How to start Karaoke, music wise?

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If I were starting over I would do it with the purchase of Sound Choice Foundations 1 & 2 and Bricks 1 through 5. That would be a pretty decent library and you could fill in from there with Pop Hits Monthly (now they are called Chart Hits Monthly) Pop, Urban and Country, try to go back and pick up as many back issues as you can.
 
If you want to go high dollar then go with Sound Choice as Thunder has mentioned... but, there are other great products out there aside from SC.

Look at Chartbuster's E 450 series sets, Supercore, Sweet Georgia Brown, and others.....

Here's what I'd do... watch ebay for sets to go on sale you can usually get them for a song.. (pun intended)!

Plus I know you can find the SC sets for a lot cheaper via ebay then any other outlet..... you'd still be looking at almost $1000 for both Foundations I and II plus the 5 bricks... but as Thunder has stated they would be worth the money spent.
 
Hell Rob, I spent $10,000+ just for 120 laser disc when I started out. Buying them new as they came out.
 
Foundations 1 & 2 plus bricks 1-5 is more like around $1,500 - $1,700 I believe. Soundchoice is high quality, that's hard to debate IMO. The questions is, how much does someone have to spend as part of their starting budget for music and how much $$$ can they wrap their mind around?

I had no concept of how much good pro gear should cost when I started out and I still struggle with the idea of spending $1,000 for a high quality powered speaker. Is it worth it? That depends on how many times you use it and how much money it generates.
 
It depends on your target audience.

3000 good songs would be good for private events.

People in bars are used to high quantity's of songs available along with choice of version from time to time.

I can tell you my collection consist of:

Sound Choice:

Foundations 1 and 2 Bricks 1 -5

Almost Every Spotlight disc made 8100 - 9015

A handful of Star Series Disc's


The Dk Millennium Collection

The Sweet Georgia Brown Set

PHM Pop, Country, Urban, Rock from 1997 to current.

I have a handful of All Hits A must have is The Radio Stars Pearl Jam.

I also have a good number of Legends disc, Star Disc, and Sunfly


I used to have 70 or so lasers, I sold them to complete my Sound Choice Collection.


One of the best things to do is sit and wait people are always selling off karaoke collections.
 
The Wizard Of OZ said:
I had no concept of how much good pro gear should cost when I started out and I still struggle with the idea of spending $1,000 for a high quality powered speaker. Is it worth it? That depends on how many times you use it and how much money it generates.
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Valid point, I was thinking about that $1000.00 - $1500.00 to start, I don't want to go too fast or too slow, I'm testing the waters right now. I live in the Bay Area and there are a lot of vietnamese, chinese and pacific islanders including corporate events that usually ask for the capability of Karaoke.
 
The Wizard Of OZ said:
Foundations 1 & 2 plus bricks 1-5 is more like around $1,500 - $1,700 I believe. Soundchoice is high quality, that's hard to debate IMO. The questions is, how much does someone have to spend as part of their starting budget for music and how much $$$ can they wrap their mind around?
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Just remember ebay is our friend....

http://stores.ebay.com/HIP-2-KARAOKE_Sets-Collections_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ8QQftidZ2QQtZkm

This guy usually has Foundation II for the same price as I... 288.88 x 2 plus 88.00 x 5 ok so I was off by about 17.00 plus shipping. At one time he also listed a complete set FI & II plus all 5 bricks for 900ish.

Honestly search ebay you'll find great deals... some better than others but you need to know what retail is or you might over pay.
 
Wow, those are some good prices Rob. With shipping you're looking at about $1,100 from that guy. If you buy from Soundchoice the Foundations are like $385 + shipping each and the bricks are $110 each so its' like $1,300.

I like many of the Legends recodings, some SGB, some All Hits, some Monster Hits, I have a couple CAVS discs of Pioneer recordings with around 1500 songs that I got off ebay for very reasonable.

A good place to maybe look sirdj is Tricerasoft. You'll pay $1 per song when you buy 100 songs at a time, but you'll get only the songs that you want from their listing. No fluff, no duplicates. They don't have every song ever made, but they have a good selection of quality recordings-no Sound Choice though.

A Sound Choice Foundations pack is 450 songs on 30 discs for around $300 from the ebay reseller so it's a bit less per song than Tricerasoft, but you might want to look at the listing to see what's on each Foundation and each brick.

For a bit more money than other Karaoke recordings, Sound Choice has very good quality musicians, good backing vocals and they are well mixed and recorded. Most people consider Sound Choice to be the best quality compared to nearly all the other manufacturers. There are other good Karaoke song track manufacturers, but many of the original Karaoke music companies have gone out of business.
 
David these guys speak from experience especially the Wiz. I will phone you next week I promise.
 
Gotta put in my 2 cents if I may, SirDJ:

While all of the above suggestions are good, it might be a good idea to spend a bit less in the beginning for more titles. Once you get an idea of what's popular in your venues you can always buy the above.

IMHO, the very first set you should by is SuperCore. This is actually a split set. I believe the original set is 38 discs, ( SPC01 - SPC-38) Plus an update set ( SPC-110 and up) of approximately 15 or 20 discs. These are good quality tracks, and the selection is some of everything. The whole set can probably be had for under $300.

I would also get- believe it or not- the 66 disc Sweet Georgia Brown set, if you still can, LEGALLY! Though not well known for high quality ( some tracks are actually great, but they have plenty of misses), they have a great selection of things like jazz, metal, and eclectic song you may not find elswhere. For under $100 for the set, you really can't go wrong.

This low cost will give you around 1800 songs ( unfortunately, there will be plenty of dupes in the Supercore set) of all different styles. Once you have an idea of what your venue/area prefers you can step up a bit. If it's country, for instance, Pick up one of the Chartbuster sets..... Top Hits/Pop Hits monthly subscriptions can keep you up to date, though I don't use them anymore.


One other personal opinion: Unlike many karaoke hosts, I DO NOT eleiminate duplicate title from my books. You will find that many of your singers prefer certain versions of a song. If you have White Rabbit on Sound Choice, SuperCore, and All Hits, keep all three in your book. In this particular case, though I have about 5 versions, and Sound Choice is a very popular mfr., The All Hits version is by far the most popular. I wouldn't have known that, and kept my customers happy, if I didn't have it.

OK, one one other thing. Though you will be PC based, it's a good idea to have a player ( with built in keychange if your PC can't interface) set up as well. Many singers carry the discs that they practice with. Some hosts may not, but I've found it to be a hell of a selling point when you are trying to build a following....

Guess I'm on a roll: Make sure that you understand that, unlike DJing, the vocals (midrange) are the priority when mixing sound. Going along with that, quality mics are a must, as well as speakers with a good midrange response........ Geez, I talk to much :sqerr: Good luck and keep posting!
 
Joe I am doing this very thing with the Supercore just wanted you vets to speak out since Im getting back into it after many yrs of doing one or two here and there. Supercore has many of the good songs with minimal garbage and the orchestration of the discs are very nicely done. SGB is added on with some of the supercore deals for around 150 then you get the 2008 update and you are on your way. I then add each event a number of discs to keep up.
 
Yall' crack me up... ^^^ reading posts above.

Sirdj: Thunder gave you the best advise, If you want to buy cheap, you get cheap:
If you want quality then buy quality disks.
Sound Choice, (anything you can find)
Top Hits, Pop Hits: (anything you can find)
DK (original 1-99 the best, but millennium is good too for oldies)
Music Maestro ( if you can still find some... Older country.. good)

As for Chartbuster, they have a nice collection but just not fond of the music or graphics:
As for most of the rest listed.. they are cheap.. Lemme say that again CHEAP:
You get what you pay for, and unfortunately I have paid for alot of Cheap CDG's
 
Chaz are you saying you have experienced supercore? I agree with Steve too but if David isnt sure hes going to do this fulltime but only as an add on he should sink 4 grand into it for one or two gigs per year?????
 
Joechartreuse, Cam and Harryoke host Karaoke nearly every night of the week and have been doing it for years. I'd have to say that they know as much or more than just about anyone you'll find...
 
Not to bust your hump chaz but, cheap does not always equate to bad... take Sweet Georgia Brown for instance.... yes they are cheap but, there are some real gems among that set of disks... and of course some clunkers too.... but it is not of poor quality...

I like Music Maestro but here again they can be gotten cheaply and contain many clunkers too....

Sound Choice... overall very good quality.... however, they have just as many clunkers as the cheap brands... their country is severly lacking and one reason why I buy Chartbuster.

Chartbuster... overall very good quality... however their pop, rock, urban, hip-hop is lacking most of the time...

The point is... you can pay high dollar or you can pay cheap for discs and still get a klinker or two.
 
The only karaoke I have ever done in my 13 years in the biz is at a wedding or private party. Since I'm an alcoholic, I will never take a bar gig.

I bought the Chartbuster Essential 450 Vol. 1 to start and now have all 8 of their 30 disc sets. I am happy with the variety of songs, but the graphics are not what I would call good.

I think I have ~ $1400 invested in the collection.
 
Rob,

Not to bust your hump, but I bought the SGB set and I found 5 useable songs in the set. Quality wise my preference is the Pioneer set but it hasn't been available for many years now. I also own the entire Charbuster's 450 sets again I like them for country song they do a good job but POP, Rock and Urban leave a lot to be desired. I own the All Hits set some hits some misses and some mediocre.

Yes, Sound Choice also has some that just can't be called good but overall they don't do bad, it is worth the money if you are going to invest anyway to go ahead and invest in a little better quality.

I also started to pick up some of the zoom disc as well they aren't too shabby, but for current music the Pop Hits Monthly can't be beat.
 
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