Friday, August 29, 2014

My opinions on lip syncing at live concerts

First off I want to say I always prefer the concert/live version of whatever song the artist sings to the recorded studio version (live performance has more energy). I get where the 'I hate lip syncing' train comes from, I really do. I was actually on that train for a really really long time. I'm not saying the next part applies to all artists but it applies to most artists- think of their voices.

They have to sing for 2 hours (or more) straight. Maybe a short break an hour in...BUT TWO HOURS STRAIGHT (unless its a short concert).

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I never actually thought about that part until I heard a Japanese singer Lisa sing live...for two hours. She sounded fantastic until about 45-50 min in then her voice sounded raspy. She was singing all the songs live.

It's unrealistic to think that ___ artist sings all their songs live (unless there is more than one singer and they take breaks like I mentioned above). If they don't sound raspy an hour or so in singing back to back they are most likely lip syncing. 

Lip syncing is NOT a bad thing. It saves the artists vocal chords. 

I used to play the flute in marching band...we would not play on our instruments on competition day except once on a run through outside (at our practice field) and once at the competition location to warm up again. If you played on your instrument for too long you basically sounded like crap. Try singing straight for an hour without a drink of water-I bet your voice dies 30 min. in (mine always does). If you can't sing try talking for that long without a drink or break. 

I'm sure there are ways to increase how long you can sing for without sounding like crap but I bet that the artist definitely suffers the next day/week for singing that long. 

So yeah that's my take on lip syncing *yay* 

1 comment:

  1. Well, at every concert I've been to ( half a dozen, maybe a bit more, I can't really remember), there was always a fifteen minute break for each hour the band played (usually three). Not only would this give time for the crowd to get themselves a beer or to go take a smoke, but it would also allow the singer to rest his voice and drink. And these were good singers too, Streetlight Manifesto, The Planet Smashers, Childish Gambino and a few others. Nothing they sang was prerecorded. Now, you may argue that these are completely different styles of concerts and all, but I bring Ariana Grande to the table. Now, believe me, I don't particularly like her style of music, but I find myself impressed that she's on of the few pop artists who doesn't lip sync. Not only that, but she's a damn amazing singer who has an amazing vocal range. Of course your voice won't be so good after 50 minutes of singing straight, but concerts usually last more than an hour and there are usually breaks for both the artist and the crowd. Anyways, that's my point of view.

    Good post. Throuroughly enjoyed reading it :)

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