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Let's talk lip-synch


sasha

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What does "live" mean to you?

Spoiler

 

Because K-pop is choreo focused I feel a lot of fans have a very liberal def. of live singing overall. E.g. deliberately hiding behind a backing track where bk's audio level is higher than that of a mic and you can kinda hear live vocals. 

As it is most of live performances are only partly live - either not every member is audible or portion of a song is still mimed.

 

Do you consider full on lip-synch lazy?

Do you find it annoying when you notice lip-synch of a supposedly live perf.(pre-recorded live vocals)?

Would you prefer to know in advance when performance is lip-synched? Or are you willing to be fooled as long as it's done well?

And lastly would you prefer bad live performance to lip-synch?

note: bar technical difficulties when there is no choice but lip

 

 

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Personally, I think it kinda depends on the song. I am willing to forgive a group mostly lip-syncing if it’s an upbeat song with heavy choreo (where the focus is on the performance aspect moreso than on the vocals), but if it’s a ballad (focusing on the vocals of the group) and the members are all sitting down, I expect the vocals to be at least mostly live. 

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I don’t like it when groups use a hard dance as a crutch to never sing live. If the dance is too hard for a group to show their skills properly (where we can at least hear SOME vocals) they should make the dance less tiresome. This isn’t the case for special stages and such tho

Edited by yoodle
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What does "live" mean to you? Live is when the artist is singing live. No matter if they have back up singers and/or a back-vocal tracks helping.

Do you consider full on lip-synch lazy? Depends. I prefer as much live as possible tho.

Do you find it annoying when you notice lip-synch of a supposedly live perf.(pre-recorded live vocals)? Pre-recorded vocals don't bother me.

Also Kpop is probably the first time I saw artists being praised for not being able to lip-synch properly. I guess, it shows that the idol tends to sing live so being force to lip-synch is "difficult"...Plus I think some idols do it on purpose to show that it's not fully live or that it's pre-recorded.

Would you prefer to know in advance when performance is lip-synched? Or are you willing to be fooled as long as it's done well? Again, I don't really care at the end of the day if songs are pre-recorded.

And lastly would you prefer bad live performance to lip-synch? Overall bad live performances. It's more genuine. However if you know you're having a bad day and not going to be able to reach that high note, then I don't mind some lip-synch haha

 

Edited by satoori
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singing and dancing at the same time isn't easy and for vocalists like IU for example having to sing the same high note back to back to back on music shows Monday thru Sun can be extremely damaging to the voice. 

 

i think lip syncing is only annoying but also awkward when a certain member or two in a group can't sing live period. 

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38 minutes ago, satoori said:

Do you find it annoying when you notice lip-synch of a supposedly live perf.(pre-recorded live vocals)? Pre-recorded vocals don't bother me.

Also Kpop is probably the first time I saw artists being praised for not being able to lip-synch properly. I guess, it shows that the idol tends to sing live so being force to lip-synch is "difficult"...Plus I think some idols do it on purpose to show that it's not fully live or that it's pre-recorded.

It is really strange, imagine Selena Gomez being praised for that.. I do think it's more of a in-fandom thing though and often a bit of an overcompensation. I don't see k-pop fans in general using that kind of logic? idk

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i mean i’d kinda care if it was a ballad, but i usually don’t, especially during comeback promotions. dancing and singing at the same time is already exhausting, and doing it multiple times a week with the schedules they have simply doesn’t seem healthy. a bit of backtrack also doesn’t hurt tbh, as it can fill in the vocals that are obviously going to be slightly shaky while their bodies are moving like that, and you can usually hear/see when they’re relying on it and when they’re not.

i guess my general point is that if it’s a performance based song, then obviously said performance will take a toll on their bodies and it shouldn’t be expected that they sing it completely live 100% of the time. i’d focus on their dance and overall stage for those, but vocal based songs shouldn’t really be lipsynched if it’s possible to avoid it (again with heavy promotions, i feel its excusable if someone has a bad day and opts to lip it instead to let other members shine and not “ruin” the performance etc.)

and while not fully live, i still consider it live singing if the backtrack is muted to the point that you can hear the difference between lines that are lipped and lines that aren’t.

Edited by twinkhun
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1 hour ago, sasha said:

It is really strange, imagine Selena Gomez being praised for that.. I do think it's more of a in-fandom thing though and often a bit of an overcompensation. I don't see k-pop fans in general using that kind of logic? idk

Nah it's not just a in-fandom thing. The first time I ever heard about it was with Shinee. The fact the members were so bad at lip-syncing was praised often. It's a industry and overall kpop community thing tbh.

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First of all, i would like to note i prefer MR over AR. Second, is why and where lip sync is happening. If its a performance song its logical to lipsync. If its an award show where mic connections can be tricky, i again understand lipsync. 

But difference between MR with some singing and AR or MR only is huge. MR with singing is used widely. It is used to boost artists own voice because otherwise they would have to shout. MR recording sounds exactly like live performance, however they should only be used to help the artist to not shout. 

On the other hand AR or MR only is lacking. Not only artist puts 0 effort, it causes weirdness especially for AR. 

I would like it if all artists can live sing, but if they cant, i expect them to at least sing at concerts. 

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regarding prerecorded live vocals, I'm not a fan of when other groups are praised to the heavens and above for doing this while others who attempt to sing live get shit on for their strained vocal ability in the moment. 

Don't think people who fake it well should be receiving appraisal.  

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1 hour ago, satoori said:

Nah it's not just a in-fandom thing. The first time I ever heard about it was with Shinee. The fact the members were so bad at lip-syncing was praised often. It's a industry and overall kpop community thing tbh.

lol maybe. I only really stanned 2 groups and in both cases they lipped more than the fandom talks about and I feel like it's generally true for any fandom - stuff like "puts down mic early" isn't really commented on unless it borders on comical/gains attention from outside the fandom and then it becomes "kings! don't know how to lip synch"

1 hour ago, Haze said:

regarding prerecorded live vocals, I'm not a fan of when other groups are praised to the heavens and above for doing this while others who attempt to sing live get shit on for their strained vocal ability in the moment. 

Don't think people who fake it well should be receiving appraisal.  

Well it's kinda the gist of lip synch - to appear more capable/competent than you are at the moment or generally. It would be a simpler life if at least some music/award shows indicated "live" for actual live performances

Edited by sasha
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7 minutes ago, sasha said:

lol maybe. I only really stanned 2 groups and in both cases they lipped more than the fandom talks about and I feel like it's generally true for any fandom - stuff like "puts down mic early" isn't really commented on unless it borders on comical/gains attention from outside the fandom and then it becomes "kings! don't know how to lip synch"

For starters, not everyone is part of a fandom. There are casual fans and non-fans who watch different performances too. In general, there are groups who gain a reputation of singing live well. So when they do lip-synch (and they do it badly) then yea I guess people find it comical. However they're only praised because everyone knows the group can actually sing live. 

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17 minutes ago, satoori said:

For starters, not everyone is part of a fandom. There are casual fans and non-fans who watch different performances too. In general, there are groups who gain a reputation of singing live well. So when they do lip-synch (and they do it badly) then yea I guess people find it comical. However they're only praised because everyone knows the group can actually sing live. 

Well reputation is more along the line my thoughts went. My redundant point being it's not praise for bad lip synch per se but following a fandom in treating it humorously cause top tier vocalists are involved. Not a general rule, not always fandoms are followed in it by non-fans and I bet very rarely by media

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Generally I prefer live performances with no or light backing track. Using a backing track so loud it drowns out the artist’s voice seems cheap to me.

I think lip syncing CAN be lazy. I feel certain veteran acts lean on it when they’re feeling lazy. 

Generally I do not like prerecordings especially in kpop because they are not convincing to me at all, it’s just strange to hear when juxtaposed with intense dancing. But when it’s convincing I can lean into the illusion so it’s fine. 
 

I prefer a bad live because usually it will at least have some good moments. And if not, it’s something to laugh about. But I don’t mind the occasional lipsync especially if the performance is dance intensive.

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4 hours ago, sasha said:

Well reputation is more along the line my thoughts went. My redundant point being it's not praise for bad lip synch per se but following a fandom in treating it humorously cause top tier vocalists are involved. Not a general rule, not always fandoms are followed in it by non-fans and I bet very rarely by media

true

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