Karaoke backup vocals on a separate channel

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sawdust123

sawdust123

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Nov 10, 2006
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I'm sure we all know that it is always easier to sing along with someone than sing solo. I use Karafun for karaoke and I will mix in a little bit of the backup vocals when I see someone struggling to get on key at the beginning of a song. Once they are dialed in, I can usually reduce the backup or remove it completely. The problem with this solution is that the audience hears the backup vocals too.

I would love to have a separate output channel for the backup vocals. I could then include those vocals in the singer's monitor and exclude them from the main audience mix. This would be a great addition for karaoke as it would help people shine. I am just not aware of a way to do this.

I have already asked the Karafun people for this capability but I have no confidence that they will consider this a serious request. After all, most KJ mixers don't offer an AUX send capability and most KJs wouldn't know what to do with that capability if they had it.

DJ software like Virtual DJ, can divide a song up into stems (drums, bass, vocal, guitar, etc) and they let you include or exclude these stems at will. However, they don't let you change the level of these stems or output them to a separate channel. Does anyone know of a karaoke solution that can put backup vocals into a separate channel?
 
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What I consider as "backing vocals" are harmony vocals (background singers). The "lead vocal" is what I typically consider as guide for karaoke. Can you not pull up the mixer and bump up the lead vocal, then back it down once the singer "gets it"? With Kara, there's no way to send the parts to separate channels (that I know of). I'm curious, which version of the app are you using? I was big on the windows version but man if their ios (iphone/ipad) versions aren't really great.
 
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I don’t use a Karafun, do they feed the background vocals to both channels or just one? If they feed it to just one channel, you could route just that channel to the monitor system using your mixing. I know some of my older karaoke songs are formatted that way. I’d have to make adjustments on the mix board to remove the channel with the vocals But now with stems I just remove the vocals.
 
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Karafun doesn't let me choose which channel gets the background lead vocal. However, you have given me an idea. I really don't need stereo playback at karaoke and I'm not even sure if Karafun tracks are in stereo. If they made a version with the music on one channel and the background vocals on the other, That is probably not as big an ask as my original request.
 
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sawdust123 said:
Karafun doesn't let me choose which channel gets the background lead vocal. However, you have given me an idea. I really don't need stereo playback at karaoke and I'm not even sure if Karafun tracks are in stereo. If they made a version with the music on one channel and the background vocals on the other, That is probably not as big an ask as my original request.
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That used to be was way some discs were done 25+ years ago but those I believe were VCDs as they had videos. Pioneer Laserdiscs has the ability to turn up & down the vocals, I started karaoke with Laserdiscs as they had the music videos and I had the large videos screens. But those laserdiscs were crazy expensive. The large Pioneer discs were $125
 
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rickryan.com said:
What I consider as "backing vocals" are harmony vocals (background singers). The "lead vocal" is what I typically consider as guide for karaoke. Can you not pull up the mixer and bump up the lead vocal, then back it down once the singer "gets it"? With Kara, there's no way to send the parts to separate channels (that I know of). I'm curious, which version of the app are you using? I was big on the windows version but man if their ios (iphone/ipad) versions aren't really great.
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I use the latest Windows version. I just downloaded the Android version onto my new tablet. I haven't tried using it yet though. I poked around it for a few minutes and it seemed more limited than the Windows app.
 
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On occasion I have had guests ask if I do Karaoke. I explain that I don't have the system with me, but if they really know the song, words I can make it work. So, I play the song to make sure it is the one they want. Then, I do a "sound" check with the microphone and singer. Next, I sample the song and take my mixer's vocal range and lower it so it can barely be heard. Then tell the singer to be ready. I start the song and the singer begins. I increase the mic volume to where it is ideal match. Then I begin again and the singer does his/her think. It works. BUT the singer must know the words and the flow of the song for it to really be worthwhile for the crowd. Hope this helps.
 
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TwinSpinDJ said:
On occasion I have had guests ask if I do Karaoke. I explain that I don't have the system with me, but if they really know the song, words I can make it work. So, I play the song to make sure it is the one they want. Then, I do a "sound" check with the microphone and singer. Next, I sample the song and take my mixer's vocal range and lower it so it can barely be heard. Then tell the singer to be ready. I start the song and the singer begins. I increase the mic volume to where it is ideal match. Then I begin again and the singer does his/her think. It works. BUT the singer must know the words and the flow of the song for it to really be worthwhile for the crowd. Hope this helps.
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Yes, the Karafun versions for iphone, iPad and windows are all a bit different, although Kara has done an excellent job at making them all quite useful. I think my favorite version is iPad.
 
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