I was thinking that there was a recent karaoke game release, similar in fashion to Rockband or Guitar Hero. When I was doing some digging, I came across this article.

I guess there was a heck of a lot more karaoke games available than I imagined. The neat thing about these games, is that they usually have a built in tuner, allowing you to physically see how well you sing. Think you’re awesome? The tuner don’t lie….

I think I know of a few clients of ours that could use something like this.

The competition, that is!

A friend of a friend of a friend’s twice removed second uncle, told me that the ‘other’ karaoke hot spot in town was completely dead the night Rockstar Karaoke was down at Blarney’s. The Saturday night shows are kickin’ ass too! Since I happen to work those shows, I see much of the common client base….

“SNAP!!!”

Uhm… yeah… Inside joke.

Anyways, it’s my understanding that a friend of ours (Kelly) is quite handy with the camera. I’ll have to make a mental note to ask for photo’s all the time.

The new system is kicking ass, new mic’s have arrived (they work AWESOME!), and business is moving up. Everything is looking great, and it seems we get more of a following every time we play a show.

Is that even spelled correctly? Pretty bad when I don’t even know how to spell the clients name. hahahah

Anyways, karaoke at Blarney’s(?) this weekend. Last time we were there, the crowd was kickin’, but the feedback was terrible. I had to wrestle the PA all night. I think we’ll reconfigure a few things this time around.

The new song book is kicking some ass, and starting to see some new faces in the crowds. Don’t know if it’s the weather, or if things are moving in a forward direction… maybe both. Still, much could be done on the PA, but it can wait for now.

Also, we need some pictures of the shows we do. Might have to work something out for that…. maybe a prize give away. Hmmm…. might have to talk to some online buddies before I get into that one.

Most people are afraid to sing karaoke, because they don’t want to turn out like these people….

These days, it’s not uncommon to find karaoke contests sprinkled across your area, and though introducing your un-trained voiced to a crowd of local nay sayers can be nerve racking, I’ve put together some tips that’ll work for anyone looking to sing karaoke for some quick cash and/or other prizes.

1. If you smoke, you’d better stop for at least one day. Smoking tends to dry out your throat, and unless you’re a natural born singer, there isn’t a cough drop in the world thats going to make a bit of difference. Sure, you’ll find those that can smoke, drink, and swallow glass, and still get by fine, but if you want the cash prize, you’ll need to treat your pipes with care!
2. Alcohol tends to dry out the throat as well. If you keep your drinking to a minimum, then you’ll not only help save the throat, but you’ll also be much more alert, which increase your chances of ‘punching it home’ when the timing is just right. Off-key, drunken babbling isn’t good for anyone.
3. Practice, but not how you might think. Some people sing in the shower (good), some people sing in the car (bad). Why? When we sing in our vehicles, we tend to turn the volume up really high. Doing so will not allow you to hear yourself nearly as well, and actually tricking you into thinking that you’re doing a great job (sorry… it’s the actual singer, not you). Singing along to the song is great practice, especially for getting the timing down, but keep the volume down to an extreme minimum.
4. Song selection - Start out with some easily recognizable country tunes, that don’t require much strain on the vocals (which is about all of ‘em anyways). Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash is an excellent example. But going for the win might require you to do a rock song, and everyone loves ’80s rock. Problem is, the lead singers from that generation, more often than not, added much annotation to their voice, which makes it difficult to sing. Practice is the only thing that’ll help in this arena, but if you nail it, you’re a sure fire karaoke winner!

I hope those tips help, and if you like, you can download karaoke tracks with Rhapsody. However, these tracks are just music, and no lyrics. To get the lyrics, simply do a google search.

One thing thats sort of annoying about your standard karaoke set up, is the fact that all the sound is coming from one single source…. YOUR main speakers. It’s bad enough that the people in the front row get stuck with an onslaught of off-key country tunes. Now you’re subjecting them to high-volume drunken rambling. So why not tap into the club’s main PA system and deliver your tunes on an even scale?

1. First ask the club owner if you can tap into the main PA (duh… but we all need our permission slips).
2. Then find out if the ‘house’ audio system is owned by the club or not. Some places own their equipment, while others lease it from a vending machine type company. If the later is the case, you’ll need permission and probably assistance for hooking up your system.
3. As long as you have the green light, it’s time to get to work! First thing you’ll need is a splitter to attach to the output of the CD+G Player. You NEVER want to line out from your power amp to the House PA. Doing so could cause very serious damage, and you’ll be stuck doing karaoke for free, for quite some time. The line out from your CD+G player will be perfect as it does not send voltage up the line. Your typical connection from the player is an A/V style plug, and the splitters (you’ll probably need two) should run a couple bucks a piece.
4. Cabling - Since you’re asking for the extra ‘umpf’, you’ll need to supply all the cable as well. This could get quite expensive if the House PA is all the way across the bar. So spend some time shopping for cable. For those really long runs, you’ll probably have to stop down at the local music shop for a custom made set, which is highly recommended but can be expensive.
5. Determine what kind of inputs are allowed on the House system. Since the input can vary widely, you’ll probably have to purchase, yet another, set of splitters and possibly some adapters. If you’re dealing with a leased system, it might be wise to speak with the rental company to make sure you’re hooking your lines up in the proper place. When it comes to electronics…. ‘You just never know’.

When the smoke clears, you’ll have a KILLER sounding system. The bartenders can easily adjust the volume of the house system just like they normally do, keeping the volume at a comfortable level. Meanwhile, you can run your system louder than the house, but not nearly as loud as before, which saves your up-front audience members a trip to the hospital with bleeding ears. The overall effect is a perfectly balanced audio environment!

Great show on Saturday night! Despite the fact that three bars in town had live bands (one of which came all the way from Kentucky), the place was fairly packed. The population dived a little for about an hour, but came back quickly. Lots of new singers, which was nice. On the down side, I then hear lots of “When is my song coming up?!?!”. Can’t win ‘em all I guess.

We also added an extra CD player to the rack. This allowed us to constantly run regular music in between singers. Never realized how much of a difference that would make, and although it got a little hairy at times trying to operate everything, the ‘filled void’ was well worth it, as it kept the place rockin’ all night.

Got a Karaoke business? Here are some tips for picking songs and operating your equipment, to fill that gap -

1. No matter how your playing music (CD or computer files), make sure your ‘off’ music is extensive. Using just a plain CD with only 12-15 songs will force your patrons to hear the same songs over and over throughout the course of the night. Make an MP3 disc with 100 songs or more. This allows for that ’something new’ factor during each and every song break.
2. Pick songs that are at least somewhat well known. You don’t necessarily have to have an entire archive of Britney Spears, but you wouldn’t want to toss songs in there like Dead Embryonic Cells from Sepultura. New top 40 type stuff combined with classic hard rock and country will make a fair mix.
3. Stay away from obvious popular karaoke songs? Thats a wishy washy situation there. Personally, I wouldn’t play a song that I KNOW is going to be requested by a potential singer. However, I will play songs by the same artists, that don’t get a lot of attention. This way, everyone will hear something different during the course of the night, keeping the situation ‘fresh’.
4. Keep your music running, and on a mixer channel that allows volume adjustment. Even when someone is singing, my ‘mix disc’ is running. I simply turn the volume down to nothing. When it’s time to cue the music, I discreetly fade-in. Using a Mute button will be far to awkward for the audience. Picture a singer finishing up ‘Grandpa’, and suddenly ‘Back In Black’ explodes in over the speakers. Very uncomfortable. The fade-in should be used as the audience is giving the singer their round of applause. This way, they don’t even see it coming, and the show keeps moving.
5. Volume - Low is the key here. I prefer to run the mix disc volume several db below the main karaoke music. That way it becomes blatantly obvious that it’s just background music, and the host can clearly be heard when announcing the next singer, contest results, last call (never liked that one ;)), or any other quickie information bits.

Darn - I tried downloading karaoke songs from Napster, however the songs don’t have any on-screen lyrics… real bummer.

On the bright side, I believe most songs are supplied by Sound Choice, which produces some of the highest quality karaoke tracks available.  Spendy, but worth it!

I’ll keep this in mind for later, but I’ll have to grab some karaoke making/burning software and see how the results all pan out.

WEEeeeeeeee!!!

Finally, getting things back together on the home front, and got the internet connection back up and rollin’. Pretty darn hard runnin’ a website when you don’t have access.

To kick things off, everyone is going to see MANY updates over the next few months here. I’ve got several new kick ass articles geared towards the karaoke business owner, and some HUGE plans for the singers. Thats right, big daddy is gunna dish out the bucks to make some special projects happen…. but I’m not droppin’ any clues just yet. Let’s just say - “The team has been hired” Bwahahahahahah

Anyways, to kick things off in full speed, I just got this e’mail today regarding a new karaoke/recording company thats open for bookings. RockGarden Music is opening it’s doors to make custom karaoke tracks for the hardcore performance artist willing to spend the money.

“Gee, Shawn… Don’t you just drop the song into some sort of ‘program’ and turn a doo-hicky knob to remove the vocals?”

Well….. I’m not going to sugar coat it.. HELL NO! I’ve personally taken a swing at home recording and if there is one thing I’ve learned - “Sound engineering is extremely f&%#@ difficult”. You’ve got about a hundred different ways to make a track sound like garbage, not including the equipment issues. Then, if the artist isn’t worth a hoot, it’s going to sound like poop coming out anyways. Crap in, Crap out!

However, hiring a professional recording studio can get very expensive, so don’t go bothering poor Dean with “Can I get this song in karaoke format for $20?”

So why bother? Well, believe it or not, there are some people that take their tracks very seriously, as they sometimes enter singing contests. (Theres money in them there vocals) And if you’ve heard some of the tracks “I” have, you’d agree…. getting a professional is the way to go.

But Dean offers a bit more - Full feature analog/digital recording studio ready to get your project off the ground. You can hear some of his sample work here… and it’s fricking amazing! (Listen to track 2.. Darkly Slanted… Amazing!) One thing I’ve learned as a hobbiest musician, it’s not what’s presented up front… its the little nouances in the back. Quick-cut tracks are dry and lifeless, while the tracks that stand the test of time, are rich with life…. if you listen closely. Heck, when listening to todays pro-recorded songs, I can pick out three effects, over dubs, and compression just on the vocal track alone. These things are what creates a ‘feel’ in the song, and Dean has put together some impressive work.

I’ll have to keep in touch with Dean, as I have a ton of questions!

Check him out!

I know I’ve posted this somewhere else before, but I couldn’t resist doing it again.

Being a part time musician, I think this is probably one of the funniest damn flash movies every made - Strongbad Rockstar