Karaoke Forums

well i doublechecked and i have 5 (probably the same 5 you have):
You've Lost That Loving Feeling
Unchained Melody
Soul And Inspiration
Rock And Roll Heaven
Ebb Tide

I'd like Little Latin Lupe Lu, See That Girl, and Hold On, but apparently not available.

We just got in some Zoom U2 and on one song, instead of just "Intro," it says "Extremely Long Intro," which gives everyone a laugh.

On the Zoom Eagles disc they have short versions and long versions of some of the songs--turns out not to be cut in the verses but in the long guitar outros--interesting idea but not sure it is worth taking up extra tracks.

On the other hand they did cut out a verse on "Money For Nothing" and I had to order it again from Sound Choice to get the full song. (That probably due to derogatory words rather than time considerations?) But it is a question with no good answer. You hate to have people just standing there during long instrumental solos but I have also seen singers thrown off when the song is shortened and doesn't go the way they are used to it.

what about where possible, a thank you for singing. . . and an outro (either the original outro) or an extra chorus with a definate ending.

Singers will sit down, KJ's can fade out the ending if they choose and those of us who prefer a definate ending still have one.


. . . love the thank you for singing idea. . . it's like giving the customer a well done hug at the end. . . smiles all round.

If you add a thank you for singing, it would have to be almost immediately after the point where the singer stops singing - otherwise in a show like mine, it's already faded out & stopped.
I prefer definate endings over the cheesy fade outs. Make it sound like a live show IMO! Sound Choice is good for that.

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Thrilled to hear you actually asking for input about your products!


Regarding the mix..having it as close to the original as possible is always a good thing!


For the intro- Like Vik's idea of the chord then the dots- but after working with live bands a click is also very much like calling the tempo to a drummer...Plus sometimes when I use my tracks- I don't have the monitors so the audial click would be needed. Legends does the Gladys Knight version of "the way we were" There is 29 seconds of nothing at the beginning...no chord...no click...nothing...The only time I use it is when i get it to the 29sec mark...then pause it while I vamp the intro...I hit play once i hold the note that leads into the song-.but even then making sure you're on pitch is an iffy thing. Takes brass balls to sing that one because of the intro!



LOVE endings! LOVE LOVE LOVE ADORE ...ENDINGS!!! i got a legends version of "Got to be real" one of the few disco songs that actually HAS a great ending....and they did a FADE instead of the regular ending...I was BEYOND MIFFED! Give us an end PLEASE...oh did i say how much i love having an ending??( wink wink)



And the solos....if they are longer than a few measures PLEASE get rid of them. It's one thing if you're playing with a live band because then the audience has a real "musician" to look at while he is soloing...but with karaoke...you're standing there like a jerk twiddling your thumbs and wishing you'd had some dance training to make the solo interesting! I use to joake about "ladies & gentlemen- please give our talented player "chip" your attention...at the end of the solo I'd say that was "micro chip" ain't he great! But I still felt like a jerk while the solo plays. The Music maestro version of Moondance has the piano in there but it sounds like th piano is in another room...if there is a solo...shouldn't it sound like it's WITH the rest of the band? I coach students and there are so many great songs that could be done-especially in a competitive situation...but because of the long solo- they aren't viable choices. I like the idea of having both versions on a disk...when I was a Kj I wanted to get as many people up as possible at busy shows- I would have LOVED to have had the option of cutting out the solo! Over the course of an evening- it could have gotten another 5 singers up!



Please don't put a Thankyou for singing in on the track...that's the KJ's job...Making karaoke as close to a live performance is only going to give credability to a show. IMHO putting a thank you for singing...or intro on the track would be very cheesy and "canned"



But this is my Biggest Hugest most improtant request...I have literally spent THOUSANDS of dollars on tracks trying to find one that wasn't cheesy synthetic sounds...Oh PWETTY PWEASE Mr Karaok man....PLEASE use live instruments when the original did. I got a big band CD that has the most gawdawfful synth horns...I threw it out! Pocket songs on their earlier catalog was infamous for this...they have really improved lately- and even have some cd that utilise REAL bands- i LOVE those cd's- don't even mind paying the 30.00 instead of 18.00 to 21.00 normal pocketsongs run! Cheesy fake instruments are my biggest peeve with karaoke...other then those terrible backstage cd's that have a little horn thingee playing the melody you;re supposed to be singing! I'd fire a pianist who did that...I threw those Cds out...but i guess for 5.00 a pop you get what you pay for...pure tee crap-ohla!

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Oh My 2 cents worth on the song requests...Any of the Queen Latifah jazz albums? She has such a pleasant voice with a medium register...not a lot of highs or lows...just pretty updated arrangements of some classic songs. Almost every woman knows at least some of these songs...and almost everyone with a decent voice should be able to do them justice. In case you're not familiar with the them 2 albums are "the Dana Owens album" and "travelin light" All of the songs are fairly well known- but very few are available in karaoke...and most of the ones you can get are terrible arrangements.

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If you can do some more Alice In Chains as well that HASN'T been done through SBI - they actually have done a great job on those songs & don't really need redoing. But these are must haves that haven't been touched by anyone.
Heaven Beside You
I Stay Away
Down In A Hole
Sea Of Sorrow
We Die Young
Don't Follow

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I agree with nearly everything one of a kind says. . . I think the reason I'm so in love with the idea of a thank you for singing, is because I'm a host that believes the song finishes when the singer stops their air guitar or singing, but I have one gentleman who feels the need to hum through every outro. . . I don't want to kick him off because it's his five minutes, but one minute of continual humming is driving me nuts. . . I'm just hoping that a visual sign to leave the stage may get him to shift out of this habit. Also not so sure if an intro would sound cheesy. . . take Ruben Studdard and Westlifes versions of Flying Without Wings.

Since you are going to be one of the smaller producers, i really think you should consider an niche market. . . for example short instuments (as suggested by one of a kind) and definate endings. . . Because you'll have the cabaret market as well as the karaoke market.

I just as thrilled to be able to ask and get so many good replies!


From the point of view of a KJ, and I am a KJ too, you're absolutely right. However, from the point of view of a business, if I were to put out a disc full of 'Paradise by the dashboard light', 'I will survive', 'Angels' 'My Way'e.t.c. I could say with absolute certainty that it would outsell anything else I could ever do, regardless of how many others already exist. Having said that, its not what I plan to do, but as I have stated before, I am almost obliged to make fairly popular mainstream discs to start out with in order to remain viable for both myself and those good folks who grant my licence and process the royalties. They also want figures & forecasts, it also needs to be worth their while for the work they have to do.

Requests and unreleased tracks are definitely in the plans, but it simply won't be possible for at least a year. There are bound to be some tracks in the first few releases that won't have been done yet because I am going to try some discs based on a particular album rather than a 'best of'.

As far as endings, intros & solos go, we'll just have to see what fits best.
For intros, I personaly think a chord to set the key is a must and an audio count (maybe just a soft hi-hat or something) aswell as a visual count would work best, It'll depend on the song. As ever, not everyone is going to agree on the right way to do it.
I have a version of Sweet Child of Mine with no solo at the end. Almost without fail, that version disappointed whoever sung it because he just gets his air guitar warmed up and it immediately starts fading out. By contrast, Hotel california more often than not leaves the guy standing around wondering what to do with himself.
I think in these instances it might be better to put the whole thing in there, but have a definite indication on the screen that the singing has finished. Then it can be left to the KJ to decide what to do according to what he sees in front of him.


I will certainly only ever use real live guitars, and also bass if it works better.
I have to stress again, that it is just me doing everything so to use all real live instruments is impossible because I only play 4. However, these days, it is well nigh impossible to tell the difference between real instruments and something that has been programmed, because the sounds (depending on the quality of the synth product) are sampled from real live instruments played by real musicians, using real mics, real amplifiers & so on. They are not at all synthetic. The technology really is that good now, particularly with drums over the last couple of years. The programming & mixing still has to be good to get the best out of it and that is pretty much the area which will determine whether the track can be classed as professional quality or cheap amature.

I will do my absolute level best on the recordings. If that turns out to be good enough and if it takes off well enough, then it might be possible hire some help and start having some fun making the tracks we all want aswell as the ones that we all need.

Huge thanks to everyone for their input and also to karaoke scene for letting me post this thread, the feedback has been really useful.

I would like to see pics during the instr break of the song like SGB does..it makes it more visual interesting for the aud

This brings to mind the question of what kind of discs you will be making--will they be CDGs? I know SBI is trending toward VCDs claiming that is the direction Europe is heading. They are even bringing back videos on those. As you are in Europe I thought I would ask about your planned format.

We'll have some fun with those!


They will be CDGs.

one thing to think about is the fact that alot of us use the tracks to record vocals to, so any change as in leaving out the leads i wouldn't really like but i do understand why for just singing it would be much better...gotta go