Karaoke at QZ anyone?

[Smoky]

Yeah I know, don't laugh.  Lot's of folk hate karaoke.

But the Admiral and I love to sing, we have been in broadway player groups, chorales, choirs etc and are thinking of bringing along our "RSQ" karaoke setup.  If anyone else out there enjoys this kind of singing, bring your karaoke CDs and we will find a spot on the desert to drive away the coyotes. 

 

[Karl]

Smoky,

we will find a spot on the desert to drive away the coyotes.

...and interlopers er, antelopes! Bring it. If we don't like your voice, someone can always pull your plug out of the post ;D

 

[Ned]

I like the coyote songs.  Especially when they're eating stray animals

 

[Tom]

Which format does your player take Smoky? CDG or VCD or both?

 

[Smoky]

Tom:  Both!

Ned:  We will try to learn a coyote song between now and then!

Karl:  If the antelopes don't like it I am sure there are other Rvforum.neters  with better voices who will step up to the karaoke bar! 

 

[Smoky]

Just an update... We have about 350 songs in our database.  We made up a couple listings, one by artist, one by song name, so that any singers among you can look up your favorites among what we have.  But better yet bring your own if you have them.  If there is interest, one evening we can hook up our system to the TV in our sliding bay, and have an outdoor songfest. 

You don't have to be a good singer.  In karaoke it is the "spirit" that counts.  In fact, often the worse the singing gets, the more fun it is.  We have a two mike setup, so duets are certainly feasible.  We have some nice duet arrangements on CDG as well.

Tom, I may have answered your question incorrectly.  I don't know if it will do VCD.  It will do CDG and the new DVDG (not sure what they call that DVD format with the motion pictures).  I have not purchased any DVDG yet, as the selection is still pretty limited.

Sharon and I are using the karaoke hardware to rehearse for a Broadway revue show scheduled in our RV park in March.  We will be traveling back to Phoenix each Tuesday of the rally for rehearsals at the park but returning in the evening.

If there is no interest in karaoke, no problem.  We will just lock ourselves occasionally inside the coach and rehearse on our own without bothering anyone. 

 

[Tom]

You don't have to be a good singer. In karaoke it is the "spirit" that counts.

Isn't that a fact.

I don't know if it will do VCD.

I'd have brought my system if I'd realized Smoky. But that's OK, the bouncy ball is fine, just won't be able to play any of my VCDs. Not sure how the CG accoustics will be though.

 

[Smoky]

Oh Tom I am sooo sorry I misinformed you about the VCD.  Well maybe.  I won't have time to dig out the manual until I get there.  I bought a dedicated karaoke component, not an all in one box, after we got more serious about karaoke, and it is supposed to do a lot.  Has two mike inputs, changes key digitally, has bookmarking, echo, and a lot of other neat tricks.  It only has one CD tray though, and now I wish I had bought the one that had three trays.  We did not think we would be hosting Karaoke, so we figured the single tray would suffice.  But now we are having so much fun we are beginning to do a little hosting.  So now we regret the single tray.

Next purchase will be three wireless mikes (two standard, and one headset mike for hosting).  If I had known for sure there was any interest I would have picked that up this week.  So will have to use the two wired mikes.  They put out a nice rich sound.  If we do it outdoors I can add a small aux speaker system to augment the outdoor TV.  The indoor theater sound is really great though.  <g>

Let's hope your VCDs will work.  I assume you use them on a standard karaoke hardware, not just on a PC.  I know VCDs work great on PCs.

Another project I want to do and am looking for help with, is to convert my CDGs to a format that will play on the PC.  that way I could set up playlists and have the PC direct all the music.  I am hoping someone at QZ can show me how to rip CDGs.  No illegal intent on my part.  I buy all my CDGs legit.  I just want more power in archiving them and playing them.

We are looking forward to an evening of campfire karaoke, if others are interested. 

 

[cochisewingers]

Kampfire Karaoke sounds like fun...

 

[Tom]

Don't worry about it Smoky. Karaoake works with or without the video playing in the background.

My system is a little old, but it has 3 trays. In practice, it sometimes feels like that's not enough. But the system is a little bulky, so we don't normally keep it on the coach, although it's almost always on the boat. We picked up a neat karaoake system at Costco before Christmas - just one wired mic, one wireless mic and no box to worry about. All the songs are on chips inside the wired mic as are all the bells and whistles. Everything is controlled via a keypad on the mic. It holds over 1,700 songs and they can be selected/queue'd from either mic. Only problem was the poor quality of songs and the inability to buy exactly which ones you want. We used it for a Christmas party, then returned it.

BTW I brought my wireless mic along, figuring we could plug it into your system if you didn't have one.

 

[Karl]

Smoky/Tom

I have a spare surround sound system that we can set up outdoors. ;D

 

[Tom]

LOL Karl, that would be a big surround sound  ;D

BTW true karaoke systems filter out &/or attenuate the mid range - otherwise average Joe will blast out the mid range speakers. Some systems don't even have mid range speakers.

 

[Karl]

Tom,

Didn't mean to imply we'd cover the whole LTVA in surround; just a small portion of it!

BTW: last count was 34 rigs already here! Some turnout, eh what? Helaine is taking names and k-----g a--, so you all had better get here soon, or find yourself parked in a wash ;D ;D ;D

 

[Tom]

LOL Karl. We decided to stop at Lake Havasu for a few days with the Reiters. We'll be in QZ Saturday morning.

 

[Smoky]

Tom, a wireless mike would be terrific.  I almost got a pair yesterday as I had to go back to Phoenix in the car.  Left here at 3 am to do some other errands.  Then I was ready to return at 6 am and realized the karaoke store would not open for 4 more hours.  LOL!

Surround sound would be nice also Karl.  Maybe the three of us can get together Saturday or Sunday for a few minutes and see what we have got to work with.  We'd be glad to use our coach and area for power and seating, but there might be other alternatives as well.  I think the sound of singing in the desert would be delightful.  Last time I heard singing in the desert was from that film Vanishing Point, where the runaway car driver passed through the desert and ran into a group of gospel singers miles from nowhere.  It is an AWESOME thing to hear music in the desert. 

 

[Tom]

Hey Smoky, I was reminded this evening that Ned used to sing Barbershop. I also sang BB for a short while. I'm base, but don't know about Ned. Can you sing BB and maybe we could find one other to make a quartet? I think I have some BB scores in my music bag if someone doesn't know/remember the tune or the lyrics.

 

[Ned]

The operative words are "used too".  That was 40 years ago and I sang baritone, you know, the notes that no one else could sing   Today, I'm lucky to do a lead or tenor, and only after some (a lot?) liquid encouragement.

 

[Tom]

Ned, if you can sing Bari, we'll provide all the liquid nourishment/encouragement necessary  ;D

 

[Smoky]

I am like Ned and last sang barbershop decades ago.  My range is baritone to tenor.  I believe I sang the high tenor (not lead) most of the time.  I do not have perfect pitch but can read music,  I would need a keyboard to play my part a couple times so I can hear it and get the pitch, but then I am good to go.  Any small keyboard would do.  or maybe even one of those simulated ones on the pc.  A day or so fooling with my part (high tenor) and I might make a go at it.  Like Ned, no guarantees here, but sounds like fun.  I do LOVE barbershop and wish I cold find a club to join.

 

[Tom]

I would need a keyboard to play my part a couple time

I amost threw my keyboard in at the last minute, but didn't. I can't play, but bought it a few years ago to teach myself how to read music. I've always learned tunes by ear and was somewhat envious of folks who could pick up a score and sing the notes. Alas, I play an electronic keyboard about as well as I can use a computer keyboard - hunt and peck - but it did help me learn to read to a small degree. However, I never was able to correlate the notes on paper with what came out of my mouth.

I guess I was the kid knocking on the door asking if Johnny was coming out to play and was always told that Johnny had to practice on the piano. Now I know why