Live or Lip Sync?

F

Fusioninspace

New member
1. Happy New Year!
2. Ok, back to my topic :)

I was watching the Dick Clark New Years special tonight and was wondering if the performers were singing live or if they were lip syncing? I know the lip sync thing is extremely common these days. But does anyone have a good method of picking up on if they are actually performing or just playing against a recording?

I thought I had it with the drummer, but they don't always stick with him long enough to pick up any subtle changes in what he's doing (or she). The singers seem to have the lip sync thing down if they need it. So they can interject a "Hello Boise!" at the appropriate moment if need be.

Since I've got a pretty good set up at home, could I simply tour with a bunch of monkeys and a hard drive and pull off a top notch live act? That's assuming the monkeys don't throw poop at the audience and I can write some top notch stuff (or is it that I don't throw the poop - I'm not sure, it's New Years Eve).
 
Fusioninspace said:
...could I simply tour with a bunch of monkeys and a hard drive and pull off a top notch live act? That's assuming the monkeys don't throw poop at the audience and I can write some top notch stuff (or is it that I don't throw the poop - I'm not sure, it's New Years Eve).
Click to expand...

1) Happy New Year to you to!

2) I have no answers to your questions about how to detect lip syncing, but I can tell you that touring with monkeys is a great idea. Those days are some of my warmest memories!

3) People actually like monkey poop.

:D
 
You can normally tell by the act - if its a jazz ensemble doing some jamming then its naturally going to all be live, but if its a 4-piece girl band jumping around to a backing track with headset mics then the vocals are probably included in that "backing" track :)

Also, when they make a little effort to make it seem live, i.e. have a spattering of musicians on stage, but you can hear there's a lot more going on than what's being performed, chances are there's some prerecorded vocals too. Doesn't say they're completely lip-syncing, but the vocal might be doubled-up with a prerecorded track. I heard this on one of the new-years shows last night where the singer went slightly out of tune with the backing she was doubling and it sounded horrible :eek:

Finally, think about it from a technical viewpoint - what is possible with live sound? Sound-quality wise, what is and isn't possible in a true live situation? Even with a perfect performance from the singer, the best selection of equipment - mics, gates, compressors, de-essers - and the most experienced engineer, you can't get a high-quality studio vocal sound live.
 
I didn't see the show in question but one dead give away is to listen for some "breathing". It is usually a dead give away in pop music. Chick singer, dancing her ass off, sweating to death and supposedly singing but you don't hear any stress or breathing in her voice. Perfect studio vocal haha. Most people dig that stuff for the "show" anyways so I guess it is no biggie.
 
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