[Monolithent]

If you do a search on recording you can find several topics on the subject.

You can definitely use external devices such as a DAT recorder or Mini-disc recorder but you get into legality issues when you consider that you would probably be getting the main mix off of your mixing board including the Karaoke music which is copyrighted.

You can record your singers directly into your computer (provided it is sufficiently powered) with the use of several types of external and internal audio interfaces. To do this you will need to reroute how the microphone input travels within your computer. The mic will have to be plugged into the input of an audio interface and separate software (I use Ableton Live but I think Microstudio will work, though I haven't tried) will be necessary to record the sound from it. In your computer you will need to direct the audio coming from the mic to both the software and the main output to travel to your mixing board (be careful of latency issues, which could cause a slight delay on your main output).

You will need to find a program that has built in effects capability. The signal coming into the computer will be a dry signal (basically exactly what is coming in from the microphone). A dry input is usually best so you can tweak the effects later to give the best sound.

I have only recorded a few times and this is how I did it. Others may have different ideas. This works with the equipment I have at my disposal.

Feel free to ask any questions if you need help figuring this out to do for real.

Good luck,

Jon

Monolith Entertainment