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You are right -- I erred. I paid $300 each myself...I had thought someone said $400, and I knew that it was less than that for one.

My first offer was 400.00. Then I found out what ebay was charging so I upped the ante. I paid a thousand for both and made my money back within a month. i cant tell you how many times i used them when i was doubled booked. NOBODY  ever complained. Those foundations are KILLER, every genre covered well and NO FILLER

Listen to what the people here are telling you. Go for QUALITY not QUANTITY when you're shopping around for CDGs.


NUTech SUCKS!!!!


Music Maestro (out of business now) is hit and miss on their music (about a 50-50 ratio).


Sweet Georgia Brown is about the same ratio as Music Maestro, Another problem with SGB is that some of their word-swipes are not in synch with the music.


Nikkodo (SAV) is decent, but most of the music is synthy (is that evenn a word???).

Best picks (IMO).... Sound Choice (for almost everything), Pop Hits Monthly (for current Pop and Urban music). Top Hits Monthly (for Country), Pocket Songs (for Broadway soundtracks), Chartbusters (for Country). There's lots more out there, but start with these and you won't go wrong.

Those  speakers are quite costly and the quality is excellent. You might try looking at Sonic, I really like mine and they are US made. Just don't buy the Community brand...those suck.

Well, I'm starting to understand. When I read the same things over and over from several different people I'm becoming a believer.

No Nutech and after listening to a bunch of Music Maestro they are out. Sound Choice is first, then I add others. I am also researching on the internet for backing tracks with no lyrics , but they go for $3 and up as far as I can tell. There are certain songs that I want and I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and pay top dollar to get them either on custom CDs or on backing tracks. Keep the brand recommendations coming. . .

Remember, you're helping a newbie, but even more than that you're helping a fellow KJ, DJ and performer. Have some patience. Other people may benefit from reading this discussion too. I guarantee that other people are going through the same process as I am and don't know what to get.

I forgot to ask this, does the Legends Series have a multi disc pack or compilation set? All I could find were individual discs on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sound-Choice-Karaok ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sound-Choice-Karaok ... dZViewItem

New Foundations under $300.

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I totally benefited from reading this thread.. Thank you!!

When I started I had about 60 sound choice discs for personal use and had to quickly add a ton of music when I landed my first gig. I went to karaokedotcom and purchased all the fire sale discs I could. I started that way and it worked for a while. Then over the next 8 years I replaced almost every one of those discs with Sound Choice or THMonthly, and Pioneer.  I flushed about $2000 down the drain. I sold what I could on Ebay and gave away the others.

I'm with everybody else.........BUY QUALITY FIRST!!!!  You end up spending alot more if you buy crap first

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Well in the short time since I started this thread I have done tons of research and learned a lot, much of it here. Since I really just couldn't afford the better quality sets right now, I went and got the SGB 78 disk set-$68 on ebay, Supercore 18 disk set which came with some Northstar(junky) disks for a total of 26 $35, All Hits 26 disk set $35.

I have about 2000 songs-cost me under $150. Not the best quality, but good enough to get started with and I didn't steal my collection. When I start doing some gigs and making some money I plan on getting some of the Sound Choice Foundations and I saw a Monster Hits collection of 2500 songs on ebay for about $400. I would love to get a collection of Legends disks but I haven't found a collection and they are too expensive to buy individually. I want to get some of the Chartbusters sets but they are like $159 each so that's going to take a while. As far as Pioneer, the Monthly hits or whatever they're called, Nikodo etc. I just can't buy every disk from every manufacturer. This is all pretty overwhelming especially financially. There is a lot to know too . . .

Not bad for $150

As for the Monster Hits for $450 it's not a bad set but you will probably get alot of duplicatons with this set with the SGB set. Take your $450 and buy the foundation set. This is a major start in the right direction. There is a ton of duplication in sets among the cheaper manufacturers. So if you buy one set you will probably duplicate if you buy another.

The 2 Sound Choice Foundations have no duplications. Add the Bricks sets later, then the Mortar sets. You will have a rockin' library with those.

It's up to you, but you are taking the same path I did 9 years ago! You can spend alot of money that way and still not end up with what you want. That may sound a bit harsh but it is soooooo true.

Good Luck

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

INFORMATION REMOVED
sorry as stated by Jian i can not tell you where to find good equipment or music you will
just have to fend for yourself - Good Luck"

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Watch the Karaoke King Show Live Thursdays 9pm
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Well at least the good folks here spared me from wasting my money on Music Maestro and Nutech. I just wish the Sound Choice, Legends and Chartbuster disks weren't so darn expensive. And some of the other manufacturers too. It's really killing me. I really want to get a nice collection together. No matter how you slice it, it takes a few thousand dollars if you buy a bunch of the good stuff. I need to take some time and really study the Tricerasoft collection to see what they have. I guess I could do $100 at a time and get a bunch of stuff I really want. It depends on what I want and what they have.

Unfortunately, between the SGB & All Hits alone you probably have at least 1/3 duplicate factor, then throw in the Supoercore you are probably more like 1/2 duplicate songs.  Many of the All Hits, SGB & Supercore versions are all in one the same as well (since SGB was/is All Hits) & Supercore used lots of both manus for their core as well.
Your music is going to be the biggest expense you'll ever encounter.  Shop carefully, you don't want to keep duplicating songs you already have (unless you are upgrading to better versions - which you may find happening).  The sets you bought do have some real gems, but they are few & far between, some of the discs are nearly unuseable, may as well throw the Weird Al disc out completely.  $159 is not out of line, most of the time you can make that up in 1 show (provided you charge properly), if not even 2 shows (hopefully you'll charge more).  Karaoke is not cheap to be done properly, you can't survive with the mentality that a disc costs too much.  $3k-5k used to be a great starting budget for karaoke, now it may be a little more just to have more up to date songs, any less & you are taking risks.
You don't even want to try to buy every discs from every manu, that would be dumb.  Most manus manufacture their own versions of songs many of which are done by every manu so if that were the case you'd up having 5-10 copies of the same song for almost every song out (except those that are exclusive to certain manus).   This is where you buy for customers, have a request sheet out & purchase what they want to sing - you will probably fill the sheet on the first night you do a show (and it won't end), but these are the songs that will matter, not only to that show but to possible future shows as well.  The Monster set you are looking at will duplicate alot of what you already have as well, this would be money spent unwisely.  Carefully pick & choose the music & discs, compare to what you have & if you are duplicating a bunch of songs, the disc may not be worth getting or try finding on another manu or maybe search for a custom disc through the couple legal sites that compile these.

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If you have a business plan and are serious about being a KJ you can purchase The 2 foundations, All of the bricks, and mortar sets on the net for about $2000 or less. That will give you around 1800 songs un-duplicated.

Take a personal loan or use a credit card if that is possible. Take every penny you make from your gigs and apply it towards paying off the balance. If you are charging $150 per night or more and you get a one night a week gig you can pay off this investment in 6-7 months or less. If you have close to 1800 songs that are not duplicated then you can do a show for that long without investing more.  Then when you get that paid off take the 600 a month you are earning and buy more music until you feel your library is where you want it. (warning: this may never happen..)

The first 2-1/2 years in the business I never took a penny out of my business for personal reasons. Everything went back into the business in equipment or music, or book printing etc.

If you do 2 nights a week you can speed up the process considerably.

Many folks get into this business and think they can do it on a shoe string. I invested about $2500 in Sound Equipment and $2500 in music  before my first gig. I borrowed the money from the bank on a personal loan. Repaid it in 8 months from my gig money. Then spent the next 18 months Buying music before ever taking any money out. Then finally after 2.5 years I was able to enjoy the positive cash flow from my business. I established a monthly budget for investing in my library and stuck to it for the past 9 years. I now have a ton of music, 3 sound systems, and a profitable business. The best part is I own everything. About 5 years ago I lost my full-time job due to downsizing and my business supported me for almost 1.5 years, I was able to do this because I had no payments and everything was paid off so all the cash coming in went into my pocket.

Rome was not built in a day. If you want to make it in this business you have to invest wisely, and be patient. It will require a serious investment.

My best advice here is that if you cant afford to put together a decent music library out of your own pocket or by borrowing the money to do so, don't start your business until you can. You can always improve your sound but you can't do it without a good music selection.

Off Topic:
One last piece of advice....Every cent you spend on your business is a write off so keep all of your reciepts. Track your mileage to and from gigs, shopping trips, etc.
if you do this you will save yourself ton's in taxes. Also never do under the table work for a bar, one day it will come back and bit you in the butt. Routine audits of bars by the IRS can come back to haunt you. You have no idea how the bar owner is cooking his books to justify the expense. You may be able to run under the radar for years but eventually things have a way of catching up with you. I had a buddy that did this and he is one sorry puppy now!

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

I've been using CAVS for four years and no complaints, here.  Those pesky SCDG's.  I wouldn't wrap my whole show around them, becaise they are slow to load initially, but I use my one and only SCDG (spanish) on my laptop and run my english stuff on my JB.  Works great.  There is a way to break up those SCDG's and put them on a laptop.  Consult Cavs user forum for details.  I swear by CAVS, even though I might get a rousing boo from this forum, they have never failed me, only one Hard drive issue in four years.  BACK UP YOUR LIBRARY AND KEEP THE SPARE HD WITH YOU, JUST IN CASE.  Learned that lesson the hard way when I was 100 miles from home when it crashed.

$1-a-song is a real good deal.   You can find a lot of discs on sale.  Keep seaching the karaoke sites.   They go on sale a good bit.   Try some of the lessor know karaoke sites.  I have found some real good deals on those.  I have found popular discs on those sites that the big site were out of.

Quality over quantity.

  They also make a single tray (dog and all) under the name Performers Choice. The same manufacturing facility make these, ans several other labels. It's just a matter of doing your homework to get a great deal.

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" Disc based and loving it..."

Here's something for you all. When a friend of mine bought The Brick and The Foundation from Sound Choice some years ago, the said that it would be sold as "a set only". Well, we found out that Sound Choice split off some of the songs from those two sets and were selling them. Hmmmmm.

They've been doing that for almost 2 years now.  They've announced it several times that they are breaking the Foundation up into individual discs for the general consumer.  KJ's are not their prime bread & butter anymore & they are focusing sales geared more toward the home market - most (the average) home consumers aren't going to spend $300 on a disc set.

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