My Biggest complaint about Karaoke tracks

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T

The Wizard Of OZ

Well-Known DJ
Dec 13, 2007
3,130
50
68
Tampa Bay Area
I've been listening to a lot of tracks and sound clips of tracks lately trying to decide which companies I want to buy and which songs I'm able to sing or that I want to sing. When you use headphones you can really hear the recordings clearly. So many of the backing vocals are terrible and too loud. These terrible vocals ruin the recordings for me. IMO that is the single worst thing about Karaoke tracks. True, some companies didn't do a good job recording and mixing or they used not very good musicians and often didn't do a good job of recreating the original sound, but those bad backing vocals drive me crazy. They can ruin an otherwise good recording.:sqmad:
 
Take the head phone off and listen thru your live system.... it will make a difference in some cases... and I agree... but then karaoke isn't done by the original artist either.... they are re-creations... and like any re-creation it boils down to how the musicians interprit the music score they are reading from.
 
Sorry DJMC, but I just listened to a bunch of Soundchoice clips at Amazon and Soundchoice has plenty of bad vocals unfortunately. Listen to the tracks without anyone singing, not at a bar or at an event, do it in a quiet, undistracted setting. If you don't hear it then it isn't or won't be an issue to you. It bothers the hell out of me.

Maybe I'm being fussy, but bad backing vocals mess me up and make it harder for me to sing the song and it's distracting too. Headphones or no headphones, bad backing vocals detract from the song. If it's bad enough I won't use it, period. If I can't find another better version then that song won't be in my repertoire.
 
My daughter Allie sings professionally.....and she won't use any other instrumental track besides SC.

We've never heard this problem in live music playback. Maybe over headphones they sound different.
 
"Karaoke isn't done by the original artist" isn't an excuse and makes no sense. The best Karaoke tracks come as close to the original song as possible. There shouldn't be any interpretation.

When people talk about Karaoke tracks as being of high quality, they are saying the musicians are of high quality and the song sounds close to sounding like the original, that's the point isn't it?

The arrangement, the key, the tempo-as close to the original as possible. The backing vocals are as much a part of the song as anything. Can you cut out the bass guitar? or the drums? will it sound right? If I had a choice between poorly sung backing vocals and no backing vocals it would be an easy choice. There are songs where they use decent singers for the backing vocals and it makes a world of difference.
 
Well, I just went back to Amazon.com and listened to a bunch of Soundchoice tracks and I have to admit when I'm wrong. The first time I went through the list I wasn't paying attention and actually thought that I was listening to ALL Soundchoice recordings. They were formatted differently in my first search and I wasn't paying attention. On the left side of the screen were Soundchoice logos with listings for their various albums.

The second time I went back and the list was formatted differently and I could see clearly that there were a bunch of different manufactureres listed. I listened only to Soundchoice tracks and I was surprised. The background vocalists they use are of superior quality. I haven't listened to every Soundchoice recording ever made so there may be some clinkers in there, but generally they are of significantly better quality compared to many of the other brands I've heard.

I apologize to all the people here and at Karaoke Scene who keep saying how good Soundchoice is and I just didn't believe. DJMC you da man!
 
Likely one singing the lead cant likely compare to the real original performer either. Go figure. Especially when attempting to sing Stairway to Heaven. LOL Stogie Surely I Jest.
 
Soundchoice is the leader however other manufacturers have their better CHOICES!! At the end of the day it really boils down to what your singers choose to sing. If they keep saying bring SGB's version of Pretty Woman or other manufacturers enough times it doesnt matter that you have the unused version on SC.
 
Jokerswild, ultimately that's my goal. After I do some gigs and get some more experience I have no doubts that I will be singing with a band. I won't make any more money, but for some reason that's what I want to do. It's taking me some time and a lot of effort for me to figure all of this out and hone my skills to a level that I feel comfortable with. Whenever I sing in public I get lots of complements and I know people are really enjoying my singing.

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at, but I wonder if you understand what I was talking about? If you do, then I can't really understand how yuo could disagree or not acknowledge my point? Whatever. . . and yes, it is a big deal to me. It's my new career and I'm very passionate about it. Those backing tracks are extremely important.
 
Im agreeing you are just too darned good for this business. Remember us when you cut that first record.
 
You made me chuckle again John. I've said several times I'm just good enough. I'll never play Vegas, I'll never cut a record. I'm just good enough for the local bars and restaurants. I have no illusions about it. Strictly minor league ball for me, I'll never make it to the majors. Besides, I'm way too old too. It makes me happy and it feeds my ego when people compliment me and they enjoy my singing. If I can make a basic living at it I'll be thrilled. That's why I want to DJ, I can make a lot more money doing weddings than I can singing in bars. I'd like to do both and I see no reason why I can't.
 
Matt around how many Karaoke shows do you do per year?

Roughly. Just curious. Likely around the same as me but Im in process of setting up weekly shows again. I will be purchasing SC along with a few other select providers. To give our members proper due we likely need the regular suspects who do t his week in and week out to speak out as your collection is small yes effective as is mine for what we currently use them for. Doing a weekly or bi weekly regular venue will surely require a much larger selection and you will find customers who dont see it as you or I do. Requiring a bit of alternate choices in your current SC collection.:sqwink:
DJMC said:
My daughter Allie sings professionally.....and she won't use any other instrumental track besides SC.

We've never heard this problem in live music playback. Maybe over headphones they sound different.
Click to expand...
 
Soundchoice isn't the be all and end all of karaoke like they would have us believe.. There are some things they are not good at, and one of those things is background vocals. Sometimes they are there when they shouldn't be, but most of the time they AREN"T there when they should be.


Case in point, listen to ANY track made by soundchoice for the Everly Brothers. The trademard sound they make is they make their recordings sound like at least 4 or more people are singing from two voices yet i have yet to find any recording made that has ANY background vocals.

The zoom disc i have of them however, has BOTH and more songs by them to boot..

Also, soundchoice uses VERY cheap media.. Don't believe me, hold up one of their discs to the light.. it will become very transparent *i mean you can see right thru it*. Qaulity media doesn't do that.

Plus there replacement policy was great.. but they have discontinued about 80% of their older spolight series.. So if anything breaks, you're basically SOL.

Don't get me wrong, I love soundchoice, but there are discs out there that are just as good or better.
 
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