Hey folks!
Love the forum. I just joined so I am obviously new here. I live in The Big Apple and play in a couple of musical projects. One is a Grateful Dead cover band and the other is an acoustic trio (two guitars and three voices).
I just recently spent a small fortune on some incredibly good gear in the form of a PA system and stage lighting.
So I got to thinking, maybe I could make some money using my system and vocal skills as a KJ. The problem is I know little to nothing about the market or the equipment I would need.
Maybe you guys can advise me on what you would recommend to start off with.
I have plenty of various-sized screen, LCD TV's I could use, if needed for lyrics.
As for my PA and lighting gear:
My PA system is based around the high end JBL PRX line. (Note: this is the PRX, not the low end JRX!)
I have two PRX612 tops over two PRX618XLF subwoofers. I also have beautiful wedge stage monitors and IEM's (In Ear Monitors) but I would assume one of my wedges would suffice since only one or two people would usually be on stage at the same time. I am also aware that KJ's rarely or never use monitors, and certainly almost never anything of this quality monitor.
As for vocal mics, I have several (A high end Sennheiser 985, and Electrovoice ND/767A, and, of course, the industry standard Shure SM58.
Edit: Oh and I have two mixers: One is a Mackie DL1608 and the other is an X32. I run the Mackie with my iPad exclusively. I would probably use the DL1608 since it is portable and I don't think I need 32 channels for Karaoke! lol
My lighting is all Chauvet, again, high end stuff. Though with only one or two people on stage at any given time, I would probably only need part of my lighting rig.
So the questions, I guess are:
-Laptop or book?
-Discs or PC medium?
-How many songs?
-Cost of the units that play/record (if I go that route)?
Etc...
***Note: Of course, I would only do this legally and would either pay for all my music or not use it!
Pro Musician Considerin Doing Some Karaoke...
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
Hi and welcome...
In my area the entertainment business is taking a hit from the crappy economy. People aren't going out like the used to and when they do they don't spend as much money as they used to.
Many places stopped having bands because people don't even want to pay a $5 cover.
The karaoke music is the biggest expense...at about $2 per song.
When dealing with drunks many KJs won't opt for the high end microphones after they see them hit the floor...
Very few KJs use lighting because most bars don't even have a stage area..
Another big problem is most serious karaoke singers drink pop or water which really doesn't support the show.
Because of the economy...I'm working right now for less money than I would have turned down 20 years ago...
Being in NYC might help because of the more diverse crowds and a more affluent population..
How is the entertainment business there as far as the band/karaoke scene?
Seems like most of the local bands here play disco and the younger kids don't want to here disco...after all that stuff is really old..
In my area the entertainment business is taking a hit from the crappy economy. People aren't going out like the used to and when they do they don't spend as much money as they used to.
Many places stopped having bands because people don't even want to pay a $5 cover.
The karaoke music is the biggest expense...at about $2 per song.
When dealing with drunks many KJs won't opt for the high end microphones after they see them hit the floor...
Very few KJs use lighting because most bars don't even have a stage area..
Another big problem is most serious karaoke singers drink pop or water which really doesn't support the show.
Because of the economy...I'm working right now for less money than I would have turned down 20 years ago...
Being in NYC might help because of the more diverse crowds and a more affluent population..
How is the entertainment business there as far as the band/karaoke scene?
Seems like most of the local bands here play disco and the younger kids don't want to here disco...after all that stuff is really old..
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
I have seen similar problems with my band. What you say about water and soda is particularly true of Deadheads. These guys smoke lots of weed and do other drugs, so they end up ordering water all night <eyeroll> to the point where we have played in front of some huge crowds and gotten paid only $500 or $600. My band has a nice following and that I do for love. So the money is not relevant. However, if I were to do Karaoke, it would be 100% for the money. So the dynamic is different.
Question: Does my geographical area give me an advantage financially? I live in NY City, a short distance from Manhattan. While Manhattan sucks for bands (and I mean REALLY sucks) I am thinking that the same might not be true for Karaoke?
However, if we are talking $2.00 a song here, that sounds cost prohibitive. There are just so many songs out there, that to try to cover all genres and represent the musical taste of John Q. Public, wouldn't I need like 30K songs? lol $so grand?! Wow!
Edit: lol Did you edit your post? Because either that or I missed the part about NY City while writing my response. Anyway, I am not sure about the market as I know next to nothing about Karaoke, to be honest.
Question: Does my geographical area give me an advantage financially? I live in NY City, a short distance from Manhattan. While Manhattan sucks for bands (and I mean REALLY sucks) I am thinking that the same might not be true for Karaoke?
However, if we are talking $2.00 a song here, that sounds cost prohibitive. There are just so many songs out there, that to try to cover all genres and represent the musical taste of John Q. Public, wouldn't I need like 30K songs? lol $so grand?! Wow!
Edit: lol Did you edit your post? Because either that or I missed the part about NY City while writing my response. Anyway, I am not sure about the market as I know next to nothing about Karaoke, to be honest.
Welcome to the forum!
Yes, karaoke is a business and like other businesses you need to research your area market before diving in. In a highly populated area like yours there are going to be plenty of karaoke singers. There is also going to be plenty of competition. You had better go around and see what the odds are that you can land enough gigs to make it worth while.
With that stuff aside, it appears that you have an outstanding sound system. I love the JBL PRX series speakers for karaoke. They can't be beat. Monitor speakers are rarely used. The Mackie mixer is great also. You didn't mention wireless microphones but they are must for karaoke.
Don't worry about a 30,000 song library. I know some karaoke hosts brag about their huge song selection, but truth be known, there are not 30,000 unique karaoke English song titles (same song by same artist) in existence. These people are counting duplicates. Also, the vast majority of karaoke songs are never requested. You will get by nicely with a good selection of popular karaoke songs in the various genres.
That brings us to acquiring that song selection without investing several thousands of dollars up front. There is a karaoke music "rental" system known as the Karaoke Cloud. They offer a collection of over 10,000 popular commercial karaoke songs for a monthly fee This collection is frequently updated. You access this collection via karaoke hosting software like PCDJ Karaoki installed on a laptop. You will download the entire collection to a hard drive and be allowed to use all the songs as long as you pay the subscription fee. I believe the monthly fee at this time is about $99.
Now you have some things to think about anyway.
Yes, karaoke is a business and like other businesses you need to research your area market before diving in. In a highly populated area like yours there are going to be plenty of karaoke singers. There is also going to be plenty of competition. You had better go around and see what the odds are that you can land enough gigs to make it worth while.
With that stuff aside, it appears that you have an outstanding sound system. I love the JBL PRX series speakers for karaoke. They can't be beat. Monitor speakers are rarely used. The Mackie mixer is great also. You didn't mention wireless microphones but they are must for karaoke.
Don't worry about a 30,000 song library. I know some karaoke hosts brag about their huge song selection, but truth be known, there are not 30,000 unique karaoke English song titles (same song by same artist) in existence. These people are counting duplicates. Also, the vast majority of karaoke songs are never requested. You will get by nicely with a good selection of popular karaoke songs in the various genres.
That brings us to acquiring that song selection without investing several thousands of dollars up front. There is a karaoke music "rental" system known as the Karaoke Cloud. They offer a collection of over 10,000 popular commercial karaoke songs for a monthly fee This collection is frequently updated. You access this collection via karaoke hosting software like PCDJ Karaoki installed on a laptop. You will download the entire collection to a hard drive and be allowed to use all the songs as long as you pay the subscription fee. I believe the monthly fee at this time is about $99.
Now you have some things to think about anyway.
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
Thanks, Wiseguy!
Yeah, I had read somewhere that stage monitors were rarely used. But you know what? Being a little bit of a spoiled musician and singer, one of the main reason I have mostly avoided going with friends to Karaoke bars and singing there is the lack of monitors. Also, the lack of reverb as well as my sense that literally every "system" I have ever seen used in Karaoke sounded...well horrible. A subscription service may be the way to go for me, to be honest. Like I said I will do it right (and legal!) or not at all.
I was also thinking that it might not be the worst idea to offer a paid service to supplement my income: Maybe I record the audio and the video for every patron and if they wish to purchase the audio CD or the video DVD from me, then I could sell it to them. People might actually like the idea of paying for their performance, particularly considering how few times most people ever get to sing on gear like this?
So the monitor, in my opinion, would be really nice because, as you alluded to, nobody uses them, particularly ones of the quality of EV's ELX line. That monitor, in many ways, is a better stage monitor than the PRX, which is why I bought it. But I can't tell you how many times I have invited people to sing with my band and having a high end monitor wedge in front of them just blew them away because it was not something they were used to. Plus, things like compression on the vocals can really smooth out some of the screaming amateurs.
Not sure I agree with you about the wireless mics, though, to be frank. Not that I am opposed to the investment, but because they just can't compare with an Sennheiser wired mic or even the SM58. There really is no comparison between audio quality. But I get the feeling that you will probably tell me that this doesn't matter, right? That people will "feel better" holding a wireless mic, so because they "like it better" it makes no difference if the audio quakity is inferior?
If so, I can't argue that point.
Yeah, I had read somewhere that stage monitors were rarely used. But you know what? Being a little bit of a spoiled musician and singer, one of the main reason I have mostly avoided going with friends to Karaoke bars and singing there is the lack of monitors. Also, the lack of reverb as well as my sense that literally every "system" I have ever seen used in Karaoke sounded...well horrible. A subscription service may be the way to go for me, to be honest. Like I said I will do it right (and legal!) or not at all.
I was also thinking that it might not be the worst idea to offer a paid service to supplement my income: Maybe I record the audio and the video for every patron and if they wish to purchase the audio CD or the video DVD from me, then I could sell it to them. People might actually like the idea of paying for their performance, particularly considering how few times most people ever get to sing on gear like this?
So the monitor, in my opinion, would be really nice because, as you alluded to, nobody uses them, particularly ones of the quality of EV's ELX line. That monitor, in many ways, is a better stage monitor than the PRX, which is why I bought it. But I can't tell you how many times I have invited people to sing with my band and having a high end monitor wedge in front of them just blew them away because it was not something they were used to. Plus, things like compression on the vocals can really smooth out some of the screaming amateurs.
Not sure I agree with you about the wireless mics, though, to be frank. Not that I am opposed to the investment, but because they just can't compare with an Sennheiser wired mic or even the SM58. There really is no comparison between audio quality. But I get the feeling that you will probably tell me that this doesn't matter, right? That people will "feel better" holding a wireless mic, so because they "like it better" it makes no difference if the audio quakity is inferior?
If so, I can't argue that point.
You're talking about a mobile karaoke business. It appears you have visions of setting up onstage and having the singers standing in the spotlight with the monitor speaker in front of them. The reality is that most of the bars you will perform in won't have a stage. You will have a setup area that most times won't afford the space or be suited for a monitor speaker. In these bars karaoke singers often like to roam around while they sing and won't appreciate being tethered to a microphone cable.
You can buy very high quality wireless microphones if you want to shell out the money. In fact, Shure makes a wireless SM58 but there are even higher quality ones than those. You might want to keep in mind that all karaoke singers are amateurs and only a very low percentage of them are actually better than average. Very few of them will be able to tell the difference between an SM58 and an $100 VocoPro wireless.
You can buy very high quality wireless microphones if you want to shell out the money. In fact, Shure makes a wireless SM58 but there are even higher quality ones than those. You might want to keep in mind that all karaoke singers are amateurs and only a very low percentage of them are actually better than average. Very few of them will be able to tell the difference between an SM58 and an $100 VocoPro wireless.
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
I hear you, wiseguy, all good points.
Like I said, I know almost nothing about Karaoke. And yeah it sounds like wireless, in this unique case, simply trumps quality. So while I may roll my eyes at the thought, I am not going to be looking to blaze any trails if I opt to do this. I would just go wireless and be done with it. I could, of course have the wired, better mics with me and offer them to the real singers who want the quality. Maybe even have them set up. I mean, I have 16 channels on the DL1608, who says two of them can't be running a an SM58 and an EV N/D and a third one can't run the wireless. I have plenty of mic stands as well.
Also, I have to tell you, playing in a band for many years has taught me to make VERY efficient use of bar space! lol
I don't need a stage to set up subs with tops over them, the remote mixer to mix with an iPad, and a wedge monitor. The PRX and ELX monitors, to be quite honest are incredibly small, particularly considering the wallop they pack!
As for the stage lighting, all the Chauvet fixtures I have and the stands are very compact, and take up more vertical space than footprint. Dude, if you saw some of the miniscule areas I have set up for a band of six people (5 singing musicians and a female vocalist) you would be amazed. Like Is said, I may be way off here. The reason I am considering a monitor and lighting is to maybe find an angle, something to give me a leg up over the competition?
All this may be overkill, but
Like I said, I know almost nothing about Karaoke. And yeah it sounds like wireless, in this unique case, simply trumps quality. So while I may roll my eyes at the thought, I am not going to be looking to blaze any trails if I opt to do this. I would just go wireless and be done with it. I could, of course have the wired, better mics with me and offer them to the real singers who want the quality. Maybe even have them set up. I mean, I have 16 channels on the DL1608, who says two of them can't be running a an SM58 and an EV N/D and a third one can't run the wireless. I have plenty of mic stands as well.
Also, I have to tell you, playing in a band for many years has taught me to make VERY efficient use of bar space! lol
I don't need a stage to set up subs with tops over them, the remote mixer to mix with an iPad, and a wedge monitor. The PRX and ELX monitors, to be quite honest are incredibly small, particularly considering the wallop they pack!
As for the stage lighting, all the Chauvet fixtures I have and the stands are very compact, and take up more vertical space than footprint. Dude, if you saw some of the miniscule areas I have set up for a band of six people (5 singing musicians and a female vocalist) you would be amazed. Like Is said, I may be way off here. The reason I am considering a monitor and lighting is to maybe find an angle, something to give me a leg up over the competition?
All this may be overkill, but
I had a band for a few years and I've spent the past twenty years setting up karaoke systems in virtually every setting you can imagine. I have always had a good sound system with quality components but I learned early on that it doesn't pay to get too carried away with this. I mean you don't serve caviar at a soup kitchen.
Or you could go Compuhost and either go with the cloud or the media pro. The cloud you don't own the music when all is said and done while whatever you unlock with media pro is yours to keep. It's the same library as the cloud. www.karaokeware.com is the website.wiseguy wrote:Welcome to the forum!
Yes, karaoke is a business and like other businesses you need to research your area market before diving in. In a highly populated area like yours there are going to be plenty of karaoke singers. There is also going to be plenty of competition. You had better go around and see what the odds are that you can land enough gigs to make it worth while.
With that stuff aside, it appears that you have an outstanding sound system. I love the JBL PRX series speakers for karaoke. They can't be beat. Monitor speakers are rarely used. The Mackie mixer is great also. You didn't mention wireless microphones but they are must for karaoke.
Don't worry about a 30,000 song library. I know some karaoke hosts brag about their huge song selection, but truth be known, there are not 30,000 unique karaoke English song titles (same song by same artist) in existence. These people are counting duplicates. Also, the vast majority of karaoke songs are never requested. You will get by nicely with a good selection of popular karaoke songs in the various genres.
That brings us to acquiring that song selection without investing several thousands of dollars up front. There is a karaoke music "rental" system known as the Karaoke Cloud. They offer a collection of over 10,000 popular commercial karaoke songs for a monthly fee This collection is frequently updated. You access this collection via karaoke hosting software like PCDJ Karaoki installed on a laptop. You will download the entire collection to a hard drive and be allowed to use all the songs as long as you pay the subscription fee. I believe the monthly fee at this time is about $99.
Now you have some things to think about anyway.
$29.99 unless you purchase 100 credits then you only pay for the credits. It's not like the old one in one major respect. You don't have buy a drive, wait for it to be delivered and then add the credits. You get to decide what drive your encoded files are downloaded to.
The 100 credits will run you $199, the same as the old drive's cost with twice the credits so it's a better deal than the original version was.
The 100 credits will run you $199, the same as the old drive's cost with twice the credits so it's a better deal than the original version was.
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
Folks, THANK YOU so much for all the answers!
Okay, a couple of things:
1. I have seen a ton of eBay disc lots of songs. Now presumably, I would HAVE TO make sure that if I buy used that I am buying legitimate actual discs and not someone's copies of copies or whatever, right? But it looks like (assuming this is legal, of course!) that I could maybe save a small fortune on used media, that is depending on the answer to the next question...
2. I know that in many areas (software, music, movies) if you own an original copy of the media in question, you are allowed to make archive copies and/or rip them to your computer. Is that the case with Karaoke tracks as well? Or is this different. I ask because I don't want to carry around discs. I would rather maintain everything on a computer hard drive and even carry a backup laptop with me in case my main PC goes down at a show. Is this all legal?
3. A buddy of mine told me that he went to a show the other day where the KJ was basically using Youtube and I believe MySpace videos and didn't have to pay anything. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that this can't be legal. He insisted that it is a grey area and not illegal. Now my feeling is that this has to be illegal, and if so I won't even consider it.
4. I think that if I am going to do this, I will buy the cheaper mics you guys recommend to give to any drunks and barflies. Honestly, if I see a person who strikes me as sober or I get a vibe that they understand audio, I will hand them a much better mic than the one I don't care or not if it gets dropped. Does this sound feasible, to offer the better singers or non-drunks a choice between a crappy wireless or a really nice Sennheiser or EV? Bear in mind that all my XLR-mic cables are Proco Mic Cables with Neutrik ends (really high end cables) and I have varying lengths from 5 feet cables all the way up to 25 and 50 feet XLR cables. So would a knowledgeable singer really object to being tethered to a 25' cable that might reach to the other end of the bar...or a 50' mic cable?
Okay, a couple of things:
1. I have seen a ton of eBay disc lots of songs. Now presumably, I would HAVE TO make sure that if I buy used that I am buying legitimate actual discs and not someone's copies of copies or whatever, right? But it looks like (assuming this is legal, of course!) that I could maybe save a small fortune on used media, that is depending on the answer to the next question...
2. I know that in many areas (software, music, movies) if you own an original copy of the media in question, you are allowed to make archive copies and/or rip them to your computer. Is that the case with Karaoke tracks as well? Or is this different. I ask because I don't want to carry around discs. I would rather maintain everything on a computer hard drive and even carry a backup laptop with me in case my main PC goes down at a show. Is this all legal?
3. A buddy of mine told me that he went to a show the other day where the KJ was basically using Youtube and I believe MySpace videos and didn't have to pay anything. I told him, in no uncertain terms, that this can't be legal. He insisted that it is a grey area and not illegal. Now my feeling is that this has to be illegal, and if so I won't even consider it.
4. I think that if I am going to do this, I will buy the cheaper mics you guys recommend to give to any drunks and barflies. Honestly, if I see a person who strikes me as sober or I get a vibe that they understand audio, I will hand them a much better mic than the one I don't care or not if it gets dropped. Does this sound feasible, to offer the better singers or non-drunks a choice between a crappy wireless or a really nice Sennheiser or EV? Bear in mind that all my XLR-mic cables are Proco Mic Cables with Neutrik ends (really high end cables) and I have varying lengths from 5 feet cables all the way up to 25 and 50 feet XLR cables. So would a knowledgeable singer really object to being tethered to a 25' cable that might reach to the other end of the bar...or a 50' mic cable?
If you buy any used discs make the seller assure you that they are not copies as copies would be worthless to you.
When you rip the songs from CDG discs to a computer format like the most common format MP3+G this is referred to as "format shifting". For a long time none of the karaoke music manufacturers cared about us doing this as long as we remained 1:1 compliant. It didn't take long for karaoke song piracy to become wide spread with people making multiple copies of CDG song tracks for use on multiple systems. Of course to be legal you must have one CDG disc for every instance of the songs from that disc. Then there were people selling illegal "loaded" hard drives also.
One manufacturer, Sound Choice, who at one time told us that we could format shift their song tracks as long as we stayed 1:1 compliant, changed their mind and decided that if we wanted to use format shifted copies of their CDG song tracks we would have to submit to periodic audits of our music library... at our expense.
They knew that they probably couldn't win a court case on the format shifting unless they could prove that a person was not 1:1 compliant. So they decided to use the legal ploy of forbidding the display of their trademark, which of course is at the beginning of all their songs, from a format shifted copy. A court upheld this and now they send their agents around to karaoke shows where the music is performed from a computer. If they see one of their songs displayed they file a law suit against the karaoke host that will force him to submit to the audit or face legal repercussions.
So in affect they are lumping the legitimate and illegitimate karaoke hosts together. Because there are pirates around we all get to be treated like pirates. I called BS on this and promptly removed all Sound Choice song tracks from my collection and replaced them with other brands. At this time only Sound Choice is pulling these shenanigans.
My moral of this story is that if you buy CDG discs, don't buy Sound Choice discs and go ahead and rip them to a hard drive. Just be damn sure to stay 1:1 compliant.
As for the mics, my advice would be to go ahead and give the singer a choice between a cheaper wireless or high quality wired mic. One word of caution though. If you're going to put a singer on a leash put them on a short one. You don't want some drunk to walk between the person with the mic and the mixer. They will almost certainly trip over the cable most likely ripping the mic from the singers hand and slamming it to the floor.
When you rip the songs from CDG discs to a computer format like the most common format MP3+G this is referred to as "format shifting". For a long time none of the karaoke music manufacturers cared about us doing this as long as we remained 1:1 compliant. It didn't take long for karaoke song piracy to become wide spread with people making multiple copies of CDG song tracks for use on multiple systems. Of course to be legal you must have one CDG disc for every instance of the songs from that disc. Then there were people selling illegal "loaded" hard drives also.
One manufacturer, Sound Choice, who at one time told us that we could format shift their song tracks as long as we stayed 1:1 compliant, changed their mind and decided that if we wanted to use format shifted copies of their CDG song tracks we would have to submit to periodic audits of our music library... at our expense.
They knew that they probably couldn't win a court case on the format shifting unless they could prove that a person was not 1:1 compliant. So they decided to use the legal ploy of forbidding the display of their trademark, which of course is at the beginning of all their songs, from a format shifted copy. A court upheld this and now they send their agents around to karaoke shows where the music is performed from a computer. If they see one of their songs displayed they file a law suit against the karaoke host that will force him to submit to the audit or face legal repercussions.
So in affect they are lumping the legitimate and illegitimate karaoke hosts together. Because there are pirates around we all get to be treated like pirates. I called BS on this and promptly removed all Sound Choice song tracks from my collection and replaced them with other brands. At this time only Sound Choice is pulling these shenanigans.
My moral of this story is that if you buy CDG discs, don't buy Sound Choice discs and go ahead and rip them to a hard drive. Just be damn sure to stay 1:1 compliant.
As for the mics, my advice would be to go ahead and give the singer a choice between a cheaper wireless or high quality wired mic. One word of caution though. If you're going to put a singer on a leash put them on a short one. You don't want some drunk to walk between the person with the mic and the mixer. They will almost certainly trip over the cable most likely ripping the mic from the singers hand and slamming it to the floor.
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ChiroVette
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 9:34 am
Absolutely! This would be my first order of business with any eBay purchase. If I am buying used, I would also demand (as a condition of purchase) that the seller include in his or her online receipt to me a statement that they deleted ALL of the material they are selling me from any and all hard drives, flashdrives, or other storage media AND that they further warrant that they destroyed any and all backup copies of said discs.wiseguy wrote:If you buy any used discs make the seller assure you that they are not copies as copies would be worthless to you.
Not that I expect them to honestly do this, mind you, but at least I will demand these things in good faith so hopefully I am covered.
Yeah there is no way I would do this. It is absurd and ridiculous. I completely agree with you.wiseguy wrote:When you rip the songs from CDG discs to a computer format like the most common format MP3+G this is referred to as "format shifting". For a long time none of the karaoke music manufacturers cared about us doing this as long as we remained 1:1 compliant. It didn't take long for karaoke song piracy to become wide spread with people making multiple copies of CDG song tracks for use on multiple systems. Of course to be legal you must have one CDG disc for every instance of the songs from that disc. Then there were people selling illegal "loaded" hard drives also.
One manufacturer, Sound Choice, who at one time told us that we could format shift their song tracks as long as we stayed 1:1 compliant, changed their mind and decided that if we wanted to use format shifted copies of their CDG song tracks we would have to submit to periodic audits of our music library... at our expense.
Yeah absolutely. I am not going to be looking to open up some huge KJ service and hire people to do shows for me, all using the same songs I only paid for once. But let me ask you this, since you brought it up. I have sometimes had some terrible luck with PC's, particularly laptops! So it is my plan, if I end up doing this KJ stuff, to always have a backup laptop with me in case my main lappy crashes or just starts giving me grief.wiseguy wrote:They knew that they probably couldn't win a court case on the format shifting unless they could prove that a person was not 1:1 compliant. So they decided to use the legal ploy of forbidding the display of their trademark, which of course is at the beginning of all their songs, from a format shifted copy. A court upheld this and now they send their agents around to karaoke shows where the music is performed from a computer. If they see one of their songs displayed they file a law suit against the karaoke host that will force him to submit to the audit or face legal repercussions.
So in affect they are lumping the legitimate and illegitimate karaoke hosts together. Because there are pirates around we all get to be treated like pirates. I called BS on this and promptly removed all Sound Choice song tracks from my collection and replaced them with other brands. At this time only Sound Choice is pulling these shenanigans.
My moral of this story is that if you buy CDG discs, don't buy Sound Choice discs and go ahead and rip them to a hard drive. Just be damn sure to stay 1:1 compliant.
Now, if I have the songs loaded on both PC's BUT am only using one at a time, am I in violation of this 1:1 compliance? Seems like there is some grey area here, because if I am only using one as a backup, and NOT even so much as booting it up unless my main machine goes down, then it seems reasonable that I should be all right. However, I have learned that reasonable is not always how its done.
Actually wouldn't the reverse be true? If some drunk is going to trip over a wire, I would much rather he do so on a wire with an extra 20 feet of slack in it rather than one that is shorter that can literally rip the mixer to the floor or smash the mic. I run into the same issue with my band. We play regularly and many times I breathed a sigh of relief when (because there was no stage, but instead a "stage area") some drunk got tangled in a wire that was longer than it needed to be and so I caught him way before all the slack was taken out.wiseguy wrote:As for the mics, my advice would be to go ahead and give the singer a choice between a cheaper wireless or high quality wired mic. One word of caution though. If you're going to put a singer on a leash put them on a short one. You don't want some drunk to walk between the person with the mic and the mixer. They will almost certainly trip over the cable most likely ripping the mic from the singers hand and slamming it to the floor.
