Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/05/18/how-to-tell-when-a-singer-is-l.html
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It’s particularly easy if you’ve heard the song 100 times, and the live version is exactly the same.
EDIT: Oh good, they covered that. Here’ another one: When the bassist appears to be singing, and you can hear that great bass hook coming from the instrument they’re holding and not playing.
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This is why I like smaller venues. Not only is the crowd smaller (but not always less concentrated, though you don’t have to go far to get away), there’s less chance for lip-syncing. Up-and-coming band performances are the best…intimate and (usually) sincere.
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Lately I’ve seen tv performances that are obviously pre-recorded but include a few “flaws” or different lyric bits, to “prove” the performance is live.
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Yeah, this is not a new trend.
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I’ve never been to a show to see an amazing vocalist live, like a celine Dion or something like that, and in that case I would be disappointed if it was lip sync.
But two bands I love have two of the greatest live shows and even though they lip sync most of the show, the stage show greatly makes up for it!
Jump to about 1:40…
Credit to Wayne, he is belting this one out, but the band routinely plays vocal tracks and plays guitars that aren’t even plugged in.
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Another trick is, even when not lip synching, a lot of modern big pop acts will have the vocals going through an autotune box, the pitch of which is controlled by a union musician playing a keyboard offstage.
Sometimes you don’t want the band actually performing live, as Shaun Ryder proved on a live 6PM transmission of TFI Friday
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It’s easy: Her brain stops working!
When does your’s start?
Lip syncing is relatively easy, well, with lot’s of practice. What is damn near impossible is to fake playing an instrument, because if you can do that, you might as well be actually playing the damn thing if you can do that.
Two things: Even when lip-synching I assume the performers are still singing somewhat, even if it’s not to their full ability. Wouldn’t it be harder to match your mouth movements to the song than it would be to just sing it lightly? (This is only referring to the Boing Boing post, not the video.)
Second: In the case of Michael Jackson, like the video says, I’m more than happy to have him lip-synch if it means a better dance performance. Back in the day I would really prefer to see him dance all out than to hear him sing all out.
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