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"Cheating" in Music

robgb

Genius. Idiot. You Decide.
If anyone ever accuses you of cheating because you use technology to compensate for your lack of playing skill, just know that in McCartney 321, he talks about how they would slow the tape down to half speed, play a difficult piano part an octave lower, then speed it up again so that it sounded like he had amazing keyboard chops. That's the end of the discussion as far as I'm concerned.
 
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What about autotune on singers?
Does it sound good? That's all that counts, in my book. But I'm not particularly a fan of the "autotune" sound. As for using it to fix vocals, I remember hearing that Don Henley of the Eagles would edit his vocals sometimes down to the syllable to get them as perfect as possible -- and this was in the days before autotune. And comping vocals has long been in practice. So I'm not sure that autotune is any different. It just makes things easier.
 
My way of cheating would be for orchestration. I'd rather record each section separately than together, so I have maximum mixing control. I can also have additional stuff layered that flouts all orchestration convention.
 
I have no issue with autotune. It can't make a bad singer sound good. It can make a pitchy performance sound more accurate, sure, but that's only one facet of good singing. Classical performances have been splicing multiple takes pretty much since the beginning of classical recordings. I think there's an art to recording, and there's an art to performing. They are two separate arts. Delivering the best final product and making that emotional connection is the point, and it's all that matters imo
 
What about lip syncing during live performances?
If there's alot of intense physical work like dancing that's needed, then I would say lip syncing makes sense, because it's impossible to sing really well and dance and move around alot at the same time. However, if it's just an unplugged solo singing....then....lol
 
It can't make a bad singer sound good.
careful ... :P .. there are other ways to achieve that

I remember more than once cutting and editing bad performance of singers for hours until is sounded good - in some occasions we went down cutting and blending individual syllables from different takes into 1 mash of line .. awful .. but it did the trick.

So what about cutting together different takes of a performance?
 
careful ... :P .. there are other ways to achieve that

I remember more than once cutting and editing bad performance of singers for hours until is sounded good - in some occasions we went down cutting and blending individual syllables from different takes into 1 mash of line .. awful .. but it did the trick.

So what about cutting together different takes of a performance?
In a recording though, I'm totally ok with that. You're trying to craft a work of art. Doesn't really matter how much of it is fake. You're trying to achieve your vision

As far as live performance goes, that's really up to the audience to decide how far they're willing to accept. Some performers are pretty much openly lip syncing but maybe it's more about the spectacle, the experience, the visuals, the energy. Do they deliver for their target audience? That's really all that matters to me.
 
Im a guitarist, how could I create a piece on my computer that i cannot play and say it represents me? If i did, would i wind up on the cover of guitar world one day? I mean, the recording exists and i composed it. Pretending is pretending.
 
Im a guitarist, how could I create a piece on my computer that i cannot play and say it represents me? If i did, would i wind up on the cover of guitar world one day? I mean, the recording is real and i composed it. Pretending is pretending.
I think that depends how you market yourself. If you're marketing yourself as a shredding guitar god and can't shred, then that could become problematic. But if you're marketing yourself primarily as a writer and producer, then manipulating loops or samples you've recorded yourself would seem totally fine to me.
 
I think that depends how you market yourself. If you're marketing yourself as a shredding guitar god and can't shred, then that could become problematic. But if you're marketing yourself primarily as a writer and producer, then manipulating loops or samples you've recorded yourself would seem totally fine to me.
So fake artist are not a problem as long as there singers or rappers.
 
Im a guitarist, how could I create a piece on my computer that i cannot play and say it represents me? If i did, would i wind up on the cover of guitar world one day? I mean, the recording exists and i composed it. Pretending is pretending.
We hear a whole lot of music played by a computer all around us. How often do we hear a singer hit a high note in the studio but then never hit it live? Even incredible talents like Kelly Clarkson do that from time to time. If you actually believe that it's only acceptable to put something on a record that you can play, i have some really bad news for you.

I do take your point that it's wrong to pretend you can do something you can't, but most people listening to a record understand that what they're hearing is produced, and that understanding makes it ok. It would be a different story if you claimed to be the best and pointed to something fake as proof
 
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