Why is lip-synching frowned upon?

People pay big money for live performances. If you are just going to hear a taped version you can stay home and listen to the entertainer’s CD and save money.

What @chyna said.

Last month we saw McCartney in concert in Chicago. He was a little hoarse from months of touring, but still sounded great.

In any case, we didn’t pay hundreds of dollars to hear his records while he just stood there mimicking himself.

Vocals are probably the most “doctored” musical source in all of the music buisiness, especially now with things like autotune. Hearing it for real is about the only way to tell if a singer can actually hold a note.

If someone like Beyoncé lip syncs, then I think that’s ridiculous. She has a wonderful voice and it would be strange for a singer like that to care more about dancing all over the stage than her voice

I wonder too.
I don’t really mind lip-syncing and autotune. When done right, autotune can sound awesome, and that awesomeness can’t be properly reproduced on stage. How exactly would Kanye reproduce his songs like Heartless or Love Lockdown? Those are amazing songs, and the autotune is superb. But he can’t make that on stage, it just doesn’t sound well. Often times, when I hear a singer singing live, it sounds horrible, nothing like the real song. I wish they lip-synced, or just listen to the studio version. Not to mention singers move and dance a lot on stage; it’s impossible to sing properly when you’re running and jumping around. If you want your singer to sing and give you a performance, s/he’s got no chose but to lip-sync or stand on the stage like a candle.

But then again, listening to a lot of electronic music, I got used to dreaded stuff like autotune, sampling and lip-sync anyways.

If they’re going to lip sync, why not just have them do a stand up chatting routine where they chat with the audience and then say “let’s listen to my recorded song _______.” Why even pretend they’re singing to the song?

Often times, when I hear a singer singing live, it sounds horrible, nothing like the real song.
@Sneki2 I have to laugh at that. That is their real voice. When you autotune you are changing what they really sound like. Heck, I’m tone deaf and if they messed with my voice electronically, I bet I could even sound good.

@chyna “People pay big money for live performances.”

People pay big money to see spectacle. These big money shows deliver the spectacle regardless of whether or not the singer is lip syncing.

I personally don’t want to pay big money to watch lip syncing.

Personally I don’t want to pay big money to hear a vocalist who sounds like shit.

@chyna Yeah, I know. But the thing is, I don’t want their real voice. I want what I heard on the album.

For the most of us, the first time we hear a singer, we hear what they’ve done in the studio, and we like or dislike that. If the singer does on the stage and gives something else, especially of that else is horrible, it’s better that s/he simply acts rather than sings and give us what we came to hear.

*comes instead of does and *if

If an “artist” is known to pretend-sing in concert, I just pay for the tickets with pretend-money.

(What’s next ??....I break the bank to see the New York Philharmonic. It sounds glorious….but…...what’s this ??…... the instruments have no strings ??)

That’s a bit different. When you pay to see an orchestra you’re paying purely for performance. When you pay for a pop music concert you’re paying for entertainment, for spectacle. You’re paying for big stage sets, you’re paying for elaborate lighting, for pyrotechnics, for costumes, for theatrics. so many of these entertainer vocalists end up with ruined voices because they’ve abused and blown their voices out all the time while touring. Like this one, Adele – she’s already on her second surgery to repair damaged vocal chords and she’s not even 30. I don’t blame the ones who do lip sync in concert. Presumably they’d like to still have a functioning voice when they’re 40.

Well, many of these performers have already earned a boatload of money during their (sometimes brief) musical careers, more money than most people will see in a lifetime. Every one of them knows that their day to crash and burn is approaching. Their trying to extend it by just moving their mouths is in bad faith and pretty offensive, in my opinion.

The way I see it, if you can no longer get it done, please don’t expect hard-earned money from me to watch you pretend to get it done…..and watch pyrotechnics….

And if you haven’t noticed, this country is already floating in a sea bullshit (I think it started when they came out with this horrible “cheese food” thing….)

Somewhere along the line, it becomes important to ‘call shenanigans’.....

Purity in fantasy, huh?

If I go see someone like Eric Clapton, I’m not seeing dancing and pyrotechnics. I’m expecting to see, and getting to see, Eric Clapton play the guitar and sing.

If the band can’t play live and sound as good as or better than their album, they’re not worth spending money on, anyway.

To be honest, I wish Bruce Dickenson would slow down a bit on the bouncing around stage like a teenager, so maybe he could hit a note once in a while. You have one job, Bruce. Vocalist.

“Voting with your dollars”, the economists call it.

As long as so many consumers are willing to accept and settle for “cheese food”, get ready for even more marketing-savvy ‘food substitutes’.

(Hey, I know that it doesn’t taste as good…..and isn’t as nutritious….but you’ll get used to it…)

@PullMyFinger

That is a, frankly, stupid analogy. People who go to these concerts are spending their money to be entertained. They’re not simply going to hear someone sing, they’re going for a show. Hell, that’s why so many performers adopt larger-than-life personas. The concert-goer is there for fantasy, for diversion, for entertainment. They’re there to see a show and forget about their troubles for a few hours.

Hey, if some people are that easily mesmerized, good for them…..I guess…..
Maybe on their way home they can stop an look at photos of The Mona Lisa.

Anyway, it is very likely that far more people would agree with my ‘stupid analogy’ than with your willingness to accept fabricated crapola (with background fireworks thrown in) as worthwhile (and very expensive) entertainment….

“Many would agree with me, so I must be right.”

Or “I’m always right and I’ll be an ass about it.”

I never said ‘I must be right’, only that my opinion is statistically valid enough to not be called ‘stupid’ by some habitual shit-stirrer…..

And the analogy is pretty good. Ask your friends (if in fact you have any…)

Of course you didn’t say “I must be right”. You evoked the classic argumentum ad populum – “many people think this, so it must be true”.

And note: I’m not even trying to argue “wrong” or “right”, as there is nothing but subjective opinion here. I’m having a discussion (kinda the point of a forum, no?). For some reason, however, some folks get emotional about these things (as evidenced by your “ask your friends (if in fact you have any…)” remark).

My point – these concerts are theater. I don’t know of any kind of theater that does not use artifice to one degree or another in order to accomplish the goal (the entertain the audience). I found your “cheese food” analogy particularly poor as we’re not talking about something as vital as sustenance here. We’re talking about frivolous entertainments.

Why in this world are people called names when they are just giving an honest opinion? Also, if someone is stating facts, that does not mean that that is their personal preference in all cases.
It IS a fact that many people are loving the “cheese food”. It just is.

Taking a couple of steps back and more time to think about this, I am going to say that lip-synching does in fact have its place in the entertainment industry in the 21st Century. I will never be a fan of all of these stage-show theatrics, but it would be ridiculous to expect some of these singers spinning around on a rope or jumping through hoops of fire to sing their hits with any degree of quality without a lot (A LOT) of technical assistance. So I can see where their fans would expect all that, and go home happy.

While it will always be shake-and-bake, “cheese-food” (I stand by that analogy) entertainment to me, I can see why many people might enjoy it immensely, and would hate it if the performer tried to give a live vocal performance while doing all of those stage gymnastics.

And you are right, @anniereborn Many people love it, and there is nothing wrong with that.

How do we know it’s a real person who asked this question and not a self-launching text app?