Karaoke Forums

Hi guys, just to let u know i am very new to this and this is my first post. To give you all a bit of background, I bought a Vocopro GIG MAN PLUS for the kids for xmas which was easily setup and have had tons of fun with in the house, no problems. I then mentioned it to the local landlord of my pub one day and he said , "You should bring it down to the pub and run a karaoke for everybody." Being good friends with him, i agreed and set it up in the pub and we all had a good time, however as you can imagine, this is not the right setup for a pub. After a few more "laughs and giggles" down the pub with this machine, the crowds grew and I now have a monthly booking.
To cut a long story as short as i can, i am now running the Vocopro through a Wharfedale Pro 600 mixer/amp and then onto Wharefdale Pro (Titan 12) speakers. Lets just say at this point i got a really good deal for this of another friend and your all probably saying, "Oh my goodness, what is he doing." Lets just say, i am very naive.
Anyway, i set all this up down the pub last week and the music part sounds really good, but the Mics are maybe a little off! I have a couple questions now?
1. The Mics i am using came with the machine and prob are low end stf. Is it worth my while investing in better Mics and will it make a whole lot of difference?
2. I have tried putting the 2 Mics out the back of the Voco balanced audio mci i/p's to mix with the audio and again the music is great but the Mic;s souned poor,also put the 2 Mic's out of the amp/mixer and sonded better, but wasn't totally happy, any ideas?
3.I have tried to isolate the Voco from the mixer/amp to no avail. The reason is this. Ih ave volume and eq settings on the Voco, along with master volume and eq settings on the mixer/amp and individual channel volume and eq settings. It is all fairly sensitive for feedback , sound clarity, etc and some wht of a pain in the behinnd to get right, along with a hiss if not setup right!!!!, any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any info you ca give me, Mick.

Connect the mic to the power mixer mic channel and use the Vocopro GIG MAN as a player only. Use the effect from the power mixer on the vocal. Try this first.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

You don't want to run the mics out of the vocopro, only out of the mixer(hopefully the mixer has some effects). Actually the cdg player on the vocopro is about the only part of it that you might use for such an application, and some people would say even that is crazy. And you definetly need better mics, than the ones that came with it. It's ok for home use, but as for in a bar, things will only get worse than what you describe.....just my honest opi.....

sorry Jian, your reply wasn't there when I started typing, but I see we we're thinking alike......like they say...'great minds, think alike"..... but I guess the reverse could be true also.....I think about sex(with women) a lot.....and I think that's great....wife ain't too keen on the idea though...

You fell into a pretty good deal with a regular gig. Spend the money and get some decent mics. Most on here will recommend Shure SM58. Not cheap but supposed to be indestrible and sound great, I can attest to the last part. I just got in the business a couple months ago. I have 3 Shures now.

Thanks guys for you tips, sounds like I definately need better Mic's which I will get in due course. I do realise this was all put together a bit wishy washy. Is there anything i can add/remove to get better sound/vocals apart from the obvious (Mic's). Do you think a better/simpler CDG player would make the setup easier, as i said before, the VocoPro volume and EQ settings are a pain in the Butt! and i do still have an annoying hiss problem. Once again, thanks for your advice in advance.Cheers, Mick.

The hissing you get may be due to bad connection; check your cable.
While you are here please try and read up on gain structure and also read up on eq setting.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Try a simple cdg player. When you run a mixer into a mixer, you have problems.

Thanks Johnny, that was the answer i was kinda looking for,the simpler the CDG player,less probs right! Thanks to the other guys for your help also. Has anyone used a SHURE SM58LC in the past/currently, i think i can get one for roughly 50 bucks Canadian. Is it worth buying. I know it has no ON/OFF switch but i don't think that will really matter to me. Suggestions would be great, thx , Mick.

LC should sound the same as any SM58. Mine has the off/on but I tape it at shows, I only got it for convenience at home when working on issues such as feedback I can shut it off right away.

I'm pretty sure the LC part of the SM58LC just stands for "Less Cable". The SM58 and the SM58LC are the same as far as the mic itself goes. As for the switch part, I've never been a fan of microphones with switches.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye