Anything wrong with lip syncing?
Everyone expects their favourite song artistes to be able to perform well during ‘live’ events. Of course, I’d expect the same for those I like, namely L`arc~en~Ciel, Perfume, Minori Chihara, May’n, etc.
From DVDs, I know Minorin could perform well ‘live’. As for May’n, the proof is there for everyone at AFA08 2nd day. She totally blew my mind away with the superb vocals that render her CD versions tasteless. L`arc~en~Ciel on the other hand, almost always sing it differently from their CD versions, but Hyde gets the feeling of the songs every single time, so that’s forgivable.
I had some people telling me on why Perfume have to lip sync, and why couldn’t they sing their songs ‘live’. Many questions come with:
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“Couldn’t Nakata vocode on the spot like how Toshiko (capsule’s vocalist) does it?”
I knew there was a reason, but I couldn’t phrase it at that point of time.
Well, not anymore. I just realised on why Perfume doesn’t perform their songs with them actually singing.
For capsule fans, remember how Toshiko -always- sings with a corded microphone? It’s because the vocoder and the sound mixer can only work with a corded mike.
Notice that Perfume -always- performs with a cordless microphone? Now, even if Yasutaka Nakata was there during all of their ‘live’ events, he cannot vocode all 3 of their voices at the same time, even if the vocoder could work on cordless microphones. Hence, it doesn’t really matter if they could maintain their voice while dancing; the fact is that there’s no way the vocoder could work for them during ‘live’ performances. The best they could do is to have their pre-recorded voice broadcast, and have them sing over their pre-recorded voice. They couldn’t do instantaneous vocoding like Toshiko.
Of course, there’s another underlying reason to add as well. You’ll probably understand if you’ve done some form of dance routine in your life, or have tried to speak right after a strenuous exercise.
If not, here’s a test:
1) Do push-ups, as many as you possibly could; for the normal male, about 50-60 straight. For females, probably reduce the amount of push-ups.
2) Try to speak as you normally could while doing the push-ups.
Notice your voice would waver as you start to pant. The same goes for Perfume, if they were to belt out 10+ songs straight, like their ‘GAME LIVE TOUR’ or ‘BudoukaaaaaaN!!!’. For short performances like Kouhaku Utagassen or Music Station, they only need to perform one song, hence they have used the pre-recorded method.
So, yes, Perfume can only lip sync during most of ‘live’ performances ; because there’s no other choice. In fact, they do sing ‘live’ of certain songs that don’t really need the vocoder, like ‘Perfume’, ‘Computer Driving’, ‘Foundation’ and ‘Jenny wo Gokigen Naname’.
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Even if we were to assume that there was a technical reason for why a signal transferred by a wireless microphone was unsuitable for processing, it is a peculiar chain of reasoning to conclude that a band cannot sing because it has wireless microphones. At the point where you are not singing, the wireless microphone is a prop and could be replaced with a carrot. As a prop it is not leading the decision to sing but following it.
In musicals and pop performances you frequently see singing and dancing managed successfully without need for lip syncing. Presumably this is accomplished by being young, fit, and managing the physical demands of the performance.
I agree that as time goes by, the wireless microphone starts to act more like a prop to them, for performance reasons. Also, like I’ve said earlier on, their normal singing voice doesn’t fit the vocoded sounds made by the actual song, even if they actually sing it. Perfume performed in Kouhaku Utagassen, and even though they sung it ‘live’, they are, in fact, backing up their pre-recorded vocoded voice. Hence they didn’t really sing much, or need to belt out enough vocals.
Regarding the part of “In musicals and pop performances you frequently see singing and dancing managed successfully without need for lip syncing”, Perfume’s dance steps are very sharp and abrupt frequently, and breaks the voice more sharply, as compared to normal pop dances. Try comparing Perfume’s steps with, say, BoA or Namie Amuro, for example.
Granted, Perfume’s charm is not solely based on their voice, but their overall performance. I can only explain from being involved in the production of concerts.
if you heard the acoustic version of computer city. i think you will know why.
it was erm really a little too sweet.
I think Perfume are leading a new way of music performance and their style are way too hard to compare with the traditional way of sing and dance. You need to understand the Music X Dance X Vocoded style in Perfume’s performance in order to totally accept the fact that they lip-sync. I personally think that their style are pretty cool and the fact that people accept them to perform lip-sync Live on stage. Is about the dance, is about the music, and the vocoded vocal became part of the rhythm that compliments Nakata’s creations. Cheers to Perfume.
@jim
Wow, that’s a really good explanation; cheers to you as well, for understanding Perfume’s situation ;)