Ever since my other side projects started kicking into full gear, I sort of left this one behind. I stop in (finally) today and find that I have a boat load of spam to clean up.

As for our karaoke business, it’s been rather busy. The past three weekends were booked, and now I’m ready to take a break to get back to things.

More to follow….

I found a cool new tool for the the ‘sing karaoke‘ page. Down at the bottom, there is a streaming karaoke player, with regularly updated songs (weekly?). The tracks really aren’t too bad, considering they appear to be real audio, instead of that cruddy midi sound (don’t care who ya are…. Nickelback sounds terrible through ANY keyboard)

Here’s a screen shot, so go have fun!

Stumbled across this theme today, and thought that it made a great match for the site. So what do ya think?

Pretty good find, if I do say so myself!

Not a big deal, really. But I thought I’d make a tool as an added bonus to the site - A karaoke ticket generator.

Karaoke business’s can type in their business name, hit the ‘generate’ button, and print out blank request forms. Sure, it’s not all that fancy, but for anyone who’s lost all their info due to a computer crash (or god knows what else), they can just swing by here and get the job done.

There will be 10 request forms per page, complete with business name, and a name, track, and song line. So far, I’ve had success printing them on a few different styles of printers, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

So let me know if it’s not printing just right on your system, along with what type of printer you have. Any adjusting that I need to do, should be extremely minimal. More updates on the way!

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!

Yeah yeah yeah. I know already. The site hasn’t been updated in nearly the amount of time that it should have been.

Well, I finally got that one tool done. Took quite a while trying to find someone willing to make it for me, at a cheap price. hahahah

It’s nothing special, and I’ve got to add some finishing touches to make it all work. But at least the hard part is done, and I can move on. Problem is…. the next programming set I need is much more complicated, and I’ll need to build up some cash to pay someone to do it correctly.

As for the other tool, I don’t plan on releasing it until I have everything done at one time. At which point, I’ll be unleashing a whole new navigation on the main site, with new articles, tools, etc. Just wish I could get it all done right now, as even “I’m” excited to see how the new site turns out.

Karaoke? Well, things have been getting tight in the Mitchell area. Our usual hang out slacked off on us, and didn’t hire us back for a while. But now, I think things might start picking up again.

A long-time friend came down to see me at this last show. What a hoot! She coaxed me into singing (if thats what you wanna call it), and I completely made an ass outa myself.

Uhm….. yeah….. thats why I just put the disc in the player.

Ok, I’ve finally gotten a list of pages that I want to add to the site, including at least one tool.

Looking back, I’m fairly proud of the site that I’ve made (’cept for a couple of sore spots), but then noticed that some of the content suffered during the great-reconstruction period. Fixable, yes.

I’ll still need to break down some of these pages though, maybe consolidate the text, and then fine tune a couple more things. Obviously, the only visible thing I’ve done was create the favicon that should show up in your bookmarks. Not a big deal, but looks a lot better than that dorky blue-checkered box supplied by the hosting company.

One of my up-coming articles will require some…. uh…. ‘items’. Can’t let the cat outa the bag just yet. Again, need some money, but luckily for me, I don’t need a whole lot to do this.

Still need a programmer for the tool I’m working on. I could possibly pay for the tool, via another site I frequent, but I’m sure I’ll need at least $50. Money well spent in my opinion…. just don’t have it to spend it. Typical.

So yes, I really am working, just not nearly as fast as I like. =)

Sorry for the delay folks. I’ve been going back and forth with some people online, trying to get some code written for some special tools I want to offer.

However, since I don’t know anything about scripting, I’ll be further delayed.

Take note, I’ll have at least two or three more articles to post, and a new nav menu on the core site. One of which, I’m pretty excited about since everyone could use this information. It’s even on a subject that “I” need to get researched from a local guru. Should be fun.

Until then…..

No, not the song, although it’s a good one!

What can I say, been having major internet problems, keeping me away from the site. However, the good news - I’ve been putting together a list of things I want added to this site. Lots of good stuff. Some of it will take some real effort to develop, but it’ll be worth it.

I’ll have things coming for both singers and owners…. so book mark me! It’ll be worth it!

Yes, I know… it’s been some time since an update.

Lot’s going on this month, keeping from computers entirely. I think that’s changing tho, real soon.  For instance…. Got a gig tonight in Lake Andes at a retirement party. Should be fun!

Then, the following week will hold a double header. We’ll be doing a show during the afternoon in the Walmart parking lot (of all places), which I believe is just DJ services for music. Then that same night I’ll be at the Longhorn again.

Not sure whats going on after that, but I’ll try to check back in more often…..