Sound Like A Singing Karaoke Pro Even If You're A Beginner!

By Jim Brian

Even the best karaoke singers, or any singer for that matter, can sound better with simple adjustments on karaoke mixers, recordings and sound equipment.

It's possible to easily improve on your home recordings and live karaoke performances by using a few basic sound principals.

Do you consider yourself a tech dummy but know you don't sound as good as you could when singing live or when recording at home?

No Fear - Hope Is Right Here!

These simple recording settings can help any singer sound better.

The best place to begin your recordings, especially if your just learning to record your vocals, is to leave all EQ (equalizer) settings in the standard, or straight up 12 o'clock, position.

These are usually marked on any sound mixer or recording program with a zero.

Ever been to a karaoke show or hear a singer who has a piercing voice that hurts your ears?

Honestly that's been me when the sound person has no idea what they are doing. Many karaoke host have no idea how to mix proper sound. Even if a person has a good singing voice it does not mean they have a good ear for mixing others voices.

More often than not that piercing sound is cause because the person mixing sound likely has the highs or the mids cranked up on the mix and or even the karaoke microphone.

Even a singer with pleasant tonal qualities can hurt your ears and cause sound fatigue if the sound is not mixed properly.

What you need to do when starting to record or setting up for a live karaoke show is start with your settins in the 12 o'clock straight up position. ALWAYS do this unless of course you have fine tuned your settings and never leave locations.

Keep in mind that room temperature and even the amount of people in a location can alter your sound.

That's when hosting a karaoke show I always adjust the sound on the microphones on each performance. It's not a good idea to think…hey, it sounded great last week, or even last night, why change it?

Try not to run your highs or mids much beyond your 12 o'clock position if possible.

Sometimes the best thing to do if you need to make the vocals clearer or more resonant in the mix is to actually REDUCE some of the lower or bottom end of your voice. This lower range is referred to as the bass.

It's sometimes best to add very little EQ if any and record your voice as natural as you can and add slight reverb, delay, known as echo, or other effects to blend in with the music.

The best thing you can do to get your voice to sound as good as you can is spend the money and GET A GOOD MIC.

Is there an echo in here?

Get a good mic….A GOOD…good…goooood… Microphone!

Not all microphones are created equal. A good mic for karaoke Joe's voice is not always the best one for Eric's voice or Joans.

Don't be in a hurry when your shopping for a MIC. Make sure you go to a music store where they will help you plug in and test the microphone for your voice.

Preferably you'll want to visit a music store that has a private sound room where you can spend some time trying several microphones for your karaoke set up.

The better MICS for recording are called condenser mics. These are much more pricey than live stage MICS but they will record the resonance of your voice usually much better.

Condenser microphones handle the dynamics and volume changes better than most live mics. The harder you sing, or louder, causes pressure in air waves and a condenser mic is more sensitive to these sound waves and changes.

Live mics are built to be durable and rugged because of the changing and moving of equipment. Because of this these live performance microphones are built to be more durable so they have less sensitive and responsive electronics than condenser mics.

Condenser mics are not only sensitive to sound they can be sensitive to movement and being dropped.

An expensive condenser mic might not survive a hard fall onto a concrete floor.

This is why condenser mics are best suited for recording your karaoke songs at home and not for live karaoke shows or performances.

Since you cant' control what kind of microphones are used at your favorite karaoke shows you can, and should, politely ask the sound person to make adjustments to the microphone.

If your ears are bleeding while listening to the singers previous to you then chances are the high range and mid range of the mic need to be adjusted and turned down counter clockwise.

If your karaoke show host does not seem to care, or appreciate, the way you like your microphone set than find another show to attend. There are show host I like but do not care much for their sound. Because I go to sing, and I want to sound as good as I can, I do not frequent shows where the sound is less than optimum.

Not every show will be equal in sound however it's in every ones best interest to have each singer sounding as good as possible.

One setting for all does not make for a good sounding karaoke show or recording so keep this in mind when singing live karaoke or when you are recording yourself or other singers on your own equipment.

These suggestions on karaoke microphone and sound settings are very simple however they can make a big difference in the overall quality of your voice. Just slight changes can help your voice sound more pleasant especially when recording karaoke songs at home.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com