Karaoke is a popular form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along to pre-recorded music with synchronized video display of song lyrics.
Karaoke first appeared in Japan in the early 1970s, and the term ‘karaoke’ is a portmanteau of the Japanese words ‘kara’ (’empty’) and ‘스포츠토토
In the 1990s, as karaoke spread beyond Asia to the West, including the United States, it began to appear in bars and nightclubs. As its popularity grew, more establishments started investing in karaoke equipment and an industry formed around karaoke versions of popular songs and equipment and the technology to produce these shows. Businesses began offering karaoke on certain scheduled nights and some eventually began offering karaoke seven days a week and became known as ‘karaoke bars’.
Basically, the equipment used for karaoke includes a device that plays karaoke media, one or more microphones (wired or wireless), a video monitor (or TV) that displays song lyrics, and a public address system that plays a mixture of singers and backgrounds. music. level karaoke system is usually a single, self-contained unit that includes all of the above, while a bar or professional system includes more specialized components, including multiple video monitor displays, multi-channel mixers, effects processors, amplifiers, and powerful speaker systems. make use of. These systems often include features to add echo/reverberation to the singer’s voice or to correct the ‘key’ of the background music. Modifying the ‘key’ of the background music basically lowers or raises the pitch of the song by a fixed value. This allows KJ to match the song ‘key’ to the singer’s range.
Karaoke systems in bars or other commercial karaoke venues are usually operated by ‘Karaoke Jockey’ or ‘KJ’. ‘KJ’ is similar to ‘Disc Jockey’ or ‘DJ’, but manages the submission of support song requests, controls the order of singers, and announces/introduces each singer in turn. KJ can work directly at the facility or as an independent contractor servicing several different venues on different nights and can additionally provide KJ/DJ services for private events and parties.
Today, karaoke music comes in many formats, the most popular and widespread being the lyrics and graphic displays that can be seen on karaoke monitors (i.e. ‘+G+for graphics’). Karaoke was also available on DVD media, which could hold more songs on a single disc due to its larger storage capacity (eg ‘Super CD+G’ by the CAVS company). Some newer consumer DVD players have add-ons that can read these formats, but special CD/DVD players are required to read these discs.
Recently, with the digital age of encoding songs into a format like ‘MP3’ for playback on a computer, it has led to conversion of karaoke music into a format known as ‘MP3+G’. The MP3+G format consists of two files for each song. Background music in traditional MP3 format and lyrics/graphics saved as encoded CDG files. Because MP3+G files are relatively small, many can be stored on conventional computer media. A typical karaoke library of hundreds of CD+G compact discs can easily fit onto a compact computer hard drive the size of a pack of cigarettes or a paperback novel.
Today, more and more KJs are using the MP3+G karaoke format and are using a system consisting of a computer (such as a laptop), a storage device along with the usual mixer, microphone, amplifier and speakers. PC software for playing MP3+G files ranges from full-featured commercial KJ hosting applications to simple plug-ins for MP3 players (e.g. Win Amp, Windows Media Player, etc.) that add the ability to read MP3+G format. ranges from
So what can you expect from a typical karaoke show? Typically, KJ will provide one or more books listing available songs by song title and/or artist name. Then, usually the singer’s name, song title, song artist, song (disc) number (if KJ uses CD/DVD media) or key change request (e.g. +1, -2, etc.), depending on KJ. He then presents this slip to KJ.
KJ uses a variety of methods to order singer requests, but it’s usually a ‘first-come, first-served’ rotation of sorts. Singers are also generally limited to submitting only one song request at a time, and may submit new requests after singing. KJ announces/introduces each singer’s name, introduces himself to KJ, gives him a microphone and starts playing the song. Song lyrics appear on a video monitor and usually change color in sync with the background music to aid the singer’s position in the lyrics.