Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
#1Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 6:44amIn Ted Chapin's book EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE about the birth of the musical FOLLIES, which I have just completed, he describes the pre-recording of vocals to be played back along with the actual singing of those vocals during performances. He describes this practice as "sweetening" the sound, especially during dance numbers when the singer-dancers might be winded. I had no idea such practices were common and view this "sweetening" as cheating. What would prevent this sweetening to be used during any live singing by a particular actor, at the discretion of the conductor? This meant that the audience was not hearing pure live singing, but rather embellished singing. Is "sweetening" still practiced today, or does the use of body mikes, not available at the time of FOLLIES, make this practice unnecessary? To me this is one more instance of the whole problematic use of amplification in the theatre.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#2Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 6:51am
I'm sure someone will be able to cite examples but I'm surprised to hear this happened in the original FOLLIES because I thought it was a recent thing (there have been discussions about this relatively recently so I assume it is still prevalent).
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#2Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 7:34am
For A Chorus Line, the cut dancers in the opening number (God, I Hope I Get It) sing all of the chorus parts off-stage after that (Sing, One, Hello Twelve, etc.). Any time the full group is singing together. Michael Bennett was big on having his chorus sound as good as they looked. And while this wasn't "pre-recorded" singing, it was definitely "enhancing" the vocal performances onstage.
With Cats, a few years later, they had the "Cats Chorus," which consisted of four offstage mic'd singers (SATB) who sang along with the entire show. Again, not a pre-record, but they were used for all choral numbers to enhance the onstage chorus.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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Updated On: 10/5/11 at 07:34 AM
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husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#3Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 7:54am
^ One of the Cats Chorus was Walter Charles, originally.
Sweetening and click tracks are still common. In Mamma Mia, any time a performer is offstage and not changing clothes, they go into a booth and sing to create the ABBA sound.
Phantom has several places where the singing is pre-recorded and sometimes you get the wrong Christine.
Is it cheating? Well, maybe.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#4Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 7:54am
^ One of the Cats Chorus was Walter Charles, originally.
Sweetening and click tracks are still common. In Mamma Mia, any time a performer is offstage and not changing clothes, they go into a booth and sing to create the ABBA sound.
Phantom has several places where the singing is pre-recorded and sometimes you get the wrong Christine.
Is it cheating? Well, maybe.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#5Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 8:53amThis "sweetening" is not a new thing. The NYC Ballet has used recorded vocals in the "Dance of the Snowflakes" segment of THE NUTCRACKER for many, many years.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#6Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 11:37am
I don't view it as cheating when there are people onstage singing in a group...in that case the "sweetening" is only used to boost the overall sound and give a more pleasing acoustic effect.
HOWEVER...I think when you have someone singing a solo (Christine) and they are just mouthing along to a click track...now THATS cheating.
Yes..I understand the reasoning behind them prerecording the high note at the end of the titular song (even in that case though think its absolutely stupid that they have her mouth it EVERYNIGHT as oppose to her singing it live every night and only using the click on nights her voice isnt fully there)
But the whole thing where they have doubles onstage while the actual Christine and Phantom are offstage and the doubles are mouthing a click track is bullSH*T in my opinion. Forgive me if I am being ignorant but my understanding is that the only thing the Phantom and Christine are doing offstage is basically walking and getting into the boat...why cant they be singing LIVE offstage and have the doubles onstage mouth the words instead of having the audience basically listening to a CD instead of a live show?
"Life in theater is give and take...but you need to be ready to give more then you take..."
krisanthony
Swing Joined: 10/5/11
#7Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 11:43amI know for a fact Jersey Boys uses this.
#8Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 11:55am
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
#9Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 12:18pm
Rumor has it that Liza did not exactly sing all of her numbers live in THE ACT. And then won a Tony Award.
Also Julie Andrews was not hitting those couple of high notes in VICTOR/VICTORIA all by her self.
The original PROMISES PROMISES had pit singers as well.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#10Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 12:19pmThere have always been rumors circulating that That Streisand Woman mouthed "People" to her own recording throughout the run of FUNNY GIRL.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
#11Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 12:55pm
There wasn't much controversy to the use of offstage voices in Promises Promises, Company or Follies--Bennett liked having a biggest possible sound to boost the excitement level of his staging. He also used offstage tappers (miked from the green room) during the tap section of "Who's That Woman?" in Follies to make a bigger sound when the ghosts joined the older ladies.
The first "sweetening" controversy I remember was Liza Minnelli in The Act. See if you can see where her live singing stops and the vocal track kicks in--and where she starts to sing live again during this Tony Award performance of "City Lights":
http://youtu.be/WPfZKFbpcmQ
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#12Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 1:08pm
It's not that uncommon a practice. I hate to say it's just easier for some casts to deal with, but that's been the explanation to me when my music direction work suddenly became recording studio work. I hate pre-recording vocals, but it's a creative decision. Sometimes it's to guarantee an accurate vocal on something exceptional tricky. Other times, it's purely for effect, like recording the voices at the beginning and end of Brigadoon and processing the sound a little.
Off-stage voices/live voices piped in are more common in shows with big dance numbers. The dancers still sing, but the singers who aren't in the scene help balance the song out from the wings.
#13Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 1:41pm
It's used in the current revival of Follies during the Loveland sequence.
This is not an uncommon practice at all. It happens all the time, especially in musicals with big production numbers.
A clue as to when this might happen? The conductor puts on headphones. He's probably listening to a click track to line the orchestra up with something pre-recorded.
In the scores of some shows that originally used clicks, even when licensed by MTI or whomever, it indicates "+Click" or "+Tape" when the pre-recorded vocals are supposed to come in. It happens everywhere you turn in The Producers, for example. There's no way Hairspray didn't use sweetening.
This is also used to enhance the sound of the orchestra. Prime example I can think of? Spring Awakening. I don't know how amateur productions are recreating the tracks... I wonder if MTI licenses them. They license terrible backing tracks for Rent.
#14Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 1:47pmWhenever the Four Seasons sings a song in Jersey Boys, it's not a quartet; it's a group number.
#15Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 1:55pmBut I believe that it's all sung live in Jersey Boys, just not all on stage.
#16Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:00pm
The original PROMISES PROMISES had pit singers as well.
Didn't the revival also have pit singers?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
SondheimFan5
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/10
#17Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:04pmIt sounds like in the current "Follies" the "breakdown" vocals may be prerecorded because they stop so abruptly.
hyperbole_and_a_half
Leading Actor Joined: 3/21/11
#18Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:05pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRe7UeroWAE
@ 3:56, wish there were a better quality video with better audio so you can clearly hear how incongruous the mixing on that high note is
Updated On: 10/5/11 at 02:05 PM
#19Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:13pm
Pre Recorded vocals/Click Tracks are used a LOT here in the UK especially on tour. The ensemble sing over the top of pre recorded vocals, especially in big dance numbers (i know this as i was in many shows that did this). Over the past few years ive noticed it in Fame, Flashdance, Wedding Singer, Footloose, Grease, We Will Rock You (one of thw worst for using it), Mamma Mia, Hairspray and many more.
Shows on Broadway dont use it as much but they do use it (Hairspray).
The Wedding Singer UK tour had so much.
It's You Wedding Day
Pop The Question
Casualty of Love
Saturday Night
All About the Green
etc all had pre record in.
It's quite common in big dance musicals
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#20Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:14pmnewintown, yes for the most part. But I mean to say that what you hear is not just the four men onstage.
#21Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 2:15pmWell, much of the Tony Awards performances isn't live singing...
MamasDoin'Fine
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/28/08
#23Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 4:13pm
givesmevoice - yes, the Promises revival used offstage singers called the "Orchestra Voices." They had their own YouTube videos and different articles that featured them specifically.
http://www.playbill.com/playblog/2010/06/promises-promises-orchestra-voices-sing-new-york’s-praises-to-lebron-james-video/
#24Pre-recording Vocals to be Played Back During Performance
Posted: 10/5/11 at 4:15pm
I know it's neither a mega-hit nor everyone's favorite, but BROOKLYN THE MUSICAL from 2004-2005 starring Eden Espinosa used some offstage singers. They were credited as "Vocalist"
http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=383057
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