# Is it wrong for a live band to use taped elements? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144 "2006-01-30T00:50:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ty\_Cobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ty\_Cobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ty_Cobb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/1 "2006-01-30T00:50:49Z")
Actually, they aren’t taped but recorded into the memory of a synthesizer. The occasional odd percussion or other accent sound. Cow bells, triangles, police whistles, thunder claps. Seemed fine to me, but one bar owner got all huffy about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/2 "2006-01-30T00:56:42Z")
It’s been done for years. In 1978, the Electric Light Orchestra was on tour to support _Out of the Blue_. The album was far too heavily layered to reproduce in concert without having an extra 3-4 musicians, so Jeff Lynne used taped backing tracks. They were criticized for doing this. Now it’s standard operating procedure. I don’t see why the bar owner is getting in a huff. As long as the band performs and the patrons are happy, what’s the big deal? Unless he believes the band is stealing music from another band. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/3 "2006-01-30T01:03:22Z")
Yeah, hell, Queen, during ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ used to just let the taped version handle the operatic section. There was, literally, no means for three singers to acheive that on stage. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/4 "2006-01-30T01:06:51Z")
The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” was filled with taped sections, and they played them on stage all the time. No huhu. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/5 "2006-01-30T01:34:33Z")
If it’s deceptive, like a singer pretending to sing but really lip synching, then it’s annoying. But if the band’s up front about it, what’s the harm? Mission of Burma actually listed their sound sample guy as part of the band. The Flaming Lips use samples all the time in their shows. And a lot of hip-hop is nothing but samples and rapping. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/6 "2006-01-30T01:45:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” was filled with taped sections, and they played them on stage all the time. No huhu. Ah, but The Who can also boast one of the most famous concert tape **meltdowns** in history. In 1973, during the performance of _5:15_, the tape was out of synch, which caused Townshend to fly into a rage: he grabbed soundman Bob Pridden by the scruff of his neck and threw him out onto the stage . Pete then proceeded to rip the soundboard and prerecorded tapes to shreds in front of a stunned audience (I suppose the rest of the band were pretty stunned as well!) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/7 "2006-01-30T01:50:15Z")
I read this title as ‘Is it wrong for a live band to use taped elephants.’ The first thing I thought was how you would tape them together. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/8 "2006-01-30T01:58:31Z")
If people know what they’re getting, there’s nothing wrong with it. But you didn’t even use taped elements. I had no idea synths were off-limits to some people. It’s not like the technology is new! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/9 "2006-01-30T02:20:35Z")
It’s been done by all kinds of bands. For example, I have videotape of The Steve Miller Band on The Tonight Show, where they did “Fly Like An Eagle” in the 1990s, and all the familiar synthesizer sounds from the album were sampled into the keyboard. The whole “space intro” and the Moog washes that occur during the song, and the ending of multi-layered Moog sounds. Otherwise they would have been impossible to recreate consistently - maybe at all. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/10 "2006-01-30T02:23:25Z")
I saw **CocoRosie** recently. Every song featured a variety of taped material. When I bought the CD, the tracks featured the same taped material as taped material - phone rings, answering machines, animal sounds etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/11 "2006-01-30T02:54:14Z")
I’ve seen **Yes** a few times, and some of their effects seem stored in the keyboards. It doesn’t bother me, almost all if not all of the songs are performed live without any recorded tracks per se, so if there is some bizarre bit of effect or sound that isn’t replicable live, and it’s fed in through the keyboards, I can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/12 "2006-01-30T02:55:34Z")
TV appearances shouldn’t count, since the vast majority of them from the 60s were lip-synched. You’d see the muscians playing electric guitars that weren’t plugged into anything. If it’s the voice of the singer or something basic, it’s inexcusable. OTOH, I saw Pink Floyd in 1973 and not only did they use tapes, but the actually left the stage as the tape was playing. It was the sound of footsteps in surround sound (long before such a thing existed) and it was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/13 "2006-01-30T03:40:25Z")
At really early Depeche Mode shows, the band wanted the crowd to know that they had nothing to hide, so they kept the tape machine literally center stage. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/14 "2006-01-30T03:44:46Z")
And then there was time James Taylor was SNL singing “Shower the People” with a reel-to-reel tape deck playing the backing vocals. The tape deck was sitting on a stool on the stage. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/15 "2006-01-30T03:46:43Z")
Although I don’t mind taped elements in live shows, especially if there’s stuff that can’t be performed live, I think there’s a point where there’s so much pre-recorded stuff that the band loses the life and spontaneity that defines what I like about live shows. The only act I’ve seen that crosses this point would be Mannheim Steamroller. Listening to one of their Christmas shows was pretty much exactly like listening to one of their Christmas CDs, and I could’ve done that for a lot cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![n0disguise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@n0disguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/n0disguise)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/16 "2006-01-30T03:56:40Z")
That queen example someone spoke of here – not cool. There are only two situations I can think of where it would be acceptable: 1. not enough musicians 2. the sound(s) can’t be reproduced on stage by any other means. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/17 "2006-01-30T04:04:33Z")
The Queen example fell under the “not enough musicians” category, I thought. If Wikipedia is to be believed, there are more than 100 voices on some parts of Bohemian Rhapsody. ---
**Author:** ![Citizen\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Citizen\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Citizen_Bob)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/18 "2006-01-30T04:08:08Z")
‘Information Society’ regularly used ‘Star Trek’ quotes as part of their music. My favorites were Spock’s “Pure… Energy!”, McCoy’s “What kind of People are we, in this universe?”, Bob Barker’s “$5000 dollars cash”… etc. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/19 "2006-01-30T04:17:38Z")
Ministry is another band that requires some recorded stuff, seriously do you expect them to “play” an old dot matrix printer in concert? lip syncing can suck my sweaty nuts, samples are everyday things in music. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144/20 "2006-01-30T05:04:37Z")
Some 3 piece rock bands like Rush and ZZ Top use taped elements, the songs in concert won’t sound anything like the song on the album without them. I also saw a Metallica concert video and the prayer in “Enter Sandman” was taped. Pretty integral part of the song to leave out for “live performance purity”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-for-a-live-band-to-use-taped-elements/342144.md?page=2)