Curious why do modern vocalists need to lip sync if they already know the songs they sing?

[Hugo Drax]

For example Mariah Carey, she probably sang those songs a million times. So why cant she just sing into the microphone? It seems them moment the vocal track stopped she froze like a deer caught in headlights as if she never sang at all in her entire life.

Do these modern vocalists only sound okay in the studios and this is why they cannot sing in public and have to lip sync to pre-recorded studio vocals? Mediocre vocals, tons of computer processing to make them sound good.

Or does she really not sing and they have the real vocalist record the vocals in studio and she is primarily a performer since vocalists in the late 20th and 21st century need to have specific looks in order to gain popularity?

It seems like this is something common lately. Back in the days the majority of vocalists sang live from microphone to mixer out to speakers and not much except maybe some light processing such as a light compression maybe or a little plate reverb(sparingly)

 

[NoTine42]

Most are actually terrible singers.
People love all the inflection and changing tones as "character" but it is technically terrible vocal technique. A great opera singer knows what note is coming from their mouth at all times...most modern "singers" are not sure and need to listen to themselves and adjust.

Plus you add in the unpredictability of wireless mic issues in Times Square, and people expect "singers" to dance around instead of just sing...

And depending on the number of substances in the singer, they probably don't remember their own songs, anyway.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

They are above making basic effort. She should have brought out a cardboard image of herself and went home. Much better.

 

[ImpulsE69]

You are talking about pop singers. They lip sync because dance choreography is more important to them than actually singing.

 

[z1ggy]

You are talking about pop singers. They lip sync because dance choreography is more important to them than actually singing.

This and because a lot of the recordings are voice modulated; ie if they need to sing a note at 1200 Hz but can only produce 1180Hz (flat) the software modules the frequency to the correct pitch. It's the same reason why many rock bands sound awesome on record, but not so hot live. This is what separates the great performers from the average ones.

TLDR; They can't actually sing as well as the recording.

 

[cbrunny]

Also acoustics.

 

[ImpulsE69]

This and because a lot of the recordings are voice modulated; ie if they need to sing a note at 1200 Hz but can only produce 1180Hz (flat) the software modules the frequency to the correct pitch. It's the same reason why many rock bands sound awesome on record, but not so hot live. This is what separates the great performers from the average ones.

TLDR; They can't actually sing as well as the recording.

Well, while I know this all to be true to some degree, it isn't so cut and dry. Performing live and recording are not a one to one comparison. You can record and rerecord and rerecord until you get it right. On stage you just do it. If you are moving around a lot, you get winded, and your actual vocal performance will suffer, regardless if you can sing or not. Keep in mind that this mostly relates to high intensity fast paced music as opposed to a ballad where they are belting out long notes and barely moving. Your best singers sing slow ballads live and not after a fast song, but it is going to vary person to person based on their health, lung capacity, overall shape, etc.

 

[Nashemon]

Performing on an open stage is unpredicable for a variety of reasons. Floor monitor placement limits where you can go on stage, so they use wireless in-ear monitors, which I've never seen a pair that works well all the time. After the reports that her in-ears weren't working, I guarantee if she didn't lip sync, it would have sounded dreadful. Not just for pitch reasons, but for timing. People want to see a performance, not watch her strain her vocal cords.

Moving around dancing limits what notes she can hit. Do you know how many takes it requires to produce the song you hear on her CD? Ever watched a "voice talent show"? There's a reason those contestents are just standing in one spot and not engaging the audience.

I have no doubt Mariah can sing very well. Most artists use post processing for everything, including the vocals. Even the good singers. Bad singers use much more of course. They have other talents like song-writing they they feel shouldn't be hindered just because they can't sing, so they use auto-tune and the ilk.

Having a performer lip sync eliminates a dozen things that can go wrong during a performance.

 

[preslove]

There's no time to do sound checks at an event like that. I doubt most of the new years rocking eve bands were actually singing. Almost all the superbowl half time shows are lipsynched for the same reason. Same with macy's parade floats.

An actual concert tour is a whole different matter though. There's no excuse for that, but I doubt Mariah does it for actual tours. Lame that they're blaming ear piece issues for it, though

 

[dainthomas]

If the Milli Vanilli scandal broke now no one would care. Everybody assumes that singers perform to recordings, and those are run through a computer so many times they might as well not even be human voices.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Pretty much all bands perform with backing tracks of one sort or another as insurance. Yes, even that band. Them too.

In most cases, during tour performances, etc., they're muted, but will cut in immediately if there's a problem. (Somebody's pickup goes out, etc.) So I kinda buy it - a technical problem trips the backup track, she wasn't expecting it, and boom, she's lip-syncing.

 

[Homerboy]

If the Milli Vanilli scandal broke now no one would care. Everybody assumes that singers perform to recordings, and those are run through a computer so many times they might as well not even be human voices.

Sure it would. Milli Vanilli were two guys who literally DID NOT SING their songs. They had nothing to do with them except being the face of the songs. Modern popstars may lipsync while on stage and voice modulate while in the stupid, but they do actively sing their songs.

 

[z1ggy]

Having a performer lip sync eliminates a dozen things that can go wrong during a performance.

If a performer is lip syncing, how is it even a performance? I don't pay money to watch a person move their lips around and produce no sound. It's like going to see Eric Clapton play air guitar. Who gives a sh!t.

 

[Ns1]

If a performer is lip syncing, how is it even a performance? I don't pay money to watch a person move their lips around and produce no sound. It's like going to see Eric Clapton play air guitar. Who gives a sh!t.

Mariah Carey is a performer because she dances and shit on top of "singing". If Eric Clapton had a bunch of dancers and had to dance along with them, he'd probably consider air guitaring too.

That said, he might as well have been playing fucking air guitar the last time I saw him cuz that concert fucking sucked. Maybe the dancers would've helped.

 

[lxskllr]

Mariah Carey is a performer because she dances and shit on top of "singing". If Eric Clapton had a bunch of dancers and had to dance along with them, he'd probably consider air guitaring too.

That said, he might as well have been playing fucking air guitar the last time I saw him cuz that concert fucking sucked. Maybe the dancers would've helped.

I saw Ted Nugent years ago. He played guitar, sang, and put more energy into a show than Mariah did all last month.

 

[Ns1]

I saw Ted Nugent years ago. He played guitar, sang, and put more energy into a show than Mariah did all last month.

I'm not disputing any of that, but Nugent doesn't have dancers either


I just don't get the outrage here - it's not like people were paying to see her sing acoustic at the Grand Ole Opry.

 

[dainthomas]

Sure it would. Milli Vanilli were two guys who literally DID NOT SING their songs. They had nothing to do with them except being the face of the songs. Modern popstars may lipsync while on stage and voice modulate while in the stupid, but they do actively sing their songs.

Maybe, but I'm not sure it would be AS big a deal today. Anyway, it wasn't really their fault. They had the talent, but the a-hole producers didn't want to give them vocal training and re-record the tracks so they blackmailed them into going along with it.

 

[ElFenix]

YOU MAKE ME WANNA, SCREEEEEAMMMMAAAAHHHH

 

[lxskllr]

I'm not disputing any of that, but Nugent doesn't have dancers either


I just don't get the outrage here - it's not like people were paying to see her sing acoustic at the Grand Ole Opry.

It's just lame. Singer or dancer. Pick one, or pick both, but do your job. At least with the Japanese holographic 'concerts', you can marvel at the technology. A human on stage pretending to do something is a child's game.

 

[preCRT]

Makes me miss Freddie Mercury all the more.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Makes me miss Freddie Mercury all the more.

and the Beatles, check out Live at the Hollywood Bowl. They could barely hear themselves, yet they sound tight, in tune and dead on the money harmonically.

 

[Fritzo]

The reason artists are lipsyncing more and more? It's because of the hyper-critical viewers.

If a singer is off by a note, is raspy, or anything fades in/out, Joe Reviewer will be on the Internet slamming the performance. Instead of taking that chance, artists would rather cookie-cut the performance to make sure it sounds perfect. Kind of takes the art out of it though.

 

[zinfamous]

There's no time to do sound checks at an event like that. I doubt most of the new years rocking eve bands were actually singing. Almost all the superbowl half time shows are lipsynched for the same reason. Same with macy's parade floats.

An actual concert tour is a whole different matter though. There's no excuse for that, but I doubt Mariah does it for actual tours. Lame that they're blaming ear piece issues for it, though

This, plus the other stuff people said. I have no problem with what happened there and this foible is never going to change how it's done for such crappy events.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

The reason artists are lipsyncing more and more? It's because of the hyper-critical viewers.

If a singer is off by a note, is raspy, or anything fades in/out, Joe Reviewer will be on the Internet slamming the performance. Instead of taking that chance, artists would rather cookie-cut the performance to make sure it sounds perfect. Kind of takes the art out of it though.

Hard to get artists like Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen today with those metrics, but I do agree. Then again, any one of those 3 would have told the critics to fvck themselves with a pineapple anyway.

 

[MtnMan]

Because they have ZERO talent, and without background beat, dancers and especially AUTOTUNE they can't carry a tune or a beat.