Disc Mfg And Series - Rate Them!

[bdayton]

1. Sound Choice - Hands down in the quality of rendition department. I have known them to mess up a few but for the most part, they are right on. The down-side is that they are VERY expensive and the company seems to be just a bit pig-headed about how they don' like computers and such. :(

DK - Most renditions were almost as good as Sound Choice but I never liked that guide flute, (or what ever it was called). Sometimes it even got louder than the singer. Too bad they went out of business. :(

Pop Hits - I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

Pocket Songs - Some of the worst rendition I have ever heard. I sometimes wonder if these guys even bothered to listen to the original recording before trying to make a re-creation. Admitidly, I only purchased one disk but, that one disk was so bad, I never tried any others.

All Hits - Again, I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

Sweet Georgia Brown - I'll buy these again, only under duress. Most of the renditions are poor quality and the way they scramble their songs on different CD's sent my blood pressure over the top. You want to add a SGB CD to your song-book? You better verify EVERY SINGLE SONG..... And make sure the artist is correct..... Especially on their "Set's".

Music Meistro - The first time a tried "Come Sail Away" by "Styx", I got totally disoriented when I went into the second verse and the music jumped into the refrain!! This wasn't just the radio version as opposed to the album version, they just flat dropped the whole second verse. I was so ratteled that I couldn't even finish the song. :(

Karaoke Classics - Not too bad but, their rendition of "Macarthur Park" by "Richard Harris" is missing the second verse too.

Chart Buster - Again, I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

JMHO

[louieoke2]

Question to any who will reply. I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in. So, everytime I find one of these vocal tracks, I delete it from my songbook. They keep popping up however. If anyone has information on how to identify these without listening to every track on the 63 cd set, I would most certianly appreciate your input. BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

[gduns - with the Lord]

Pop HIts Monthly Flashback 1-15 Is the best set of oldies I have ever heard.

[bobcox- with the Lord]

list is right on, but sav for the price can be ok we started out with them. most songs suck but some are very good. and you get a good mix of titles you cant get anywhere else. as far as MM goes I Love them. they are consistent and i have two Elvis Impersonators who sing with me from time to time, and they told me. MM is the standard among Elvis Sound alikes. just my 2 Cents worth. Bob

[gduns - with the Lord]

As am Elvis impersonator myself, I find most of us prefer the chartbuster for accuracy in music. The lyrics are sometimes changed, but for the most part we don't need them anways.

I do it MY WAY.

[SteveWalker]

I am the King and I like SC and Pioneer CDG's for my Elvis songs! My Elvis "American Trilogy" (on SC) is killer. I will share my mp3 of me performing it upon request.

Steve

[Lindy]

hi all

you must hear Zoom karaoke disc uk produced but are very good

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by Flipeoke

Well, I'll add my comments to the list, hold on this could take awhile... ALL manufacturers are hit-or-miss... From what I have found every maufacturer has some songs that more closely matches the original song... While some are more consistant in quatily (i.e. Sound Choice, Top Hits Monthly) they rarely have entire discs that are perfect... You give me any manufacturer and I will give you an example of a really bad track...IMHO (as I don my flame retardant suit) disc manufacturers intentionally use less than perfect renditions for some of the songs on their discs. A good example of this is Sound Choice... SCG8207-3 Faithfully (one of my personal favorites to sing) good sound quality, good lyrics and timing... but if you happen to get the Journey disc from Sound Choice, SCG2269 you would think that the same version is used on both, not so, while the music is the same, there are wrong lyrics, and poor timing on SCG2269. I feel this is so SC can sell more discs to those of us who desire the best quality for the songs we have... however if they put all of their best tracks on the one disc, I would only buy that one disc... Aside from this, getting back to the original topic at hand, I don't rely on any one manufacturer to have the best versions of songs, nor do I rely on 2, 3, or 4, I am one of the lucky people who can go to my Karaoke distributer, and listen to the discs/songs before I buy them...and most of the time get the best version of a song... and while I do quite often end up with multiple versions of a song on different manufacturers discs, when you have done this long enough, you get to know which version most closely matches the original artist. The majority of my discs come from Sound Choice, and Music Maestro, yes MM, while some of their songs really blow chunks, many of them are very close to the original song. Others that I use are as follows in no particular order:

Top Hits Monthly
Pop Hits Monthly
Pop Hits Today
DK
Pioneer
Backstage
Pocket Songs(good for broadway stuff as well as others)
Top Tunes
Monster Hits
Sweet Georgia Brown
Legends
Nikkodo
Sunfly
StarDisc
Chartbusters
Priddis
NorthStar
Dangerous
All Hits
Amerising


and probably a few I am forgetting... While some of these manufacturers I only have 3 or 4 discs from them, I feel my selection would be lacking without them. I guess what I am saying is this: every manufacturer has good songs and bad songs, some have more good than bad, others have more bad than good, but their good ones are usually superior to other manufacturers... I miss not having the Pioneer laserdiscs... many of those were some of the best versions around...

Peace...

Mike

Hate to disagree with you on the Faithfully issue. The first version 8207-03 lyrics were way off in he verses and at the end funny I have never heard Steve Perry sing lost tonight faithfully. No the best version of that song is on Amerising which also kicked butt on when you love a woman. will sya this as Sound Choice redid Faithfully while some might feel the audio slipped their lyrics got better as I have sung the foundation 2 version and only found one mistake in lyrics.

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hello All,
Just a couple of thoughts.
First as far as lyrics are concerned, I think a lot of lyrics are transposed by people who don't have English as their first languge (I don't mean Americans he! he!)
Incidentally how good are lyrics in say, Spanish?
I often have a good chuckle over some of the more obvious errors.
Perhaps a few examples could be posted.
Being English I often buy CD's with tunes by artists unknown in the UK but hits in the US, just never made it this side of the pond.
So it's gratifying doing different versions of songs rather than sticking slavishly to the one original. I realise this is sacrilege to the Elvis or Frank singers.
I also think using a UK disc adds a different slant when sung in the US.
I love it when people ask about a certain artist or song they have never heard but which has been big in the US.
As I've said before as long as Karaoke is sung, everyone is going to have their favourites and hates.
Just as well we're not all the same.
Regards from across the pond,
Garry

[mikedomi]

I know there are not a lot of kj who use as much as we do but here is the plus side to this
we put everything we have out there for people to sing
I don't care if its a bad version to me or not and here is why we do this

don't you as a kj or even a singer get tired of hearing the same song sung by the same singer

so here is what we have been doing say some one sings my way we have it 15 times
so this is were the fun starts we have a place were people don't try to be stars so this works there
each week the singers sing a diff version of the same song it kind funny
they have funny with this it my be a little slow or a little deeper then what they are use to so they sing deeper every gets a kick out of this
some time the singer will ask us to step it up 2 keys so they sing like chip monks
this one show is such a fresh show to do because every one does not take it
like this is star search
and the funny part about this is 75% of the singers are dam good singers
this bar has the rep of having the best singers in Washington
but they come there and have a ball its not who can sing the best
but who can sing the funniest
and still sound good

that is the flip side to putting all your songs in hoster and not just the ones you the kj think should be in there

and out off all the singers each one has found a diff version that they like better then the one they sing all the time
maybe a little faster or diff key that works for them

so in a nut shell who is to say what is better or not it should be up to the singer to pick the version they like to sing
and the only way they can do that is to sing them all

now I know you guys say the book gets to big to put it all in

we are about to change all that for you in the near further
you will never look at a #### again

see ya mike

[gduns - with the Lord]

Mike,
wanna really have a lot of fun, Get a digitech Vx400 and out it on a mic We have a lot of fun with this. the audience loves it.

Bu the way, I just got the new bpm studio, and it isnt too bad. this version actually plays .wma files as well as mp3's. I have 32,000 wmas, and didnt want to have to reload them.

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by louieoke2

Question to any who will reply. I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in. So, everytime I find one of these vocal tracks, I delete it from my songbook. They keep popping up however. If anyone has information on how to identify these without listening to every track on the 63 cd set, I would most certianly appreciate your input. BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

For about $99 you could add a vcopro 1u mixer that has a multiplex button so you don't have to eliminate songs off your list even if all you are using it for is to play 63 discs worth of multiplex it is worth the expense in my opinion to have my mixer have the ability to deal with multiplex discs. If you picked up the original nutech dsics the ones with the vocals on them also came with non multilexed discs.

[Nitecat]

If this hasn't been said before, Radio Starz are great for Garth Brooks songs.

Nitecat Karaoke

[admin]

Originally Posted by louieoke2

... I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in.... BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

Hoster 2.216 allows you to mute a vocal track while playing and the non-muted track plays out both left - right channels. Should release next week if all goes well.

[gotrich]

I have donr some searching diggin and looking and I look for the most realistic sounding disk I have found that the disk are best in this order

1 Legends
2 DK
3 RCA
4 Sound Images
5 pioneer
6 KJ tools
7 chartbuster
8 sound choice
9 music maestro
10 sweet G brown
11 top hits montly
12 top tunes
13 star disk
14 all star
15 karaoke bay

seems 1-8 are really good 1-6 awesome 9 & 10 good 11 ok 12 and down I dont even buy anymore cause I want the best!
i listen to demos of Backstage and the others and they are awful dinging and so fake! JUst my oppinion

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I have donr some searching diggin and looking and I look for the most realistic sounding disk I have found that the disk are best in this order

1 Legends
2 DK
3 RCA
4 Sound Images
5 pioneer
6 KJ tools
7 chartbuster
8 sound choice
9 music maestro
10 sweet G brown
11 top hits montly
12 top tunes
13 star disk
14 all star
15 karaoke bay

seems 1-8 are really good 1-6 awesome 9 & 10 good 11 ok 12 and down I dont even buy anymore cause I want the best!
i listen to demos of Backstage and the others and they are awful dinging and so fake! JUst my oppinion

On the Top Tunes check out the Creed stuff as they are the closest to creed you will find.

[SteveWalker]

danny_g,

Oh sure! You gotta be kidding

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by SteveWalker

danny_g,

Oh sure! You gotta be kidding

I have seen and heard "don't stop Dancing" and "weathered" on top tunes.
THe first is also available on other brands and I have listened to a couple other brands' version of Don't stop dancing and top tunes was closest to creed's version in audio quality as well as note for note.

[SteveWalker]

you're dancing around the fact that Sound Choice is the best And Chart Buster is up next to them above the rest.

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by SteveWalker

you're dancing around the fact that Sound Choice is the best And Chart Buster is up next to them above the rest.

Sound Choice has lyricitis- poor lyric quality. So I happen to consider them not the best. Add to that the fact that they support only cd based karaoke shows and will do everything within their power to make it almost next to impossible to import their discs unless you own the original versions of discs prior to 8700. I would rather sing the Amerising version of "My Sacrifice" than Sound Choice's and Amerising's version of "Faithfully" as well as they ar by far superior to sound choice's versions of the same songs.