Thinking of cutting down to one version....

[Diafel]

I really want to cut down my printing costs and it's getting to be time for an update.
I am thinking about stripping down my songs to one title each, rather than several, by different manufacturers.
I get very little call from singers who want a specific version, unless it's because I've taught them which version is the best! LOL
Has anyone else done this and if so, do you have any regrets?
My plan is to keep a master backup of ALL my files, just in case. I may or may not delete them after a year or so, depending.

 

[jokerswild]

I really want to cut down my printing costs and it's getting to be time for an update.
I am thinking about stripping down my songs to one title each, rather than several, by different manufacturers.
I get very little call from singers who want a specific version, unless it's because I've taught them which version is the best! LOL
Has anyone else done this and if so, do you have any regrets?
My plan is to keep a master backup of ALL my files, just in case. I may or may not delete them after a year or so, depending.

I do this with Latshaw's Song List Generator. I don't have to do a bunch of editing. It looks at the files and determins what songs are the same and creates a list that can even show all manufatures by a two letter nominclature....

See example in this Post: [ame="http://www.ourdjtalk.com/showpost.php?p=293402&postcount=55"]Our DJ Talk - DJ Help and Resources Chat! - View Single Post - Karaoke Book Software[/ame]

 

[Diafel]

Yeah, I use SLG as well to make my books. I won't bother with the manu codes as people just won't understand them anyway. I'll have to re-design my slips, though, to exclude the Disc ID. More room for phone numbers and facebook etc, though, so I guess it's a plus!

 

[Jon Tuck]

Diafel great call most often if you have a Sound Choice Disc it is Golden. A few other specific manufacturers actually have better versions but probably 90% SC is all you need to list,

 

[ericlater]

Go with your gut and don't worry about the ID# on your slips until you have to reprint them

 

[Diafel]

Go with your gut and don't worry about the ID# on your slips until you have to reprint them

Thanks, Eric. Looks like I will be printing my slips before I update the books so I'll just re-design the slips first. I also may be purchasing a whole other system as there is a music store going out of business here and I've been told by a former employee that they have a complete system for sale for around $200.00. If this is the case, I may just want to add some more to my library before I re-do my books.
The system includes a dual Pioneer player with discs. It sounds like it may be the same system my hubby got rid of just before we got together. I nearly cried when he told me about it. LOL
Wouldn't that be funny to have that very same system come home to me? If it is one and the same, hubby tells me that he had purchased the SC Foundation series as well as quite a few others. And it's probably been added to as well, in the last 6 years since he owned it.
If it turns out that there is enough dupes, I will probably use this system and the discs as a rental unit. I've been approached many times by people wanting to rent my system. I always refuse because it's how I earn my living and I don't want to risk the damage, but, more importantly, I don't want to risk them copying (and stealing) my files. It's just too easy to do with a computerized system. With a strictly disc based system, I don't run the same risk and so it leaves me open to rent it out.

PS: Good to see you over here! Welcome!

 

[JoeChartreuse]

Diafel great call most often if you have a Sound Choice Disc it is Golden. A few other specific manufacturers actually have better versions but probably 90% SC is all you need to list,

Sorry, Jon, but I'm going to have to disagree mightily, depending on the types of singers you get. I get a huge call for many different mfrs.- one just won't do it. Example: SC is an Elvis killer- just horrible.

The thing is, the program that Rob is talking about allows him to list all of the mfrs., but just by initials, rather than having to list the same title over and over. All the info, but a lot less printing. Fairly nifty.

 

[Jon Tuck]

ok Im not as versed as you daily okes I see your point but SC is good for most of the singers and funny thing is I dont have SC but supercore, SGB and Maestro and a few others in my collection.

 

[ericlater]

For those who may want to have their "cake and eat it", I offer the following:

While my new books no longer differentiate manufacturer, my older books are still circulated and they define the manufacturer

My wife has a netbook with the entire database on it, and the crowd is made aware that she can pinpoint the manufacturer(s) of the version we have and that the singers can request their preference if we have more than one version

When the singers exceed 25, I bring along a (free-standing) kiosk on which the audience can peruse the entire database and can listen for an abbreviated period to a bit of any track that they would like to hear.


PS:

Joe C,

I just grin with satisfaction every time you downplay the Sound Choice product line. Personally, I've come to believe that if one were to spend the time really required to "dissect, analyze and compare" the available versions of any particular karaoke song, the results would be eye opening.

Last night, for example, I sang a song for the first time. I asked my wife how it sounded and she wasn't impressed. When I asked where was it lacking she said something was wrong with the background vocals. I was somewhat astonished because I also found subtle but important faults with the background, I just didn't realize how noticeable it was to others. BTW, it was a Sound Choice track.

When I got home I checked my library and found that I had a CB version. So, I tried that version and what an important, but subtle, difference!


My points:
1. My wife, who isn't a singer, picked up on a problem with a song she wasn't even familiar with - a problem that I believe most other people WOULDN'T have noticed

2, While most people would have missed the problem, why DID Sound Choice miss it?

3. If any product line is really held to be head and shoulders above its competitors, it should be rare for that brand to ever produce a "clunker" product, whether it's a car, a TV or a home entertainment system! What is so hard in producing a quality karaoke track to do so EVERY SINGLE time if you are so good? And I don't find being good 90% of the time as having set the "Gold Standard". In fact, I think CB, Pop Hits Monthly, Zoom and DK are also good 90% of the time.

 

[JoeChartreuse]

True enough. Actually, It's not that I don't like SC, I just don't hold them to the level so many others do. I think that level is artificial, and due to some early strong marketing by SC. They have a lot of great track, but like everyone else, they also have plenty of serious failures.

Not a huge amount, but enough so that I would not base a collection on them. Like Jon, I prefer Music Maestro for Oldies ( the one genre where they are superior), I love Supercore for quality and diversity at a good price, Chartbusters does a helluva job, especially for country, Zoom does a terrific job with almost everything they put out- they just need to put out more, and even SGB can be very useful for hard to find and rarely used tracks.

A lot of my singers practice with Pocket Songs multiplex discs at home, and prefer to sing with the same versions out.

In other words, ALL Mfrs. can serve a very important purpose, and they are all in my books.

 

[Scott Hanna]

I use latshaw as well. but I took the letters of the manufacturers out completely. I have a good number of songs. I don't have every one by every manufacturer. It seemed to me that when people needed an exact brand of disc, they were really not concerned about having fun, they thought they were trying to get on American Idol. Way too serious.

If someone has a preference, and I have that song from that karaoke company, I'll gladly play it. I can switch it in an instant. But if someone will only sing a song from this one or that one, they'll be waiting while everyone else is having fun.

disclaimer: don't do weekly karaoke shows anymore. All karaoke is add ons to private parties. Used to do lots of karaoke.

 

[Chuck The DJ]

This all kinda amazes me... I have been doing Karaoke for years and even when I was doing it weekly in a club, I have never had someone ask for a certain manufacture.

Now maybe if I KNEW that a SC was better than a Zoom, I might grab that disk instead, but now I am going all lap top and when I type in "Love Shack" I get about 6 versions of it. I usually pick the SC because I don't know any better! LOL

 

[Scott Hanna]

This all kinda amazes me... I have been doing Karaoke for years and even when I was doing it weekly in a club, I have never had someone ask for a certain manufacture.

Now maybe if I KNEW that a SC was better than a Zoom, I might grab that disk instead, but now I am going all lap top and when I type in "Love Shack" I get about 6 versions of it. I usually pick the SC because I don't know any better! LOL

Agreed Chuck. It rarely happened to me. but it did happen every once in a while, usually someone that was a karaoke host at another place and knew the discs. There was one guy at a show I recall, i don't recall how long he was around, but EVERY song he wanted, he would come up and ask me what manufactures we had. Then he would need the song started over in a different key, sometimes more than once in a song. I stopped that after a few times. Shockingly, this guy was by himself, wasn't drinking or buying anything. He just kept slipping farther and farther down the rotation and finally stopped coming in.

 

[JoeChartreuse]

This all kinda amazes me... I have been doing Karaoke for years and even when I was doing it weekly in a club, I have never had someone ask for a certain manufacture.

Now maybe if I KNEW that a SC was better than a Zoom, I might grab that disk instead, but now I am going all lap top and when I type in "Love Shack" I get about 6 versions of it. I usually pick the SC because I don't know any better! LOL

"Better than" isn't really the wording- more like "preferred". In other words, a singer may be used to singing a version most would consider bad, but that's the singer's preference.

I've always saud that there is no "best", only most popular. In my venues, when a particular mfr. is requested, it's usually SuperCore, or Pocket Songs by average singers, and Zoom or Chartbuster for the more talented, with a sprinkling of Memorex.

I understand Pocket Songs, because it's available in local stores, and many are multi-plex for home practice.

I'm thinking that SuperCore, being diverse, decent quality, and not high priced, may be used at home parties, and these when these people come out they want familiarity? Who knows. However, you have to know I own all SuperCores and a decent amount of Pocket songs along with what seems to be considered better stuff. My personal favorite is DK, and I will use these if I have the song and no mfr. request is made. No complaints yet.

Once again, the point is that I just can't get away with single mfr. listing...