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For those wanting to play in the Karaoke Party Challenges -- This is your HOTLINE THREAD where I will answer your questions about setting up on the various online karaoke websites, help troubleshoot and so on.
First off, what equipment do you need? Most of us already have ways to line-in sound and/or video to our PCs... But this is a spot where YES, even you "lyrics only" folks can play!
If you have a USB mic (the one that comes with RockBand/Wii games works fine), a plug-in headset you use for Skype, or built-in mic in your computer, any of that will work JUST FINE. Headphones (even just those cheapy ear buds!) are a plus.
We are not concerned with "audio quality" and getting great studio vocals here! Just have fun! And SING! it's good for your soul.
Last edited by Linda Adams; 09/25/11 04:56 AM.
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RECOMMENDED FREE ONLINE KARAOKE SITES: This site says these are the top 20 sites... http://karaoke.nettop20.com/My recommendations: 1) http://www.singsnap.com My favorite is SingSnap, which someone here once sent me to. It is VERY user-friendly with a very supportive and FAST tech support staff to answer all your dumb questions. They do push you to go "Gold" and offer a 10-day free trial of all their perks. Still, they have a good catalog of free songs and a comprehensive catalog of over 10-12,000 songs. Gold is a $12/mo fee, however with slight price break if you pay for 3, 6, or 12 months at a time. Their recorder is easy to use and I am most familiar, personally, with this site. 2) http://www.redkaraoke.comThis one seems to have the highest availability of FREE songs AND the largest comprehensive catalog, at over 400,000 songs. Very easy to set up an account and navigate the site. HOWEVER, it will ONLY RECORD ON WINDOWS MACHINES. If you have a Mac (like I do), you're out of luck. They also offer paid downloads of their backing tracks. And, since I can't record here, I can't offer you as much help/tech support. 3) http://www.thekaraokechannel.com/ This one is pretty simple to walk-thru, make an account and use. About 8000 songs in their library; they offer a 48-hour spin of everything they have for $5 a pop which may be handy at times. They also sell a "basic karaoke kit" with a mic and headset if you have no equipment to record with whatsoever, for $20. There are many more - if you check out the top link - head out and have fun! see what suits you best, and I do recommend trying to keep this as free as possible! Thanks!
Last edited by Linda Adams; 09/25/11 05:17 AM.
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Extra Fun: SoundFlower - is a free app for Mac which can wire you up between GarageBand and/or any other audio program or mixer, and the karaoke site - meaning you can add reverb, compression, EQ or other vocal effects as you record. http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/14067/soundflowerNot for Windows. I don't know of an app that does this for Windows, but you could check into what Audacity does, or if your recording software can export to a Flash player - this is usually what will do the trick. ManyCam - I know some of you know this one already, from Skype or other video apps! It will add video effects to your webcam (if you have one) and interact with the karaoke site; so you can use a still image, give yourself a pair of funny sunglasses or fun frame around the video, or use your own prerecorded video to stream along with the song instead of live vid. http://www.manycam.com/ Windows OR Mac downloads - free. Questions getting anything set up? Confused out at the new websites? Post here! I can take and post detailed screenshots if necessary. LMK. Thanks!
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HOW TO EMBED YOUR PLAYER CODE: FULL THREAD on EMBEDDING: http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthr...ID=lnecqn18u81p457e5tq44oq4i5#Post924538If you already found your HTML CODE for embedding/sharing, that's big, pat yourselves on the back! JPF CHECKLIST: Make a NEW POST - or use QUOTE or REPLY to paste your CODE into the full Edit Window as shown below.
but NOT "Quick Quote" or "Quick Reply" -- these will Fail. FIND THIS BOX under your text box labeled "Markup:" FIRST QUESTION: CAN YOU SEE THIS BOX? SECOND QUESTION: in YOUR "Markup" BOX, do you NOT SEE the "HTML" option?? Several are reporting in that they do NOT HAVE it. Is this the problem?? IF this is the problem = You just need a friend (like me!) to QUOTE your CODE for you, bring it down, CHECK THEIR HTML MARKUP BOX (as above) - delete the [ quote= ] and [/ quote ] parts, and If the CODE IS THERE... your player WILL then show up.PM me with your LINK where you have dropped code & have a problem and I will be happy to drop it down for you and make it work. (see page 1 of the Party Thread) Find any friend posting their embedded player(s) --meaning they found their HTML Markup box - and anyone learning this *should* be happy to oblige those of you who do NOT have the option in your browser or operating system or whatever it is that is not showing up for some of you. OK? We're all in this together! Those that have the Markup HTML option - please help those that don't. Those that don't -- just drop your code in your post and ask for the fix! OK? OK!! If your problem is you didn't SEE the box but you DO have the "Markup" - "Using HTML" button... just try a few more X to learn where it is .... and it won't show up under "EDIT" I figured out... so you have to use QUOTE to pull it down.
Last edited by Linda Adams; 09/26/11 08:24 PM.
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HOW TO TELL IF YOUR COMPUTER CAN EMBED STUFF ON JPF OR NOT: DO you SEE the above options in your drop-down Markup box in the FULL EDIT WINDOW? If THESE are the only options you see - - you can't do it yourself. But you CAN still paste in your CODE and get a FRIEND TO HELP... if you drop the code... someone WITH the right options can convert it for you!! All-righty?
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GLYN ASKED: HOW TO MAKE YOUR PAGES ALL PURTY ON SINGSNAP: (I don't know how to do this anywhere else - sorry - this is SingSnap SPECIFIC only!) ONE: Click the COMMUNITY TAB TWO: Scroll down to this box on the LEFT: THREE: CLICK "SingSnap Themes!" with the little rainbow link. FOUR: You will see this page. Click links to find something you like! FIVE: COPY the "CSS Code" circled in the box directly under the THEME you picked: SIX: PASTE this CODE in either your PROFILE INFO page OR any SONG Page. It has to be the FIRST THING IN THE BOX - no text NADA comes before this code! TO get there, use your "BACK" button to go back to your Account tab: To set your PROFILE page theme, when you click Account it Defaults to your Profile update. Scroll down to this part: PASTE as indicated and click the GREEN UPDATE BUTTON below this text box to SAVE. Voila! To set an INDIVIDUAL SONG PAGE THEME, from Account Tab click Recordings. Click the EDIT icon to the far right (next to the trashcan icon!) to bring up the window - (OR you can copy this CODE and paste it right in AS YOU ARE SAVING YOUR SONG in the Recording Comments text box!) ... change it as often as you like! Bear in mind tho that when you EMBED your player here, we won't see any of your purty stuffs. Just the music player. Only those clicking the link INTO SingSnap will see it. But - that's how! Have fun.
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MORE SINGSNAP TUTORIAL: MANAGE YOUR RECORDINGS. TOP: to FIND THIS PAGE, Click first the ACCOUNT tab, FAR RIGHT. Then the RECORDINGS link, underlined above! the BOXES on the far left allow you to change SETTINGS for many songs at once. I highlighted the EDIT button, your SHARE ICONS, (Private/Members Only/Public!) the Community tab (where the forums & chatrooms are etc) and your INBOX for PMs (Messages!). This page Defaults to Sort by Date: Most RECENT recording. But when you have a lot.... it gets handy to click on: SONG TITLE ARTIST or DATE to help you find a specific recording. THIS SYSTEM WORKS THROUGHOUT SINGSNAP TO SORT ANY SONG SEARCH LISTS. It took me months to figure that one out Now here at the bottom of this page, always!! is your explanation of what all the various ICONS you see mean!Where it says "ACTION FOR SELECTED RECORDINGS" - that drop-down box -- is where you check the BOXES for many songs and can make them all private, all public, all open/not open to duets, etc, everything across left to right you see as options above either Check-Marked in GREEN or MINUSed in RED. GREEN = YES RED = NO for each song, each setting. You MUST set your Party Challenge Entry for the week to PUBLIC for the week it is Active. The following MONDAY you may do as you like with it! Private, trash bin, whatever. But it must stay up ALL WEEK for everyone to hear without having to log in to the site. Thanks!!
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SINGSNAP: THE MIXER This is the page you come to when you have FINISHED RECORDING your song. You may also come BACK to this page from the EDIT screen and re-mix UP TO 30 DAYS. After 30 days, you are stuck with whatever settings you last left up. Click "CTRL +" to enlarge the screen if the text is too small to read on this pic and "CTRL - " to get it back to normal. Sometimes the Mixer Settings don't save right on this site. It's important to LISTEN BACK after saving.... because it can have a mind of its own and although you KNOW your turned your vocals down - you go back in for a remix and find it all on weird settings... no one knows why, but it's a known bug. Good luck!
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SINGSNAP LESSON #3: HOW TO EDIT INDIVIDUAL SONGS There are TWO WAYS to get to your EDIT RECORDING SCREEN. ONE: From your song page URL itself: CLICK "EDIT RECORDING SETTINGS." Ta-da!! Or, TWO: Already described in the posts above: Account/ Recordings/ EDIT ICON (see pics). Either way, you come to THIS PAGE: LIKE SO: Check PUBLIC when posting the song to the Karaoke Party Challenge. The other settings mean -- check YES/NO: Allow Ratings = May others rate you up to 5 Stars on this song? Allow Comments = Want comments on the song page? Track Views = Count how many times it's played? Social Network = Allow anyone to "Like" to Facebook and post it? (or Twitter etc) OPEN DUET = Did you leave part of it "open" unfinished for someone else to duet with you? ALLOW DUETS = Duet I think is a "Gold" feature - but if YES anyone can add a harmony to you or sing along with you if you like, who IS Gold. You can't do them as a "free member" sadly. But you can allow! or not. ALLOW EMBED - we want this to YES for JPF KARAOKE PARTY CHALLENGE! So you can copy the code and embed your player right in the Thread. You can Disable this feature when the week is OVER if you want and it will vanish from the topic here. Then hit UPDATE when you've chosen all your settings! *** I PRESUME there are similar settings at RedKaraoke and the other sites, if you look for them - they all function about the same, though site navigation will vary. Check with the site's HELP desk and support staff - most of these places are reasonably friendly! Happy Singing!
Last edited by Linda Adams; 09/26/11 10:10 PM.
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moving my site recommendations here: RECOMMENDED FREE ONLINE KARAOKE SITES: This site says these are the top 20... http://karaoke.nettop20.com/My top 3 recommendations: 1) http://www.singsnap.com My favorite is SingSnap, which someone here once sent me to. It is VERY user-friendly with a very supportive and FAST tech support staff to answer all your dumb questions. They do push you to go "Gold" and offer a 10-day free trial of all their perks. Still, they have a good catalog of free songs and a comprehensive catalog of over 10-12,000 songs. Gold is a $12/mo fee, however with slight price break if you pay for 3, 6, or 12 months at a time. Their recorder is easy to use and I am most familiar, personally, with this site. 2) http://www.redkaraoke.comThis one seems to have the highest availability of FREE songs AND the largest comprehensive catalog, at over 400,000 songs. Very easy to set up an account and navigate the site. HOWEVER, it will ONLY RECORD ON WINDOWS MACHINES. If you have a Mac (like I do), you're out of luck. They also offer paid downloads of their backing tracks. And, since I can't record here, I can't offer you as much help/tech support. 3) http://www.thekaraokechannel.com/ This one is pretty simple to walk-thru, make an account and use. About 8000 songs in their library; they offer a 48-hour spin of everything they have for $5 a pop which may be handy at times. They also sell a "basic karaoke kit" with a mic and headset if you have no equipment to record with whatsoever, for $20. There are many more - if you check out the top link - head out and have fun! see what suits you best, and I do recommend trying to keep this as free as possible!
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ONE relatively cheap option for getting a mic into your computer, if you don't own anything... However, I DO NOT OWN this equipment ... it just looks reasonable for the $$ - you get 2 dynamic mics with a USB mixer to plug in to either Windows or Mac for $30, $20 if you buy a paid membership on their sponsoring site. http://www.thekaraokechannel.com/online#tag=18yvsz0iimg&page=membership_kit HOWEVER there may be "just as cheap" options out there... this is just one. IF you own RockBand for Wii etc or similar, that USB mic that comes with it WILL plug into your computer! And many out there use headsets similar to what you buy for Skype - or just the built in webcam and/or mic that "comes with" your computer - most newer PCs and Mac have them pre-installed.
Last edited by Linda Adams; 10/04/11 03:55 AM.
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I tried and tried to get RedKaraoke to work tonight from a little Windows Netbook we have -- installed Flash, installed Java... installed my M-Audio FastTrack Pro drivers... yet could not get audio AND video to work. I got one or the other. Very frustrating. Those of you trying it -- all I can say is they seem to have a GREAT catalog of stuff to sing FREE but... it's a pain to work with... IMHO. I'm done trying there for the night... exhausted... G'night and happy singing!
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"If one man can do it, any man can do it. It is true. But the real question is, if one man did it, are you willing to do what it takes to do it as well?" –Brian Austin Whitney
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