Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Ricky Skaggs CMA HOF Induction

#17

@BanjoBen

Forgive my simple question… but do you mean… they are playing live but hearing a click track to help them with timing in the live environment? Or…

I enjoy these insights… but we as players who have no frame of reference for stage performances don’t know what is meant to “playing to tracks”. Are they hearing the actual song that is in ear devices?

I have often wondered this… even with some of the more simple programs like “The Voice” where singers have the earpiece.

Is there “different tracks” (say… a simple click track versus a track for tonality while singing or maybe the EXACT STUDIO song) for different players or performers?

I’m coming clean to be honest… that I’ve wondered this so many times… what they hear, how it helps and if it is tricky to get used to the pro’s and con’s of hearing tracks.

Sorry if this is obvious or very rudimentary for the rest of experienced Forum participants.

#18

Good questions. Playing to tracks means that you’re hearing the pre-recorded music in your earbuds. If the entire band is tracked, then no one is actually playing live–only acting. Even the cymbals are dummy cymbals that look to react realistically but make no noise.

There are times when some things are tracked and some instruments or singers are singing live, then they’re mixed together at broadcast time. Typically the award shows feature tracked bands (band is faking) but the singer or singers are actually singing. In the case of something like the Super Bowl where there can be no mistakes and set changes happen so fast, everything is tracked. You’ll sometimes see the singer say something into the mic to the crowd that you can tell is real and it’s audible. What happens is that those are rehearsed. They’re thrown in there to create realism. The audio engineer knows to turn on their mic during those times, then turn it back off when the singing comes back in.

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#19

I feel like I was just told Santa Claus isn’t real.

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#20

@Mark_Rocka…He’s not??? :disappointed_relieved::disappointed_relieved::disappointed_relieved::disappointed_relieved::sob::sob::sob:

Neo, I can only show you the door, YOU’RE the one that has to walk through it…

#21

Great questions Will. I’ve often wondered the same things.

#22

I didn’t say that. :wink:

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#23

I am rather amazed. I have more credit that I rather felt that most instances are REAL playing… and only occasionally were SOME parts tracked.

I get it… the risk to have something to wrong can be just too high is some instances.

I also feel like @Mark_Rocka… The disappointment with being fooled… Or WANTING to be convinced and impressed by the playing.

Well, such is life in the bigtime, I guess.

Thanks for the inside scoop, @BanjoBen.

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#24

It’s nothing new…The Lawrence Welk Show lip synced stuff…

#25

I remember seeing Boston at the Capital Center in D.C. in 1978.

They had a huge screen in the center, and I caught Brad Doelp lip syncing on the big screen…I was crushed. :disappointed:

#26

@Treblemaker I can see why. Wasnt it Millie Vanillie that got caught lip syncing one, (some or all)of their songs?.

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#27

Yes, it was. At that point I had deserted what they were calling “rock” music.

By the way, they had to surrender their grammies, and one of them was so distraught over what happened that he committed suicide…As did Pete Hamm from the group Badfinger over losing their deal with Apple Records.

#28

And to add to that, there was a group back in the early 90’s called CC Music Factory that was disbanded, because it was found out that the woman in the video “Everybody Dance Now” didn’t sing it at all.

The actual singer of that song, was considered too unattractive for marketing.

One more thing, Millie Vanillie were not the actual singers of any of their music.

#29

There’s a big difference in what Milli Vanilli did and what we were doing. The tracks we played to were actually tracks of us playing in a studio. We did it for technical reasons. MV had other folks actually sing for them in the studio, if I’m not mistaken. They were faking the whole thing.

#30

Plus, if you will just listen to Taylor’s vocal, you can tell it’s actually her singing live :scream_cat:

#31

Today she still sings live… just without a soul. :smiling_imp:

#32

I recall attending a ‘LIVE’ concert in the Usher Hall Edinburgh many many years ago to see Barbara Dickson ( Made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita) I could tell right from the outset that the only thing LIVE was their presence on stage, The band was faking and she was lip-sinking. We had purchased front row seats which cost a small fortune and I felt in a sense we had been robbed. I had been a huge fan of Barbara up to that point.

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#33

So, if I understand all of this correctly, is it possible that Elvis didn’t really sing all of the songs in his movies… that he was lip synching to his recordings!!!

I don’t know if I can ever watch “Clambake” again now! Way to go ya’all!

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#34

@BanjoBen i agree 100% with you, Ben, I was not trying to compare the video to Millie Vanilli at all. Big difference in doing a “live” awards show and “lip syncing” as to faking vocals on an album or whatever for profit. I really don’t understand why someone would do that and I would have to guess its pretty difficult to get a “record deal”. If you have the talent and ability to make great music why would you WANT to fake it? I do not have any personal knowledge of how things work on “shows” this is my “Mr. Spock” interpretation.

@jw11 I’m sure that’s going to be true in any movie where singing is involved. I would have to guess that they may be actually singing while doing that particular scene, but sound stages are “HUGE” so I don’t think the sound would project very well, big difference in “lip-synching” your own voice as to having “somebody” else’s voice in place. I wouldn’t let it deter you from any of Elvis’ movies. :wink:

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#35

This would be like virtually any music video out there, unless there are clips from the studio spliced in, of course.

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#36

If Milli Vanilli were an act today, they could get by without having to have someone sing for them. The tuning software is so advanced now that literally anyone can be made to sound great.