Karaoke Forums

IT IS DONE!!  Tales from there and back again or How I did it. I added over 600 songs this year including the chartbuster hits for 2007,  the dangerous set (bargin on e-bay) half a dozen or so sound choice cherry picks off  ebay and the zoom eagles.  I removed all the dupes except for DK.  That melody line does help new singers.   I ended up with 5700 songs on 175 printed pages.  Cost was 25 bucks for an ink cartridge and 120 for printing at office depot.  They charge 16 cents a sheet which I thought was high but I've got a party/show this weekend and was out of time. I went back to my one inch books with the plastic sheets.  This was the cheapest way out for me.  I produced my book using quatto pro which is part of the Word Perfect suite.

Things I learned or the world she is a changing.   Since my last trip to the print shop they have invented wireless networks and flash drives. I didn't have to spend the money on an ink cartridge  and half a day printing my books.   Hint scout out the printer place before barging ahead with you old ways of doing things.  The very friendly guy at Office depo requested that I transfer the info to a flash drive which he then simply printed.

So there is is for this year.   Now I'm off to Frisco texas and Jimmy Buffett this weekend.

when a singer KNOWS a specific version, the chorus of background vocalists, the instruments, etc... that's the ONLY time I will play what I consider to be an inferior version.

Had to tell the KJ at a gig I go to on Friday nights, NOT to replace what she considers an inferior version (the one my fiance' requested)... because even IF SC is a better version than the AH one... THAT's the one my fiance KNOWS! The SC one threw her off, and she had a horrible karaoke experience that way!

Wouldn't happen to have been Paradise, would it?

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

nope, some country song my lady wanted to do.  LOL

Very true.  I helped a bar owner put together his own system and he had me add the CDG's through KJ Pro.  It's pretty good software, but there is the occasional gremlin that is in there.  I totally know what you're saying too.  You get the books printed and then find several more "oops" that you didn't know existed.  You need to write them down quick, because if you're in a show you get busy and sometimes forget where the "oops" was located.  

Hey Knightshow, I'm 100% in agreement with you.  

We did ours by:

• AH - All Hits
• BS - Backstage  (fitting acronym for this one too)
• CB - Chart Buster
• DK - DK Karaoke
• GB - Sweet Georgia Brown
• HD - Helluvadisc
• LG - Legends
• PH - Pop Hits (all PHM versions)
• SC - Sound Choice
• SF - Sunfly
• TT - Top Tunes

There were probably some others I missed too.  But at least when you're KJ'ing and someone asks which version is better, BS or SC, you can usually tell them SC and it's a sure bet.

yup, for the msot part! There are the rare clunkers that SC puts out, but I'd say a good 95% of the time, I love SC's stuff.

COUNTRY however, despite their sales, I find CB to be better with Country. Heck I like THC better for country sometimes over SC!

I just had 6 new books made. It cost me $135. That's $22.50 a book. I always use Officemax they are definately the cheapest. $2.99 a piece to bind. I have them print on front and back of the pages. I have about 150 pages, cut that in half for printing on both sides. I designed my own front and back covers which I have them laminate.
The books last a good 2 yrs under rough handling.

I used to do binders and page sleeves. Expensive, time consuming and they don't last as long. REALLY !

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Babs

Are you spiral binding them?  That's what i do.  I am interested in learning more about the binders JR uses.  

BTW, I have my own machine for laminating. My books cost less than $20 for 130 pages.  I pay 7cents per page for coping (14cents per sheet)

I am spiral binding them. Officemax  uses a wire binding which I love. I hate using the flat plastic stuff. They break and don't stay put.

I am against sleeves for each page. I always thought it would keep my books looking nicer longer. It just isn't true. I think binders are nice, but they are bulky and heavy. I find that laminating the front and back page work just as well.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I still use 2" binders with sheet protectors. I find I have to replace the binders every 3-4 months. I also started printing the covers on Photo paper, and they have held up now for over 6 months (knock on wood).

The binders do get heavy, so I have a rolling duffel bag that has many pockets. It is my all purpose bag. I use it to tote the books, wires, remotes, background cd player, mics, etc. It is heavy duty, and I get about 1-2 years life out of a bag. Since it is on wheels, and serves many purposes, it doesn't harm my set-up too badly.

I keep a seperate 1" binder with "New Releases". I am soon going to make a 2nd one. I find it easier to slide a sheet or 2 a sheet protector every month or so than do a full update....

OK, OK....so maybe I am just chicken of adding 1,200 songs to 10,000 and re-printing it all....

Anyone bored and want to help?

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

i use music book deluxe for book making. while initial book making, especially if you are just beginning with a large library, can be time consuming, mbd makes it as effortless as it can be. you can add entire librays with a few mouse clicks. the program incorporates a user defineable ranking system that lets you print only what you consider the best version, all versions with your favorite showing first in your printed book (ie sc would precede bs), or you can print only your least favorite manufacturers. the database has all manufacturers from the pioneer laser to the ubest vcds to the latest top/pop hits monthly. database is updated approx every two weeks. print menu is fabulous. you add manufacturers and discs to your book, print your book in format of your choice; 1 column, two column etc. by artist, title, disc number etc. even by genre if you'd like. you can create and save multiple books. i provide my customers two books; my regular book and an update book. i combine these two books ever six months. i have been a host since 1989, and used biff's spigot in prehistoric times. i spent a ton of time typing as the spigot was updated about once a year. if you have time and like to type, excel sounds fine. if you're short on time and need to construct an accurate, professional book; i suggest you consider mdb. we have a close knit local kj community here in central ohio and i have made books for many local kjs. some have a few hundred discs, some have 1500 or so. 200 discs, dependent on manufacturer diversity, takes about an hour. if you had the entire sound choice spotlight catalog, you could construct a book in less than ten minutes. for binding my books, i use a process called velo binding. clear cover with a black back. this process is similar to spiral binding, but i have found it to be more durable. it is a hole punch/plastic rivet system and my local printer charges me $2.99 per book for the front and rear cover and the binding.

song list generator is a very good software for this kindda stuff, it's kindda design for mp3 + CDG stuff.

I'm in the process of updating my books right now, and it's been a nightmare. I'm strongly considering paying the outrageous $79 for Song List Generator, because my files, even after extensive reorganization, are all screwy when trying to import into Excel. Hate to say it, but I'm just not that patient. I tried the trial of SLG and it looks fantastic, and I suspect it would save my sanity to just go ahead and bite the bullet. I've got quite a nice stash of capital built up right now, it's just against my better judgment to spend that much money on an app I'll use only a few times a year. Probably gonna do it anyway, as the process of updating and reorganizing my books has been frustrating.

The question is, what type of book to produce? I'm old school in that I like the binders and sleeves, but they last maybe a year at best. I've seen spiral bound books at other area shows and don't care for the appearance, but if they last longer, it's something to consider.

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hi-voxentertainment

Well.....I must have to admit what's even MORE of a pain is when you have just redone your song books and people come up asking for songs that you know you have, but for some reason aren't in the book. I just finally found out why....there is almost 600 songs (mainly all of 2006) of an update that I forgot to paste in to the main book apparently. Dang it, now I have to go back and reprint and restuff pages ugggggggggggggh! I don't have the time, but have to fit it in somewhere.........MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
Visit MrD on facebook - mrdsentertainment
& on myspace - larrynance[/highlight]

Shameless plug for MTU Hoster - the second most desirable thing about Hoster (after the ability to play others' CDGs) is the fact that as you rip your CDGs, it is automatically creating your book for you - last CD ripped = presto! Song book!

Song books used to be the bane of my existence - and last week I had TONS of new music but had forgotten to type up the info and put it in the book ... it was there last night, but when you make a big investment in music and nobody knows you have it, that's kind of annoying!

Mr. D: I've done that, as well - an entire section missing. I still haven't regenerated new books since I converted - for some reason spending money on books when the other ones are adequate isn't a priority. Would rather buy music. I just tell people they don't need to put a number - of course they still do. That DOES allow us to choose the correct version, however, if there are multiples of a song (the song numbering system MTU Hoster uses indicates the track number - by process of elimination you can deduce which version that way).

Hoster has SO made our life easier. Looking forward to the big upgrade - if you're considering hoster, go to their site and see what's coming.

k

and you had a LOT of growing pains with Hoster too!

I won't deny it's a supurb product... I just don't think it's worth the hype.

I use Music Book Deluxe also. I find the easiest thing to do is make a list of new songs seperate from the books all together and post them. When I make new books, usually once a yr, I just input them into my program, copy the book info onto a cd and bring it into office max. I have books made for about $20 a piece, fully done (covers and binders).

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Yah, we did....a momentary bump in the road. Worth it, though, and for those of us who are not computer geniuses (I read some of these posts, especially on the technical board and my eyes glaze over completely) it really works for us. I didn't ever notice it being 'hyped' - in any case, it works wonderfully well for us and I guess that's all that counts - whatever works for everyone is what they should use!

k

"Bump"?? If you call it deleting your files and the stress you had while trying to get support for it a bump, okay! I'd have used a bit more powerful word, myself!

anything that deletes my files and causes that kind of headache, I have no interst in using. I hate hoster as it converts files to THEIR format, rather than using the files you convert. I dislike their proprietary format, so you're locked forever into using their way or rerip if you change.

No way 'jose!