Karaoke Forums

Hello all- wanted your take on the following:

Does it really matter which manu makes the disc? Yes the quality might differ, but do you really have patrons who would go away mad if you did not have the version of their choice?

My library is about 5K songs. When I print a book, I don't even mention the name of the Manu or use their codes. All I have in my books right now is SONG TITLE and ARTIST.

The reason I am asking now is that I have been working smaller shows for about 2 years without any issues, but plan on expanding to much larger shows in the next month or two.

Would I piss people off for using Sunfly or Soundchoice as opposed to Legends or Sweet Georgia Brown for instance?

Are singers really that anal about the manufacturer? after all it is just karaoke

Your Thoughts?

Vic in Sunny Sydney
(sneaking in this post at work... sssshhhhhhhh)

To answer bluntly: A percentage of singers don't want poor backing tracks; the other percentage wouldn't notice. I, myself, believe it is better for business to always play the best version I have of the singer's choice. If I don't have a better version and have, for example, only the SGB version of something, I make sure I do a lot of tweaking of EQ before I'm satisfied with the outcome.

PS: I have had singers question the tempo (speed) of certain versions - some say, "This is too slow!" or "This is too fast!" and ask if I can change that. A different version will often solve that problem, though I frankly don't know offhand which songs and their different versions demonstrate a significant difference in tempo.

Now when I go and sing, if I don't take my own music I always want to know which version of my song choice they have. Some of it is just plain garbage. Why suffer if I don't have to? (This is similar to song singers' (non-hosting people) as well.)

I went to karaoke this past Saturday. They had one of those renamed disc list to their own number system, I hated it. I want to sing off of soundchoice.

To a singer --there are no GOOD or BAD Manus .....The only good version or the BEST version is THE ONE THEY ARE FAMILIAR WITH.

Example --I have an EXPERIANCED Karaoke singer ( Goes to shows 5 out of 7 days ) --Grew up on DK versions and thats all he wants to sing.

Another ones own collection is mostly SUNFLY and they will choose that.

BUT IF THE SINGER does not care ... go with the KJ's choice --usually Soundchoice or the other better brands.

A singer can sometimes comment on a bad version of a track even if it is the first time they have sung the song.

Usually though if it is a hard to find or unusual song they are much more tollerant of a less than perfect version.

This is only true about your serious singers though. The drunks usually don't notice or care.

For personal choices of the singers it is really a question of how many different karaoke shows they regularly attend, so it may take some time to get a favorite version.

Karaoke singers are a funny sort. I had a couple at one of my shows who wouldn't sing anything but Sound Choice. I don't list the manufacturers in my book so they kept coming up and asking me if this song or that one was Sound Choice. After a while I got really annoyed with it and seriously just wanted to ask them to leave because they'd get pissed every time I told them that a particular song wasn't a Sound Choice track.

However, they are the only two people I've ever had that were attached to a particular manufacturer just for the name. I have had plenty of people who wanted a particular manufacturer for a specific song because they wanted it preformed a specific way that they were used to but that's more about the song than the Manu.

And then of course there are those folks who stand up there and tell me that the song is wrong (wrong key, wrong tempo, whatever) even though I'm familiar with the song and know that the version I have is dead on with the original. That's always fun (fun = annoying as hell in this case).

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I find it annoying sometimes that some singers expect perfection. Face it I did not make the backing tracks or sync the lyrics. Don't blame me when they are wrong.

I buy SC when I can, but sometimes price and or rarity prevent that.

Of course the versions (by whtever manu) are are sometimes wrong. Also the studio musicians do not earn multi million dollar salaries like many of the artists that made the origional versions. If the guitarist who is making a karaoke track was as good as Hendrix (or whoever), they would not be recording karaoke backing tracks (of Hendrix) for a small hourly wage.

Fact is that as KJs often we can't find a better version especially of some songs.

Many are quite good, few are just "perfect".

I agree the singers that are "Sound Choice Only" in every case no matter what are much more often Karaoke snobs than people that really know the product.

In that case it maybe just what they are used to singing ...

I have a personal preference for Sound Choice. Long before I was a KJ I had collected a pretty good set of SC disks, and my library reflects this.

I have many singers who only like the "original version" which amusingly enough translates to DK. I don't particularly care for DK... it sounds too midi for me, lacks warmth. The reason a lot of singers prefer this manu I believe is because it is inherently EASIER to sing.

Why?

Because in most cases it is already recorded a 1/2 step down from the original key, or in the case of "Bed of Roses", a full step down. In addition, there is a midi guide track playing the melody to help the singer on key... a fact that most people don't even hear.

I have managed to collect much of the original DKs for this reason, and have about 60% of the original 100... but I'm still looking. I don't pay full price for disks... period the end. I'll get them second or even third hand... polish them up and rip what tracks I can. This has worked well for me, and I have managed to accumulate a pretty sizable library of a variety of manus... some good, others not so much.

Monster Karaoke, Zoom and others that you frequently don't see to much of. Sometimes the versions of these "off brands" have very interesting takes on the song that makes them fun to sing... or they have rare songs that nobody else has.

For the most part, singers want "the best version" which is subjective at best. Sometimes they will know to say SC or DK, but for the most part I find myself picking the version for the singer if I have more than one.

It matters to the good singer the least IMHO, if you don't have a version they are familiar with, and the poor singers the most.

This is one of those complaints that goes on my "karaoke excuse" T-shirt....

"That wasn't the right version", "It's too fast", "It's too slow", "The lyrics were wrong", etc. Versions matter, but in the end, the best a KJ can do is guesstimate and hope.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I hate DK Karaoke but have to admit I've got a pretty good collection of their disks. I don't like the guide tone throughout, even though it is pretty unnoticeable as long as someone's singing over it. I agree too that the mix quality and the instrumentation leaves much to be desired. They're not midi, but I do believe they are sequenced rather than live recordings.

However, I own them because my experience too has been that they are often times the truest representation of the original track. Many of the other manu's bands tend to take some artistic license in the recording or just simply miss important details all together (like a cool guitar riff or drum fill). Especially when it comes to older classics like Elvis, Neil Diamond and others, I find myself picking the DK tracks over other versions.

Also, SoundChoice is often higher quality but they are not close to perfect either. Many of their songs are terrible renditions of the original. Especially when it comes to Country Music my preference for accuracy is usually Chartbuster.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

My preference is Sound Choice when I go to shows. I went to a show that didn't list manus & I took a chance & got some crap version that didn't even resemble the original song. If I had known which brand it was I would not have chosen it to begin with.
I have several singers that specifically ask for Sound Choice, Pop Hits or Chartbuster versions. On occasion they will ask for something else over the 3. I think it depends more on the venue, if they are just getting drunk & screaming every song, then no I don't think it matters, if you got a venue where the higher percentage are better singers then yes the brand (or better version) is going matter very much.

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

As I said on another topic, I've had singers ask for Sound Choice when thay have never even recorded that song. I'd choose Sound Choice on some songs, Zoom on others, Sunfly on others! Those are the versions I learned to sing. I don't list the manufacturers in the book (or even denote that I have multiple versions.) For the most part my singers don't care but again where I host lets me get away with it. As I look to expand / replace lower paying shows I know that however hard it may be that I will have to facilitate people choosing between multiple versions rather than going with my 'best version' which generally is Sound Choice.

Karaoke Snobs will request Sound Choice and get irked if you don't have it. Karaoke for fun people will try whatever version you have and muddle through it even if it the worst rendition around. (I forget which manu had a 'dance' version of a Killers' track but it was certainly challenging to sing it!)

- Jonn

In my experience, most singers don't really care what manu it is as long as it's close enough to what they know. However there are always a few that ARE manu/version savvy enough to request a particular rendition and I always want them to have that choice. Yes, my books have dupes in them, but I list them in order of (IMHO) quality. If they know what they want, it's there for them. If they have no preference, they almost always choose the first one they see which would be the manu I'd choose for them anyway.

This is great feedback. The reason I am asking is that I purchased a retired KJs entire SUNFLY collection and bought another 40 discs to make it current.

The tracks I have heard so far are not too bad. Where does Sunfly stand in the Manu ratings? what songs should I steer clear from?

Thanks

Vic in Sydney

I go song by song, but also it is based on what I have. On many songs I like DK best, on some CB, and some SoundChoice.

I like SoundChoice for songs that rely heavily on guitar leads. I like Chartbuster for country, *especially* when the pedal steel and fiddle is important.

Often SoundChoice is harder to sing with, in my opinion, because it is thin or modulated lower. This makes a lot of riffs stand out better, but on many songs the fuller instrumentation of Chartbuster or DK is better. It also matters whether you are a fan of stop-in-the-tracks endings like SoundChoice does, or fadeouts like DK or CB. (I like fadeouts.)

My best test case are the artists George Strait, Jimmy Buffett, Neil Diamond, Glen Campbell and Toby Keith. I have significant numbers of tracks from both Sound Choice, Chartbuster, and DK for all of those.

I do 36 different George Strait songs. (Actually more, but those are the ones I do "out".) About half I do Sound Choice (13), about half Chartbuster (19), and only two DK (who only has three Strait songs) and two Pop Hits. I have all of the Chartbuster available, and a lot but not all of the SoundChoice. I have done a lot of the SoundChoice out at shows, and if I like them I buy them.

I do several Toby Keith, and Sound Choice is not my choice ever. (One DK, one Supercore, three Chartbuster.)

I do five Glen Campbell, and never like SoundChoice even though I have done them. (DK has the only decent Rhinestone Cowboy, and by far the best Galveston and Gentle On My Mind.)

For Neil Diamond, SoundChoice once, DK twice, Chartbuster twice. Again I have most of them including the SC8347 disk.

For fun, I compiled my list at:

http://duxmail.com/bestver.txt

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

Yah it matters. Micky you and I have similar tastes, maybe its just because I cut my teeth on DK, but I love it.

I used to use the following naming convention.

c:\karaoke\disk#\track#-artist-title.zip

Where disk # was the physical folder I kept the disk in. Didn't matter if it was DK or what. Since I've been buying from Tricerasoft I'm starting to lean towards this naming convention

c:\karaoke\disk#\track#-artist-title-mfgdisk#-track#.zip

This way I can display what the manu track # is for the singer.

Also I don't use a songbook program. I run the cmd prompt, cd to my karaoke directory and type

dir /s *.zip > songlist.txt

Then I can import that into excel or whatever DB I want.

IMO, to a beginner Singer who has never been to or tried Karaoke before, it doesn't matter. To those that come back more frequently, it begins to matter, unless yours is the only show they go to. Once you start attending different KJ's shows, and you are singing the same songs, you begin to notice that not all KJs have the same version of the song that you are used to singing. That's when it begins to matter, because you become more comfortable with one version versus another.

Me personally, it matters... and I'm not saying that because I KJ. It mattered to me a long time before that (when I started to buy my own CDGs to bring with me to other shows). And I am not stuck up on just one particular brand. Some songs I prefer on DK because it was the 1st library I was exposed to (and at the time, they weren't up to 99 yet). Then there's a few songs that I prefer to sing om Music Maestro. I also like several other brands such as Pioneer, Top Hits and Pop Hits Monthly (for Pop and Country), and a few other Manus that I like to sing from. Warning... Rant... I think I am somewhat of a snob when it comes to singing my Broadway stuff.... I find that Pocket Songs is the best when it comes to that genre, and I absolutely HATE it when the KJ insists that Sound Choice is the best for everything (Broadway inclusive)... Sound Choice just does not know how to do Broadway right.... end rant.

I guess I forgot to make my point. I think that the versions are very important to some people, and that they will notice specifically as it pertains to the songs they sing. But even those who don't track individual versions know quality from junk. The sound is just better with the better material, and they do notice.

One of my karaoke friends is 74 and does all country, as old as he can find. I have quite a bit of that on Chartbuster, and he is constantly telling me "You know, that other guy just doesn't have the quality of stuff that you have." He doesn't really know much from versions (other than he knows he likes Sound Choice). But he can hear the difference. And he votes with his feet on it, too. Material is one of his main criteria for picking a show.

And I believe that on another level, the kick-butt nature of some of the tracks, especially the Sound Choice rock with excellent lead guitar, adds an atmosphere that perhaps isn't tied to the singer but to the show. That is why I decided to get the Sound Choice Foundation even though I already had versions of most of the songs -- because there were frequently-sung tracks that were far better on Sound Choice. My CBE 1 through 10 is pretty good stuff, too, though I wish they had better lead guitarists.

Losing the Sound Choice custom disks has been a bit of a blow. There is some stuff only they have. But once I can get the Chartbuster tracks as custom downloads, I will be pretty much set. We have a budget to buy CB monthlies, and I can pick up requests via download -- country on Chartbuster and new pop/rock on Tricerasoft. I sure have invested a lot in music over time, but it has been worth it. I am pretty sure that I now have one of the best fully-legal karaoke collections in our area. I know a couple of guys who have been disking it for 20 years who maybe have a bit better (and a lot more Sound Choice), but my overall coverage is probably wider in some areas.

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

Experienced Karaoke singers want to know which manufacturers version that they are singing from (and the KJs book should refect that, PERIOD!. It is another issue that is right up there with decent sound, decent microphones, and a fair rotation, and did I forget to mention a CDG player for the dedicated bring your own discs patrons. It is All about Customer Service and you need to have all of these attributes to separate yourself from being a mediocre KJ or a great KJ. The choice is yours but believe me your customers will notice. Great shows draw talented singers and bring in customers that like to hear talented singers even if they just sit and listen or dance while the people sing. Good Customer Service is key to your success!

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

Why are soooo many posters here on their "PERIOD"?

PERIOD THIS.... PERIOD THAT......THE END PERIOD........

Is your word being questioned? Is your answer the final word for all???

Kinda RUDE if ya ask me, so don't ask. .....freakin periods...