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How much of live performances today would you say are auto tuned, pitch corrected, or mime

Posted on 5/28/22 at 10:10 pm
Posted by Mike da Tigah
Bravo Romeo Lima Alpha
Member since Feb 2005
61368 posts
Posted on 5/28/22 at 10:10 pm
Watching an older video of a guy’s channel I’m a big fan of, Fil of Wings of Pegasus, and he analyzed a Bon Jovi performance at the R&R Hall of Fame in which the live audio was pitch corrected to the video on the HOF website, but the live performance was truly live singing without auto tuning.

LINK


In the video he claims that the vast majority of younger bands especially are either auto tuned live or just flat out pantomiming to backing tracks, most of which he simply attributes to the control of the music industry has on live performances by their artists. Some have too much integrity to concede to it, obviously those with the voice to do so, and in this case, or any other where the artist has been touring a lot or attending speaking engagements all day and then performing later that night this can be expected.


Thoughts? How much of what you see in live performances from big acts would you say are either auto tuning or miming?







This post was edited on 5/28/22 at 10:16 pm
Posted by supadave3
Houston, TX
Member since Dec 2005
31804 posts
Posted on 5/28/22 at 11:26 pm to
I remember when they critical of Axl Rose for having teleprompters and bands these days are in singing. It's sad what has happened to music in the last 25 years
Posted by kingbob
Sorrento, LA
Member since Nov 2010
69331 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 1:58 am to
Most are not, but a lot of the really high end pop acts like Katy Perry which have intense choreography or old legacy band acts like Kiss do. However, it’s not live pitch correction, it’s lip syncing, and it’s f$&king cowardly. If you can’t sing for an hour on stage or you can’t sing in tune anymlre, you shouldn’t be performing. If you can’t do it 7 nights a week, then maybe don’t book seven nights a week. If your voice is shot because you’re sick, either man up and make the best of it or postpone the show.

There’s really no good excuse for lip syncing live. It’s a cardinal sin, in my opinion.
Posted by olddawg26
Member since Jan 2013
26236 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 5:53 am to
Those types of show though people aren’t going for the talent of the artist, they’re going for the “show”. Katy Perry lip syncing wouldn’t bother most people at her show, as most people wouldn’t even know, while a rock band crowd would definitely care.

That being said, I agree with your opinion on auto tune and lip sync
This post was edited on 5/29/22 at 5:55 am
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
94785 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 7:13 am to
It's a high percentage using some form of sweetening live.

The obvious one is a backing vocal track. That alone, if everyone else has their shite together is the least obtrusive, least noticeable and will get a competent group 90% of the way through a performance if the sound team knows what it is doing.

At the other end in straight pantomime. I think a huge percentage of pop groups are just doing this. They focus on the choreography and stage directions and cannot be distracted by the music which is, frankly, a secondary concern.

Somewhat in between is pitch correcting the lead vocals within the mix, at the board for a live show. I think this is more common than the industry would like the general public to know, particularly for the legacy acts.

I would assume that virtually no high profile live performance has zero sweetening. I'm open to being proven wrong.
Posted by awestruck
Member since Jan 2015
13326 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 7:40 am to
It's not just the vocals.

YouTubed a Rick Beato video yesterday where a music critic was slammin pitch perfect as being detrimental to our musical progression. His take was that starting with Pythagoras dividing up sound into precise scales, we as people had progressed to do away with anything else, until untrained (and largely ethnic) musicians started bending and slurring notes to achieve 'new' sound. And once we heard this off centered sound it so resonated us that the Blue's, Jazz, and Rock-n-Roll was created.

His take was that cultures all over the world had no concept of pitch perfect. To the point new musical conventions had to be developed in order to map out this music. As well as the altered timing of off-beat intervals. And that this was not just a (quote) black thing but found worldwide in non-westernized music.

He was selling the idea that our latest fad of correcting music was a part of what was driving down creativity, and sales, and it showed up in polling of younger generations lowered ranking of music's importance in their lives. Just one part of course. link

Posted by wareaglepete
Union of Soviet Auburn Republics
Member since Dec 2012
17547 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 8:38 am to
Some of the bands going around don’t have pitch correction, they have a whole shadow band playing somewhere out of sight.
Posted by midlothianlsu
Midlothian, Texas
Member since Oct 2009
1777 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 8:46 am to
Saw Grand Funk RR several years ago and there were guitar sounds that obviously were not being played by Mark Farner. We moved around close to the stage and saw a guitar player behind the curtain. It was Farner’s brother.
Posted by tigahlovah
virginia beach, va
Member since Oct 2009
4215 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 10:12 am to
Prince always claimed that what you heard coming from him and his band was 100% unfiltered playing and singing. I know in a couple of early tv appearances like on American Bandstand and possibly Midnight Special or SNL, he lip synced because they made all the acts do that on the show. He probably meant all of his live shows.
Posted by geauxbrown
Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
25507 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 1:36 pm to
The vast majority. In addition, most are playing to tracks whether that be backing vocals, strings or additional parts.

I dare to say 90% of the Bro Country acts from McGraw to Wallen are using pitch correction.
Posted by Twenty 49
Shreveport
Member since Jun 2014
20865 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 8:14 pm to
Saw ZZ Top recently. There was a big drum roll to kick off a song, but Frank Beard was wiping his forehead with a handkerchief when it was played.
Posted by Tackle74
Columbia, MO
Member since Mar 2012
5482 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 8:45 pm to
No problem with backing tracks when they add layering to a vocal or add instrumental parts that the band cannot do live like a piano if the banD does not have them. Also helps if the band does not hide it.
Posted by SEClint
New Orleans, LA/Portland, OR
Member since Nov 2006
49479 posts
Posted on 5/29/22 at 9:34 pm to
Its too easy to get away with nowadays, technology has made it easy to hit a button for everything you need.

Generations are born and people don't know any better.

Thats why you have rappers who write down words and walk around thinking they are musical geniuses
Posted by cgrand
HAMMOND
Member since Oct 2009
46691 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 7:27 am to
quote:

I would assume that virtually no high profile live performance has zero sweetening. I'm open to being proven wrong.


depends on your definition of high profile. None of phish, the dead offshoots, billy strings, panic, etc or any of the other jam/grass/americana bands use prerecorded sounds on stage unless they are delivered via an instrument played by a band member. Authenticity is the reason they are popular live shows
Posted by Mizz-SEC
Inbred Huntin' In The SEC
Member since Jun 2013
22294 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 7:34 am to
quote:

Saw Grand Funk RR several years ago and there were guitar sounds that obviously were not being played by Mark Farner. We moved around close to the stage and saw a guitar player behind the curtain. It was Farner’s brother.

Was it being passed off as Farner's playing?

It's not like he's not an outstanding guitarist in his own right.
Posted by Bayou
Boudin, LA
Member since Feb 2005
41592 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 9:01 am to
Just like so much of society it's too artificial
Posted by DeltaTigerDelta
Member since Jan 2017
13488 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 9:03 am to
quote:

Saw ZZ Top recently. There was a big drum roll to kick off a song, but Frank Beard was wiping his forehead with a handkerchief when it was played.


Sad and lame. I would prefer chicken shite to chicken salad if that is all the chicken can produce that day.
Posted by Hetfield
Dallas
Member since Jun 2013
9241 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 10:34 am to
The band that I always hear talked about as basically just playing along to backing tracks live is Shinedown. I knew there was another reason I hated them
Posted by Ace Midnight
Between sanity and madness
Member since Dec 2006
94785 posts
Posted on 5/30/22 at 6:20 pm to
quote:

None of phish, the dead offshoots, billy strings, panic, etc or any of the other jam/grass/americana bands use prerecorded sounds on stage unless they are delivered via an instrument played by a band member. Authenticity is the reason they are popular live shows


And I would just have to look into whether or not they are doing zero pitch correction of the vocals, then.

And, I concede that many bands will record their own sweetening "backing track" (if they're using them, whether vocals, instrumental or what have you) and that using one's own recorded material live isn't particularly dishonest. Depends on how much they rely on this stuff.
This post was edited on 5/30/22 at 6:21 pm
Posted by Intelligent
Member since Jun 2017
675 posts
Posted on 6/10/22 at 1:22 am to
If you go to see live music you probably want it to sound at least somewhat like the record. Live vocal effects are not the same as lip syncing. Furthermore, your favorite band is probably 4 or 5 people, and each song might have any given number of tracks or instruments, a limited backing track(stems) can make sense. Ultimately it comes down to artistic integrity and planning, especially at the time of recording.
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