Get the party started with karaoke
Use your computer to host a singalong celebration
By Heather Camlot
Have you ever dreamed of singing before an audience, the applause deafening, your face glistening from the emotion you poured into your performance? It may be time to give karaoke a try.
“I never really thought I would like karaoke when I first stepped onto the stage and sang in front of an audience, of whom 95 per cent were strangers,” admits Hsiang Fei Lu, an assistant registrar at the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies in Toronto. “But I felt like I accomplished a lot. And I guess that’s why people like it — it’s like a quick workout on your confidence.”
If you want to give karaoke a try but aren’t ready to perform in the company of strangers, why not entertain and amuse your friends this holiday season with a karaoke party at home. Although getting started can be a little time-consuming, setting up a karaoke system through your computer is fairly easy and definitely worthwhile.
Set up your system
Step 1: Set up a karaoke station in your family room where interested vocalists can sing in front of fellow party guests. Hook up your computer or laptop along with any necessary speaker equipment. For authenticity, purchase karaoke DVDs which will display the lyrics on your computer screen, accompanied by special effects. Many karaoke CDs come with a songbook if you don’t want to manually enter the lyrics.
The Party Tyme Karaoke Series, available in CD and DVD formats through Amazon.ca, has great tunes to croon to, such as John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. For the kids, pick up Disney’s Karaoke Series: Disney’s Greatest Hits CD which includes “Never Smile at a Crocodile” and “Under the Sea.”
To manually add lyrics to the songs from rented CDs or from your own collection, proceed to Step 2.
Add your own lyrics
Step 2: Launch Windows Media Player, click on Library > Music, find and highlight the song you want, and right-click to select Advanced Tag Editor. Within the Lyrics section, click Synchronized Lyrics at the bottom of the window.
Step 3: In the Description area, click Add then Edit to name your selection, such as Kid’s Karaoke or Standards. Make sure the language is set to English and the content type set to Lyrics.
Step 4: Now comes the fun. There are two ways to add lyrics. If you know the timing in hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds — you can figure this out by watching the scroll bar as the song plays in the Windows Media Player screen — under Timeline you can simply click Add, type in the time and then key in the lyrics (under Value). Otherwise, play the song in the Synchronized Lyrics window and drag the visual indicator bar to the time you want the lyrics to begin. Repeat Step 4 until you’ve added all the lyrics. If you aren’t sure of the words, try Lyrics.com.
Step 5: When done, click OK, Apply and OK. Back at the Windows Media Player window, click on Now Playing in the toolbar; then select More Options > Security > Show Local Captions When Present.
Get ready to sing
Step 6: In the Now Playing tab, make sure the visualization screen appears (go to > Visualizations to select one). Now, clear your throat, complete your vocal exercises and hit Play. At the appropriate time, as set by you, the lyrics will appear and you can belt it out with the best of them.
Depending on how your home stereo equipment is set up with your computer system, you can get surround sound to enhance your karaoke experience. Plug one end of a mini Y-connector into your computer’s headphone jack and the other ends into your stereo’s audio-in lines.
If this all sounds like a little too much work for your enjoyment or for a small gathering, do not worry. The Karaoke Revolution video game series, available on Xbox, is another great karaoke machine substitute.
