Karaoke recordings that don't suck?
July 14, 2012 2:52 PM   Subscribe

Are there commercially available karaoke recordings that aren't shoddy re-recordings, often using synth instruments? Is that what they use at karaoke bars, and I've just never noticed?

I'm looking to buy karaoke tracks for an at-home karaoke birthday party I'm planning, and I can't seem to find any that aren't pretty immediately recognizable as not the original recording of the song. Is this the way with all karaoke recordings, even the ones used at karaoke bars, and I've just never noticed?

If there aren't any karaoke labels that license the original recording, are there at least some whose sound-alike renditions are of higher quality?
posted by patnasty to Media & Arts (9 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Guitar hero backing tracks?
posted by modernserf at 2:53 PM on July 14, 2012


What type of music are you after? I'm not aware of any karaoke that uses the original tracks, but I find a lot of it is pretty good quality.
for example, Legends series
posted by canoehead at 3:34 PM on July 14, 2012 [1 favorite]


I know for a fact that Queen released some of their hits without Freddie's vocals for karaoke use. Other bands have done that as well, but they may be limited edition/hard to find kinda things.
posted by thrasher at 4:11 PM on July 14, 2012


Every time I've done karaeoke, it's been second rate re-recordings of the tracks.

I've definitely heard some that are pretty bad.

I think the idea is that you're too drunk to notice/care.
posted by Sara C. at 4:29 PM on July 14, 2012


For jazz, sure there are, I asked a very similar question. Aebersold Play-A-Longs kick ass.
posted by StrikeTheViol at 6:53 PM on July 14, 2012


There are definitely high-quality karaoke tracks out there. But I think the main reason you don't hear them too often is because of past digital storage space limitations. An mp3 or similar compressed audio file generally takes up 2-3 megabytes of space. Multiply that by 50,000 songs and you're talking about a lot of disk space! Granted, modern hard drives can handle that, but 15 years ago that would have been more burdensome.

By storing karaoke files as MIDI (essentially digital sheet music) and synthesizing the sound at play time, you get lower quality audio, but save a lot of space and/or bandwidth (depending on the technology involved in your karaoke experience). I suspect that that's at least one big reason why karaoke was initially done that way, and there hasn't been much of a push to change things in recent years.

It's also cheaper and easier to transcribe a song into MIDI format than it is to have a band perform and record it.

FWIW though, many Japanese CD singles come with a track that contains a karaoke studio recording of the song in question, as do some American CDs. I believe Monica's "The Boy is Mine" is one such single.
posted by Vorteks at 7:16 PM on July 14, 2012


Best answer: My friends with the karaoke rig like the "Sound Choice" series, but even those vary in how close they sound to the original. Modernserf is right about Guitar Hero tracks, they're very very close to original sound.

Amazon sells some karaoke tracks in their mp3 department, at least there you can hear samples.
posted by tomboko at 7:54 PM on July 14, 2012


ahem, [cough] youtube, jdownloader, search term "song title", karaoke, check several till you find the one with the original music [clears throat] oh, look, something over there! (hides youtube under overcoat, sneaks back into dark alley)
posted by messiahwannabe at 11:57 PM on July 14, 2012


Response by poster: Not only were Sound Choice's re-recordings were head-and-shoulders better than any of the ones I'd checked out before, but I totally recognize the logo and song title page as the one used by one of my favorite karaoke bars. Thanks!
posted by patnasty at 7:59 PM on July 15, 2012 [1 favorite]


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