#lip synching

Just imagine one of those Tom and Jerry chase scenarios as finds the pair winding up backstage at some disreputable "music show" theater in Branson of particular popularity to the MAGA crowd ... and Jerry, for some reason, finds himself in some closet as houses the sound equipment which turns out Concealing a Dark and Ugly Secret 76 Country Boulevard Doesn't Want You Knowing About:

Videlicet, that the whole is essentially pre-recorded and what appears to be the "performance" is actually lip-synched, the fact of which is evident when the "performance" suddenly stops in the middle of the second stanza of some particularly hokey number, causing no end of disapproval and rioting from the mostly elderly, less-sophisticated audience.

Disclaimer: The following post is informed by my experience working in the music industry. It is not speculation.

Hi Anons!

First, I want to begin with a note of clarification, to make sure we are on the same page.

1. Lip synching is when artists sing over a pre-recorded backing track (industry term: “playback.”) At no point are they ever actively singing. You see this most in music videos and TV station promotional performances.

2. Singing over playback - This is when an artist sings live over a pre-recorded track that includes vocal harmonies and also sometimes the main vocal line. This adds dimension and texture to live music, and is a technique that many, many, many, many, many artists use! It is not the same as lip synching - there is a difference. 

Artists who lip synch - and only lip synch - and then pretend to pass off their lip synching performance as a live performance are definitely very much looked down upon. A good example of this is Milli Vanilli, who were hugely successful prior to their lip synch act being exposed live on stage. 

OK, so now that we know what we’re talking about let’s get into the nitty gritty.

IS LIP SYNCHING OK?

From a fan’s perspective, it is never good for artists to 100% lip synch - especially at a concert or live performance. Roomie actually does a pretty good video that shows a few major artists and their lip synch fails.

However, from an industry perspective, we all know that sometimes artists do partially lip synch, and this is a generally accepted/understood industry practice. To someone outside the industry though, it can be a bit of a shocker. 

If artists lip synch, it can be due to any number of reasons such as:

1.) Dancing Sometimes, it is very difficult to do extremely difficult dancing and sing at the same time. While some artists are capable of doing some level of singing and dancing, not even the most talented artists in the world can sing perfectly if dancing at a very high speed/to extremely complicated choreo. This would honestly require superhuman skills that don’t exist in reality. (Though some groups are good at dancing and singing simultaneously, don’t expect them to sing perfectly without issue while high speed dancing.)

2.) Illness A little more rare, but artists who are sometimes very sick and go out to perform may sing over playback and lip synch when they have to sing the higher register because they aren’t able to actually hit those notes without the help of playback. 3.) Ease of performance Refer to reason 2, but instead of there being a reason such as “illness,” it’s literally just because it’s easier for performers sometimes to hit those high notes. Especially touring performers who might have to perform night after night - it can be extremely taxing on the vocal cords. 

4.) Technical failure cover up This happened to XZ on NYE with Dragon TV. If artists are singing over playback and they experience a technical failure, such not being able to hear themselves, they can actually lip synch until the audio production team fixes the issue. 

5.) Pure laziness This is way more rare. But it happens. 

HOW TO FIGURE OUT IF SOMEONE IS LIP SYNCHING OR NOT

1. Do they have their in-ear monitors in? (Or at least one?) If not, are floor wedge monitors on the stage? If the answer to both of these questions is “no,” then most likely, the artist is lip synching, unless the venue is really tiny.

2. Does it sound too much like the actual recording? Is the voice a little too perfect? While some artists use auto-tune live, there are limits to what auto-tune can do. 

3. Can you hear the artist taking breaths at the appropriate intervals? What about when they’re moving around? 

4. Is there a volume difference between the artist’s voice and the playback in the background? Usually, the artist’s voice will be just a little bit louder. A good example of this is XZ’s most recent performance of “Yu Nian.”

You can hear pretty clearly that his vocals are live/real because of the fact that his live vocal track volume is just slightly louder than the playback mix. If you listen carefully, you can hear the vocal harmony start at 0:47. So this is a case of where you can say with certainty, “The artist is singing live!” 

Pretty much, most pop artists use playback, and at some point in their career, most pop artists will inevitably have to lip sync for any number of reasons that I listed above. 

Most of the time, it’s completely understandable and forgivable from an industry perspective - even expected, simply because: 

That was my thought as well, which was why I initially dismissed the claims of lip synching.

I think it’s possible that the band is listening to the recorded track. We hear the live band but a pre-recorded vocal.

In the Barcelona video of Oh Anna, we get an extreme close-up of his face as he sings. At several points, Harry appears to sing something as he pulls away from (or directly into) the mic, but there’s no sound of him singing. I can understand LESS sound, but NO sound?

His face and neck motions also do not match the vocals. A singer will put a lot of energy into shaping the throat as they sing (especially a song like that)— the muscle strain should be seen when higher notes are reached, as in the close-ups in the Paris videos. In Barcelona there was no strain.

You can also hear how the vocals sound smoother in Barcelona. A live performance will have uneven volume as the mouth moves closer and farther away from the mic. You will hear enunciation more forcefully (the P’s in “sympathy” will have a percussive quality).

This doesn’t have much point ether I just really wanted to animate lip syncs -w-

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