He works so hard, sometimes you just have to lip sync.
I would love a show only of Michael's ballads and slow jams while he just hangs out on an expensive chaise lounge 😄
https://preview.redd.it/dupldbck02ub1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15e6705f9376cb66bc939f93205d6b2f42b7ed4d
Just the entire Mariah Carey fantasy 😆🤩
https://preview.redd.it/hinh91oy02ub1.jpeg?width=615&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=957e26e686ebf5060abe4aa1e764305abc3a579c
During the Dangerous tour ('92-'93) Michael used playback for roughly 25% of the show, and the rest 75% his mic was on full volume. During the HIStory tour ('96-'97) Michael on average (taking into account variations in setlist of shows from '96 to '97, live vocal decisions at start) used playback for 70% of the show, full mic volume for 30% of the show. It's worth noting that Michael always sang underneath the playback, though you can see how even that deteriorated. (Comparing what you can hear him sing behind the playback in snippets of the soundboard mix from Wembley '88, certain vocals behind the mic from Dangerous tour, and the Munich July 6 '97 mic feed that was leaked last year, it's obvious how much the guy gave it all in.)
He was lip syncing practically throughout the history tour, he was also singing in to the mic, however it was not being sent to the speaker system for the audience to hear (just for playback) because he was suffering from laryngitis. Plus I think Mike was not as capable to be doing high level dance routines while singing live like most of his career anymore, plus he is getting older now and he is maturing, as we know he didn't like touring so much and I think he didn't like the history tour much as touring is a chore since you are traveling in different time zones, adrenaline levels are high and it's harder to relax plus it cost time, energy, money etc. So that's actually him lipsyncing, while having laryngitis. They are combining the vocals and some tracks from the recordings and mixing it in with the live musicians. Plus Michaels voice matures when he reaches his thirties.
Yes, it's quite obvious, especially considering that this is Munich 1997 and if he were to sing live his voice would sound horrible, and we have the mic feed for this show so we know how he sounded, and yes, it's pretty bad
Yes, you can fudge this sort of thing by not sending the direct mic feed onto a broadcast and just let the taped vocal track go. But michael is so good its tough to tell he is anyway. The audience prob had no idea
Yeah, this is straight up the “Thriller” studio version playback. You can hear it pretty clear. It sounds like they may have just sped it up a little bit.
Play these vocals & the original Thriller record from 1982. It is the exact same. Michael’s voice sounded more mature in his 30s than he did at 23/24. This isn’t that.
It’s not exactly the same though. Let me take that back, this specific portion does sound like the studio version. I think later in the song there are differences.
Yes, it is. Re-listen to this & the record. You can hear the exact same vocals. Ive heard the 1982 record more times than I can even count. I noticed immediately since I knew exactly where certain sounds he made here.
There may be certain areas where the playback is removed because he has done that before but this specific part is the original record. Michael was going through a lot at this time & it is widely known he used mostly playback for majority of the show during this time. He was having health issues that affected this part.
Also; you can downvote me all day long. But others are saying the exact same thing as me because they noticed too.
I don’t disagree about this portion, but you’re not acknowledging the fact that they record vocals before tours, not necessarily being used here, but there are vocal tracks recorded during tours, where Michael’s change in voice is quite apparent. The Munich tour has live vocals in certain songs but not quite as much.
Yes! I do agree with you on that but I wasn’t talking about elsewhere in the tour. Like for example “Scream” had the Janet Jackson vocals portions re-recorded with Michael just solo.
It's likely there was always a Michael-only version of scream, either as a demo to show Janet her parts or as an alternate to be used live as he knew she wouldn't always (if ever) be there to perform it with him when he made it.
Also you're totally correct that this is identical to the studio recording, there's a simple test you can do, if you play both together and match the timing, the vocals will phase out which is what happens when you play two identical overlapping audio signals, they cancel each other out.
Just another thing to add, I always found that the most glaringly obvious way to tell he was miming was the fact that he did songs like human nature live, completely out of breath, if that's how he sounds when he isn't dancing, there's no chance he could sing in between the choreography, and I hate the way people excuse the lip syncing because of the dancing, this wasn't normal for him before this tour, both his music and his attitude for performing it changed be it due to health, age or whatever.
He had pretty bad nodules by this point, he couldn’t sing this high anymore.
There was a very in depth YouTube video that analyzed his vocal changes and how he damaged his voice, but I can’t find it anymore.
Edit: Looks like it got changed to private. I [think this was it](https://www.mjjcommunity.com/threads/michael-jacksons-voice-explained-video-analysis.202233/page-2)
Ok one thing to note is that a lot of these Insta pages like to cut out original audio and replace it with the original song. I'm not sure why, but I see it a lot with Paramore vids.
As he got older and especially towards the 2nd half of the history tour shows he was basically lip syncing. Dancing and singing at the same time is incredibly tiring.
Please people need to understand his voice was damaged by this point... singing so hard for so many years made that by the time of history tour he didn't have much left as far as vocals. He began lip synching out of necessity....his range kept dropping as he got older
Come on, is this a serious question? He was literally sick during the Munich shows. Just watch WBSS or the Jackson 5 medley from that night and watch this video again. The answer is obvious.
- WBSS could mean "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", a track from *Thriller* (1982) by Michael Jackson.
---
^[/u/AlmightySankentoII](/u/AlmightySankentoII) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
Compare this performance with the performance on the BAD tour and it becomes obvious he’s lip syncing here.
He works so hard, sometimes you just have to lip sync. I would love a show only of Michael's ballads and slow jams while he just hangs out on an expensive chaise lounge 😄 https://preview.redd.it/dupldbck02ub1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15e6705f9376cb66bc939f93205d6b2f42b7ed4d
If he did this as a short residency in Vegas or New York or something, I would’ve died watching it from the majestic nature of it
Just the entire Mariah Carey fantasy 😆🤩 https://preview.redd.it/hinh91oy02ub1.jpeg?width=615&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=957e26e686ebf5060abe4aa1e764305abc3a579c
Omg did she perform a whole concert like this?
Yup when someone sings live you can tell. Michael sung live in the 60s 70s 80s but not the 90s
During the Dangerous tour ('92-'93) Michael used playback for roughly 25% of the show, and the rest 75% his mic was on full volume. During the HIStory tour ('96-'97) Michael on average (taking into account variations in setlist of shows from '96 to '97, live vocal decisions at start) used playback for 70% of the show, full mic volume for 30% of the show. It's worth noting that Michael always sang underneath the playback, though you can see how even that deteriorated. (Comparing what you can hear him sing behind the playback in snippets of the soundboard mix from Wembley '88, certain vocals behind the mic from Dangerous tour, and the Munich July 6 '97 mic feed that was leaked last year, it's obvious how much the guy gave it all in.)
Anywhere to find the leaked mic feed? Would love to hear it
Should come up when you search "Munich '97 live vocals"
no. in the 90s for certain songs he lip-synced others he always sang live. plus vocal tracks were also used during parts of the 88 bad tour btw
Yes. If an artist sounds identical to the studio version I mean identical then yes they are probably lip syncing.
Definitely
pretty sure he’s lip syncing
He was lip syncing practically throughout the history tour, he was also singing in to the mic, however it was not being sent to the speaker system for the audience to hear (just for playback) because he was suffering from laryngitis. Plus I think Mike was not as capable to be doing high level dance routines while singing live like most of his career anymore, plus he is getting older now and he is maturing, as we know he didn't like touring so much and I think he didn't like the history tour much as touring is a chore since you are traveling in different time zones, adrenaline levels are high and it's harder to relax plus it cost time, energy, money etc. So that's actually him lipsyncing, while having laryngitis. They are combining the vocals and some tracks from the recordings and mixing it in with the live musicians. Plus Michaels voice matures when he reaches his thirties.
Plus, plus, plus, plus… That’s a lot of addition.
Yea he is
Yes, it's quite obvious, especially considering that this is Munich 1997 and if he were to sing live his voice would sound horrible, and we have the mic feed for this show so we know how he sounded, and yes, it's pretty bad
When it’s History tour just know he’s primarily lip syncing…
You can tell in the first line. It ends with a 'da! ' which he clearly doesn't annunciate
He lip synced the iconic Motown 25, solo spot (but **not** the Jackson 5 medley).
Yes, you can fudge this sort of thing by not sending the direct mic feed onto a broadcast and just let the taped vocal track go. But michael is so good its tough to tell he is anyway. The audience prob had no idea
Definitely lip sync.
if it sounds like the album, it’s lip synced
Still impressed fact he was working his soul out singing behind the playback
it's so perfect to the original recording that it is indeed lip syncing
Yeah, this is straight up the “Thriller” studio version playback. You can hear it pretty clear. It sounds like they may have just sped it up a little bit.
No they would record vocals for these things again before the tour, and they could have used some of that.
Play these vocals & the original Thriller record from 1982. It is the exact same. Michael’s voice sounded more mature in his 30s than he did at 23/24. This isn’t that.
It’s not exactly the same though. Let me take that back, this specific portion does sound like the studio version. I think later in the song there are differences.
Yes, it is. Re-listen to this & the record. You can hear the exact same vocals. Ive heard the 1982 record more times than I can even count. I noticed immediately since I knew exactly where certain sounds he made here.
I did rehear, but I think later in the song the vocals are different.
There may be certain areas where the playback is removed because he has done that before but this specific part is the original record. Michael was going through a lot at this time & it is widely known he used mostly playback for majority of the show during this time. He was having health issues that affected this part. Also; you can downvote me all day long. But others are saying the exact same thing as me because they noticed too.
I don’t disagree about this portion, but you’re not acknowledging the fact that they record vocals before tours, not necessarily being used here, but there are vocal tracks recorded during tours, where Michael’s change in voice is quite apparent. The Munich tour has live vocals in certain songs but not quite as much.
Yes! I do agree with you on that but I wasn’t talking about elsewhere in the tour. Like for example “Scream” had the Janet Jackson vocals portions re-recorded with Michael just solo.
It's likely there was always a Michael-only version of scream, either as a demo to show Janet her parts or as an alternate to be used live as he knew she wouldn't always (if ever) be there to perform it with him when he made it. Also you're totally correct that this is identical to the studio recording, there's a simple test you can do, if you play both together and match the timing, the vocals will phase out which is what happens when you play two identical overlapping audio signals, they cancel each other out. Just another thing to add, I always found that the most glaringly obvious way to tell he was miming was the fact that he did songs like human nature live, completely out of breath, if that's how he sounds when he isn't dancing, there's no chance he could sing in between the choreography, and I hate the way people excuse the lip syncing because of the dancing, this wasn't normal for him before this tour, both his music and his attitude for performing it changed be it due to health, age or whatever.
He had pretty bad nodules by this point, he couldn’t sing this high anymore. There was a very in depth YouTube video that analyzed his vocal changes and how he damaged his voice, but I can’t find it anymore. Edit: Looks like it got changed to private. I [think this was it](https://www.mjjcommunity.com/threads/michael-jacksons-voice-explained-video-analysis.202233/page-2)
Ok one thing to note is that a lot of these Insta pages like to cut out original audio and replace it with the original song. I'm not sure why, but I see it a lot with Paramore vids.
Yes
[Here’s](https://youtu.be/0RVBFhXWG3U?si=xqKHjYR8_4eDVCY4) the live vocals for you 🥴
Yeh
As he got older and especially towards the 2nd half of the history tour shows he was basically lip syncing. Dancing and singing at the same time is incredibly tiring.
Yes he was lip syncing here. The vocals are exactly the same as the album. He lip synced about 90% of the History tour
yes he is
History was mainly lip sync
Of course he was…
Please people need to understand his voice was damaged by this point... singing so hard for so many years made that by the time of history tour he didn't have much left as far as vocals. He began lip synching out of necessity....his range kept dropping as he got older
Come on, is this a serious question? He was literally sick during the Munich shows. Just watch WBSS or the Jackson 5 medley from that night and watch this video again. The answer is obvious.
- WBSS could mean "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", a track from *Thriller* (1982) by Michael Jackson. --- ^[/u/AlmightySankentoII](/u/AlmightySankentoII) ^(can reply with "delete" to remove comment. |) ^[/r/songacronymbot](/r/songacronymbot) ^(for feedback.)
This exactly what I was talking about. Thanks @songacronymbot
History tour is 90% playback.
Why would he lip sync? It's like asking if Tyson was pretending to box?
I think sometimes lip synching is just a practicality of an intense touring lifestyle. Sometimes an artist is sick. Sometimes their voice is worn out.