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Chapter 5

Music Equipment Made Simple

You need to get to know the electronic equipment in the karaoke system. Knowing how to use the equipment effectively is one more way to empower you to sing better.

Karaoke technology makes it possible for you to:

1. Present your singing with the support of well orchestrated, and well played music.

2. Control the "track" that plays along with you while you sing.

3. Have the words of the songs appear on a screen while you sing.

 

Let's look at each component of the karaoke system.

 

The Microphone

This device makes it possible to greatly increase the loudness of your voice so that a large number of people can hear you. Without it, the background music would drown you out. The microphone accomplishes this by changing the sounds of your voice into electrical impulses.

At the top of the "mike" is a small metal screen into which you sing. The screen prevents anything from entering the electronic devices inside. Behind the screen is a thin piece of metal that vibrates when the sound of your voice hits it. Next are devices that turn the vibrations into electrical impulses. The wire coming out of the other end brings the impulses to an "amplifier."

Some microphones are wireless (chordless). This means that the impluses are sent by a small radio transmitter inside the mike, through the air, to a small receiver connected to the amplifier.

 

The Amplifier

The amplifier greatly increases (amplifies) the strength of the electrical impulses arriving from the microphone. It also makes it possible for us to adjust the tone of the impulses by filtering out certain parts of them. This is called "tone control," and you can see the knobs for the bass and treble ("low" and "high").

The amplifier then sends the amplified impulses to the speakers.

 

The Speakers

The speakers take the amplified impulses arriving from the amplifier and turn them back into the sounds we hear. They are made of cardboard that vibrates the air around them. These vibrations of air are the sounds that you hear.

 

Echo Devices

Most singers use an echo device. Echo devices record the sounds you make, and immediately play them back while you sing. This causes sounds to be rapidly repeated. The result sounds as if you were in a large building, or in the mountains. This gives a "big space echo" sound that improves your singing. It does this by calling the listener's attention to the echo effects, and away from the details of your voice.

The echo device is connected (interfaced) between the microphone and the amplifier.

 

The Audio/Video Compact Disk Player

The track is the recorded music you sing along with. It is a band or orchestra recorded on a compact disk, a cassette tape, or a phonograph record. The disk has millions of numbers on it that stand for each of the sounds. These numbers are transferred from the disk by a device known as a "decoder." The decoder translates each number to the sound it stands for. Some of the numbers are for the words on a video screen. The device in which all this happens is called an audio/video compact disk player. This device is the heart of the karaoke equipment setup.

Once the sounds are decoded from the numbers on the compact disk, they are sent to the amplifier. The amplifier, the device that increases the strength (volume) of the sounds, also makes possible changes in the tone of the music on the track. For example, you might want to have the low tones of the bass stand out more than the high tones of the treble. This is the same tone control you have with any radio or stereo system.

 

The Key Changer

This is a very helpful device for the karaoke singer. The key changer, or pitch controller, as it is sometimes called, takes the numbers from the compact disk and changes them in such a way that they will all be made to sound equally higher or lower.

You might find, for example, that you are unable to sing along with the track because your voice can't reach the highest notes of the song. The key changer can lower all of the notes on the track so that you will not have to strain your voice. This means that it has lowered the "key" for you. This is one of the biggest secrets in this book. If you plan to enter contests, knowing the key changer is a must. (See Chapter 6.)

 

Mixers

A mixer enables you to control how loud your voice is (the volume), and, at the same time, how loud the track is. For example, you might want to have your voice more hidden by the track, so you would lower the volume of your mike, and raise the volume of the track. On the other hand, you might want your voice to stand out more, so you would lower the volume of the track and raise the mike volume. This is similar to controlling the amounts of the ingredients in a recipe.

 

The Karaoke Equipment Setup

In a basic system there are three separate channels (paths). Through the first channel, the audio/video compact disk player sends the track music to the key changer. After the key changer, the track is sent to the mixer. The mixer has a number of channels, each with a volume control. With a mixer, you can control the volume and tone of each channel in the system.

While the track plays, your singing is sent through its own path from the microphone, to the echo device, to the mixer. This enables you to separately raise or lower the volume of the track, and to raise or lower the volume of your singing. By doing this, you blend your voice with the track in such a way that you are not much louder than the track, but not too soft either. From the mixer, the blend of the track and your voice is sent to the amplifier and speakers.

While all this is going on, the words are sent on their own channel directly from the disk player to a video screen. Sometimes other video images are sent to the screen along with the words. These might be a music video that goes along with the song, or live video of you singing.

 

Digital Processes

All of the equipment, with the exception of the microphone, contains some sort of computer processing, known as "digital processing."

When sounds or electrical impulses are translated into numbers, the process is called "digital processing." In fact, the word "digital" means "number." When the numbers are changed back into sounds (decoded) in the audio video compact disk player or in the key changer, these are also digital processes.

Computers, which are devices for digital processing, make possible the extremely complicated processes involved in a karaoke setup. The future, no doubt, holds even more digital wonders for the singer.