There
are three common Karaoke formats
They all have instrumental tracks with backing singers minus the lead
vocalist (which you perform). Words appear on a TV screen and change colour
to help you keep in time with the music. These discs are known as KARAOKE.
The original format was Laser disc, a 12 inch disc which was often double
sided, but commonly there are 3 formats used today. They are CD size and
known as DVD, VCD and CDG. DVD and VCD have full motion pictures and CDG
has a blue background. All have words appearing on a TV screen to aid
you in singing a song.
Karaoke CDG's
For the English language CDG is the most common format used by professionals
Worldwide. CDG will also play in a normal CD player (sound only). So if
someone was looking for a backing track to be played in a CD player, CDG
would be ideal! CDG is a straight backing track with no multiplex function
to learn a song. Multiplex is where a lead singer is recorded on the disc
which you can switch on to aid you in learning the song. You need a Karaoke
player to utilise the singer on/off function. A Karaoke player will also
have a key changer which will allow you to take the key up or down to
suit your voice. If a CDG disc is played in a normal CD player in will
be in the original key of the singer.
DVD & VCD
have full motion pictures and multi-plex functions
DVD and VCD have full motion pictures in the background and words displaying
on a TV screen. The disc is recorded with a singer and without. Using
the multiplex feature on your player you can bring the singer in to aid
in learning a song, or take the singer off so you are the lead performer.
DVD Karaoke discs often have a menu screen which makes it difficult to
cue up a song for professional users.
What do professional singers use?
The most common format for professional users is CDG, followed by VCD.
The latest songs always seem to come out first on CDG and the recordings
are always very close to the originals.
Spoilt for choice
Everyone has different needs when it comes to music, that's why at LASER
DIRECT we stock all formats. That way you get to choose what you want!
