Have you always wondered what Karaoke was all about, even starting with how to spell it? Karaoke fans aren’t usually that fussy about how to spell it and they even give you a few choices, like: karaoke, karaoke, karaoke, karoke. In fact, they have even been heard to say that as long as you’re asking because you want to sing or learn more about their hobby then go ahead and spell it your way.
If you’re just getting started with Karaoke, you have a lot to learn probably. There’s a whole set of vernacular, terminology & acronyms. Nevertheless, don’t get all in a tizzy. With a little reading, study, or just experience all this information will come to you.
The basics are that when you want to experience Karaoke, there will be several places you can expect to get your first exposure.
When you go to a bar that offers Karaoke (usually on certain nights or every night for some) you’ll see some equipment there for the “players” (or singers) to use when they are performing.
In that equipment will be placed one of several items, a CD or DVD player is generally what you will see. If it is a full Karaoke experience, there will be a microphone to sing into (like a real performer) and a TV set for you to watch some graphics. As the music plays the words for the song are played on the TV set normally flowing along as the words of the song are to be sung, rolling along in the rhythm of the song.
Now those CDs or DVDs will actually be special-purpose items that only the player connected to the TV understands, as there must be software somewhere or a fully produced “video” with graphics for you to watch as you sing along.
That’s the technology behind Karaoke that we’re talking about, but the types of items that the content is stored on have a few common terms used to define them.
The term is generally Karaoke music disc and they come in several flavors. There are: CDGs, CDGMs, VCDs and DVDs. These formats allow there to be a “database” of songs to be chosen from for your sing-along performance. The “software” that runs the “players” will allow the organizer of the Karaoke experience to quickly cue up the song you have chosen & get it quickly up on the screen & into the audio system when you are called up for your turn.
How these different formats work is a subject for another day, but there are many approaches to use those discs. Sometimes there is a full PC involved & the particular “songs” play even through Windows Media Player or some other program on that PC.
Your investment in equipment to allow a Karaoke experience to be produced at your chosen venue is up to you. If you are the contractor who delivers the experience at a bar, or even a Church, then you will likely make that investment or rent that equipment somewhere.
