Some "starter" advice

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Hi Guys,

Never really visit part of the site as karaoke isnt something I push and on the odd chance that I get someone wanting to pay extra for karaoke I can hire it off a local chap for £40.

However......

local bar has requested a karaoke night for a trial period of 4 weeks however I'm liking the chances of this night working so what I'm wanting to know is from the experience KJ's how much money would you expect to spend on a basic database of tracks that would suit a mainly student crowd.

I'm looking for a digital rather than cd based format unless that isnt nearly as cost effective. Reason being is it would be easier to add tracks to the list should the night take off.

I understand that this sort of thing has been covered before however as its not really geared for "mobile disco" more a student night Im hoping to not have to get thousands of tracks for the same 50 to be used week in week out.

[hammy]

Well your songs need to range throughout the years and of course updated weekly, What night is the gig going to be on as I personally wouldnt give up my fri ,sat nights to do karaoke in a pub, i have 300 discs for karaoke and thats still not enough, I know its a student crowd but you will still have to remember they all know the songs mum an dad used to sing around the house and thats mainly what they will sing as well so basically quite a big database but thats just my opinion, I have been to a karaoke night where the kj had 20 discs and still got through the night ok

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Its a night during the week Hammy but looking into the hire vs start up costs at the moment.

[hammy]

No brainer...... Hire for the first 4 weeks at £40 a time you may end up not doing it after the trial, Unless its something you want to add eventually to your gigs

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Totally agree. Hire the gear in first and if it works then think about getting your own stuff. Saying that, it's always good for an add-on anyway and once you have the stuff you just make sure you keep it up to date.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Right I'm looking more for figures to get a basic database here. Once I've priced up a few things and taken into account the fact its a service I can offer at a reduced cost to me then I'll make a choice.

[Mark Wild]

This seems like a good starter pack Nell for £400.

http://www.djdepot.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_110_317&products_id=3562

Track list.

http://www.djdepot.co.uk/images/MMClassicKaraokeSet.pdf

What you haven't got mate they can't sing, simple, Although resident KJ's have massive collections normally ;) Something like this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KARAOKE-DISCS-SUNFLY-EK-ETSUPERCORE-ELVIS-ALL-ORIGINALS-/180619981281?pt=UK_Karaoke_Systems_Equipment&hash=item2a0dca31e1

[DeckstarDeluxe]

This seems like a good starter pack Nell for £400.

http://www.djdepot.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12_110_317&products_id=3562

Track list.

http://www.djdepot.co.uk/images/MMClassicKaraokeSet.pdf

What you haven't got mate they can't sing, simple, Although resident KJ's have massive collections normally ;) Something like this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KARAOKE-DISCS-SUNFLY-EK-ETSUPERCORE-ELVIS-ALL-ORIGINALS-/180619981281?pt=UK_Karaoke_Systems_Equipment&hash=item2a0dca31e1


Great find that Mark sort of thing I was looking for.


Love the fact on the ebay listing it costs you £20 just to see what tracks hes got!

[ppentertainments]

Pop into ASDA and purchase the '100 Karaoke' series. Think there are about 12 packs and contain everything you need for about £120. Any missing songs select-a-track is your friend

Waits for the incoming fire, but I have used these since November and is all thats needed :p Nice, simple and cheap ;)
(have a catalogue done for about 6 discs if you want a track list emailing to give you an idea)

[Digital Jack]

Don't forget, if you're going to be running it from a laptop you will need to learn how to rip karaoke discs (CD+G) into a format that your karaoke program will recognise .I can't think of any laptop cdrom drive that will fully play a CD+G disc , the music will play but you wont be getting the graphics on your display.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Pop into ASDA and purchase the '100 Karaoke' series. Think there are about 12 packs and contain everything you need for about £120. Any missing songs select-a-track is your friend

Waits for the incoming fire, but I have used these since November and is all thats needed :p Nice, simple and cheap ;)
(have a catalogue done for about 6 discs if you want a track list emailing to give you an idea)


What is the quality of the backing tracks like??


Don't forget, if you're going to be running it from a laptop you will need to learn how to rip karaoke discs (CD+G) into a format that your karaoke program will recognise .I can't think of any laptop cdrom drive that will fully play a CD+G disc , the music will play but you wont be getting the graphics on your display.


Its the route I wish to go down and currently have Numark Cue (VDJ) running. Idealy wish to use this

[ppentertainments]

What is the quality of the backing tracks like??

As good as any other make IMO. I don't claim to be an expert on karaoke, but used for a fair few corporate gigs and never had any negative comments.

[Pink Elephant]

Once you find a make of CD&G discs you like, then stick to them.

If not you will get too many duplicates - remember they are £20 a month for 30 songs (eg Sunfly hits with most wanted free) so they are not cheap.

If you have a well known brand (not sure about the Asda series) then I use a software package to create my song books rather than type them in each update.

Please don't go out and buy a HDD full of songs unless you have the original discs. A pub gig is easier for them to come and check on you.

[hammy]

if you are going laptop route have a look at Siglos Karaoke Player/Recorder 1.2.6, I use this and it is a good program for £30 you can even set it to play background music as soon as the singer has finished and when the pain in the butt comes up to ask you "how long till i`m on" you can tell them exactly how long.
Go and get the free trial and have a play http://rbytes.net/software/siglos-karaoke-player-recorder-review/

[Andy Goodtimes]

I have about 50 discs and manage with those. I bought a 36 disc set of Extreme discs from Cookies and then top them up with the double discs of up to date stuff every couple of months...think they're Zoom.

I will not do a full karaoke night because I hate karaoke but I was finding an increasing number of Bride's asking for some karaoke and I was missing out on some £400-£500 jobs with not doing it. Its easy to charge an extra £75 for a Wedding by doing karaoke. One thing I do say is if I do karaoke it has to be confined within a pre-decided slot i.e. 11pm-midnight. I won't keep flitting back and forth as it spoils the night. I already had a pair of 32 screens and a pair of 52s and a large screen and projector and various karaoke/DVD machines because of my conferencing work and I also show pictures and presentations and so on on request.

I would say go for it because if the pub night comes to nothing you'll almost certainly make the money back.

[Ajaysdisco]

I started with this and I still find most of the requests I get are on that set:
Linky (http://www.mastermixdj.com/paris/product_view.asp?PNO=SET266&pagesubject=prokaraokeset)

Don't forget this if your ripping: ;) ;)
Linky2 (http://www.prsformusic.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/ProDub%20Licence/produb_tariff.pdf)

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Thats for that Ajay great find :)

[DazzyD]

Hi Neil

I think Hammy's suggestion of hiring in for the trial period is spot on. Many DJs hate karaoke with a passion as there's a fair bit of work involved and you have to deal with the drunks face to face a lot more than when just DJing. Therefore, you might decide it's not for you or it's just not worth the hassle and you've lost nothing (as you would have factored the hire costs in to the trial price!). If you do want to take it further, then you start buying the music yourself.

I've been doing karaoke for a long time now and started with the old Pioneer Laser Discs and karaoke video tapes! How things have changed! As for starter packs, the ones mentioned are particularly impressive given the prices (I've spent several thousands of pounds over the years on my collection!). Also, give Sing To The World a try as they do several starter packs.


Don't forget, if you're going to be running it from a laptop you will need to learn how to rip karaoke discs (CD+G) into a format that your karaoke program will recognise .I can't think of any laptop cdrom drive that will fully play a CD+G disc , the music will play but you wont be getting the graphics on your display.

You're not thinking hard enough! My old Dell Inspiron had a CD-ROM drive capable of reading and writing CD+G format (which is the ability to read/write sub-channel data in RAW format). Sadly, that machine died a few years ago. My new HP Compaq has a HP multi-format CD/DVD writer in it which, although can't write to this format, can read CD+G discs and will happily play direct from disc complete with graphics - no ripping required!

Neil, for ripping CD+G discs to MP3+G or BIN formats, I couldn't recommend CDG Ripper from Tricerasoft enough:

http://www.tricerasoft.com/karaoke_software/CDG_Ripper_Extraction_Tool.html

It's a program I've used since it's early days and it's well worth the £20-odd cost!

[Glenski]

Hello

Happy to give some advice here...

If you want to go down the CD+G route then i'd suggest this multiformat karaoke player... the Madboy CD+G/DVD also comes with 22 Zoom karaoke CD+G's and all for the low price of £99 on Amazon (Click Here) as the player is also capable of playing the mp3+g format from a USB stick or USB HDD :)

If you are looking to go digital then the best software i have found to rip/convert/burn your CD+G's is Power Karaoke (http://www.powerkaraoke.com/src/prod_powercdgburner.php) and they also have other software.

You can then buy CD+G starter packs from Zoom Karaoke (http://www.zoom-entertainments.co.uk/) or their download site Karaoke cc (http://karaoke.cc/) which has loads of stuff, then there is Selecta Track (http://www.selectatrack.net/) and others like Sunfly Karaoke (http://www.sunflykaraoke.com) and Easy Karaoke (http://www.easykaraoke.com) and not forgetting Mastermix (http://www.mastermixdj.com) and Sing to the World (http://www.singtotheworld.com) who also offer live karaoke streaming if a venue you use has a stable broadband internet connection :)

Not forgetting if you intend to format shift from CD+G discs to mp3+g then you will need one of these ProDub (http://www.prsformusic.com/users/recordedmedia/ProDub/Pages/ProDubLicence.aspx) ...

If you need to generate any karaoke books then another good place to start is Karaoke Books (http://www.karaokebooks.com) as you can also add custom discs :)

I hope this is of some help to you

Thank you

Glenski

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Right I got the collection Mark posted to earlier.

Now can anyone tell me how much space does the "average" karaoke track take up. Need to work out if I need to play a karaoke player or go digital which is my preferred choice.

[Mark Wild]

The graphics part of a cdg normally take up around 2 meg, so that plus your audio track, depending on what quality you choose. If you do indeed go digital.

[Glenski]

Right I got the collection Mark posted to earlier.

Now can anyone tell me how much space does the "average" karaoke track take up. Need to work out if I need to play a karaoke player or go digital which is my preferred choice.

The avg size of a combined mp3 and .cdg file when zipped at 320Kbps is 4MB to 5MB

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I'm using audiograbber now as its a free program and rips them ok. Only issue is you cant rip them as mp3+cdg so each file is taking up 30ish meg.

[NKR]

Hi Neil

I think Hammy's suggestion of hiring in for the trial period is spot on. Many DJs hate karaoke with a passion as there's a fair bit of work involved and you have to deal with the drunks face to face a lot more than when just DJing. Therefore, you might decide it's not for you or it's just not worth the hassle and you've lost nothing (as you would have factored the hire costs in to the trial price!). If you do want to take it further, then you start buying the music yourself.



Yep that will be me. God I would have to boil my own head.

Can you sing Neil? Otherwise how do you intend to host it. Most I have seen tend to start it off or do at least one track during the night to encourage people? Last bit obviously aimed at Deckstar.

[Glenski]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I'm using audiograbber now as its a free program and rips them ok. Only issue is you cant rip them as mp3+cdg so each file is taking up 30ish meg.

What format is it riiping to ? a .bin file ? if so then this is the full size file and not a compressed mp3 file... You will need the .cdg file with the mp3 file for the lyrics to show up and function.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

.bin wasnt picked up in VDJ so its cdg+"compressed file".

Going to give these a whirl on the mackie pa and see how it sounds.

I can't sing to save my life, the benidorm guys will vouch for that! Doesn't stop me singing if I feel its what I need to do.

[StarZSoundS]

I can't sing to save my life, the benidorm guys will vouch for that! Doesn't stop me singing if I feel its what I need to do.

Neil.....for once the other Neil has it wrong!!!:eek: :eek:


There is absolutely no requirement to sing at all.I can sing a bit ...but rarely do......;) ;)

Not even an issue!!!:) :)

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Neil.....for once the other Neil has it wrong!!!:eek: :eek:


There is absolutely no requirement to sing at all.I can sing a bit ...but rarely do......;) ;)

Not even an issue!!!:) :)

I don't think he has as being able to sing and be happy to do so is more of a bonus. Getting the first person up to sing is the challenge and even if its myself then that's only going to encourage other people once I've given them a tone deaf Sweet Caroline!

I also know the manager pretty well and I'm sure the staff will get involved too.

[DazzyD]

I'd disagree there, Neil. Being able to sing (ie a decent singer) can often put people off putting in requests as an average self-conscious singer wont want to follow you.

It's my theory that everyone can sing but it's just a case of picking the right songs. When Keith Allen was Fat Les could he sing? No. Is Peter Kay a great singer? No. But they've both had huge hits which always go down well in a party atmosphere. See where I'm coming from? ;)

[StarZSoundS]

I'd disagree there, Neil. Being able to sing (ie a decent singer) can often put people off putting in requests as an average self-conscious singer wont want to follow you.





Spot on.....I've seen more Karaoke Evenings spoilt by the Karaoke Host being more involved than he should be(I.E singing too often or ar all) ......rather than if he was staying at a respectful distance.


Its not about the Host....its about the Singers.You should keep the evening bobbing along but only by asking for inflated rounds of applause for the singers..... and playing some decent tracks whilst you are organizing the singers between songs......IMHO. ;) ;) ;)

[Mark Wild]

I sing as little as possible when doing karaoke, but what you have to realise is, it is possible for you to lack singers, especially for the earlier part of the evening. So let's say you start at 9 p.m and you have 4 singers between then and 10.30 p.m. the four singers have covered maybe 20 minutes (if you're lucky) of that 1 1/2 hours. So what you going to do to fill the other hour and 10 minutes? Just play music and wait? Not acceptable in the world of karaoke I'm afraid.

Whether you can sing or not, you're going to need quite a big list of songs that YOU are going to sing if need be.

In my opinion, as a punter, if I sit down in a karaoke bar early doors when a compere is working, I want to be entertained, sitting for the first hour, listening to someone who can't even sing work his way through 6 songs, nightmare ! One hour with no singers is a long time, ask any KDJ and just playing music, ignoring your crowd, is a big ole no no.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I sing as little as possible when doing karaoke, but what you have to realise is, it is possible for you to lack singers, especially for the earlier part of the evening. So let's say you start at 9 p.m and you have 4 singers between then and 10.30 p.m. the four singers have covered maybe 20 minutes (if you're lucky) of that 1 1/2 hours. So what you going to do to fill the other hour and 10 minutes? Just play music and wait? Not acceptable in the world of karaoke I'm afraid.

Whether you can sing or not, you're going to need quite a big list of songs that YOU are going to sing if need be.

In my opinion, as a punter, if I sit down in a karaoke bar early doors when a compere is working, I want to be entertained, sitting for the first hour, listening to someone who can't even sing work his way through 6 songs, nightmare ! One hour with no singers is a long time, ask any KDJ and just playing music, ignoring your crowd, is a big ole no no.

Totally agree with all of that.

You have to be an entertainer for karaoke.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Agreed aswell!
Although I haven't got the best voice around, I will always have a go and I tend to either do comical tracks ('Bring Me Sunshine' is a favourite) or acoustic type stuff like 'Time Of Your Life' by Green Day. I will always make a few jokes too and try to encourage people to get up and sing.

[StarZSoundS]

You have to be an entertainer for karaoke.

But surely if its quiet on the singing front you can try and motivate people into dancing (to genuine tracks) or perhaps a few games instead of boring the :Censored: of them singing like some failed club turn:eek: :eek: :eek:

They expect the Host to be able to put over a song quite well.But if it is a toss up between me and Robbie doing Let Me Entertain You (even I ) would take Robbie every time.;) ;) ;)

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Why on earth would you play games at a karaoke night?

It's a karaoke night, not a games night.

[Mark Wild]

But surely if its quiet on the singing front you can try and motivate people into dancing (to genuine tracks) or perhaps a few games instead of boring the :Censored: of them singing like some failed club turn:eek: :eek: :eek:

They expect the Host to be able to put over a song quite well.But if it is a toss up between me and Robbie doing Let Me Entertain You (even I ) would take Robbie every time.;) ;) ;)

Basically, you're saying there it is important to be able to sing. Not sure about encouraging them to dance and play games on a Karaoke night, I think that post lacks experience in the KDJ department tbh.

[StarZSoundS]

Why on earth would you play games at a karaoke night?

It's a karaoke night, not a games night.



I look upon every evening as a night of Entertainment.I will adopt the best part of my armoury to deliver to the attending guests.


If Karaoke will work at a Disco its very easy for me to slip a primitive version in....similairly if a Disco is working better at a Karaoke Evening i'll slip seamlessly into it.Very occasionsally games and some audience participation helps the early part of the evening along too:) :) :) :)

[Mark Wild]

I look upon every evening as a night of Entertainment.I will adopt the best part of my armoury to deliver to the attending guests.


If Karaoke will work at a Disco its very easy for me to slip a primitive version in....similairly if a Disco is working better at a Karaoke Evening i'll slip seamlessly into it.Very occasionsally games and some audience participation helps the early part of the evening along too:) :) :) :)

So when doing a disco, you always have a karaoke setup and vice versa?

[StarZSoundS]

Basically, you're saying there it is important to be able to sing. Not sure about encouraging them to dance and play games on a Karaoke night, I think that post lacks experience in the KDJ department tbh.



Guess I'll pick it up eventually......only been doing it eight years:eek: :eek:








So when doing a disco, you always have a karaoke setup and vice versa?



I have loaded my discs to a hard drive......I can switch to a primitive Karaoke night at the drop of a hat...the only thing thats missing is the Monitors facing the listening audience.


The way that I work (yawn) leads to the Guests singing from my laptop.They are transformed into mini Club Turns!!:) :) :)

[soundtracker]

Here we go, return to Butlitz again!

[DeckstarDeluxe]

Well another thread that could be of use to other people as it is to myself is taken off topic by Martin posting rubbish again.

[Mark Wild]

Guess I'll pick it up eventually......only been doing it eight years:eek: :eek:

Well there's no excuses then ;)

[StarZSoundS]

Here we go, return to Butlitz again!


Yep.....Long hours....Poor Pay.....loads of fun!!!I wouldn't have it any other way:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[StarZSoundS]

Well another thread that could be of use to other people as it is to myself is taken off topic by Martin posting rubbish again.

If thats how you feel i'll leave the thread....shame... i've been in the Karaoke Game for a while now!!My last post excepted I thought we were talking about how we construct a Karaoke Evening....didn't see how it was going off topic.:confused: :confused: :confused:


You did ask for starter advice....you just didn't like mine....fair enough:) :) :)

[DazzyD]

I sing as little as possible when doing karaoke, but what you have to realise is, it is possible for you to lack singers, especially for the earlier part of the evening. So let's say you start at 9 p.m and you have 4 singers between then and 10.30 p.m. the four singers have covered maybe 20 minutes (if you're lucky) of that 1 1/2 hours. So what you going to do to fill the other hour and 10 minutes? Just play music and wait? Not acceptable in the world of karaoke I'm afraid.

Whether you can sing or not, you're going to need quite a big list of songs that YOU are going to sing if need be.

In my opinion, as a punter, if I sit down in a karaoke bar early doors when a compere is working, I want to be entertained, sitting for the first hour, listening to someone who can't even sing work his way through 6 songs, nightmare ! One hour with no singers is a long time, ask any KDJ and just playing music, ignoring your crowd, is a big ole no no.

I can see where you're coming from, Mark, but I've been doing karaoke for 11 years and in that time I've made my shows in to karaoke discos. When people aren't singing, I will sing a small number of songs but then I'll play music so people can have a bit of a dance if they want to. I don't ignore the crowd and I'm continually interacting with them but my voice won't stand up to three hours of constant singing (been there, got the t-shirt, got the voice problems!) so I don't.

And I've never had any complaints that I'm not entertaining enough... yet!

[Mark Wild]

I can see where you're coming from, Mark, but I've been doing karaoke for 11 years and in that time I've made my shows in to karaoke discos. When people aren't singing, I will sing a small number of songs but then I'll play music so people can have a bit of a dance if they want to. I don't ignore the crowd and I'm continually interacting with them but my voice won't stand up to three hours of constant singing (been there, got the t-shirt, got the voice problems!) so I don't.

And I've never had any complaints that I'm not entertaining enough... yet!

I'm not saying it's black and white mate, it's just my opinion. I did my first ever karaoke 16 years ago when I was 20 and 5 years of that was working 6 nights a week as compere in a caberet bar where karaoke played a big part of most evenings (while we're throwing in experience and years/hours of service in the mix). I've never done a karaoke where people haven't sang for 3 hours though to be honest, I was talking about the beginning part of the evening.