01.04.09
Karaoke Sound Management
A New Year
A lot of folks around Sanford had New Year’s Day parties with lots of food and the bowl games for entertainment. I didn’t go to any of those. I like to start the year doing something I hope to accomplish during the coming year— so I worked on my writing project— something I did last New Year’s too.
Managing Karaoke
14 Channel EuroRack Mixer
Most songs that you can think of are available as karaoke— Xmas, barber shop, religious. Some of my most popular karaoke songs are gospel tunes. Most people wouldn’t think that could be case in a tavern setting.
My computer doesn’t have a competition karaoke feature, but I think a competition could be fun. Software compares how closely the singer matches the melody and the most accurate wins. The competition idea reenforces what I try to tell folks: that there is no such thing as good or bad voices— there’s only in-key and out-of-key. I also like the idea of leaving the judging of a singing competition up to a computer and avoid any bad feelings between people.
Most of my personal karaoke singing is harmony. To get people to sing, I frequently offer to sing with them. I also encourage a lot of groups, what I call ‘choir’ singing. I have quite a few singers now with whom I have developed good harmonies. Another advantage of group singing is that folks get more turns. The joy of singing seems to be there whether solo or in a group.
I also play harmonica for a few tunes. Helps add another dimension. It has occurred to me that musicians could come in and play along with karaoke. And I’ve heard of a type of show called ‘live-band karaoke’, but I’m not sure exactly what it comprises.
For microphones, I’m currently using 4 wireless mics and 2 good wired mics (one for me and one for really good singers). I have a few other mics that I can use with my PA if needed. I run each mic through a Eurorack mixer (state of the art 1990), then run separate outs to the main speakers and the monitors.
Digital Harmony & Pitch Correction
Having 2 mixes is in where lies a big part of the art of very the sckaraoke! On the front mix I have the music and singers, but I also run reverb and can switch on pitch-correction. I’m also careful not to let the front mix get too loud— I want the audience to be able to socialize.
In the monitor mix, I don’t run any effects like reverb and pitch-correction. I don’t want the singers to think they sound better than they do! I also run more volume in the monitors because most singers really like it loud. That also leaves me the option of turning up or down the front vocals.
I have a lot of tricks to help people sound better, but if they are really bad, I just turn them down so I don’t run my audience out the door. Unlike some karaoke shows that only attract singers, I’ve been drawing a pretty good audience too.
