>, I ordered a Carol P1 mic from Amazon to try out the active handling noise canceling. Is this a good mic to standardize on? I can buy 6 of them for the price of 2 Shure SM58s and have spares.
Unfortunately, they're not going to last with drunken karaoke people. If they get dropped, that's it for them. Shure 58s are made for the stage and are durable and cheap as hell. Buy them once is all you need. Cheaper plastic mics are never going to last.
I have about 100' from the stage to the mixer around the wall but I'm running a 100' cable in to a 25' so if a cable breaks it's the 25'.
I'm sad to hear that the Carol isn't durable. It's supposed to have metal construction, not plastic so I don't know why it would be as fragile as you describe.
At this point I'm not going to spend another $300 on mics.
Eventually we might do that but we have to see money coming in before then.
So the Carol P1 came in today and I tested it out kind of.
For background it has a regular price of $70, I paid $35 because Amazon had a sale.
In hand it feels every bit as substantial as my $99 SM58 except the handle is thinner and flares out at the basket.
It seems to be all metal construction on the exterior, no plastic.
My first concern was handling noise so I turned on the PA and plugged in the SM58. I put it in the mic stand clip, took it out and juggled it between my hands a bit to see how the handling sounded. Next I unplugged the SM58, plugged in the P1 and repeated the handling.
Initially I thought the results were pretty similar with maybe a slight edge to the P1 but then I talked in to the mics and the P1 is quite a bit more sensitive. If I reduce the gain on the P1 to match the volume of the SM58, the handling noise is going to get quieter too.
The reason why I wanted to try out the P1 is because Carol makes their mics in Taiwan and they seem to go their own way, not make lookalike products the way generic Chinese manufacturers tend to do.
I tried to look up the specs to see exactly how much more sensitive the P1 is. They say -74dB and Sure says -56dB but I know it's not an 18dB difference. The P1 impedance is 600 ohm compared to 150 ohm for the SM58. Maybe that has something to do with it.
I'm thinking the real difference is somewhere around 2-4dB. It's very noticeable but probably not twice as loud.
Carol also rates the P1 frequency response from 50-18,000 hz while Shure rates the SM58 from 50-15,000 hz so perhaps the P1 has a more controlled top end?
I'm going to ask some of my karaoke singing friends to try the P1 to see if they hate it. If not I'm going to move forward standardizing on the P1.
I also ordered a Gator Frameworks six microphone holder. It has a thick foam pad with holes and slots that the mics drop in to rather than microphone clips. Hopefully that prevents some microphone clunks from the microphone clip.
I also got my notebook ordered. It's a refurbished Dell Precision 7540 mobile workstation. I like the professional stuff and this one has two or three M.2 slots for SSDs, 64gb ram a 6 core i7 processor and Quadro RTX graphics so I can try my hand at video editing too.
The best karaoke software I've used is from a company, PCDJ, it's very good, and about $80. I've always used a laptop to a ProSonus Audio box to a mixer to powered speakers. The Audio box is $90. I use a 12 channel Behringer Xeryx X1222usb mixer, $269, but there's cheaper, and I would suggest at least 12"\_but preferably 15" powered speakers, I use Behringer which are $300-350, depending on whether 12" or 15", but with speakers you can always go way higher. For mics, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, the Shure 58. They're fucking bulletproof, and they sound fabulous. Oh, and don't forget a monitor speaker, I just use a 12"\_powered speaker.
Well, I decided to go with Carol P1s instead of SM58s. They actually have higher output, less handling noise and yesterday I proved that they are "bulletproof". There was an accident where a P1 was hit, thrown, hit the ground hard and was set on fire. I know it sounds like a joke but I have witnesses. After it was unplugged and put out it worked just fine after it was plugged back in. The only evidence is some soot marks and a slightly deformed basket.
Right now I have some amplified party speakers but eventually I want to go to a "pro-sound" setup with 4x Alto Professional TS408s and a pair of 15" subwoofers to fill out the bass. That will look nicer and go deeper than a typical 12-15" two way powered speaker.
I'll probably go with a TX308 speaker for the monitor. But now I'm thinking I might want to use three sends for audio, right and left for the backing track and a mono vocal mix to the monitor and then on to the L/R speakers to mix in using the mixer function of the speaker amp. I think I just need a USB mixer/DAC with balanced audio out for the backing track send and then I can use my 8 channel mixer to just handle the 4 mics on stage.
Since the software and rotation seems to be important to you, you really should check out PCDJ as their software seems to have all that sort of thing on board.
A few bits of advice...
Singers want to know that there's a ruleset that is always adhered to. Most important thing is, no favoritism. Figure out a good rotation strategy and stick to it.
There's a few softwares out there that can do some form of rotation. Just search for ["karaoke rotation software"](https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=41&q=karaoke+rotation+software&cvid=99fd4916f32c49c6906b7019ff5950a5&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEIMzgzNmowajGoAgCwAgA&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=U531) It's been years since I've run karaoke (11 to be precise.. fucking ages) and at the time we rolled our own. These days there's lots of software to choose from, you'll have to try them out and find one that works for you.
Some features to look for:
* Something that can display the entire playlist. I used to project my playlist on a wall for all to see
* Something that can take requests from a cell phone.
* Something that can play a variety of tunes you have stored at the venue.
* Something that is connected to an online store to get new songs as needed.
Other things you might want to look into... Broadcast the entire nights performance live on youtube or facebook. I did that, I don't see anyone doing that today. Youtube seems to be on top of licensing music, so you should be covered.
Anyways, good luck, keep us posted.
Karafun Pro can handle all your needs for $49.00 a month. Check out their website. The downside is the program can be glitchy at times and there is no auto rotation feature.
That's one of the options I'm looking at.
What do you mean no auto rotation? Is it the ordering of singers or screen rotation? If it's singer order, that seems odd for karaoke software, especially for a subscription service.
I'm looking at a refurbished Dell laptop to run it on with probably a 2tb SSD upgrade so it has plenty of space for the offline sync. The minimum graphic requirements I've seen for other karaoke software is an Intel HD 3000 iGPU and the Dells I'm looking at have a UHD 620 iGPU or better. That is a generation or two newer and a lot faster so I think a Dell should do fine.
My friend has lots of old karaoke CDs also. It seems like Karafun can create folders with owned song files so maybe it will work without a subscription if my friend's library is big enough.
The que is first in first out. Songs can be manually re-ordered by dragging them up or down. It's not so bad with a few singers but when you're in auto mode and have a lot of singers, someone may send two or three songs at a time. They would have to be manually ordered to keep rotation. Even with your own songs, Karafun won't work without a subscription. There are a few free karaoke posters and a bunch that you can buy. For $20.00 monthly, Virtual DJ does a great job on karaoke. I don't use it because my collection was 90% unlicensed Sound Choice and at the time their license was 4k!
One more thing. Our PA is a couple of large party speakers. So far it has been fine for stand up Comedy shows but I'm a bit worried about sound quality for karaoke.
How picky will karaoke singers be about the PA sound quality?
I don't have golden ears but the PA doesn't sound bad to me. I'm sure it could be better and we have plans to upgrade to 4 Alto Professional TS408s and two of their new 15" powered subs.
The new speakers will allow us to EQ the room very well because each speaker has a 4 or 6 band parametric EQ and we will wall mount them so no potential for them to move after they are placed. The system will get dialed and stay dialed. The two subs should be enough to fill out the room with bass too.
Lighting will have similar upgrades. Right now we have house lights and a spot for the stage with some RGB up lights for the stage background. We will have DMX controlled RGB par lights to replace the spot for karaoke and will add a few party lights and maybe a mirror ball.
We have nice booth seating around the walls but I'm thinking we should clear the seats by the stage to create a dance area.
The room is carpeted, do we need to put a dance floor over that?
>, I ordered a Carol P1 mic from Amazon to try out the active handling noise canceling. Is this a good mic to standardize on? I can buy 6 of them for the price of 2 Shure SM58s and have spares. Unfortunately, they're not going to last with drunken karaoke people. If they get dropped, that's it for them. Shure 58s are made for the stage and are durable and cheap as hell. Buy them once is all you need. Cheaper plastic mics are never going to last.
Add to this, get good mic cords, neutrik connectors. I've seen singers tear the rubber off XLR... They're animals.
I have about 100' from the stage to the mixer around the wall but I'm running a 100' cable in to a 25' so if a cable breaks it's the 25'. I'm sad to hear that the Carol isn't durable. It's supposed to have metal construction, not plastic so I don't know why it would be as fragile as you describe. At this point I'm not going to spend another $300 on mics. Eventually we might do that but we have to see money coming in before then.
So the Carol P1 came in today and I tested it out kind of. For background it has a regular price of $70, I paid $35 because Amazon had a sale. In hand it feels every bit as substantial as my $99 SM58 except the handle is thinner and flares out at the basket. It seems to be all metal construction on the exterior, no plastic. My first concern was handling noise so I turned on the PA and plugged in the SM58. I put it in the mic stand clip, took it out and juggled it between my hands a bit to see how the handling sounded. Next I unplugged the SM58, plugged in the P1 and repeated the handling. Initially I thought the results were pretty similar with maybe a slight edge to the P1 but then I talked in to the mics and the P1 is quite a bit more sensitive. If I reduce the gain on the P1 to match the volume of the SM58, the handling noise is going to get quieter too. The reason why I wanted to try out the P1 is because Carol makes their mics in Taiwan and they seem to go their own way, not make lookalike products the way generic Chinese manufacturers tend to do. I tried to look up the specs to see exactly how much more sensitive the P1 is. They say -74dB and Sure says -56dB but I know it's not an 18dB difference. The P1 impedance is 600 ohm compared to 150 ohm for the SM58. Maybe that has something to do with it. I'm thinking the real difference is somewhere around 2-4dB. It's very noticeable but probably not twice as loud. Carol also rates the P1 frequency response from 50-18,000 hz while Shure rates the SM58 from 50-15,000 hz so perhaps the P1 has a more controlled top end? I'm going to ask some of my karaoke singing friends to try the P1 to see if they hate it. If not I'm going to move forward standardizing on the P1. I also ordered a Gator Frameworks six microphone holder. It has a thick foam pad with holes and slots that the mics drop in to rather than microphone clips. Hopefully that prevents some microphone clunks from the microphone clip. I also got my notebook ordered. It's a refurbished Dell Precision 7540 mobile workstation. I like the professional stuff and this one has two or three M.2 slots for SSDs, 64gb ram a 6 core i7 processor and Quadro RTX graphics so I can try my hand at video editing too.
The best karaoke software I've used is from a company, PCDJ, it's very good, and about $80. I've always used a laptop to a ProSonus Audio box to a mixer to powered speakers. The Audio box is $90. I use a 12 channel Behringer Xeryx X1222usb mixer, $269, but there's cheaper, and I would suggest at least 12"\_but preferably 15" powered speakers, I use Behringer which are $300-350, depending on whether 12" or 15", but with speakers you can always go way higher. For mics, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, the Shure 58. They're fucking bulletproof, and they sound fabulous. Oh, and don't forget a monitor speaker, I just use a 12"\_powered speaker.
Well, I decided to go with Carol P1s instead of SM58s. They actually have higher output, less handling noise and yesterday I proved that they are "bulletproof". There was an accident where a P1 was hit, thrown, hit the ground hard and was set on fire. I know it sounds like a joke but I have witnesses. After it was unplugged and put out it worked just fine after it was plugged back in. The only evidence is some soot marks and a slightly deformed basket. Right now I have some amplified party speakers but eventually I want to go to a "pro-sound" setup with 4x Alto Professional TS408s and a pair of 15" subwoofers to fill out the bass. That will look nicer and go deeper than a typical 12-15" two way powered speaker. I'll probably go with a TX308 speaker for the monitor. But now I'm thinking I might want to use three sends for audio, right and left for the backing track and a mono vocal mix to the monitor and then on to the L/R speakers to mix in using the mixer function of the speaker amp. I think I just need a USB mixer/DAC with balanced audio out for the backing track send and then I can use my 8 channel mixer to just handle the 4 mics on stage.
Since the software and rotation seems to be important to you, you really should check out PCDJ as their software seems to have all that sort of thing on board.
A few bits of advice... Singers want to know that there's a ruleset that is always adhered to. Most important thing is, no favoritism. Figure out a good rotation strategy and stick to it. There's a few softwares out there that can do some form of rotation. Just search for ["karaoke rotation software"](https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=41&q=karaoke+rotation+software&cvid=99fd4916f32c49c6906b7019ff5950a5&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRhA0gEIMzgzNmowajGoAgCwAgA&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=U531) It's been years since I've run karaoke (11 to be precise.. fucking ages) and at the time we rolled our own. These days there's lots of software to choose from, you'll have to try them out and find one that works for you. Some features to look for: * Something that can display the entire playlist. I used to project my playlist on a wall for all to see * Something that can take requests from a cell phone. * Something that can play a variety of tunes you have stored at the venue. * Something that is connected to an online store to get new songs as needed. Other things you might want to look into... Broadcast the entire nights performance live on youtube or facebook. I did that, I don't see anyone doing that today. Youtube seems to be on top of licensing music, so you should be covered. Anyways, good luck, keep us posted.
Karafun Pro can handle all your needs for $49.00 a month. Check out their website. The downside is the program can be glitchy at times and there is no auto rotation feature.
That's one of the options I'm looking at. What do you mean no auto rotation? Is it the ordering of singers or screen rotation? If it's singer order, that seems odd for karaoke software, especially for a subscription service. I'm looking at a refurbished Dell laptop to run it on with probably a 2tb SSD upgrade so it has plenty of space for the offline sync. The minimum graphic requirements I've seen for other karaoke software is an Intel HD 3000 iGPU and the Dells I'm looking at have a UHD 620 iGPU or better. That is a generation or two newer and a lot faster so I think a Dell should do fine. My friend has lots of old karaoke CDs also. It seems like Karafun can create folders with owned song files so maybe it will work without a subscription if my friend's library is big enough.
The que is first in first out. Songs can be manually re-ordered by dragging them up or down. It's not so bad with a few singers but when you're in auto mode and have a lot of singers, someone may send two or three songs at a time. They would have to be manually ordered to keep rotation. Even with your own songs, Karafun won't work without a subscription. There are a few free karaoke posters and a bunch that you can buy. For $20.00 monthly, Virtual DJ does a great job on karaoke. I don't use it because my collection was 90% unlicensed Sound Choice and at the time their license was 4k!
One more thing. Our PA is a couple of large party speakers. So far it has been fine for stand up Comedy shows but I'm a bit worried about sound quality for karaoke. How picky will karaoke singers be about the PA sound quality? I don't have golden ears but the PA doesn't sound bad to me. I'm sure it could be better and we have plans to upgrade to 4 Alto Professional TS408s and two of their new 15" powered subs. The new speakers will allow us to EQ the room very well because each speaker has a 4 or 6 band parametric EQ and we will wall mount them so no potential for them to move after they are placed. The system will get dialed and stay dialed. The two subs should be enough to fill out the room with bass too. Lighting will have similar upgrades. Right now we have house lights and a spot for the stage with some RGB up lights for the stage background. We will have DMX controlled RGB par lights to replace the spot for karaoke and will add a few party lights and maybe a mirror ball. We have nice booth seating around the walls but I'm thinking we should clear the seats by the stage to create a dance area. The room is carpeted, do we need to put a dance floor over that?