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eddieyourdj

Mac Daddy DJ
Aug 13, 2006
2,276
115
63
Jonesboro, Arkansas
www.djeddiefite.com
I am getting more requests for karaoke. I have never done it before or even looked into getting started. Don't take offense to this everyone, but I am looking for a cost-effective buy in. Is it possible?
I do take pride in my extensive music library and can pull up just about any request that comes my way at an event(that's 'gig' for most of you;lol). Right now I ,financially, don't want to plop down the big bucks to be able to say that for karaoke too. What is the novice way to approach this? Again, I have nothing at all that relates to karaoke. Where do I start? Is there a Top 100 package I can purchase? Where can I look online for CDs?

Geesh, I sound like a beginner in the DJ bizz...:sqembarrassed: ..thx

Eddie
 
Check out Foundations 1 & 2 by Sound Choice. Both are great 500 songs starter packs.
 
djxpress said:
I am getting more requests for karaoke. I have never done it before or even looked into getting started. Don't take offense to this everyone, but I am looking for a cost-effective buy in. Is it possible?
I do take pride in my extensive music library and can pull up just about any request that comes my way at an event(that's 'gig' for most of you;lol). Right now I ,financially, don't want to plop down the big bucks to be able to say that for karaoke too. What is the novice way to approach this? Again, I have nothing at all that relates to karaoke. Where do I start? Is there a Top 100 package I can purchase? Where can I look online for CDs?

Geesh, I sound like a beginner in the DJ bizz...:sqembarrassed: ..thx

Eddie
Click to expand...

Do you have a CDG player?

Are you digital?

What do you have by way of a mixer? Does it have vocal effects?

How much do you want to invest in new equipment?

How much do you want to invest in karaoke music?

Other than the equipment issues.... what karaoke music you buy will be dictated by what you are willing to spend.

High End: Sound Choice Foundations I and II plus the five Bricks or

Moderate End: Chartbusters E1 to E6 series or the DKK Milinium Series

Low End: Sweet Georgia Brown

Then you can fill in with new music from the monthly discs like Panarama (Top Hits Monthly) for example. Also look at the Supercore sets for fill in of modern music.
 
Eddie if you are going to bother dont go half way.. You do the DJ business right there is no sense in degrading your services by doing half arsed Karaoke
 
Eddie,

I'll let others advice you on your original question- so many opinions and you've got a lot of filtering to do.

The only thing I'll add is on the mental side. A few things to remember that are different from DJing:


The emphasis is on the VOCALS, not the music. The music is used to ENHANCE the vocals.

Resetting sound on the fly is a MUST. Remember, vocal emphasis, and each singer is different.

Microphone quality should be good ( the most popular is the Shure SM-58), but don't overkill ( Sennheiser or Shure Beta). A super great mic is also an unforgiving one, and you're singers are, for the most part, going to be in need of forgiving :sqwink:

A good host will also set up with full accessibility to the crowd. No booth. In order to make people comfortable you must first make them comfortable WITH YOU. Gotta intermingle, meet and greet, answer a lot of questions, etc..
Good mic work can be essential in helping to keep non-singers entertained, and in building a rapport with your singers in hopes of making them regulars.

In short, a good Karaoke Host must REALLY know how to multitask...


It's very different from DJing if done correctly. On the other hand, if it gets in your blood you'll have the time of your life! :sqbiggrin: :sqbiggrin: :sqbiggrin:
 
I second/third all the recommendations to start with the Sound Choice Foundation 1 & 2 and 5 Bricks. If you didn't want to get all the Bricks (5) right away, the Rock & Country Brickettes are good (but all the songs on the brickettes are in Bricks 4 & 5, I think).The SC Hall Of Fame series are also really good to get you going.

I'm not quite as harsh on the SGB set as others are, but they can be very hit-or-miss. For more recent hits, the Nashville Star/American Idol disks (distributed by Sound Choice) are good, as are the Sing It Now quarterly disks (available at Wal-Mart & Best Buy, of all places).

Chartbuster is excellent for their country catalog, but a little hit-or-miss on the rock.

If you have the computer capability, Panorama's Monthly Karaoke is excellent for MP3+G downloads and runs about $40 a month for ~35-40 songs (four disks worth of music). They have a lot of the latest pop, country and Top 40 dance hits. Their download library dating from about 2003 is available from Tricerasoft.com or karaokemonthly.com.

I also echo everything Joe said about the show focusing on the singers and the crowd. Each singer is different and you'll need to tweak the sound for each one. It's also important to keep track of your singer rotation - singers usually will keep track themselves and aren't shy about letting you know if they've been bumped out of order. :)
 
I gotta disagree with the Sound Choice recomendation based on principal. Thier lack of support for computer based KJ'ing is a slap in the face to PC based operators making a concerted effort not to pirate.

Panorama, Zoom, THM are all sold downloadable through Tricerasoft.com and karaoke.cc. The owner of Zoom is named Joe Blackie, he's a really nice guy and i'm sure he'd give you a package deal comparable to the Sound Choice pack mentioned above.

If you have no idea about karaoke rotation, I've written a good article or two. Me, i'd rather just let a computer handle it. It's still good to have a CDG disk player handy on a video switch, just in case a singer brings in thier own.
 
WoW! Thanks everyone for the quick responses! Just a note, I am looking to work via computer since thats what I use for the mobile bizz. Also, this will be for mobile events. I have no plans to get into the bar scene...thx
 
Jeff Romard said:
Eddie if you are going to bother dont go half way.. You do the DJ business right there is no sense in degrading your services by doing half arsed Karaoke
Click to expand...


I have recently made an attempt at KJ it's not easy....and requires $$$ to get started....those Sound Choice Foundation I & II anywhere from $300 - $500 each, and that's not enough for a good selection of songs......figure $1,000 to $1,500 for CD+G and Mixer........and Mics.....$500??

I'm not sure I'm going to continue with it.......
 
DJ Gray said:
I have recently made an attempt at KJ it's not easy....and requires $$$ to get started....those Sound Choice Foundation I & II anywhere from $300 - $500 each, and that's not enough for a good selection of songs......figure $1,000 to $1,500 for CD+G and Mixer........and Mics.....$500??

I'm not sure I'm going to continue with it.......
Click to expand...


And another myth gets busted. Hosting karaoke AIN'T cheap. I will say that, IMHO, you wasted your money on Sound Choice. I have no political problems with them ( I'm disc based), I just think they are WAY overpriced and over-hyped. There are other mfrs. who produce equal or better quality at MUCH lower prices.....
 
Thanks everyone for the information and advice. I have decided against going the karaoke route at this point. Too much money involved on the front end for me to justify diving in without knowing what the local market will produce. Thanks again everyone...Eddie
 
JoeChartreuse said:
And another myth gets busted. Hosting karaoke AIN'T cheap. I will say that, IMHO, you wasted your money on Sound Choice. I have no political problems with them ( I'm disc based), I just think they are WAY overpriced and over-hyped. There are other mfrs. who produce equal or better quality at MUCH lower prices.....
Click to expand...

Oh I agree...I have the Supercore, Sweet Georgia Brown and others...I guess my point is that Karaoke is not like DJ'ing...it's a totally seperate field, with it's own set of skills required.
I'm not sure it's for me...........
 
I would consider finding a rental outlet and booking a couple gigs with a modest library to see if its something you might want to explore further.
 
DJ Gray said:
Oh I agree...I have the Supercore, Sweet Georgia Brown and others...I guess my point is that Karaoke is not like DJ'ing...it's a totally seperate field, with it's own set of skills required.
I'm not sure it's for me...........
Click to expand...


Well, that was the point of my first post on this thread. Jon has a good idea. You might rent some equipment to see if you like it. At the risk of repetition: You may not, but if you do, and it gets in your blood, it's a BLAST!
 
JoeChartreuse said:
but if you do, and it gets in your blood, it's a BLAST!
Click to expand...

I gotta agree I worked for a Karaoke show 15 years ago and to this day I still entertain the idea of doing it again
 
JTV will be doing it again

As a part of my upcoming fulltime effort " Stay Tuned"!:sqcool:
Jeff Romard said:
I gotta agree I worked for a Karaoke show 15 years ago and to this day I still entertain the idea of doing it again
Click to expand...
 
jfactor1 said:
Check out Foundations 1 & 2 by Sound Choice. Both are great 500 songs starter packs.
Click to expand...

Took the words right out of my mouth.........

Technically, there are 450 songs in each set. (F 1 = 450, F 2 = 450 , total = 900)

My daughter Allie is a professional singer......
SHE will not sing if the tracks are Sweet Georgia Brown or Chartbusters. There are times where she will BYOCD (bring your own CD) from home because dad's got Sound Choice.

The quality difference is alarming, if you're used to Sound Choice.

However, if you live in an area with lots of $50 per nite K-shows, then everyone is using crappy CD+G's and you won't be able to know the difference.

It all comes down to the quality of your singers, whether you have a professional singer in your family, -OR- whether you have good ears and can tell a quality arrangement from a crappy one.
 
JoeChartreuse said:
And another myth gets busted. Hosting karaoke AIN'T cheap. I will say that, IMHO, you wasted your money on Sound Choice. I have no political problems with them ( I'm disc based), I just think they are WAY overpriced and over-hyped. There are other mfrs. who produce equal or better quality at MUCH lower prices.....
Click to expand...

Not according to my daughter Allie, who is even more picky than her old man.
 
DJ Gray said:
..those Sound Choice Foundation I & II anywhere from $300 - $500 each, and that's not enough for a good selection of songs......
Click to expand...


au contraire.......from my experience, the Sound Choice F-1 & F-2 provide about 90% of the most popular all-time songs, if you're not doing Karaoke at bar gigs.

Since I've only needed the F-1 and F-2 for mobile gigs, have found that its very convenient....I can carry the entire collection in two binders, and they both fit in one small box. I've got my entire song list on one 8 x 11 sheet (printed on both sides). The master lists come from Sound Choice, I copy them at Kinko's and keep them at my podium, for people who have trouble reading the small print on the 8 x 11 sheet.

Clients can make special requests in advance (they rarely seem to need 'em).

One time I special ordered a "Star Series" from Sound Choice, because the client needed "When You Say Nothing At All" by Allison Krause. Fortunately that same $25 CD+G had "Saved The Best For Last" by Vanessa Williams, and a couple of Kelly Clarkson songs too. That disc turned out to be a good purchase because all four songs have become part of daughter Allie's song repertoire (ones that she has memorized and can sing w/o looking at lyrics on a screen).

Having a singer in the family makes the Karaoke a good investment.
I only need to do two events per year, for the Sound Choice discs to pay for themselves.

And, whenever Allie needs to sing a song for the school talent show.....like recently she needed "Endless Love" for a duet......that collection is very handy.
 
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