So i'm coming up on the time to plan the next year and i want to purchase some new music to add to our collection. What we have now mostly just consists of the big three, Sound choice, Pop Hits Monthly, and Chartbuster. What other sets out there would you recommend. Are any of the cheaper sets worth aquiring? I never bought the Sweet Georgia Brown, Supercore, Backstage, or Idol Makers sets that are all over Ebay, but should i purchase any of them? Even with the Sound Choice, Pop Hits, and Chartbuster collections there's still plenty of holes that i'd love to fill, i just want to make sure i don't put in a bunch of low quality tracks in my system. Let me know what brands/sets you recommend.
Definitely skip the SGB and the Idolmakers. Not enough in there to make it worth your while. The Supercore set is pretty good and I also recommend Karaoke Kurrents.
If you find them, I give my best recommendations for SuperCore. Decent quality ( actually, almost always better than Stellar, who stays up there by quick releases, not top quality), not expensive, and plenty of winners on every disc. Karaoke Kurrents ( be careful of counterfeit discs) are made by SuperCore as well. Also, whether still in business or not, there are a LOT of good brands out there. Zoom, Priddis, Top Tunes, Monster Hits, Radio Starz, Karaoke Classics, Karaoke Hits, Lost Classics, Dr. Music, and Gnome are some. Also, most long-timers know that Music Maestro is terrific ( probably the best) for doo-wop and oldies. Pocket Songs is the best for show tunes bar none- even Kurt admits this. Stage Stars is another awesome show tune brand. DK was the gold standard for karaoke before SC out-marketed them- they are the ONLY brand made specifically to help the amateur singer. You might hear some complain about the "pan flute" melody line ( easier for the amateur to follow), but the only time you can hear it is if the singer is out of tune. In other words, those who complain just aren't singing the song properly... Legends - you either love them or hate them. I love them. Listen to their version of Georgia On My Mind, and you will have heard the richest track around. Believe it or not, Medacy's Karaoke Party and SyberSounds Party Tyme discs- both department store brands- are pretty dam good Anything by Memorex ( I think there are 6 discs, possibly made by a Stellar for private label) are just downright tops. Disney discs are original soundtrack discs. If you run into KJ tools, their versions are the same as SuperCore, who bought them out. Stay away from: Backstage/Ovation ( exceptions are their Eagles, Neil Diamond, Queen, and a few other discs that were decent) StarDisc, Idol Makers, Singing Machine, Nutech/Sav, Star Quest ( Except for Billy Joel), and Super Trax The only "Big Three" label you may have trouble matching is Chartbuster for the Country genre- they are just that much better in that one style than everyone else. Just my humble opinion, but I'm not a fan of Sunfly. Hope this helps.....
What the heck does everyone have against SGB? Total Eclipse Of The Heart? I Touch Myself? Seem pretty decent to me. SGB is a great starter set, especially if you can lay your hands on the genuine article. I would have to agree with Joe C's assessment of most of the brands, but again LEGENDS was/is Sunfly for the most part. Many, many songs from OOP mfr's that will please most people to find the song (not a specific mfr) in your list.
gonna have to disagree on singing machine for at least one part. i have the whole SM motown set and they are the original studio tracks. it does not get any better that actually singing with the Temptations backing you up. i have not heard anything else for SM so that may be their only gem but it is still in print so definately get it.
Hoooold on there, Babalooie! :laughpill: I forgot to mention SGB, but not only will I not knock them, but I think they should be included in every library, especially starter sets. 1) Some of their tracks are excellent ( In addition to the above, Son Of A Preacher Man and comes to mind, for instance). 2) They have a LOT of tracks that no one else does. 3) This set is great for a starter because the diversity of the collection ( over 1,000 songs and VERY inexpensive) will help you learn what your venue crowd likes best, and you can build from there- rather than laying out a LOT of money for a way smaller amount of much more expensive tracks that may never get used. 4) because of the low cost, many home singers use them. When they come to a show that has them, they can sing the version that they are used to. Yup, worth buying.
Whoops! I stand corrected. :embarrassedpill: Paradigm is correct. Their Original Motown IS excellent. However, the rest of their stuff, especially country, is the pits.
While SGB does have some tracks that no one else has, and their arrangements are very good on some, the sound quality just ruins it for me. Whoever did the engineering on them had terrible ears. I find they actually hurt my ears to play them and no amount of EQ'ing will make them better. And that clapping, cheering audience sound that put on some of them throughout the whole track is just down right annoying! What on earth were they thinking when they did that?
Not sure, but I think the sound quality varies some with the set. There are so many DIFFERENT counterfeit sets out there ( that are virtually indistinguishable from the real ones, and made by many different people) That one can run into anything. Mine sound pretty good. Speaking of different sets, I think SGB, Dangerous, small MM sets ( Like the Do-Wop Club pack and R&B Pack) and now Karaoke Kurrents are probably the most counterfeited ( meaning most DIFFERENT counterfeited sets produced by different people) out there. Be careful, because it's REALLY hard to get enough good info to know for sure. SGB, for instance: Some say the black and gold screened discs are the real ones. Some say the purple (or pink) and white labels, Some say the screened labels without any color. They ALL have coded center holes, and look legit. Also, SGB actually changed their own labels at least once. There's a running joke out there : "What color are YOUR Dangerous discs?" The Karaoke Kurrents are easier to spot, so far. Only the real ones have the graphic/photo of the young man singing into mic ( with that round "Shure-looking" ball). The fakes that have shown up so far have fairly plain colored labels like the fake MM sets- and let me tell you, they are BAD fakes.. By that I mean the quality of the tracks. Almost sound like dupes from dupes, with skips, drop outs, compressions, etc...
hmm, I found a couple sales for them and none of them mentioned being multiplexed, but that doesn't mean their not, wouldn't surprise me
The Superstar set came both ways. If you have the 500 series it was multiplexed, the 900 series are the same set minus the vocals. My big grip about the SGB series is how many of the words aren't even close to being right. I think if they weren't sure they just made up something that sounded close. I have a couple of singers who think that their version of Route 66 is the best they've heard, but when you get to where they start naming towns you get some of the strangest names you've ever heard (ever hear of a town called Pesto?).:rolleyespill: The Idol Maker set is just repackaged SGB, with the songs in alphabetical order rather than by theme or artist. Same tracks and same graphic errors. I also like the 4 disc Doctor Music set. I think that their Simon and Garfunkel disc is one of the best around. Of the English co.'s I like Zoom and SBI the best. One of the KJ's in my area has a fair amount of 'Sing To The World' tracks that sound fairly good, in fact they have a Beatles Medley that is just awesome in the number of songs covered and how it's mixed.
Nope. I know of several tracks that differ between the two, with SGB being superior. In actuality, I have yet to come across a good Idol Maker track, while SGB has several. Idol Maker may have attempted to copy some SGB tracks, but if so, they did an awful job.
idol maker is crap. one big thing that caught me is the musical interludes or solos are cut way short. most people know when the solo is over from hearing it on the radio and that has thrown singers off every single time i used that brand (thankfully not necessary often) but i can't wait to replace them. SGB.....just listened to son of a preacher man and i have heard better from a 10 year old with a cheap Casio.
so sorry but "i have head better from a 10 year old".... sounds horrible. Spell checker wouldn't have caught that one. I know what you meant, but you might want to edit to "heard". I have the 900 series of Super Star Karaoke. They aren't bad, especially for female pop. That whole set was actually included as CD+G's that were on my first AceSonic hard-drive/CD+G player.
I don't know Joe, I've had the SGB set for many years and was given the Idol Makers set a few years ago and every song in the Idol Maker set is in the SGB set. While I haven't checked every song, I have run quite a few of them side by side in a dual deck player (VP CDG8000) and they have been note for note, typo for typo the same. The only difference I've found is that the pictures during breaks in the SGB songs were replaced with the Idol Maker logo, other than that, no difference.
Well i honestly don't know which Sweet Georgia brown set is the 'original' one but the set of redish brown discs I have is pretty decent. With a few expeptions *their is a Frank sinatra disc where the lyrics on 'it was a very good year' are all messed up, and these were original factory sealed discs* The only reason I wanted a set of Dangerous discs was because they had a few songs no one else did. I absolutely LOVE zoom, alltho some of their tracks can be a little bass heavy for my personal tastes. If you want to stay current, I would either get a monthly supscription to chartbusters monthly series or just wait til they realease the 'best of' discs for that particular year. I used to have a monthly subscription for Stellar both in pop and in country but found that when I did have a show, maybe only 1% of it was getting sung, if that. I don't mind supercore, and I love the quality of karaoke kurrents for the price, altho i didn't know the plain label discs were fakes, because those are being sold at the local karaoke distributor. Radio Starz is awesome if you can find them, but I stopped using them because I learned that thev never had any licensing AT ALL and were sold completely illegally. The one monster hits disc I have is also really decent. I was never a big fan of Music Maestro altho I DO love the doo wop disc I bought. Intestingly enough pocket songs and stagestars are owned and made by the same company *MMO* but i have several of their discs and they are absolutely first rate. -James
Then you can dump Music Maestro too... those were not licensed. Nor were Dangerous, All Hits, Dr. Music, Top Tunes, Sweet Georgia Brown and a host of others. IN MY OPINION....
