Karaoke Forums

I'm sure everyone has experienced CDGs with songs that are recorded at different levels. Sometimes it is very drastic and extremely annoying.

Is there any way to feed player output to some type of level equalizer before mixer inputs? Is there such a device?

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-Kona

You kind of get an idea on which manufacturers are louder & adjust before the song starts.
Not really a whole lot of options out there aside from getting something like a compressor/limiter combo on the player, but then if not adjusted properly could actually lose some of the songs fidelity/impact.

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

There are programs out their that will equalize all the volumes in your mp3 files
I would assume this would work for mp3+g too????

search mp3 gain


http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Yes, Mp3Gain does work, I have equalized all of the mp3 files to my karaoke songs through it. Of course first you have to unzip them and then run them through MP3Gain and then rezip them, it can be time consuming. I would limit it to absolutely no more than a 1000 at a time and walk away from your computer for a few to several hours.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Thanks, but I should clarify that I am using a CDG disc format, not a pc.

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-Kona

I caught that, everyone assumes most kj's are using a computer these days.

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

When the song starts, I have my hand on the lexicon ready to turn up or down if needed. Is that wrong?

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

The only option is to use an editing software to normalize the audio file and then burn back the cdg, now that's if you have a pc

You'd be surprise to know how many disk out there which had not been normalize before going to press, and I'm also talking about SC These sound engineer are sometime very lazzzzy

Sorry, I was replying to Jams post.....and this (that's) how posts get off topic.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

my bad

Ripman,
not only are you not wrong, that is one of the top things I pride myself on, but what I look for in a KJ when I go out singing.

Nothing makes me as angry as a singer when a KJ barely makes it to the mixer in time to announce or start the next singer, and when they get there, push play and walk away. Every song, and every singer are at a different volume level. Until people get to know me and become a regular they might get mad at me when they try and talk to me right when I start a new song and singer. I wait until I am convinced I got the music at the right level, and the vocals sound as good as they can at the right level. They later come to appreciate it.

They eventually learn and appreciate that I will have a 90 second or 180 second conversation with them while the singer is singing, but not during the break. If they want to talk to me longer, and they often do, they learn that I will stop taling to them to keep the show right, so as long as they are good with that, I can talk to them much loner.

Felix the KJ

I don't think people believe I'm being rude to them if I pause the conversation for a moment to call up a singer, start their song, or adjust the mix. I think it's pretty obvious to customers, just like they know if they are having a conversation with the bartender, the bartender will walk off and serve other customers frequently but will come back to them.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

getting back on topic --- I guess you could convert your CDGS to an audio type file like an mp3 and then adjust the gains and then rip them back to cdg ??
probably very time consuming and expensive but maybe be the only way.

**is there anything on the pro audio side like some sort of electronic gadget that you could hook up to your system that would keep the volume SET on any given channel? making the adjustments automatically ??

If not ..sounds like a great invention

I don't know, but I do know that perceived loudness in musical content is a lot more complex than simply metering peak or RMS signal. My guess is such devices do exist for the broadcast market.

As Lonman suggested, you could also use a compressor/limiter. This might make the tracks sound like garbage when they are being compressed heavily, but it will stop you from accidentally blowing the audience away with a loud CDG. Then you can just lower the fader.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

You Could try this:Breakaway Live

http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=55

They say it has low latency, and you could run your sound (from you CD player output) into your computer (mic/line in), then thru this program, and back out of you computer (usb soundcard) and then to your mixer. You would run your video straight to your screens as usual. If the latency is low enough.....this should work. I use Breakaway Audio Enhancer on my laptop, and it is amazing how well it works.

http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=59

Mrmarog

I agree, when I need to call up the next singer, I will hold my hand up to anyone that is talking to me, say excuse me for a sec, do my speel, dial them in & then go back to the conversation. If they can't/don't understand this & think it's being rude, whatever. I don't go to your job & sit & BS with you on your time.

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

Broadcast uses heavy compression on air for both music & vocal personalities.

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

I feel fortunate in situations like this. My wife handles the entire personal interface, leaving me free to operate, and monitor. If she weren't there to help, I'd have to put up a sign stating "Do Not Talk to Driver While Vehicle Is in Motion".

Now as far as manually equalizing, I have to agree with all here who indicated that every song and singer may be different. And as such, I keep my hand on the trigger at the start as many have mentioned here as well. After a while you get to know your disc producers and whether they are recorded loud or otherwise. As well, you also get to know your singers and pre-adjust gain, channel slider, or both to prevent an uncomfortable listening event; as well as spiking.

A case-in-point I had just last night. Usually I set my mic gain at approximately 65-70% (Dial Position relative to 360 degree rotation) to compliment my receiver and transmitter settings. Last week a new singer sang and started to set my channel peak light on fire. I had to cut my gain to 30% just to turn off the peak light. Further adjustment was with the channel slider. Well, this week he shows up again, ah, but now I know to preset my gain to prevent peak light illumination and everything is cool. Now my problem in situations like this is that I forget return the gain to its original setting and wonder why I suddenly lost all that head room.

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EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

With regard to singers being especially loud/quiet, I abuse compression for this. You would not want to do this to a professional singer, but I have an MDX4600 and MDX2600 in my processing rack, so I have expander, compressor, and limiter for every guest mic. If they are hitting the limiter and it actually sounds bad, I turn the gain back a bit. One complement I often get with my karaoke show, though, is that screamers never irritate the audience (at least not with excessive volume) and quiet folks can still be heard. I provide less than 30dB of dynamic range for vocals between expansion and limiting. It works very well for me.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I'm going to give this a try tonight and see how it sounds. Thanks for posting this link!