Beyonce' Not Lip Synching? A professional musician goes deep on the inaugural non-scandal.

[Cha]

It seems Beyonce WAS NOT lip synching!

I'm hoping for a flurry of retractions. A Marine spokesperson said yesterday that she couldn't confirm or deny that Beyoncé wasn't lip-syncing, and pretty much every media outlet assumed that was an admission. On NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams said that Beyoncé wasn’t lip-syncing, but, “in effect, lip-syncing”; Jon Stewart's jokes took it as a given that she faked it; NPR is wringing its hands NPR-ily.

It's bunk. That lady was singing live. She sang to a prerecorded track—a canned band—and perhaps there was a guide vocal in her earpiece, audible only to her, but that was absolutely a genuine performance.

Kelly Clarkson performed to a prerecorded track, too. So did the choir.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/01/beyonce_lip_syncing_at_the_inauguration_musician_mike_doughty_says_she_was.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_chunky

h/t The Obama Diary

[rocktivity]

1. The fact that we have yet to hear from Beyonce herself speaks for itself.

P.S. Singing to a guide vocal through an earpiece (with or without prerecorded music) counts as lip synching, too -- especially if the mike is deliberately unplugged. I didn't hear it live, but the the video sounds to me at times like there's a duet going on.


rocktivity

[dsc]

2. I sing in a choir and we sing to a prerecorded accompyment often

when our piano player can't make it. That isn't lipsincing.

[rocktivity]

4. It's not lip synching if the prerecorded accompaniment doesn't include vocals.

Last edited Thu Jan 22, 2015, 09:01 PM - Edit history (2)

And I presume you don't have someone pretending to play the piano.


rocktivity

[dsc]

6. apparently hers didn't either

she had her vocal piped in. It would be the equivalent of having a speaker facing you on stage. We have done that too so we could hear what was going out.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. Pre-recorded music

cannot be accompaniment. You're singing and responding to the recording, not the other way around. The choir director has NO artistic control via tempo variation which is essential. Back when I was directing choir, if the accompanist couldn't make it we sang a capella -- something ALL choirs need to be able to do at any time.

[tblue37]

24. Maybe she is just saying,

"Please proceed."

[RockaFowler]

30. Isn't that like Karaoke??

There is always a backing vocal when you sing Karaoke. Other people hear it when you sing. It kind of makes you sound better. Not that you weren't singing. Just that you had a little help from another singer

[rightsideout]

3. I agree. No lip-syncing.

How can she possibly match up all the different inflections throughout the song so perfectly if she was lip-syncing.

Did you notice she took her earpiece out the third of the way through? It was probably bothering her and she decided to just go with it.

Of course I'm just now catching up with this and probably missed a whole thread on it earlier today.

[Cha]

7. No, I didn't know that she took her earpiece out about a third

of the way.. Interesting! thanks for the infor, rightsideout.

There was a big thread or more on it.. here's one..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022248209

The jackals at the presser today asked about it, of course.

[WinkyDink]

29. It's called "acting."

[WinkyDink]

28. Hello? Singers know their own inflections; it's called "practice." Even karaoke singers can do this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2267348/Beyonce-backlash-Pavarotti-mimed-freezing-cold.html

[backscatter712]

5. Even if she was lip-syncing, think about the conditions of Inauguration Day.

We're talking about Washington DC in January. Maybe on a good day it was 30 or 40 degrees out. I'm not sure what the temperature was that day, but cold weather is rough on singers and musicians.

IIRC, we had a very similar conversation on Obama's first inauguration, because people did lip-sync their performances, and the band wasn't actually playing - the music over the speakers was recorded. There's a reason for that - it was damned cold that day, somewhere in the 20's. Singers trying to perform in that weather can't sing well, can't carry those high notes. Musicians find their instruments end up out of tune and sounding horrible. In a nutshell, it just doesn't work well, hence the lip-syncing and the recordings.

I imagine that when the weather's not too cold, the musicians and singers may insist on doing live performances when they can, but in an event like Inauguration Day that's planned months in advanced, carefully choreographed, with not just a Plan B, but Plans C, D and E when things go pear-shaped, of course they're going to have a lip-sync performance practiced, recorded and ready to go.

[unblock]

8. i agree that the audio is rough. you can hear the "incorrect" mike distance at several points.

if it was lip-synched, the pre-recorded vocals we heard sounded an awful lot like a single-take outdoor performance with a hand-held mike.

[Cha]

9. ...

Good to know.

[mfcorey1]

10. Most singers will not expose their vocal chords to those temperatures, especially if they have a big

event like the half time show at the super bowl close to that date. I can't figure out what the big deal is. It was her voice and it did not detract from the inauguration. Don't let the media whip you into a frenzy over foolishness. Concentrate on some real news.

[MiniMe]

17. It wasn't that cold during the inaugeration

But the temp has gone down considerably since than.

[mfcorey1]

18. So say you.

[justiceischeap]

21. Um, compared to the last inauguration and the weather we're currently having in DC

it wasn't that cold. It was in the upper 40's. We're currently in the lower 20's.

[mfcorey1]

23. I think the artist must have the choice of the exposure they want for their vocal chords. It was

choice and so be it. Shame that this is the story chaser of the week. The track sounded just like her to me.Moving on to gun control of assault weapons.

[starroute]

25. The temperature in DC at noon was only in the upper 30's

The link is to a graph at Weather Underground which shows that it had barely gotten up to 40 at 1 pm. Beyonce was scheduled to sing at 12:34. when it was about 38 or 39 degrees.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/histGraphAll?day=21&year=2013&month=1&ID=KDCA&type=3&width=614

[flamingdem]

11. Sometimes it's half and half

but for sure she had the vocal track down so she could dominate that ... but it's a security when performing in critical conditions.

[pinboy3niner]

12. Who cares?

I don't. The Inauguration was beautiful, and the vocal artists were the least of it.

[Cha]

14. Yes, it was the most Beautiful Inauguration, pinboy!

However, it seemed interesting to me that there was even evidence that she wasn't lip synching since the corp media ran with the "fact" that she was. It was even asked about in the presser today with Jay Carney.

"Press secretary Carney: No discussion with Obama over Beyoncé lip-sync flap"

Justin Sink – 01/23/13 01:55 PM ET
“I’m glad you guys are focused on the important issues of the day here,” Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.…

[Zoeisright]

13. Who the fuck cares?

Thousands of Americans die every day in this country, from lack of health care to guns. And THIS is what people are talking about?

Christ on a crutch.

[Cha]

15. Thank you for kicking the thread, Zoeisright. Actually talking about a lot

of different things.

[kestrel91316]

31. + 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000

[Lil Missy]

16. I don't give a shit if she did lip sync. WHO CARES??

[bigwillq]

19. I don't care if she lip synched here

It's a tough song to do outside, in the cold, and it really shouldn't be a botch job for such an important event.
I would rather have it pre-recorded then sound awful.

Whitney lip synched her Super Bowl anthem but it didn't take away from the experience.

[tjwash]

22. Of course the screamers on the right neglected to mention during their poutrage...

He is supposed to take his hat off during the National Anthem as well.

[kestrel91316]

32. Hand goes over the heart during the Pledge.

I am not aware of a requirement that it be done during the national anthem.

Just more phony patriotism to me.

[Tippy]

26. One would think it has never been done before....

What is with people it was bueatiful no matter how it was done on that day...We all know Beyoncé has a great voice and can hold her own with the best of them...Thank you for your beautiful song, rethugs are just pissed off that the entire thing went off so well..

[WinkyDink]

27. She may well have "sung live," but that is not what went over the airwaves. :-)

[CBGLuthier]

33. If a professional musician says it then it must be true. Or maybe not

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014379201

Washington (CNN) - An inaugural official who asked not to be identified told CNN Wednesday that pop star Beyoncé lip-synced her performance on Inauguration Day.

They should have ordinary people sing who do not have "reputations" of "greatness" that they can not maintain.