama cds:
キャスト: cast (voice actors)
出演: 'cast', 'appearance/performance' more or less, I've seen it used to credit the voice actors in talk tracks. Not sure if it also applies to drama tracks.

Also maybe this could help:
曲: music, song. This is the generic term for a musical piece.

[Xenofan 29A]

If you're adding Japanese traditional instruments (they show up very, very rarely, of course), I've got these, which I'm sure have all shown up in video game/anime scores.

篳篥: Hichiriki
篠笛: Shinobue
琴: Koto

Edit: I'm not so sure that I've seen them used (other than samples in Okami and such) but:

琵琶: Biwa
津軽三味線: Tsugaru-jamisen (Something like a shamisen made of snake skin rather than cat skin)

[Nisto]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. All added.
Xenofan 29A: I was actually suggested to add more rarely used instruments, so it doesn't matter what kind they are.

[Xenofan 29A]

Well, then I've got a few more. Again, I've only heard these sampled in VGM, to my knowledge, but they are used in Okami and Okamiden, for sure.

笙 : Shō
高麗笛 : Komabue
竜笛 : Ryuteki
鉦鼓 : Shōko

[Cedille]

Originally Posted by Nisto

ピアノ = Piano
オーボエ = Oboe
クラリネット = Clarinet
ホルン = Horn
トランペット = Trumpet
トロンボーン = Trombone

If you're covering those major ones, here are missing;

フィドル = Fiddle
ヴィオラ = Viola
セロ/チェロ = Cello
コントラバス = Contrabass
チューバ = Tuba
バスーン = Bassoon
サックス/サクソフォーン = Sax / Saxophone
ファゴット = Fagotto
イングリッシュホルン = English Horn
コーラングレ/コール・アングレ = Cor anglais

二胡 = Erhu
鉄琴 = Glockenspiel
木琴 = Xylophone

[Xenofan 29A]

Of course, an English Horn is a Cor anglais, just as a Fagotto is a Bassoon, so they should be grouped together.

Also, 木琴 can mean an orchestral Xylophone, but it can also mean a traditional Japanese variety, and in those cases would be translated Mokkin.

[Cedille]

I listed them separately since I thought we should go with Fiddle not Violin if it's フィドル which is printed on the booklet, but there might be some discretionary selecting between bassoon and fagotto (my musical knowledge is rather limited and I'm not the best person to talk about this =p).

Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A

it can also mean a traditional Japanese variety

There are some plucked percussions included in Japanese traditional music, but I feel they are generally called Koto. I do think 木琴 can include some variations such as Marimba or Kalimba, but can't think of an instrument that can't be called anything but Mokkin. Then again, I'm not the best person to talk such and you'd know more.