More and more people are enjoying this great entertainment in their homes. Going out the bars is expensive and it’s hard to find places where the entire family can participate. There is also no better way to liven up parties and family gatherings.
On this site you will find information on karaoke equipment, software, and music as well as how to put together a great sounding karaoke system. You will find various articles and tutorials that will help you better understand the assorted aspects of karaoke.
Does this scenario sound
familiar? You have a lot of CDG discs and when you perform karaoke you
have to constantly load and unload the discs from your
karaoke machine. So you wonder how you might copy all the songs from
the CDG's to your computer and play them with a software program and
not have to mess with the discs anymore. Actually, this
is very easy to do but you have to know the right procedure.
You cannot simply copy
the songs from the CDG discs to your computer's hard drive. You must
have the proper software to "rip" the songs from the discs
to the appropriate format. The industry standard format that is
supported by nearly all karaoke software is called MP3+G. Each MP3+G
song is made up of two files which are an MP3 audio file and a
CDG graphics file. The two files can be zipped together to form a
single zip file... hence the term "karaoke zips".
Standard audio CD ripping
software is not sufficient for ripping CDG discs to MP3+G files. You
must have a specialized ripping application like Power CD+G Burner.
This program will rip the songs directly to MP3+G files or karaoke zips
if you prefer. It can access an online
database of karaoke discs to automatically name the song files. All
the disc data is user submitted so you need to watch for misinformation
although for the most part it is pretty
accurate.
You're probably thinking
that this is going to be a time consuming venture and you're right if
you have hundreds of discs. Plan on three to four minutes
ripping time per song. Some disc brands are multi-plex which means
that they have two versions of each song, one with lead vocals and
another without them. Many people choose to only rip the lead
vocal free versions which saves a lot of time.
You only want to have to
go through this process once so it's a very good idea to have at least
one backup of the songs either on another hard drive
(preferably) or on archive quality DVD discs. Every hard drive is
going to fail someday... it's just a matter of when. I personally have
my songs stored on two separate external hard drives. If
something happens to one I will copy all the songs to a new one.
External USB hard drives have become very inexpensive and even a small
one (under 500 GB) will hold tens of thousands of
songs.
You will want to choose a
software player that has database creation with a song search feature.
Most free players will not have these features. Even
some paid programs have only playlist creation which is not the same
thing. To be safe you should opt for a karaoke hosting
program like the pros use. Some of them, like JustKaraoke for
example, are very user friendly. It has all the cool hosting features
like song search, singer history, filler music,
etc..
So there you have it. If
you are willing to invest a little money in software, and a lot of time
(initially) to rip the discs, you can perform your
karaoke from now on without ever having to load another disc.
Do you think you have
what it takes to be a professional karaoke host? I've been one for many
years and I've seen a lot of "wannabe's" come and go.
These were typically karaoke singers who thought the job of karaoke
host looked so easy that anyone who could carry a tune could do it. Of
course they were wrong.
There are some who will
say that being a good singer isn't necessary because this is "just
karaoke" and not about good singing. This is simply not true.
In general, people expect the karaoke host to be a good singer. The
host is often asked to help out with a duet and is expected to be able
to do a decent job with their part. There will be times
when the host will have to "carry" the show until some singers sign
up. By "good singer" I don't mean you have to be the next winner of The
Voice but you at least should be better than average. I
don't know of any successful karaoke hosts who are not good singers.
A good ear for music is
essential. You must be able to get the best sound out of your system in
any situation. It takes a good ear, practice, and talent
to accomplish this. Many a time I have attended a karaoke show where
the host had top end equipment but the sound was horrible. And what's
sadder still is that they did not even realize
it.
And speaking of the sound
system, do not settle for anything less than high quality components.
Cheap components always make for cheap sound. Again,
some will come back with the "it's just karaoke" argument and that
the singers don't care about sounding good. Again, this is simply not
true. Yes there are those who just like to get up and make
a fool of themselves but they are the exception... not the norm.
Most karaoke singers try to do a good job when they sing and they prefer
to be singing on a quality system.
You need to build your
music library with your singers in mind. Don't buy songs because they
are the ones YOU like. And don't confuse quantity with
quality. You've seen those karaoke hosts that brag about having
50,000 or more songs. I can assure you that a good 49,000 of them never
get requested. The point I'm making is that you need to
focus on a well rounded collection of popular songs. The old
standards are a must. Would you believe that the average age of songs
done at karaoke is about 20 years? A study I once did concluded
exactly that.
Lets say you pass all the
prerequisites to this point... all joking aside... that's the easy
part. Being a karaoke host is nothing like being a DJ. It
is far more difficult and demanding. You don't just get to sit
behind your equipment, play tunes, and take the occasional request. You
are constantly dealing with the public. There will be
customers coming up to you, sometimes nonstop, asking about a
certain song or when they will be up next. They'll want to change their
next song or ask you to hold their turn because they have to
step outside... and other things like this. And this is all going on
while you're trying to adjust the sound for each singer and announcing
the next singer and keeping the singer rotation in
proper order. Oh yea, did I mention that most of the people you deal
with will be drinking? You had better be a very tolerant person.
This last point is the
one that I have seen many a wannabe karaoke host fail at miserably.
Running a fair singer rotation is both super important and
super difficult. Important because if the crowd thinks you are
playing favorites they will eventually abandon you and then you're
through. It's difficult because you cannot do favors for ANYONE.
Not your best friend, your family, your spouse, or even the bar
owner who hired you. People will often plead with you, get angry with
you, and pester the hell out of you, but you MUST be able to
turn these people away. A karaoke host who plays favorites is in
this business for the short term.
Do you have what it takes to be a professional karaoke host?
Find the best professional karaoke software at the Karaoke SoftShop.
Back in the dark ages of
karaoke, or what some would call the beginning of the 1990's, karaoke
music was available in one format... the laser disc. Big
12" double sided video discs that contained karaoke videos. Man were
those things a pain in the a... you know what I mean. Soon the CD+G
format arrived and took over thus making the laser disc
obsolete. This simple CD based format that displays synchronized
lyrics against a plain background is still the industry standard karaoke
format and has remained unchanged since its inception.
Its simplicity is its appeal.
Yes, karaoke music has
evolved into the computer age like most other types of media. Audio CD's
have given way to compressed audio files like the MP3
and others. The CD+G format has given way to its compressed version
the MP3+G. CD players have given way to computer software and mobile
devices. Karaoke disc players have given way to computer
software, hard drive machines, and handheld "magic microphones".
These days there are a
variety of sources for obtaining karaoke music. CD+G discs are still
widely available in stores and online. There are several
"pay per song" MP3+G download websites. MP3+G song chips are
available for the magic microphone type systems. There are song
streaming services like the Karaoke Cloud that are integrated into
hosting software and provide instant access to thousands of popular
karaoke songs.
It has become commonplace
for those who own many karaoke CD+G discs to move the songs from them
onto a hard drive. This is done with specialized
karaoke ripping programs
that automatically formats the ripped song tracks into MP3+G or zipped
MP3+G files. Free online
databases are accessed to name the song files. Once the song files
are on the hard drive a karaoke program is used to play them and the
discs can be stored away for safe keeping.
Proprietary brand discs
like the SCDG from CAVS or the NEO-G by RSQ are based on the CD+G
format. These are basically DVD discs that contain compressed
versions of CD+G song tracks. The only karaoke machines that will
play these discs are the ones produced by their associated company.
There are karaoke
programs that will rip the songs from these discs to the MP3+G format.
So why is the MP3+G such
an important format? There are several reasons. First of all it is the
compressed version of the most popular karaoke song type
CD+G. It is also supported by virtually all karaoke software players
and hosting applications. It is perfect for backing up a CD+G disc
collection because of its reduced size and the fact that it
can be used to create CD+G discs at any future time. Lastly, it
allows you to purchase individual karaoke songs instead of having to buy
CD+G discs that may have only one or two songs on them
that you actually want.
If you are just beginning
to build a karaoke music collection you might first try the auction
sites like eBay for used CD+G discs. Check the online
karaoke forums for people who are selling off their collection. But
heed this advice. Never buy a hard drive that is pre-loaded with karaoke
music unless it is from a long standing reputable
company. There are many illegal hard drive being sold and you do not
want to get caught with one.
