Karaoke Tracks

Akai96 · Post by **Akai96** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:06 pm

Does anyone know where I could find a job programming karaoke tracks?

Akai96 · Post by **Akai96** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:15 am

Anyone please?

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:56 am

Akai96 wrote:Anyone please?

OK. I'll answer this... I started to but wanted to see if anyone else had an idea.

To the best of my knowledge, finding work by posting on an internet site is sort of like trying to fish without hooks or bait, and basically, we ALL have our lines in the water.

There are a few ways to find work that are effective. First and foremost, you have to network. Get to know the people in the industry. Go to events they attend, do other kinds of work for them, etc.

Get a book or two on how to break into your chosen field.

References (which is essentially what you are asking for here) are ONLY given by people who actually know you - and have usually worked with you. You are asking essentially for a referral, but you remain anonymous on the message board.

A while back, I mentioned online that members who use their REAL names have more "credibility" than the "anon" ones. This is another reason WHY.

If someone said to me "I need a great guitarist" I would have no problem referring them to James. He is real. He has a website, and we know who he is.

Need an informed sales rep to set up a high end studio? Brad's your man. I'd send you to him in a flash. I know who he is and where to find him.

But the online community here knows NOTHING about you or your work, so why would you expect a referral?

Please accept this in the spirit it is given. This is truly to help you alter your direction in finding work. Start in your local area. If that is not producing the kind of music you want to write (arrange) then MOVE! You HAVE TO be where the work is and the work is NOT on the internet.

I sincerely hope that helps.

Akai96 · Post by **Akai96** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:23 am

Thanks for the response,but I was not exactly looking for a referral...
But now I relook at my first posting it comes off like that.sorry

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:33 am

Akai96 wrote:Thanks for the response,but I was not exactly looking for a referral...
But now I relook at my first posting it comes off like that.sorry

Then perhaps my response was misdirected as well. Can you rephrase it so that, maybe, one if us might be able to help?

Akai96 · Post by **Akai96** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:44 am

Ok,please forgive me,I was just wandering if there are any companies out
there that does karaoke programming(not on this site.)kinda like stopping at a gas station to ask where a walgreens is.Not asking for a referral.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:49 am

Akai96 wrote:Ok,please forgive me,I was just wandering if there are any companies out
there that does karaoke programming(not on this site.)kinda like stopping at a gas station to ask where a walgreens is.Not asking for a referral.

OK. That is different.

Probably the best you can do is Google a few phrases like "buy karaoke here" "karaoke for sale" etc. and see what you get.

But why not do it yourself? If you know what tunes are needed, go ahead an program them and offer them for sale on your website. At any rate, you could send a few samples to the guys you will hopefully find from the Google search. I would guess you'd get about 3-4million hits!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bu ... gle+Search

Akai96 · Post by **Akai96** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:09 am

Thanks for the reply,that posting on my own web sites probly an even better idea.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:12 am

Akai96 wrote:Thanks for the reply,that posting on my own web sites probly an even better idea.

Whatever pays the rent!

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:56 am

If you do go for it, be aware that karaoke is a lot different than simply covering a tune or doing a "music minus one" approach.

Typically, the assumption is that the "singers" have poor pitch memory and need all the help they can get. So there generally are several "guide vocal" lines on various instruments, which either ghost the lead vocal line or support it harmonically in rhythmic unison.

Also, most of the extra stuff is deleted, with the most emphasis on the rhythm instruments (drums, bass, rhythm guitar). The other stuff may not be very accurate either due to laziness or maybe in order not to confuse the "singer".

If you download some MIDI files from the web, most of them were intended for karaoke use vs. as live backing tracks. Most of them will exhibit the qualities mentioned above.

In more recent years, another approach has been taken by some higher-end karaoke companies. In some cases they use special filters to extract and remove the original vocals from the original recordings (and of course they must pay royalties), with of course the caveat that there will be some artefacts when taking this approach.

Another variant of this approach is to use a cover band that has versatile top-notch musicians, and simply record the songs as audio vs. as MIDI. There is probably a bit more up-front cost to this approach, but it should take less time, and this may go a long way to explaining why the local karaoke companies in the SF Bay Area that take either of these two approaches have far more extensive and versatile catalogues than the ones that depend on MIDI files and special karaoke MIDI playback systems.

Given the above information, you may want to start by contacting local karaoke entertainment providers in your area (these would be people who get hired out for corporate parties, etc., vs. clubs that have fixed karaoke installations, and may or may not include video as part of their package). See if they need help and/or if they contract out some of the work. If not, they may know someone else who does need help. And they might specifically have some holes when it comes to certain genres, where you may have unique skills that help them to diversify further.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:58 am

mhschmieder wrote:If you do go for it, be aware that karaoke is a lot different than simply covering a tune or doing a "music minus one" approach.

Don't you just run it thru the Karaoke plug-in? I'd just patch it thru my 12 ch Mackie board and hit the karaoke switch.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:15 am

Akai96 wrote:Does anyone know where I could find a job programming karaoke tracks?

Just dawned on me that you might contact the 3 primary commercial MIDI file providers...

trantracks.com
MIDI-hits.com
trycho.com

When I'm doing contest tracks, sometimes, to save time, I'll use their files as a starting point.

These are technically not karaoke tracks, but it's the same principle. Copying existing recorded material into the MIDI format.

BTW and a little OT, I've always found (not being a guitarist) that once the GM tracks are re-routed through my gear, it's always best to add a live guitar for the sequenced guitar parts. Sequenced guitar ranks right down there with sequenced alto sax solos, or for that matter, almost any solo lead instrument. (IMHO)

Buzz

chunkdz · Post by **chunkdz** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:49 am

buzzsmith wrote:

When I'm doing contest tracks,...

What's a "contest track"?

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:55 am

chunkdz wrote:What's a "contest track"?

I do some work for TV stations that do a syndicated "kinder, gentler" American Idol genre singing competition.

They don't have budgets for live bands, so I do the bg (contest) tracks for the singers to perform to.

Buzz

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 3:40 pm

I meant to post this earlier but haven't had time for the forum in almost two weeks.

I didn't realise this before, but there is a special karaoke file type, different from MIDI. I think it is set up to allow more programmability of which tracks play, at what speed and in what key (especially).

I found some info on this file format at one of the commercial sites, but didn't look into it further to see what tools are needed in order to create files in this format. I forget the exact file extension but it's a fairly obvious one like ".karaoke" or some other dead giveaway.

MOTUnation.com

Karaoke Tracks

Karaoke Tracks

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