Karaoke mania is sweeping the world! Have you taken your trip up to the stage yet to belt out your favorite song to those you know and love? If not, you might just find yourself on the singing end of your nearest karaoke system very soon! So what is this karaoke, anyway? What's the buzz about the newest karaoke player? What do you need to know to be "in the know" about this latest craze? Here are some facts, figures, karaoke lingo, and trivia you may want to know.
Karaoke is a Japanese word, made up of abbreviations of two other Japanese words. "Kara" comes from the word "karappo", meaning empty. "Oke" comes from the word "okesutura", meaning orchestra. So "Karaoke" literally means empty orchestra. Karaoke players play the music of the songs, without the lead vocals. So empty orchestra means you get the music without the voices.
The first karaoke system was invented in the 1970's in Kobe, Japan, by Daisuk Inoue, a musician. He leased his karaoke player for 100 yen, and Karaoke soon became the fun thing to do. Unfortunately, he did not get a patent for his invention, and someone else went on to patent it under a different name, "Minus-One". As you see, his Minus-One system didn't catch on near as well as the catchy "Karaoke", so Daisuk still got his claim to fame. Word of Daisuk's new machine spread, and from Japan it has now become wildly popular all across Asia, Europe, and the USA.
Perhaps karaoke players are most popular of all in Finland. Finland holds several world Karaoke records. They have more karaoke bars per capita than any other place in the world. They hold the world record for the largest amount of people singing the same karaoke song at one time: 80,000 people! What song were they singing? Hard Rock Hallelujah! Finland also holds the world record for the longest round of non-stop Karaoke singing: 240 hours!
Imagine that! Now you can use your karaoke system to come up with new world records!
Karaoke Lingo:
What's a new craze without it's own specialized vocabulary to go with it? Here are some karaoke words to know:
Karaoke Player - this is the karaoke machine itself. It plays karaoke songs, or music without the words. The lyrics are shown on a monitor so people can still sing the song even if they don't know the words.
Spinning Karaoke - this is cycling on stationary bicycles while singing karaoke. What a workout!
KJ - this is the Karaoke DJ. He runs the karaoke system, and gets everyone involved. He adjusts the karaoke player to alter the key or the pitch to better match the voice range of the singer, and adds some echo, so that everyone sounds more professional.
Kamikaze Karaoke - In Kamikaze Karaoke, the KJ will choose a pitch number for you, and you have to try to sing the song in that pitch.
Hitokara - means you must sing the song alone.
Karamovie - movie video clips where they leave out the voices
Health Benefits of Karaoke:
And here is great news - karaoke singing releases endorphins! Those are the "happy hormones" that make us feel good!
In addition, karaoke singing releases stress and tension, and helps exercise the lungs. So the next time you want to head off to your local karaoke bar, you can feel good about it!
Newest Types of Karaoke Player:
Now you can get Karaoke Ipods, Karaoke Cell Phones, and DVD Player/Karaoke System combos. China has a Karaoke car. Japan, and now spreading to other countries, has Karaoke Boxes - karaoke system/sound-insulated rooms.
Latest Karaoke News:
Jackie Chan will sing the opening song for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - KARAOKE STYLE!
Go figure. Maybe there's something to this karaoke after all. You should try it!
A karaoke system is a complex set of components that generally consists of a karaoke CDG player or .mp3 Digital karaoke machine, microphone, speakers, karaoke mixer, amplifier, and speaker cables. The portable karaoke system is also called a karaoke machine or sometimes a singing machine. This portable system consists of a CDG player, microphone input jacks, a speaker, a mixer, and an amplifier all in one compact unit. The portable system is definitely most popular around Christmas time.
If you are considering starting a karaoke business and you think of building a karaoke system you first need to decide which type of media you will be using. The most popular system today is the karaoke CDG disc system although it seems to loose more and more field as the professionals are slowly switching to the compressed file or digital format (mainly the MP3+G) stored on laptops and played with a software hosting programs. There are quite a few advantages of using a digital karaoke machine, such as no discs to storage, no discs loading into player, no more dirty or damaged discs that skip during the show, easy song selection by using the hosting software search function, new songs can be purchased individually giving you more control over selection, and purchased songs can be downloaded from the Internet saving time and shipping costs.
Lead providers of digital karaoke software have been struggling to produce high quality products for many years and their karaoke hosting software is incredibly user friendly. Generally, the karaoke system software includes all importing tools, CD+G Disc playback and ripping tools, video playback, songbook creator, and many more interesting features. The basic karaoke machine components are the following: Karaoke CDG Player ? should be a trusted name brand, with a good track record, that has features that you need not too many that you will never use. Digital key control is recommended with a single play feature, and quick and easy song number selection. Mixer / Amp - you need a good quality mixer amp with separate channel controls, a seven or nine band graphic equalizer, and enough power to drive your speakers. There are countless numbers of these amps for karaoke systems and the best producing companies are Behringer, Fender, Mackie, Peavey, Samson, and others. Speakers - are the number one factor in creating a good karaoke machine. Don't use speakers with less than a 15 inch woofer. Not all speakers sound good with karaoke and that is why you need to test them before buying. There is quite a good selection of speakers on the market. Also, you will need speakers? stands preferably made of aluminum, fiberglass, or a combination of the two as they are much lighter and very easy to set up Cordless Microphones - are a must for a professional karaoke system because they are more fun and give you the liberty to move. Choose a good production brand as the selection of wireless microphones is rather large.
RF Converter - most karaoke players output the graphics as raw video signals and you need to convert the signal to VHF in order to display the lyrics. You need to run a single RCA cable from the player to the converter and then run a standard TV cable from the converter to the TV. Color TV ? is a must in order to distinguish the highlighting of the lyrics. A 19? TV is recommended as a smaller screen makes it difficult to read the lyrics at any distance and a larger one is just too much trouble.
You will also need component racks and disc storage systems that will allow you to better organize your system and respectively allows you to easily find and access your discs. When performing a show you want your system to be as efficient as possible without you getting a headache while trying to locate a certain disc.
Both Christine D & Clint Jhonson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Christine D has sinced written about articles on various topics from Karaoke Music, Mortgage and Entertainment Guide. As seen in NBC & People Magazine, The SongStation is the next generation . It is the only. Christine D's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
Clint Jhonson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Modelling, Home Buyers Guide and Gardening. When trying to build a you need to take into consideration several thing, such as the type of karaoke CDG player or .mp3 Digital karaoke mac. Clint Jhonson's top article generates over 1000000 views. to your Favourites.