Last year the EBU descided to let pre-reccorded background vocals to be used. Some of us thought it was a pandemic exception but it's aloud this year as well. How do You all feel about this? Personally I'm not that thrilled to be honest, I think the contest looses a wee bit of it's identity. Also, if the main singer (who still have to sing live) is weak he or she can now drown their own voice in a bunch of pre-reccorded vocals. I don't like the direction in which this is taking us...
Pre-reccorded background vocals
- Thread starter Chalphon
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I do feel that some songs sound worse with the live backing vocals (sometimes they're too loud, or the vocalists are off key) so in part I'm glad it's here to stay (well, for this year anyway).
I don't agree with their use for 'drowning out' the lead singer though, that should be stopped when it's seen.
I don't agree with their use for 'drowning out' the lead singer though, that should be stopped when it's seen.
NeoTen
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Vocal performance keeps dropping cause of, drugs, way too hard choreos, so many are over-singing, relying on vocal synths since the 90s, tinnitus. It's not gonna stop.. I like if it adds because the artist is well trained and sings on key (or a lower or higher key but stable), and it adds nice musical effects (think of what Lumix planned, and what Czechia failed to do in the final), but it limits the public hearing how bad a singer can be. I think hiding that like this is nonsense, cause most people doing this often just can't support their upper register live. So you give up more purity for musicality. You even have a second base to get consistently under. If you're still that flat or sharp people notice even with background vocals after a live EQ, be happy we didn't cut the music... 
Some will say it's not fair because you can't adjust the pre-reorcded music in case you need to adjust the key midway. But most use it to just instagram their voice. I remember in Korea one music program banned this 8 years ago and the producer backtracked because apart from the top 10% artists, the labels didn't allow the others suddenly to sing live.
It shifts the music away from the vocal perf. again... to more dancing and led lights. Somewhere along the line a dance song is gonna win that will use this, and there will be discussions, but they'll allow it because of chart numbers and it allowed more visually appealing people to sell the ESC "better".. Just like with the instruments. So expect a lot more Swedish and American styled dance tracks. Hell, if they send me, I'd go to Kiev next year add them myself if every1 is doing it.
Some will say it's not fair because you can't adjust the pre-reorcded music in case you need to adjust the key midway. But most use it to just instagram their voice. I remember in Korea one music program banned this 8 years ago and the producer backtracked because apart from the top 10% artists, the labels didn't allow the others suddenly to sing live.
It shifts the music away from the vocal perf. again... to more dancing and led lights. Somewhere along the line a dance song is gonna win that will use this, and there will be discussions, but they'll allow it because of chart numbers and it allowed more visually appealing people to sell the ESC "better".. Just like with the instruments. So expect a lot more Swedish and American styled dance tracks. Hell, if they send me, I'd go to Kiev next year add them myself if every1 is doing it.
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No matter how much I enjoy listening to the Polish 2023 entry (studio version) because it's catchy AF, I still can't help to think about the fact that it probably would not have qualified without the prerecorded background vocals. I really think the prerecordings should have to go...
In the words of JOWST, who ironically more or less introduced it : "Kill, kill, kill!"
Nothing good came out of this in 2021 and it's only gotten worse. One problem among many is that it doesn't reward performers who actually do real vocal harmonies on stage, like TuralTuranX and Voyager. They don't stand out the way they would if all their competitors had to use live vocals only.
Besides, it's actually resulted in worse performances that what most likely would have been if prerecorded vocals hadn't been allowed, like the UK and Irish disasters and Georgian disappointment this year for example. They don't spend as much time on rehearsing vocals when they know they can just rely on pre-recording instead.
And even though they sounded great, entries like Spain and Armenia lost much of their impact because the backing vocals weren't live, to many viewers, they would just have been more impressive if everyone knew nothing was pre-recorded.
It's a song contest. There should be singing. It's not the end of a Ru Paul's Drag Race episode.
Nothing good came out of this in 2021 and it's only gotten worse. One problem among many is that it doesn't reward performers who actually do real vocal harmonies on stage, like TuralTuranX and Voyager. They don't stand out the way they would if all their competitors had to use live vocals only.
Besides, it's actually resulted in worse performances that what most likely would have been if prerecorded vocals hadn't been allowed, like the UK and Irish disasters and Georgian disappointment this year for example. They don't spend as much time on rehearsing vocals when they know they can just rely on pre-recording instead.
And even though they sounded great, entries like Spain and Armenia lost much of their impact because the backing vocals weren't live, to many viewers, they would just have been more impressive if everyone knew nothing was pre-recorded.
It's a song contest. There should be singing. It's not the end of a Ru Paul's Drag Race episode.
If the juniors can do it...
eurovoix.com
🇫🇷 Junior Eurovision 2023: All Vocals Must Be Performed Live - Eurovoix
A press release by Spanish broadcaster RTVE reveals that all vocals at this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest must be performed live.
eurovoix.com
I actually have no idea, I suppose every member nation has a vote? At least I would hope so...
You can read all the rules on the EBU Eurovision site. Don't actually know if they describe how to change them however.
12Pointsgoto.....
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If they implement this at eurovision, could it potentially scare some countries away, since they now also have to fly in backing vocalists? Anyhow, I do think that this is necessary for eurovision, since it would greatly decrease the cheating in vocals.
Hopefully not, but as you say, it feels necessary either way.