Sharpshooter, I don't consider visual reproduction of the performance that he, himself, had previously recorded to be "cheating." For one thing, it wouldn't be "him" making that production decision, anyway. It's been happening on film and video since they were invented and is a response to technical difficulties or impossibilities to have the best of both worlds, one usually created in the recording studio and the other performed before an audience. It is a necessary compromise in the interest of bridging the audio and the visual. A ridiculous amount of musical performances on t.v. variety shows were mimed in the past. Some didn't even bother placing microphones around the performer to provide a nod towards verisimiltude. The viewer was largely oblivious to these technical conundrums and obvious clues and attributed the entire spectacle to a kind of magic, anyway. In my opinion, the enormous breakthroughs in audio recording technology beginning in the late 1950's ushered in an age when a lot of popular music, especially, was better coming from the recording studio than it was being performed live. This is very different from classical music, though although, even there, there are a lot of recording tricks being used that we are not aware of. But then, "Autotune" and other very bad things happened and pop has been on a downward slide ever since, now near, what would have to be, a bottom. |