Karaoke Forums

Hi all, I'm totally new at this karaoke stuff. I've recently upgraded my home theater with a new amp. I built all my speakers. My system is basically for home theater use but I would like to add a karaoke function to entertain my guests. I want to buy a mixer but have no glue what is good. I only want a mixer no amp built-in needed. I can only spend $200. I just want some thing decent enough. Something that I can adjust or eq... I saw this online "Better Music Builder DX-3000 mixer" for less than $200. It's a refurbished but I don't mind. is that unit good enough? Also, I don't want the board type mixer cuz' I have no room and it doesn't look good on my system. With $200, can someone recommend me something decent... maybe some brands that I should look into?

Thank you all... sorry if this has been asked before.

Al,

Typically these types of mixers aren't that great, but if it's for home use it should be fine. What you need to be extremely careful about is running karaoke through the home theater speakers. These are not designed for live vocals & can blow them first time you get a little loud - especially if you get someone that has no mic control & starts screaming into the mic.

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Thanks, Lonman. Can you recommend something for me for around $200? I understand live vocal "screaming" can easily blow my speakers... I will make sure not to turn the volume too high. Maybe some EQing will help a little on that department.

Al,

Not really without going into a desktop type board. But the one you proposed should be ok I would guess.



What generally happens is people are getting into the singing, the volumes tend to get bumped up. But even at low volumes a strong vocal frequency can get through. Usually the tweeters are the first to go, but have seen the woofs go as well. I helped a guy recently set up a dedicated karaoke system after he blew out his $2500 Polk Audios.

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The smallest mixer I know of for your setup is the Behringer EURORACK Pro RX1602 Line Mixer. I know Lonny won't like to hear Behringer recommended . The only drawback is that you won't have an equalizer, but you can always add one. There are small equalizers you can get for ~$100.

This is a pretty good one for the money

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ALEMULTIMIX8USB

Matt I find the alesus a nice wee unit, I use the 6 channel for gigging and wouldnt mind going to that one cos when there is two singers and one uses a cordless its nice to have a back up corded mic on hand in case batteries die
I also like that the 8 is a usb

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I bought this system, but it was on sale then.. $399.00

http://www.kraftmusic.com/catalog/audio ... oduct=5113

Now it's $699;;

for home use, that alexis 8 is really incredible. No need to have any adaptors to convert from computer to the mixer... it does it for ya!

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Regarding the Alexis 8, it looks like I need to use a computer to hook it up? I don't have a comp at my system. Can I hook the dvd player to it?

Thanks.

Al,

You do not need a computer to hook it up. It has a USB interface so you CAN hook it into your computer for like recording & what not - but not a requirement for the mixer. You hook your karaoke player (dvd player) & mics into this board & the outputs would run the amp.

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I found this "Mackie 1202-VLZ PRO Micro Mixer" for about the same price as the Alesis mentioned below. It's used though. But it looks new. How is the Mackie compare to the Alesis? Is it a better mixer?

Thanks.

Al,

Much better mixer, however it does not have any effects built in like the Alesis. You generally would want at least a reverb on your vocals. Now you could just get an external processor, but that's more to hook up & more expense.

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I purchased the Alesis MultiMix8USB mixer. Now, I have more questions on how to hook it up correctly. My system consists of:

Dvd Player
Receiver
Power Amp
Speakers
Mixer

How do I hook these all up correctly? I'm think of connect my dvd audio out to the mixer 2-track in... then from the mixer 2-track out to my receiver "dvd audio in". My amp is connected to my receiver. Speakers are connected to the speakers in of the amp. Am I doing this right? Also, what type of cables should I use to connect to the mixer (phono jack or the regular RCA audio cable)?

Thanks.

Al,

I'd actually bypass the the receiver & go straight to the power amp. The mixer will act like the preamp controller.

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Presuming your DVD player out has a dual RCA jack, you should find an RCA --> 1/4" cable like:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--HOSCPR20

Then run it to the 5-6 stereo channel in. The reason you want to do this compared to the Tape In is equalization. It can often help vocals to cut the midrange just a tad on the incoming music while boosting them on the mic a bit. If you use the uneqalized input, it is difficult to impossible to do that effectively.

Without knowing your amp, I can't tell you which cable you will need to go from the Main L-R to it, but it could be the same cable if your amp is a HT amp.

I have more problems with the hook up. My connections are:

Dvd audio out to Mixer 5/6 stereo in.
Mixer main mix out to receiver cd in.
Microphone is plugged in mic 1.


The music is loud and clear but my microphone has a very tiny sound. When I tap on it, it has the low signal even if I turn on the gain to max (phantom is on). I can't hear anything when trying to speak to the mic. What's wrong? Did I do something wrong? I've tried all mic in and everything is the same. I've also tried a different microphone and that didn't work neither. Also, the effect section didn't seem to be working. I turned the knob to assign one of those 100 effect program but it did not seem to be working. I'm trying to hook this up through my receiver instead of straight through the amp cuz' I also run my home theater this way. I felt so lost. Please help.

Al,

WHY OH WHY is the phantom power on? Is your mic a condensor mic? If not you are just asking for trouble.



TURN THE PHANTOM POWER OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!



Again, turn your phantom power off. You are going to destroy your mixer, mic & possibly whatever you plug into to IF your mic isn't designed to use phantom power (which unless it is a condensor mic which i'm betting it isn't).



If you can plug into the power amp directly from the mixer, you'll have better luck. No reason to go through ANOTHER preamp, you mixer IS a preamp.

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Thanks for the warning Lonman. I turned off the phantom power. I found out that the mic connection was lose at the adapter end. The mic is back on but it seemed like when I sing... the music and the voice from the mic are not "synch". They sound apart. is that the mic problem or the mixer? I have an old microphone from vocoopro model# mk-38pro. is it a really suckie mic? How can set this up to make it at least sound decent? I tried to increase the volume of the mic but it seemed like the voice is stand out too much... any recommendations on the settings? I tried to increase the gain on "main mix out" but the music started to distort... and it's not even at half level (more like 1/4). Same with the gain level on channel 5/6, if I increased it a lil pass 1/4 it will distort. Also, the effect section (revert stuffs) doesn't seem like it's working.... I did press to select but then it doesn't seem like it does anything... These stuffs are more complicated than I thought...

Thanks all for the help.

Al,

Check the mic cord or swap for a different one to see if the previous one was defective. You can also try to connect the mic to a different channel to see if it is better. If it is, then probably the first channel is defective. I don't think you should mess with the gain too much especially on the main channel. That gain is global and will affect your music. The gain should be somewhere in the middle and you adjust volume with your faders.

Also, turn off all effects for now as you test the system. Delays and reverbs can make the vocals sound weird if you never used something like that before. You just need very low effects level to make it sound good. Don't over do it.

Finally, I think you should try to get a better mic. I think the low volume is due to the mic most likely. Mics built for karaoke mixers may not be good for live sound mixers. I'm not sure, but perhaps Lonny can give you advice in that area. You learn by trial and error and eventually you will get the sound you like. Hang in there. I hope this helps