Karaoke Forums

All I can really say is Im very disappointed in sound choice ..they use to put out alot of great stuff but now day a star series once every month..what a joke..they used to be the best out there..what a waste

Nobody's paying them for being the best. I do buy custom disks from them, but $4.00 per song seems steep when I can get them for $1.20 elsewhere (and I don't have to rip and name them, either).

Like the rest of the music industry, they have been glacial-slow to respond to the digital phenomenon and that means their revenue is lagging. I would think subscription would be the way for them to make money, but they don't seem to want to do it. How many people here would pay Soundchoice $10.00 per show to have the right to use all their tracks? I bet quite a few.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

The SC lag on current hits is frustrating and with SBI and Zoom sounding pretty good, I tend to go with those. But part of my Love/Hate with Sound Choice is I just feel so much relief when I see their songs come up on the screen because I know the sound is going to have that live band feel and it really is sort of a thrill rather than just a "backing". So if I'm looking to fill in some 90's rock, it's going to be a Sound Choice.

I'm fastly becoming a ZOOM convert, the quality of their tracks is right on par with Sound Choice, I haven't a bad one yet.

_________________
Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

I tend to buy whomever has the song I need these days. Used to be primarily SC, but Chartbuster, SBI and the likes are getting my business alot more often nowdays - even though i'm not keen on CB pop/rock, it's much better than it has been in the past I have to admit. I did just pick up the May & June release from SC though. The July release I already have most of the songs on that ordered from other companies.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

my heart goes out to them, but in many ways, SC has made their own bed and now must lay in it. In constantly trying to control HOW we use their product, they have the audacity to think that they can control the market.

Sadly, this just isn't the situation. And they've never recovered from all the tons of money they spent on that control issue... mediacloq was a disaster from the start, their PR for the digital issues, and even now they have the onscreen disclaimers that are making people avoid them like the plague!

I like Sound Choice for it's quality reproductions. I also think they listen to their customers. That said, it seems to be a tough time for karaoke producers. I just heard a rumor that another label had folded in the last few months.... The English manufacturers seem to have a major competitive advantage due to their laws. Chartbuster seems to do well, I suspect, because of their closeness to the country music recording industry, and country musicians it seems are more ammenable to having their songs put to karaoke. Maybe the roots of country music are less money-driven to start with, who knows...? The legal challenges seem to be in pop and rock, which is SC's forte. I hate to see SC do more silly-songs discs. I'm sure they are easy to license if they indeed need licensing, but there's so many silly songs already available. Give us the meat and potatoes! I have to sympathize with SC's postion. Tough laws, piracy, difficult to get rights on songs--that's a lot of paddling upstream, and with a slow economy to boot. In addtion, some of the music being produced by the artists doesn't seem to have the legs of some of the music that came out in previous decades. I want to hear a new song, where I don't know the artist, but the songs has that instant "yeah, this is a hit" quality to it, or the kind where it's a new song and you hear just the tail end of it on the radio and you're furious because you know it's great and you didn't even get to hear the start of it and you're not even sure who sang it and they don't announce it. Give me mroe songs like that! ....so when you say your prayers, pray for some good music.

i can't count how many times i've been blindsided by a lousy SC track selected by a KJ because he assumed it was good being SC

does it really matter if a brand is good if you, personally, keep having problems with it? Does it matter if an actor is good if you haven't enjoyed his last three movies that you went to see because he was in it

you might rather explain that more often than not SC is the best track in your opinion. But what do you do as the poor singer when it has been cued up by the KJ and it is not? Does it really matter that SC is usually good?

Gimme a break about how good SC is If the SC track you're using sucks at that moment sc SUCKS

No doubt there are some SC clunkers. But the majority of their tracks are reliably good. There is just something about the clarity of the instrumentation as it is amplified that seems to stand out for me. We had a singer attempt a Heart song the other night and although she was struggling, I found myself thinking that this particular track really rocked to the point of being exhilarating. I don't work for them and we have a lot of other brands that I buy that I like. But I can't deny that SC is one of the best for reliability when it comes to rock.

I have to agree. Though sometimes it is a disadvantage to the singer. There are several tracks where the SC is really objectively much better than the alternative, sounding much more like the original. But the instrumentation is so thin that it doesn't provide much in the way of oomph for a live performance. This is particularly true for country, which is why I tend to prefer Chartbuster for that.

I have speculated that the guy who owns Chartbuster is the guitarist, and that is the reason they kept that same bad one for so long. On the other hand, their pedal steel and fiddle players are outstanding. So in general, if the song relies on a strong lead guitar, Sound Choice is almost always better. If pedal steel and fiddle are more important, Chartbuster hands down.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I agree with your agree. I don't even think about it when it comes to ordering country from Chartbuster, I just do it. But on their pop/rock, although I love the convenience of having the "Best Of" collections, I have been so disappointed on some songs that I've had to reorder individual tracks--Viva La Vida comes to mind. Not only were the words wrong, they didn't come up until after you need to start the verse, the instrumentation was thin and it was cut off at the end. Others are just fine and the words are easier to follow on some versions. I love my Zoom "Please Don't Leave Me," instrumentation but think Chartbuster has better guidance on the "improvising" words at the end. So I've tended toward SBI/Zoom on newer stuff but don't entirely rule out Chartbuster if I can get a good preview.

I've had far worse luck trusting other manus MANY times over than the few that SC messed me over on. There were a couple, no doubt about it. But nowhere NEAR as many as say Legends, Sunfly, Chartbuster, SBI, Star Quest, PHM, THM, Zoom, Amerising, Backstage, Cool Tracks, Dangerous, DK, Pocket Songs (along with Just Tracks), Karaoke Classics, Monster Hits, Music Maestro, Pioneer (although I'd rate them up with SC on major dependability), Rising Star, Radio Starz (But pretty good overall!!), NuTech (SAVA and SAVC included, as well as the Hot Packs), the dreaded Star Disc, SGB, Sound Images, Standing Ovation...

You can nitpick a manu all you want. Of course you're going to find some klunkers. But I have ALWAYS thought SC had a much higher ratio of GOOD tracks compared to their klunkers!

Knightshow

Tell that to the unsuspecting singer who was just dealt the klunker

And consider what the unsuspecting singer maybe going through singing the song or maybe doing karaokefor the first time and getting a bad SC track when SF's might be better

my point -- just because you can name companies that generally speaking produce a worst product isd no reason to put SC on a pedestal

I just mentioned OTHER companies, not necessarily those that were worse. But please, enlighten us all on those that you think are BETTER than SC.

Again, I'm not saying they're ALL good... but the vast majority are superior tracks compared to the OTHER companies out there.

Only thing better in my honest opinion would be the way the Asian market does it, with using the original music. Lord knows I'd love to have that as an option! Wouldn't we all!

I am not saying who is good and who is not.....

If you're on a plane that crashes it's too late to start evaluating manufacturers

when a SC kARAOKE track works that what I expectt.

And if 10% of the cars that mercedes benz manufactured were defective and caused deaths would you ignore the 10% and call a mercedes a superior product?

When all of SC tracks are superior to all other comapnies will I then praise them

No question about it, SC is the best all-time.

I will say that though I don't have a wide experience with SBI, the more of their tracks I buy the more impressed I am.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

As a KJ you have to have confidence in a TRACK. Soundchoice is far the #1 choice among working KJ's. It would be nice to be able to preview every track before the singer tries it...but that is not realistic . And its also not realistic as a KJ to have numerous duplications of each song JUST in case. ... If you're singing a PLANE CRASH of a rendition best thing to do is grab on tight and HOLD ON until its over

I sing mostly SC, as they are usually the best. As stated above, every brand has good and bad. To me the best version of a song is the one the singer prefers. I have 5 versions of Imagine, and wanted to cut it down to one. Me, my mom, and my brother all prefer a different version. Who is right?? We all are. If I am not sure of which version is best, and the person will be comming back, I will have the singer write a couple of versions on their song slip. I save song slips and hand them back at next show. If the version picked sucked in their oppinion, then next gig we try another. We always end up finding the one that singer prefers, and we keep that version on a slip for them.

Felix the KJ

SC is the best in the majority of tracks - no not every song, every manu has their bad versions & SC is not immune to this, but they tend to have better versions a higher percentage of the time - just as some of the literal crap manus can have their 'diamonds in the rough' tracks that blow anyone elses version away. Yes they have their clunkers, but agree with jam that it's not realistic to let the singer preview the tracks before hand - most kj's do not even have this capability anyway unless you do it during a show - which is completely out of the question. Also it's next to impossible to listen to every track you own to make sure the lyrics are correct, swiping correctly & the music sounds right. And again agree with i'm not going to purposely purchase a ton of duplicate tracks just so you can have your pick. SC is my primary pick for my books in most cases - if I have dups of songs, then I may give a quick listen to a little of each & go with which music sounds closer to the original - most cases it's SC, some other cases it's not. If you as a singer pick that one song that may be in the clunker, then I am sorry - if I have another version, you can ask. If I feel it is also a terrible version as well & the song has longevity potential, then I will consider replacing it with another manu if available. If it's one of these songs that never get done, then I may just pull the track out of the book - or leave it & warn people that it might not be a great version for them.
That being said, SBI, Zoom, even Chartbuster are coming in with higher quality tracks these days that are becoming just as good as SC - plus the fact they are releasing some of the older music still as well where SC has put all older 'catalog' music on hold & are focusing on brand new todays music only for now.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I actually on occassion do let the singer hear the song while someone else is singing. I give them my headphones connected to my mixer, put the disc in turn the fader all the way off press the cue button, and let them hear the song. Don't do it very often, but will when asked. Nobody hears it except for the person with the headphones. I sometimes do this when they are not sure if it is even the song they think it is, or which version is better. It's easy to do from time to time thanks to the mixer.

Felix the KJ