Karaoke addition to disco.

[JAMdisco]

I am looking to start doing karaoke alongside my disco business as I have been asked on several occasions if I "do" Karaoke and have lost a few bookings because I don't.

I am now trying to justify the cost of setting up and payback period, thing is, how much would an average karaoke set up be, i.e. CDG's, CDG player, Mic's.
I've got powered speakers, lights and a 4U empty rack case.

Just a rough estimate for now would be enough for me to decide to take the plunge!

[Adam_F]

Mics, screens, and CDG players can be purchased cheaply (I've just got a 22" LCD for £150, Karaoke player for £69, 2 mics for £20 etc...) BUT your biggest cost is the karaoke tracks! You've got to build up a good collection of popular songs that people that want sing, this is where you'll be ploughing all your money.

[JAMdisco]

...BUT your biggest cost is the karaoke tracks! You've got to build up a good collection of popular songs that people that want sing, this is where you'll be ploughing all your money.

I thought so, go on then - how much am I looking at roughly?

[Paul James Promotions]

Difficult to say. We've got about 8000 tracks, at a rough guess i'd say we've spent around £7000 - £8000 on Karaoke Disks, and still get people asking for songs we don't have!

[funkymike]

I dont get it, you pay for decent disco equipment then pay 69 quid for a cdg player and 20 quid for mics, whats the point of that?

[soundscapes]

biggest problem you will have is commanding a reasonable fee for the karaoke. Ive tried it in beverley / hull before and sold the lot because people ( pubs especially ) dont want to pay any more than they do for a disco ( and in some cases even less. Ive kept a small set for the very rare occasions i do karaoke nowadays but even they are goin after christmas.

[Dragonfly]

i tried to add karaoke ....... 2.5 k on gear 6 months advertising .................


nothing !!!! and ive only had a handful of people ask for it since???


so got rid of the gear still boxed never used and used the money to improve the disco side of things.

[Adam_F]

I dont get it, you pay for decent disco equipment then pay 69 quid for a cdg player and 20 quid for mics, whats the point of that?

I needed karaoke for one night, the manager at the pub said I could use the equipment he has, and it was very dated and something out of Argos. So I grabbed a cheap one from work, added a few mics (OK I got decent mics for £20, but as a starter for someone, £20ish would get one mic).
Karaoke is not something I really want to go into, but will pick up a DNHC 4500 to run with Virtual DJ for karaoke and visuals, while my DNHD 2500 will run audio.

The examples above are prices in which he could do it for if he so wished, but as with everything more expensive things can be purchased.

[funkymike]

I needed karaoke for one night, the manager at the pub said I could use the equipment he has, and it was very dated and something out of Argos. So I grabbed a cheap one from work, added a few mics (OK I got decent mics for £20, but as a starter for someone, £20ish would get one mic).
Karaoke is not something I really want to go into, but will pick up a DNHC 4500 to run with Virtual DJ for karaoke and visuals, while my DNHD 2500 will run audio.

The examples above are prices in which he could do it for if he so wished, but as with everything more expensive things can be purchased.

Fair enough:D to your point, no offence meant, i was only asking.

In general from experience karaoke does have a bad name because of cheap shoddy equipment and bad kj's, no wonder people dont want to pay for it, i have the same problem until i get a new booking, then they love it.

So i hope it works for you too


mike

[mb3]

I do Karaoke about as often as I do Disco... and do it for the same fee. If I'm doing Karaoke I take the TV monitor but leave the lights in the van... so there is a bit less work setting up.

I've got about 1000 tracks, but I have a single A4 sheet, laminated, that has about 70 of the "most popular" tracks, and this is what is handed around the audience. If they want something that isn't on the sheet, I've got the main book at the stand.

Most people pick something off the sheet, surprisingly, and by having several copies of a single laminated sheet to hand out, it saves books getting dog-eared and if I lose a couple of sheets it doesn't matter.

[Vectis]

Can't think of one occasion where I've "lost" a booking by not providing Karaoke, except for one isolated call from someone looking to hire just the equipment.

In a controlled environment like a family party I'll let folks sing along to normal versions of songs if they wish, and will rig up a couple of cheapy mic's for the purpose.

Can count on one hand the number of times this has been asked for...

Then again I don't do pubs, so that might be skewing the figures.


My advice would be to do your market research thoroughly before investing.

[Adam_F]

So i hope it works for you too


mike

Do be honest, I don't want it to really LoL Haven't really "got into it" yet, only done a couple. Guess when I get proper equipment to do it on properly it'll help a great deal, then might enjoy it! Doing quite a big one on the 20th December, so we'll see LoL

[Have a disco]

As a major karaoke supplier in my region ie I lend out my discs to a mate as well as do one regularly myself, the best advice I could offer is to pick up a Package off EM Karaoke they do the new RSQ divx packages fairly cheaply now with a good playing machine that also plays VCD, DVD karaoke and cdg karaoke as well as the neo-g products.

Disc wise use ZOOM, Easy Karaoke or sunfly cdg box sets or pick up the Very Best collections, also if you find them. The american Sweet georgia Brown collection is good, you will find most good collections on EMKaraoke.com. Also I regularly now use Customburn.com, to update myself with customer requests, rather than get a monthly collection of tunes at a great expence. Im guaranteed I wont use half of them. I found lots of collections online at ebays as well (non pirated sets at that)

I have about 4000 tunes but this has taken time to collect in general most people only sing about around 500 main songs the rest is just requests or fillers or doubles in my collection

screen wise most premises have a big screen which we link into but we also have old TV's and portables for private locations

[JAMdisco]

I reckon I'll probably give it a miss for the time being, I've only lost 2 potential bookings and they specifically wanted a karaoke/disco. I did fill the dates in the end with my disco so until I feel I NEED to do karaoke, I'll leave it to the experts - you guys!!!

[Excalibur]

I reckon I'll probably give it a miss for the time being, I've only lost 2 potential bookings and they specifically wanted a karaoke/disco. I did fill the dates in the end with my disco so until I feel I NEED to do karaoke, I'll leave it to the experts - you guys!!!

I get the karaoke request on the fingers of one hand each year. If I MUST provide Karaoke, it's £60 or £70 to hire player/ Discs/TV.

[Jays karaoke]

My advice would be to leave it tothe proffessionals if you dont want to pay out properly for the right stuff mate. In my experience if and when people ask for karaoke they obviously expect something decent and spending a few hundred quid on a player and a few cheap mics is not going to impress your client.
It seems that out of all the posts on this topic only Dragonfly has spent what it takes to add the equipment to your set up, but as he pointed out he spent the money needed and advertised and got nothing for it so dont throw yourself into it just because you have lost 2 or 3 bookings, you need a dam sight more that that to make it pay.
You need a good selection of songs, not just a few hundred but a few thousand at the very least as people booking karaoke will expect this, i go out with around 600 genuine discs and have spent around 10k on discs alone but i have the demand for it up here in Yorkshire.
I started off 12 years ago but borrowed money to help me set up what i needed to do the job properly. Not only that mate it's an on going cost with new monthly charts coming out .
Not only that karaoke is a completely different kettle of fish, you have to deal with the drunken idiots swinging your mics, swearing over mics and been boystrous neay your gear. You have to have your wits about you and be prepared to take the stress of it cos beleive me it can be hard work at times, in fact why do i do it?

[Allys_Karaoke_Show]

Check out the DJ Bids place just put something up that might interest you!

[Spirits High]

karaoke is a completely different kettle of fish, you have to deal with the drunken idiots swinging your mics, swearing over mics and been boystrous neay your gear. You have to have your wits about you and be prepared to take the stress of it cos beleive me it can be hard work at times, in fact why do i do it?


:agree:

I offer karaoke but dont get that much demand for it. I run PCKJ with about 1200 tracks it's not as easy to do as some people may think.


I take it you're willing to knock out the odd tune when it goes quiet?

[dodgydj]

Oh Come on, dealing with drunks is the best part of karaoke.

"Get Drunk and sing like a Skunk" used to be my Karaoke Tag line on my advertising, along with "Karaoke comes from the Japanese for drunken :Censored: singing really badly"

I find karaoke fills up "Odd" days in my calendar, I get a lot of midweek bookings which I could never fill with Discos and I slap another £50 on top for getting my TV, projector and mics out. All the software and songs are on my laptop anyway.

I think it pays to be versatile and have more than one string to your bow.

[DK Karaoke]

Please dont offer karaoke unless you have the right gear, with at least enough quality well known tracks to offer. Its because dj's who normally offer disco, that decide to just add karaoke without providing the right equipment that brings karaoke to the level of a brawl in a brewary. It also lowers the reputation of those KJ's who have worked for years building up qualtiy equipment and discs.

Providing karaoke is a tricky business, its hard and done properly can entertain lots of people, especially those who like to sing.

You will need to buy good quality discs by the well known suppliers - Sound Choice, Easy Karaoke, Zoom, Mr Entertainer, Sunfly etc.

You will also need at least=

Two good quality players, Performers Choice (Sound Choice own brand),
Vocopro, Bluelaser etc.

A good mixer and amp or a mixer/amp, like the Dynacord powermate's.

Good speakers, like Electrovoice,

and good mics, not to mention of course good quality speaker and mic cables and a tv/flat screen monitor.

[Jays karaoke]

DKK is right, you cannot simply simply throw a few discs and a player together with a cheap mic and call it a karaoke.

[mb3]

You will also need at least=

Two good quality players, Performers Choice (Sound Choice own brand),
Vocopro, Bluelaser etc.

A good mixer and amp or a mixer/amp, like the Dynacord powermate's.

I've found the Numark KMX-02 a great little unit... you have the two decks, either of which can be used for CDG, and the cross-fader switches the video output.

There's 2 video outputs, I use one for a small screen on a stand facing the performer, the other for a "house" system if there is one. There's 3 mic inputs, two of which have a basic but usable echo.

I bought a monitor stand from CPC... it takes the LCD screen, but there's also a tray for drinks (low down, underneath anything vulnerable) and two mic holders.

The "transpose" function is invaluable... don't ever think of getting a KMX-01 because it does not have this function!

[KaraokeDJ]

[QUOTE=DJ_Forgie;178675]... to run with Virtual DJ for karaoke...QUOTE]

I just noticed the thread and the mention of Virtual DJ. While it's a coll bit of software for DJing, it's karaoke is an 'add-on' compared to some software that is designed from the ground up to host karaoke. The problem I found with VDJ is that it is a bit 'hit n miss' with some CDG (mp3 & CDG zip files) and CDG & MP3 unzipped and also that the graphics are very rough around the edges compared to others - as are the graphics in the karaoke addon for PCDJ.

Anyway - just my towpence worth!!!