Why the lip-synching?

PurpleThriller

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I know that there are dozens of such threads,but seriously..
Why did Michael overuse lip-synching like that?(not that i am extremely bothered by it or something,but still):
https://youtu.be/8swpZpWNkZI
https://youtu.be/wehgPj1JV60
https://youtu.be/GGCgtmWA4ic
https://youtu.be/nwjyKdTOMPg
https://youtu.be/vjjAqW5GCEo
Is it me or this is way too much lip-synching,considering that he also toured for History during this period,and we all know that the History Tour was anything but live.
It's not that i'm bothered by it but the fact that Mike never ever really sang live again after 1995 (except for The Royal Concert) makes some people seriously question his vocal ability and Mike could have avoided all that by just turning the damn microphone on lol.It's really ridiculous seeing people on YT asking if he could really sing just because they are watching a post 93 performance,and all his shows from 95 and on were never live as I said.
 

AlwaysThere

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Michael Prince said that MJ wanted to sound as close to the record as possible, but I think that’s a cop-out. I think the Bad tour took a toll on his voice, and he simply couldn’t sustain a 2+ hour live show anymore.

Whatever the case, it’s part of the reason his later shows are simply abysmal to me. As you said, the excessive miming has newcomers doubting his capabilities.
 

Themidwestcowboy

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PurpleThriller said:
I know that there are dozens of such threads,but seriously..
Why did Michael overuse lip-synching like that?(not that i am extremely bothered by it or something,but still):
https://youtu.be/8swpZpWNkZI
https://youtu.be/wehgPj1JV60
https://youtu.be/GGCgtmWA4ic
https://youtu.be/nwjyKdTOMPg
https://youtu.be/vjjAqW5GCEo
Is it me or this is way too much lip-synching,considering that he also toured for History during this period,and we all know that the History Tour was anything but live.
It's not that i'm bothered by it but the fact that Mike never ever really sang live again after 1995 (except for The Royal Concert) makes some people seriously question his vocal ability and Mike could have avoided all that by just turning the damn microphone on lol.It's really ridiculous seeing people on YT asking if he could really sing just because they are watching a post 93 performance,and all his shows from 95 and on were never live as I said.
Click to expand...
This is like your 10th thread/topic of discussion about this topic. You’ll get the same answers here as you got in the other threads.
 

mj_frenzy

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Michael Jackson stated that he wanted people to hear his songs in the best possible audio quality (during his performances), meaning as they were recorded in a studio environment for his albums.

Also, it has been said that the first round of accusations against him (1993) had an adverse effect also on his voice.

These accusations led to more medication, more prescription drugs, a worsening of his insomnia, etc, which all of them can deteriorate the health and condition of a singer's voice, even for slow songs that do not require dancing at the same time.
AlwaysThere said:
Michael Prince said that MJ wanted to sound as close to the record as possible, but I think that’s a cop-out. I think the Bad tour took a toll on his voice, and he simply couldn’t sustain a 2+ hour live show anymore.

Whatever the case, it’s part of the reason his later shows are simply abysmal to me. As you said, the excessive miming has newcomers doubting his capabilities.
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@PurpleThriller mainly refers to one-off performances of slow songs (such as, at awards shows).
 

filmandmusic

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I think he wasn’t confident he could hit the notes he wanted to hit, he had some very taxing songs to sing. He then noticed the fans kept screaming and fainting and figured whatever, they adore me anyway.

I also think his voice deteriorated badly from the late 80s onwards
 

filmandmusic

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Ok but that’s a song he sang dozens of time, he has always known he could handle that.
 

Nite Line

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I personally think there was no excuse for lip-syncing as much as Michael did post Dangerous Tour. There was no need to lip-synch at award shows where he was only performing one or two songs. It's embarrassing that he lip-synced Remember The Time while sitting in a chair. There was also no excuse for lip-syncing 99% of the History Tour.

I think Michael got a bit complacent in the 90s and thought he could get away with lip-syncing because he is Michael Jackson. I understand that his live vocals declined after the gruelling Bad Tour, but he still had a great voice, as evident by the leaked She's Out Of My Life rehearsal from the 1999 MJ & Friends concerts.

 
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rolerprod

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his adult vocal technique wasn't sustainable for anything other than studio singing, doing that gritty distorted sound night after night would leave him voiceless real quick.

and like i said in past posts about his vocals, by the time this is it came around i think he realized he needed to get as "classical" as he can with his technique so he can sustain the live singing and from the singing snippets you hear on this is it(stuff that wasn't dubbed) he's doing just that.

and by the way he was well aware of his problematic technique because in his warm up tapes he's using a classical approach so no distortion and aiming for resonance and vibrato
 
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SeeingVoices

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Honestly? I just don’t think he was capable anymore after Dangerous. When he did decide to sing live it was sub standard at best. There was glimpses and flashes of great singing but it was no longer sustained. It’s mostly likely a combination of years of vocal damage from years of signing and the vocal style he developed from Bad onwards.

I think the HIStory tour only happened as he was contractually obligated. The show had to go on despite his vocal condition. While the tour was hindered by lip syncing, I think it would have come off far worse if he was struggling to get through the set with scratchy and off key vocals. When his mic is on it’s painful to listen to sometimes.

I always think there was most likely a choice that needed to be made. MJ is synonymous with dancing and putting on a show. In order to meet this expectation signing had to be sacrificed.

At some award shows he’s not even got a handheld or headset, so it’s not like he was hiding the fact he wasn’t singing. That always amused me!

That being said, I think that the live vocals that he produced during TII rehearsals were massively improved. The time away from stage and recording clearly helped to restore his voice.
 
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Nite Line said:
He should have tweaked his performing style to dance less and sing more as he got older.
Click to expand...
Thank God he did not listen to you! 😂 To miss out on all the Dangerous and HIStory dancing would have been such a tragedy!
I think it was a decision, to compensate for all the lip-syncing he went all out on dancing :love:
 

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SeeingVoices said:
Honestly? I just don’t think he was capable anymore after Dangerous. When he did decide to sing live it was sub standard at best. There was glimpses and flashes of great singing but it was no longer sustained. It’s mostly likely a combination of years of vocal damage from years of signing and the vocal style he developed from Bad onwards.

I think the HIStory tour only happened as he was contractually obligated. The show had to go on despite his vocal condition. While the tour was hindered by lip syncing, I think it would have come off far worse if he was struggling to get through the set with scratchy and off key vocals. When his mic is on it’s painful to listen to sometimes.

I always think there was most likely a choice that needed to be made. MJ is synonymous with dancing and putting on a show. In order to meet this expectation signing had to be sacrificed.

At some award shows he’s not even got a handheld or headset, so it’s not like he was hiding the fact he wasn’t singing. That always amused me!

That being said, I think that the live vocals that he produced during TII rehearsals were massively improved. The time away from stage and recording clearly helped to restore his voice.
Click to expand...
Legally, you have the right to ask for a ticket refund because of lip-syncing.

This actually happened, for example, when Kiss (the American rock band) performed a lip-synced show.

A Kiss fan wanted his money back, and he got his money back (Ticketmaster issued the ticket refund).

One can say that if there was an influx of fans' requests for such ticket refunds (from the very first HIStory concerts), then this would force Michael Jackson to sing live more songs in the following concerts of that tour.
 

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Hiker said:
Thank God he did not listen to you! 😂 To miss out on all the Dangerous and HIStory dancing would have been such a tragedy!
I think it was a decision, to compensate for all the lip-syncing he went all out on dancing :love:
Click to expand...
I love his dancing, but also love his live singing, which I believe is a main part of live shows. If by dancing slightly less, it meant that he was singing live more, then that would have been worth it, in my opinion.
 

SeeingVoices

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mj_frenzy said:
Legally, you have the right to ask for a ticket refund because of lip-syncing.

This actually happened, for example, when Kiss (the American rock band) performed a lip-synced show.

A Kiss fan wanted his money back, and he got his money back (Ticketmaster issued the ticket refund).

One can say that if there was an influx of fans' requests for such ticket refunds (from the very first HIStory concerts), then this would force Michael Jackson to sing live more songs in the following concerts of that tour.
Click to expand...
Really??

The level of lip syncing was unchanged from the 1st to the final show during History?

Im confused by this statement.
 

PurpleThriller

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SeeingVoices said:
Really??

The level of lip syncing was unchanged from the 1st to the final show during History?

Im confused by this statement.
Click to expand...
Yeah,Mike lip-synched 90% of the show from the first concert of the tour to the last concert of it. The massive level of lip-synching stayed unchanged from the very beginning in Prague 96 to the very end in Durban 97.
But that apparently wouldn't have happened if fans would have complained about the overused lip-synching and would have demanded a refund. That way Mike would have been forced to either sing live more or either stop his lip-synching festival from going on tour. Or something would have happened anyway,he wouldn't have been allowed to lip-synch like some damn maniac anymore.
But the fans didn't mind and Mike enjoyed screaming at the top of his lungs like a drunk karaoke man under the playback for over an year I guess 🤣😅
 

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PurpleThriller said:
Yeah,Mike lip-synched 90% of the show from the first concert of the tour to the last concert of it. The massive level of lip-synching stayed unchanged from the very beginning in Prague 96 to the very end in Durban 97.
But that apparently wouldn't have happened if fans would have complained about the overused lip-synching and would have demanded a refund. That way Mike would have been forced to either sing live more or either stop his lip-synching festival from going on tour. Or something would have happened anyway,he wouldn't have been allowed to lip-synch like some damn maniac anymore.
But the fans didn't mind and Mike enjoyed screaming at the top of his lungs like a drunk karaoke man under the playback for over an year I guess 🤣😅
Click to expand...
I doubt many would actually formally complain tbh. For the price of the ticket (which was exceptionally cheap), and despite the lip syncing, it was otherwise an enjoyable show. There were many other elements that still provided tickets holders value for money.

I think being at the show would have been completely different compared with viewing it online. People would have been so charged by the atmosphere, combined with all other elements of the show, that it would have made the lip syncing more forgiving.

If Michael had a choice, he would have never embarked on the HIStory tour. I firmly believe that. He was contractually obliged and regardless of his ability to sing his whole set live, the promoter knew that he would still pull a crowd. Based on his vocal shape during History he wasn’t capable of delivering worthy live vocals. Should have he toured? Probably not but he really had no choice. Recording some new love vocals may have helped to make it less obvious, but many would have probably complained that he was being deceptive.

He was never really going to win though no matter what he decided to do. Cancel the tour and suffer the financial fallout, media backlash plus disappointing fans. Dance less and concentrate on vocals, but causal fans would be disappointed by the lack of dancing. Sing and dance 100% and sound horrific doing it?

The mic feed which was leaked a few weeks ago doesn’t demonstrate to me that he was purposefully singing over the playback. Record yourself syncing to a track with earphones in and you’ll notice that you’re signing without realising it. It’ll sound breathless and distorted, much like what we’ve heard from the mic fed. There’s a distinct contrast from when he’s miming to switching to live. I think it’s unfair to say that what we hear from the leaked mic feed is a true representation of his voice.
 

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even if they complained mike didn't have any vocal stamina by the time history came around its evident by those leaked multitracks and people talking as if he could have sang even 4 songs live is ridicules he was very pitchy and distorted singing anything on the history tour and most of the time he didn't even sing the full songs just a short snippet so it wouldn't happen anyways
 

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If Michael was around today, he wouldn't get away with excessive lip-syncing. He would be torn to shreds by the media and people on social media.
 

dethorro

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Nite Line said:
If Michael was around today, he wouldn't get away with excessive lip-syncing. He would be torn to shreds by the media and people on social media.
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As sad as it is, he probably would have used real-time pitch correction, as is customary in today’s day and age. So, no lip-synching needed.
 
Lacra

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What always surprised me were the short parts where he didn't lip sync. Like the In The Closet part on the HIStory tour.

So I guess he didn't really try to hide the fact that he lip syncs, but he still wanted to insert some fanservice?
 

PurpleThriller

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dethorro said:
As sad as it is, he probably would have used real-time pitch correction, as is customary in today’s day and age. So, no lip-synching needed.
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It sounds horrible but I rather have him dead than pitch correcting his vocals.
I always thought pitch correction is for people who can't sing like Justin Bieber (in my opinion).
 

Themidwestcowboy

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rolerprod said:
his adult vocal technique wasn't sustainable for anything other than studio singing, doing that gritty distorted sound night after night would leave him voiceless real quick.

and like i said in past posts about his vocals, by the time this is it came around i think he realized he needed to get as "classical" as he can with his technique so he can sustain the live singing and from the singing snippets you hear on this is it(stuff that wasn't dubbed) he's doing just that.

and by the way he was well of his problematic technique because in his warm up tapes he's using a classical approach so no distortion and aiming for resonance and vibrato
Click to expand...
I’ve said this before, but this is exactly why The Victory Tour will always be my favorite MJ tour as far as live singing is concerned. It’s the perfect amalgamation of pre thriller vocal style and post thriller vocal style. The Thriller songs are sung so beautifully and clear with minimal raspiness and he used distortion as an embellishments here and there. He was still able to hit high notes night after night, effortlessly without any strain and when he did add grit and distortion it was done tastefully.
 
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