Studio vs. Live

Sometimes when you buy an album, the same song will appear twice.  This can be because of a couple different reasons.  One of the most common is because one is live.  It was recorded at a concert or performance, and put on the record.  Sometimes they have a special guest or a partner that is featured on the live track, or it is one of their more popular songs, usually a ballad, or slow song.  They put this on there as a way to show off another element of their sound, and in my opinion, as a way to get you to want to buy tickets to a show.

Many people don't like the live version of a song as much.  They think the quality is bad, and that its horrible.  They don't realize how much work it is to be on a stage under hot lights, moving around, and having thousands of people staring at you.  You would be a little nervous too.  Another element that goes into performing live is the fact that nobody is perfect.  Hitting and holding notes can be hard, and when they're complex, it's not always going to sound the same.

The biggest difference between the live version and the one that you usually hear playing, is the studio.  When an artist writes a song, if they want to put it on an album, they go into a recording studio.  They stand at a microphone and sing their song.  If they mess up, or they don't like the way it sounds, they can re-record that part.  Artists often spend hours upon hours in a studio, perfecting their sound.

Another big reason that it never sounds the same when it's live, is editing the sound.  They can make a pitch higher, or they can clean up the instruments to make it sound clean and perfect.  No matter how much a person practices, they will not be able to play the right rhythms at such a high speed every single time, sometimes even at all.  Instead, they have somebody with a computer go in and edit or make the sound.

I do not like that artists do this to make themselves sound better.  I think that it ruins the idea of talent.  If we have a computer system to make people sound good, they don't have to have much talent to be famous.  I do understand that sometimes, to make a song perfect,  and have just the right effect, you need things to be cleaner.  It's a "shades of grey" thing for if it should be used or not.

It's important to remember that when something is live, the artist has one shot.  They have one try to do it, there's no rewind in real life, and there is no trying again.  Keep this in mind as you listen to an artists live tracks, performances, or concerts.