Adding a karaoke option to our multi-op DJ company...

knardini · Post by **knardini** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 10:23 am

Hey everyone. I have a question about the karaoke world, and instead of piecing together a system that may or may not work for our needs I though I would ask those working in the business everyday.

I have 10 DJ's that I run around…working around 400 events each year (from corporate to weddings). For the past 10 years I have been asked by clients about a karaoke option to our services but have never added it. Recently we have gotten even more requests (mostly from our corporate event clients) and have decided to buy a single system that any one of my guys could bring out and incorporate into their DJ set up.

The screen and stand are easy…here is my question:

Each of my guys carries a new Pioneer DDJ SX controller, a Macbook Pro and a Shure SLX wireless mic. This controller has a 4 channel mixer…so we have a channel available to tap into a karaoke player, computer, hard drive…whatever you tell me to get. We have RCA,XLR or 1/4" inputs we could use.

I would like a a mobile system that we could plug into one of those inputs to run through our sound…so karaoke tracks, mics, everything running through a single channel on our mixer. If I need to buy a single space mixer for the karaoke mics and everything I will do that.

I need something that has the karaoke tracks onboard (no CD's) and can easily be updated with new digital tracks. I don't need anything with any bells and whistles. The only people that will be seeing the video feed will be the singers and I don't want to confuse my guys with a complicated set up.

Do we use books for people to look through…or how are you kids doing that these days?

Again, mobile use only, simple software but high quality gear that will last.

So, to recap:

*Need 2-4 wireless mics
*Karaoke system with onboard digital tracks (searchable)
*All put into a rack to run through a single channel on or controller (RCA,XLR,1/4" inputs)
*How and where to buy music

Thoughts? And Thanks!

mnementh · Post by **mnementh** » Sat Nov 16, 2013 8:13 am

HI there,
theoretically, you could run your Karaoke from the Macbook but there is little Karaoke software out there for Mac and what there is, it's simple and not really "hosting" quality.

The other problem is that you say you have only one spare channel available on your mixer.

Realistically, you need at least two mikes for Karaoke as duets are commonplace.

The minimum I can see for you is;

2 mikes, wired or radio
small mixer with at least three channels (two mono and 1 stereo)
Laptop with 100Gb drive minimum
PC to TV video convertor (the laptop might have one built in)

This will get you to a single channel output that you can connect to your spare Pioneer channel.

For software, my preference is Karma but in line with others on here, I'd recommend JustKaraoke from Tricerasoft. It has all the features you will need, at a reasonable cost and no huge processor overhead that, sadly, Karma does require.

All the best with your endeavour,
Sandy.

The Lone Ranger · Post by **The Lone Ranger** » Sat Nov 16, 2013 8:29 am

Your biggest hurdle to get over is setting up a legal library since the karaoke tracks themselves unless pirated are expensive. It is the single biggest cost to the karaoke host. Before retiring I was a DJ/KJ I didn't use a computer but rather a player HD machine the Best Media DA-268. I had the ability with the 2 TB option to place as many as 50,000 tracks on the HD. It is a very simple system since you just punch the number and the karaoke or audio track comes up. The drawback to this system and they all have drawbacks is all the work is front end. You have to load each track by hand and create a number for it. A very time consuming process, once done however it is the simplest system to use. Most hosts don't use it because of the initial amount of work required in the loading process.

mr.dj · Post by **mr.dj** » Sat Nov 16, 2013 3:03 pm

To add to the Lone Rangers post that the biggest hurdle is the music library, If your multi rigging with 10 DJs, officially to stay legal you need 10 separately purchased copies of each music track.
Also where you buy your karaoke tracks from depends if you are a USA based or the rest of the world, USA has different licencing laws to every one else and have limited the legal professional market to just a few manufacturers.
If you don't want the bother of printing books then there are some online services that allow looking up your library via IPhone or android devices. I use SongbookDB from here: https://www.songbookdb.com/
Click on the "How it all works" link to see instructions.

knardini · Post by **knardini** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 4:23 pm

Great advice so far, thanks. We will be purchasing all our music from a legitimate source to stay legal. What I've learned here and elsewhere since is basically a laptop with software is the way to go…the mics and screens are pretty simple.

Thanks for your help everyone.

The Lone Ranger · Post by **The Lone Ranger** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:31 am

Something else you might want to look at is the Cloud Service if you don't want to pay out for a large library before you have a chance to try out being a KJ. Believe it or not some would be hosts have shelled out huge sums of money only to find out they aren't really KJ's, it's different from being only a DJ. Both have their good and bad points. You can subscribe to Cloud and have access to thousands of legal tracks for 99.00 a month. This way you can try out the service and weigh it against actually purchasing a full legal library. Long before I became a host I rented karaoke equipment to find out if I would like KJing. Just a suggestion.

mr.dj · Post by **mr.dj** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 10:48 am

Adding to the Lone Rangers post again, If you did go with the cloud for your music library a very good software for running it is:
http://www.pcdj.com/karaoke-software/karaoki/

This integrates with the cloud for searching the library and playing instantly from the search.