Was it live or was it mimed?

The answer is now known, but the discussion at http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/358943-inauguration-audio.html rather reminds me of the Joyce Hatto scandal.  Not so much what was done on this occasion, but more the confident pronouncements of people who were later proved totally wrong.

Of course if I'd not come down on the correct side of the discussion I'd probably not be drawing attention to it!

(The matter under discussion is the performance of the Williams piece at the Inauguration the other day - now revealed to have been pre-recorded).

Millie Vanillie were just ahead of their time 

the Inauguration the other day - now revealed to have been pre-recorded).

Did something happen? Can't say that I'd noticed myself.... 

On the same technical subject though, we went to see EGBDF the other week. Have a look at the second to last para. of the review, and bear in mind that this is in the Olivier (good acoustic from the stage). I'm amazed that the reviewer didn't pick up exactly how 'integrated' the orchestra really were, although you could hardly avoid it at the end - but a lot of the cues they played were prerecorded, and indoors, in a relatively dry acoustic it was actually very hard to tell a lot of the time - really good PA.

The real give-away was at the end though - orchestra starts to play for real, but they are being led from a track with relatively few instruments in. And gradually they leave the stage, whilst the music continues with more and more replaced instruments in the backing track - until the live players have all gone! The whole production, which looks very impressive in the theatre, only lasts an hour but it was well worth it - just for the sound and light show.

And I must say that for live orchestral music, the Olivier stage in the National Theatre sounds a lot better than the absolutely appalling stage in the Barbican Centre does - even though the latter has had a fortune spent on it. And in the Olivier, you can even have the luxury of spinning the orchestra around!

oh the things you miss when you have to work

I missed that the status (is it memorex?) of  Ma's (Yo-Yo) (Mr. Ma?) performance had become an issue . . . I have some interesting friends and one of these needed a ride to car dealership where he was purchased a new (to him) vehicle rather then replacing tires on his old one (which he was able to sell for more then trade in value privately) and caught the inauguration on a huge LCD screen, nearly life size

an experience that, in its way, informs this debate . . . i.e. was 'my' inauguration experience as 'valid' as those braving the cold?

In any case it was fairly obvious that performers where not producing stuff I heard . . .

As, when I lived in Nashville a decade ago, I derived a fair amount of disposable income from engineering and editing this very type of thing I'd be a bit hypocritical to criticize it . . . and in point of fact I merely shrugged and went 'that's interesting' . . . sound reinforcement and recording has come a long way, technically, from where I started. 

as technical reproduction has improved, while adequate performance execution remains the same (and continues to interfere with showmanship) this was and is inevitable (and not particularly 'new' . . . I've worked on a lot of 'live' theater productions (dance, drama . . . I do not recall any opera) that blended pre-recorded with live)

in any case we have now long passed the point where an uneducated unsophisticated audience (the 'pop', profitable audience by definition) will not prefer the 'memorex' to complex (even chaotic) live . . .

D C in January . . . outside . . . I would not bring my third string acoustic guitar into that setting . . . one of the many reasons I'm not rich and famous is that if requested to perform under those conditions my immediate response would have been . . .'You're crazy, at probable temperature I couldn't play anything I'd be willing to listen to!'

In an early Stones video Charlie Watts did not even make the effort to pretend to be hitting the drums let alone syncing accurately with the tune . . . it was a performance for which I gave him 'props' for all these years (assuming of course that it was intentional)

 I'm not sure the conscious intent was to 'fool' anyone and and people should have only been 'fooled' through, either or both, ignorance or 'willing suspension of disbelief' which is a necessary audience participation at any 'live' performance in any case.

Lets not confuse musical ability etc with the music/entertainment industry.  As has been said this has been going on for years.

I have FOH engineer mates who have to mix the band so that they aren't heard over the backing track (and sometimes the lead singer)

I once sent a band to another state (and for reasons too many too say now) they had to perform with a roadie who mimed as lead singer and a miming keyboard player to a drum & brass/string track.  The only live stuff was the guitar, bass & backing vocals.

Did they want to do it - no.  Did the audience love it - yep and booked them twice more.

Is this morally right?  Not sure it matters.

I certainly get sick of 'musicians' coming in to record saying 'keep music live' then wanting another retake, drop in, or overdub - and lets not mention pitch correction - but yep lets keep music live

Caveat Emptor or maybe Nil Illegitemi Carborundum

Is this morally right?  Not sure it matters.

I think it varies...

A band miming to tracks that they actually recorded - well, not desirable but not actually immoral...

Stand-ins miming to a band backing track recorded by different members? No, that's 'passing off', and is morally unacceptable, as far as I'm concerned. Does it actually matter? Well, so many immoral acts that on the face of it are far worse get carried out, that maybe it doesn't, in the big picture.

Singer with a backing (or even a complete) track - as long as the singer is actually singing, I don't think that's a problem, even if not actually doing it live. I mean, everybody's entitled to a sore throat, aren't they?

Orchestra playing part of a set, and walking off while it's still playing? - well, that's an effect, and if it's carried off well it's very entertaining. No moral issue at all.

Yo-Yo Ma had some interesting comments about how/why this was done in a short interview on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program on Friday:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99816993 .  There's a link to hear his comments on the page.

He's certain that playing live would have been a "4½-minute disaster."