Karaoke DJs I need HELP!!!

[DJ BONES]

Just booked one of my regular gigs at Capital One, and this time I had a request for Karaoke!!! I do run videos via video-sl and I have a Projector + Screen and TVs but I've never ran Karaoke before... anyone have a crash corse on what i need? Programs, Places to get the lyrics, How to sync.. anything would help... I've seen it done but I'm a total newb to it!

[Dave Daschofsky]

I run pcdj karaoke. It was about $100 and it's really easy to use. The expensive part is the library. There's a lot of places to get songs, tricerasoft is the main one I use. You can also buy up collections people sell off on craigslist, just make sure they're selling the original discs.

[Drewbdo]

The expensive part is the library.

^^ This... in spades!

[b.ill]

Most karaoke DJ's guard their libraries with their lives. I've spent untold thousands of dollars assembling mine through the years.

You may (if you poke around long enough) find someone who is willing to sell you an illegal loaded hard drive, but they are getting harder and harder to come by because the authorities are really cracking down on this practice, and if you do get one it will almost certainly be out of date. You also will be liable for huge fines if you're caught using one.

The files themselves are zipped MP3's plus a synced graphics file. There are several computer programs that will unzip them, play the music, and display the lyrics on a separate screen that you send to the monitors in extended desktop. I use Siglos. The big boy of the group is Compuhost (the karaoke equivalent of Serato), but it's rather expensive and requires a hardware dongle which is too much of a hassle for me.

It might be possible to set up accounts at Buykaraokedownloads and Selectatrack and download tracks on the fly, but karaoke tracks run anywhere between 99c to $3.50 each. In my shows around 70-75 songs get sung per night, so depending on what you are getting paid, you might end up losing money. There is no cheaper way of doing it (edit: that I'm aware of. But things change all the time so it would be wise to look around). I did it pretty much as a hobby at first - spending most of what I was making before I made any real money at it.

But there is so much more to being a successful karaoke DJ than a well stocked library. You must be personable, friendly, and possess the knack of being able to remember which name goes to which face over and over again throughout the night. You are the host of the room and your job is making everyone comfortable and relaxed. And that's on top of being a good soundman - EQing and inserting each singer acceptably in the mix even though their voices (and abilities) are all over the map.

That being said it's a heck of a lot of fun. I'm currently hosting karaoke Tues-Thurs and have been doing this for several years.

[howierivet]

karaoke also needs at least two decent mics, a mixing board for the mics, a monitor for the singer, a screen just for the singer to read the lyrics, and video splitters if you are running multiple screens.

successful karaoke also needs a KJ with major personality as it is not like DJing at all. i have been thinking about doing karaoke on sundays through wednesdays since all my income comes from DJing i need to fill in the off days with something. building up the collection takes a while and is expensive. you not only want a decent sized library but the good quality songs as the karaoke tracks are made third party and you would be amazed on how off some songs are.

i do not do karaoke but have rented my sound rig for karaoke nights since i also use my PA for my band and ran karaoke nights for friends when they were not available.

[b.ill]

successful karaoke also needs a KJ with major personality as it is not like DJing at all. i have been thinking about doing karaoke on sundays through wednesdays since all my income comes from DJing i need to fill in the off days with something.

Yeah this is how I make my living at this. I run a karaoke show on weeknights and then DJ on weekends. It all works together.

I almost forgot. There is a karaoke streaming service that Chartbuster (I believe) is running called Karaoke Cloud. Membership is around $200 per month - which is pretty cheap if you're just starting out with no library. Add to that a karaoke program for your laptop (around $100), a multichannel mixer, a cordless mic set, and you could get started for under $1000 as long as you have a sound system or one at the club to plug into.

Add to that the gift of gab and you're all set.

[Dave Daschofsky]

Chartbusters went out of business. I think digitraxx bought them

[peterwo2e]

is fun but those karoke tracks could get awfuly expensive. i bought my library from a bar owner 78,000 titles for $250 the complete hard drive.
by the way i did ask him if the tracks are legal he said YEAH!!!!

[DJ Watty]

I get my karaoke from http://www.tricerasoft.com/index2.html and I use either Virtual DJ or Swift Elite 4 for software. Virtual DJ I use more often then not unless it is a KARAOKE ONLY gig. Swift elite is an awesome karaoke server softare, designed mainly for Karaoke. But Virtual DJ does it all in one package if karaoke is not your regular thing...

[DJ BONES]

Thanks for the info... Lets keep in mind that i am not transitioning into becoming a karaoke Dj I just need enough to get by for this event.. It will not a mainly karaoke event just something extra they want..
So there are actual Karaoke files? I cant somehow do it myself with the music i already have?