Have been running around like a nutcase for the last month having seized the opportunity to lease a nice local restaurant/bar/club with dance floor..4200 sq feet...so much work has been done at one time gettig licensing, inventory, etc etc to get opened and have been since April3rd...all coming about at once...and so much more at same time needed NOW..phew! LOL..so bear with me please.
BIG festival in town and want karaoke set up for tomorrow night at my club. I will do it myself. Since we have our own live band and I have sound system/mixers/recorders/mics....you name it to play to a crowd of a 1000 anywhere...that is all set up in this club properly and have had our band playing here for two weekends alreay..so at least I have that much going. Also have several TVs hangin around in this bar/club I leased. The prerformance aspect of being a KJ right now is not a concern t. Its getting ALL I need to set up and have working.Beyond that I am NOT knowledgable about all the crooks and crannies needed to pull of the technical side of this
after reading all....I want to go with a computer set up. Have already a Dell800 laptop and will bring it into BEST BUY today to get an external hardrive for all karaoke files. I like the idea of downloading MP3+Gs from the net to select the type songs I want to fit my customer base...of this local NC rural country car which also has nice biker clubs coming by. MOST are southern rock/country/ new country/classic rock lovers.
I would LOVE to have VIDEO/audio on monitors of people performing and graphics and also record video or if not at first...start off with audio recordings to sell to customers. Have a NEW zoom recorder I have never used to record for making promo package CDs to agents and club owners for our band...yet my husband (bass guitarist) says this will not work for cutting CDs for audio CDs for customers???
Well BACK TO MY MAIN ISSUE:
First having my LAPTOP all adjusted for ALL the needs of now and in the future. Making sure I have all needed. Have copied many posts here however gotta say it gets ALL confusing sometimes as to what and where in connection with TV monitors. and how to connect it all up to go.
ANYONE that could be SO KIND as to direct me to a complete checklist if what I should have in way IF needed of splitters, connetcions, cables. routers, ALSO TV and what it should have...the whole boot and kaboodle I would SURE BE SOOOOOoooo appreciate. I know I have put myself into a time crunch and NOT doing so intentionally. I have spent MEGA buckaroos and most in my position would have to....and in the red...as most would be...getting up a bar/club.....yet there is a STRAWBERRY FEST going on in this town starting tomorrow and my bar could be LOADED with customers for next four days. Its my opportunity to maximize what I can at a once a year activity to help me recoup some at this poiint. OUr band WILL be playing Thursday Fri and Sat night however having MANY calls coming in with people wanting Karaoke NOW...and Wednesday night is the night for me to do it.
THANKS ahead for any help
Sorry for rambling....and pressing for help! Diane amberss@aol.com
HELP needing to set up karaoke asap at my new bar/restaurant
You have a major time-line problem, Grasshopper.
Successful karaoke contains many elements.
If it was me....I would hire an established KJ to get things going for several months. This will keep you from looking like a jerk. Since as you say..you only have a small window of opportunity to work in. Make yourself look as if you know what you are doing. Use an established KJ, for now. Pay them to build the karaoke crowd.
You will need a lot more time and money to get a computer system up and working.
One big problem will be mixing the sound. Live singers with recorded music.
I am going to assume your band PA is a quality system.
Best Buy doesn't sell "Karaoke loaded" hard drives. Where are you going to get all of the karaoke music?
Most of us buy the discs and transfer them to computers. There are some companies that sell music on drives but the question of legality comes into play. If you listsen to all of the karaoke music companies, any type of a format shift is illegal.
Making CDs for customers is also a legal issue unless you have permission for each song used....
You will also need a "Hosting" program to run the karaoke on computer.
To hook up the bar TVs...You need a computer that has video out. Or you will need to get a video signal converter. Then you need an RF Modulator. Then you need an RF amplifier. Then you hook up your coax cable to the TVs. The TVs need to be set on Channel 3, 99% of the time.
What about song books and request slips?
Downloading from the "net" could get you into legal trouble too.
I don't know if the downloaded tracks will be named....if not you will need a naming program and a data base to extract the names from.
You are very far away from running a successful karaoke show. Let someone else wear the KJ hat for now. Trust me...You will make more money by subbing that job out. An unsuccessful karaoke night will chase away business. Ruin your reputation. In 14 years of KJing, I have seen many bar owners that didn't make good business decisions.
Successful karaoke contains many elements.
If it was me....I would hire an established KJ to get things going for several months. This will keep you from looking like a jerk. Since as you say..you only have a small window of opportunity to work in. Make yourself look as if you know what you are doing. Use an established KJ, for now. Pay them to build the karaoke crowd.
You will need a lot more time and money to get a computer system up and working.
One big problem will be mixing the sound. Live singers with recorded music.
I am going to assume your band PA is a quality system.
Best Buy doesn't sell "Karaoke loaded" hard drives. Where are you going to get all of the karaoke music?
Most of us buy the discs and transfer them to computers. There are some companies that sell music on drives but the question of legality comes into play. If you listsen to all of the karaoke music companies, any type of a format shift is illegal.
Making CDs for customers is also a legal issue unless you have permission for each song used....
You will also need a "Hosting" program to run the karaoke on computer.
To hook up the bar TVs...You need a computer that has video out. Or you will need to get a video signal converter. Then you need an RF Modulator. Then you need an RF amplifier. Then you hook up your coax cable to the TVs. The TVs need to be set on Channel 3, 99% of the time.
What about song books and request slips?
Downloading from the "net" could get you into legal trouble too.
I don't know if the downloaded tracks will be named....if not you will need a naming program and a data base to extract the names from.
You are very far away from running a successful karaoke show. Let someone else wear the KJ hat for now. Trust me...You will make more money by subbing that job out. An unsuccessful karaoke night will chase away business. Ruin your reputation. In 14 years of KJing, I have seen many bar owners that didn't make good business decisions.
One more major issue with your computer.
The video card needs to be able to display "extended desk top." (Or 2 monitors.) One is for you to use the host program and one is for the customer TV. Check the display settings and see if it has that capability, if not you need a different video card or another computer with the extended desk top capability.
It's not a race to see how cheap you can be at doing karaoke. It's how good you can be, that keeps the customers coming back.
Find yourself a good computer geek and an experienced KJ, to get you set up with everything you need.
I am changing over to use laptops instead of discs. My total so far, is over $6,000. This includes 2 new laptops (not cheap ones), one for back up. 4 external Hard drives 2 for back up. A back up video converter. A drive to play other peoples discs. A custom rack box - over $550. A Computer geeks many hours of time. Programs and assorted computer related hardware, etc. It has taken many months to accomplish this task. The computers are almost ready, but the music conversion is taking more time than anticipated. This has been a major project. There has been many hours of research involved. Not to mention hundreds of hours doing the music conversion.
The video card needs to be able to display "extended desk top." (Or 2 monitors.) One is for you to use the host program and one is for the customer TV. Check the display settings and see if it has that capability, if not you need a different video card or another computer with the extended desk top capability.
It's not a race to see how cheap you can be at doing karaoke. It's how good you can be, that keeps the customers coming back.
Find yourself a good computer geek and an experienced KJ, to get you set up with everything you need.
I am changing over to use laptops instead of discs. My total so far, is over $6,000. This includes 2 new laptops (not cheap ones), one for back up. 4 external Hard drives 2 for back up. A back up video converter. A drive to play other peoples discs. A custom rack box - over $550. A Computer geeks many hours of time. Programs and assorted computer related hardware, etc. It has taken many months to accomplish this task. The computers are almost ready, but the music conversion is taking more time than anticipated. This has been a major project. There has been many hours of research involved. Not to mention hundreds of hours doing the music conversion.
Diane:
Glad you hired the KJ. Now you can learn by watching the KJ. Take your time. The most important thing in learning the KJ craft is careful planning.
You might also want to look at the CAVS JB-199 Premier. It is a personal computer with custom degined hardware for karaoke. They make loading your legally purchased CD-Gs very easy to do.
Check www.cavsusa.com
Also look into KJ Pro and Music Book Deluxe(my preference) software for creating your listings from commercial databases and printing your song books and request slips.
Glad you hired the KJ. Now you can learn by watching the KJ. Take your time. The most important thing in learning the KJ craft is careful planning.
You might also want to look at the CAVS JB-199 Premier. It is a personal computer with custom degined hardware for karaoke. They make loading your legally purchased CD-Gs very easy to do.
Check www.cavsusa.com
Also look into KJ Pro and Music Book Deluxe(my preference) software for creating your listings from commercial databases and printing your song books and request slips.
Why does she need to purchase another computer when she already has one that will do the job?smoky wrote:Diane:
Glad you hired the KJ. Now you can learn by watching the KJ. Take your time. The most important thing in learning the KJ craft is careful planning.
You might also want to look at the CAVS JB-199 Premier. It is a personal computer with custom degined hardware for karaoke. They make loading your legally purchased CD-Gs very easy to do.
Check www.cavsusa.com
Also look into KJ Pro and Music Book Deluxe(my preference) software for creating your listings from commercial databases and printing your song books and request slips.
I'd go with her laptop and an external drive for the songs.
KJRIPNZIP is a very easy program to use and you can get it as part of a package from www.kjamp.com for $5. They make a hosting package that is pretty good also. I actually suggest getting your ripper from KJAMP and getting winamp and the AutoKDJ plugin as it is as automated as you want it to be. It will handle the rotation for you where all you have to do is enter the songs. If you have a second computer networked into your hosting computer you can even have your singers enter their own songs into the system and have more time to chit chatting and coaxing the shy singer into singing. www.autokdj.com is where you can get the plugin which includes the MP3+G plugin, the Pacemaker key control plugin and the AutoKDJ plugin.
She doesn't "need" to purchase another computer.Why does she need to purchase another computer when she already has one that will do the job?
She might want to however.
I have two laptops and two desktops, and after I saw what the CAVS could do I did not hesitate to upgrade. It is hard to explain what the advantages are, which is why I referred her to the CAVS website. Even better would be to go to watch a show where the CAVS is in use under the guidance of a professional KJ host.
There is no question the CAVS is a much more expensive way to go. But it gives you a worthwhile return on your investment.[/quote]
[/quote]smoky wrote:She doesn't "need" to purchase another computer.Why does she need to purchase another computer when she already has one that will do the job?
She might want to however.
I have two laptops and two desktops, and after I saw what the CAVS could do I did not hesitate to upgrade. It is hard to explain what the advantages are, which is why I referred her to the CAVS website. Even better would be to go to watch a show where the CAVS is in use under the guidance of a professional KJ host.
There is no question the CAVS is a much more expensive way to go. But it gives you a worthwhile return on your investment.
The only place I have seen one in action did not impress me at all as you needed an outside player for the discs that weren't imported and the quality karaoke tracks flitttered on the tv screen. Add to that five song into the noght the thing crashed and they went back to the disc based system they converted from. Have yet to see a show where a regular computer crashed during the show and my buddy has been running a computer since 2005.
The graphics on his and my system are flawless (like playing for the first time on a clean cdg player).
Well, I am sorry you have not attended a CAVS show where the host knew what he was doing.
Just like the laptop, the CAVS has a learning curve and involves more than just shoving a CD+G into a slot. Most CAV crashes occur when they run across a corrupt file, or when the host has made incorrect settings. A professional KJ will check and test any new files that have been burned before presenting them in a show. I have had only one crash so far and that was when I missed a corrupt file. The nice thing about the CAVS is that it only crashes to the desk top, and a double click and you are back in the show.
As for playing CD+Gs, the CAVS is just like the laptop and can have its own CD+G slot. I go further than that though and also have an RSQ player for backup.
But I am not knocking laptops, they do a fine job. I think they might be a tad more work than the CAVS, though because unlike the CAVS, the laptop design is not focused on karaoke, but can do many other things as well. The CAVS is a PC, but it is set up to focus on karaoke and DJing,
qall the hadware and controls are aimed at karaoke, and you have to jump through a few hoops to do other pc things.
Managed correctly, though, my own experieince is that CAVS can provide the most professional karaoke show possible. Of course that is ignoring the most important part of the package which is the host him/herself. Nothing beats a top notch host.
Just like the laptop, the CAVS has a learning curve and involves more than just shoving a CD+G into a slot. Most CAV crashes occur when they run across a corrupt file, or when the host has made incorrect settings. A professional KJ will check and test any new files that have been burned before presenting them in a show. I have had only one crash so far and that was when I missed a corrupt file. The nice thing about the CAVS is that it only crashes to the desk top, and a double click and you are back in the show.
As for playing CD+Gs, the CAVS is just like the laptop and can have its own CD+G slot. I go further than that though and also have an RSQ player for backup.
But I am not knocking laptops, they do a fine job. I think they might be a tad more work than the CAVS, though because unlike the CAVS, the laptop design is not focused on karaoke, but can do many other things as well. The CAVS is a PC, but it is set up to focus on karaoke and DJing,
qall the hadware and controls are aimed at karaoke, and you have to jump through a few hoops to do other pc things.
Managed correctly, though, my own experieince is that CAVS can provide the most professional karaoke show possible. Of course that is ignoring the most important part of the package which is the host him/herself. Nothing beats a top notch host.
