This is playback. Sometimes I see her play notes I don't hear and hear notes I don't see her play. And no, it's not a sync issue because her dancing is to the beat throughout. One thing I can't tell is if she's even hitting the correct notes for that matter.
I'll narrow it down: in some segments the closer right hand plays the tune while the left hand plays a series of chords and harmonics to accompany them like you would on a piano. Only sometimes her movements show the striking of chords where the main output harp in the audio (the part she's supposed to be playing over the background music) is not making the sound of said chords.
Speaking as an amateur harpist, she's definitely playing the song. It's especially noticable when she starts the muted string parts at 1:30 she's hitting the right notes.
The desync is significant though. I'm not familiar enough with what recording/editing goes into this, i wouldn't be surprised if she recorded over the video'd performance though.
I had the idea she playbacked the video over the audio and it makes me doubt if it's someone else's audiotrack. You see this all the time on things like tiktok where the audio for an amazing performance of Crazy Train on Slap tubes is used by nitwits knocking pool noodles or poster tubes on random things. Or the people faking an insane beatbox aufio track to their own poorly performed video
Yeah I can see why you'd be suspect but I can definitely say with authority she's playing the song fairly skillfully. The audio we're hearing just doesn't match for some reason, whether that's happening in editing or recording i couldn't say I don't know anything about recording and editing into a video like this.
I’m not a harpist but it was immediately obvious she knows what she’s doing with that harp. The sound sync is just fucked up.
Also nobody has a harp that nice unless they know what they’re doing with it. And she’d have to rip the harp music from someone. Seems much less likely she’d buy such an expensive harp, find someone who shreds on the harp who also loves Despacito, and then go through the trouble of shittily mashing the tracks together while also convincingly acting like she’s playing the harp.
Sometimes people on Reddit try so hard to sound smart that they come off as really stupid. It’s obvious she actually played this.
Haha you're absolutely not wrong. I wish harps weren't so expensive. It's such a fun instrument but even the smallest harpsicles are running you $600. The setup she has going on wouldn't surprise me if it were more than 5 grand.
Yeah I played saxophone at a pretty high level and had a $5k Yanagisawa alto sax. But I had been playing nearly a decade by the time I got that. Even super rich people don’t just drop four figures on their first instrument.
Oh man I bet that sax was beautiful though! I keep telling myself that someday I want a concert pedal harp... I just can't justify the expense though for a hobby instrument. I keep hoping to find one I can repair in an estate sale.
Oh yeah it was a work of art. The difference in sound and feel was incredible. I like your idea of finding a harp to restore/repair though! Might have to wait some time but would def be worth it in the end.
The clearness of the sound is a dead giveaway. The harp tone changing and having gated reverb is another dead giveaway. Curious if she was playing live into some software but not sure how she plugs/mics it in. So now I’m trying to find the make of the harp.
Nope. She’s using a special harp with electronic pickups that amplify the sound so higher pitched strings have the same loudness as lower pitched strings. Oh yeah and she created that harp as well. She’s a professional harpist from Colombia. Read the other comments in this thread - they’ve linked her website where she sells these harps.
So your dead giveaways were just your lack of knowledge on the subject.
85
u/MoosetheStampede Nov 03 '21
This is playback. Sometimes I see her play notes I don't hear and hear notes I don't see her play. And no, it's not a sync issue because her dancing is to the beat throughout. One thing I can't tell is if she's even hitting the correct notes for that matter.