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On the other hand there is a long, long, long history of using other vocal talent for actors in Hollywood films. In an on-line article entitled I Dub Thee, the film historian Laura Wagner lists so many examples of the process that it's amazing that actors come with their own voices at all.

There's a legend in the opera world about a single note being out of tune by a soprano in a studio recording. She was not available to redo it, so a different soprano was called in and sang -- one note.

Hardly a crisis.

'Well, so what?' I can hear some say. And I'm sure Ashlee would agree: 'It's a long and noble tradition. It's all lip-synching honey, so there!'

Indeed, so there. But at what point do we begin to wonder if anything that we are getting is the real thing?

Suppose though a singer doesn't lip-synch, but does use electronic retuning devices live and in real time to correct off-key notes during a stage show. Is that a bit like lip-synching? Are we to wonder what is real and what is fake?

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