(almost none of this stuff is necessary) photo by…
Running a karaoke night is cheap and easy. Here’s all you need:
- Laptop
- Songs
- Karaoke Software
- Songbooks
- Microphones and a PA
- Old computer monitor
5 & 6 barely count. You can get clunky 17″ monitors for free on craigslist or freecycle. Most venues have a PA w/ mics. Got friends who play in a band? They can help scrounge something together.
So that leaves us with a laptop, songs, karaoke software, and songbooks. I made simple guides to cover each step. Spend a little time now, and next week you’ll have a working karaoke setup.
If anything seems confusing, just find a computery friend to help. They’ll know how to do all of this stuff.
- What you need for a karaoke laptop
- How to download Karaoke songs
- The best free karaoke software for Mac, Windows, and Linux
- How to make karaoke songbooks
Next up… tips on running a karaoke night!
Published on
January 1, 2009 in
GETTING STARTED!, Karaoke Setup and Karaoke Software.
Tags: ableton live, abletonkj, Karaoke Software, kj, kj as vj, live, mashup, vj, vocal effects.
Coming soon… oh god, it’s so good.
For the past couple years I’ve been somewhat obsessed with karaoke.
The problem is, part of me gets bored with it really quickly (beers, bars, kids, songs) and I want to fuck everything up a bit and take it to the next level. One thing leads to another, and we get progressions like…
Karaoke mashups…
Sing like glue for contest, win contest, learn like glue like really, really well and combine with other buy out riddim songs (like red red wine or two princes / nuttin no go so) into a sort of mainstream buy out medley. Start learning other dancehall verses for karaoke mashup purposes (like soul survivor / gun session or cham’s ghetto story over what happened to that boy or stupid stuff like Stay Fly over Ghostbusters). Then I worked out a super fun solo performance and was on the verge of going on tour with it.
Ableton Live – driven karaoke dance party…
Started with karaoke night in a fun bar. Songs like We’re in Heaven spur short, violent dance parties but there’s no way to cue or mix songs. So, I convert a bunch of CDG’s into videos and make a megamix in Ableton Live. Then you can do a fun DJ set that is built around people in the crowd singing, and maybe even rock Autotune.
KaraokeCrime will be an umbrella for exploring these threads and others, with videos and howtos. Hopefully I’ll be able to involve some other karaoke explorers, and it’ll never stop. Uau!
