Karaoke Forums

Hi there,

I was wondering if any of you here have ever either made, or had someone else make, custom karaoke tracks to songs you can't find. Since I'm a Christian singer, there's sometimes songs (mostly older ones) that I've done this for. I've had these all custom made & have used a variety of sources.

One site I used to use often is called mycustomtracks.com - for about $80 US you can get a pretty decent (not MIDI style either) karaoke track to just about any song you can think of. The downside is A) it can take weeks for them to do this since they have a production list and B) the background vocals are not always right. I worked with them for about 2 years. I had songs made with female background vocals I paid additional for, and they instead used male background vocals. On other songs, I paid for the female vocals and got none. Now they refuse to answer my emails and I have tried multiple times to contact them. They simply will not answer me and I am quite frustrated. I would like to resolve the matter but if they won't contact or respond to me there's nothing I can do...

So as a result of that, I've turned to a few other sites and musicians to have karaoke (or as some call it backing) tracks made. The results range from pretty good to excellent. Only problem is none add background vocals where necessary. If anyone's interested in who I use just ask.

That's my experience....what's yours? Who do you use to create karaoke tracks, or do you make your own? (Not via vocal reduction software.)

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

You get what you paid for and not much else. If all they can get for the money is guys.....Oh well then do it your self....$80 bucks for one track, that's cheep.

I understand that but I paid an additional $40 for female background vocals. If they're not going to provide those they should tell me upfront or refund me. The kicker is that at one time I paid for the female vocals and they DID provide them. But not this time. Oh well, since they won't respond to my emails, messages, or calls what can I do...

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

I should also say that most Karaoke Manus can't make a profit of at lest 2000 units. You what custom over and above that?

(please delete - entered post twice)
See my post below.

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

I don't think you understand.

I paid $80 for the track, and additional $40 for female vocals (in some cases in addition to the male vocals). The male vocals are part of the $80. So on some songs I ordered, I paid for female & male, and on others I paid for male only. Also, I paid additional costs for a couple of more complex songs (about $120 total). In the past I paid for female vocals and got them. But on my last order, on the songs I paid for the female vocals, I did not get what I paid for. They told me they would contact the female singer and have her come in & record the vocals. But it never happened. When I asked them about it they wouldn't answer.

Do you see my point now?

If you know anything about mycustomtracks.com they create custom tracks all the time as well as regular karaoke and then resell them (unless you pay extra for exclusivity). The quality isn't that bad for the price. Please note I am only saying they are sometimes dishonest about charging customers for services they fail to provide.
I understand they don't make much of a profit from doing this. So do they. After all, they don't have to provide this service. They have chosen to do so. It's not like I contacted a karaoke manufacturer or recording studio and said, "I want a track made to a song for dirt cheap." Nor did I haggle or bargain with them. I'm not a cheapskate. The price I mentioned is their price for a standard song. I would gladly pay more for a track to be a made and in fact I have by other sites.

I'm sorry, but I do not feel I'm being demanding or unreasonable. I understand that good music costs money. I hope you don't think I am just some dummy who likes to sing but knows nothing about the cost of music production. I am well aware of the costs. I purchased over $3,000 worth of tracks from this company. So I understand about quality, profits, production costs, time, money, etc. I'm not stupid (even tho you might think otherwise).

I understand your points, but I hope I've cleared things up.

Anyway...to get back on topic to my question: Have you or anyone else had any songs custom made for you, and if so who did you use?

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

What songs out of curiosity have you had made - that you actually paid for?

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

All of it is Contemporary Christian music.

For instance, I had mycustomtracks create tracks by:

Susan Ashton (Innocence Lost, Alice In Wonderland)
Nichole Nordeman (In Your Love, Real To Me, Take Me As I Am)
Kim Hill (Satisfied)
Watermark (Still, Made For You)
Wendy & Mary (Around The Walls)
Mark Farner (Give Me The Works)
Ginny Owens (All I Want To Do)
Keith Green (Song To My Parents (I Only Want To See You There))

Some of these tracks can be found for purchase on Amazon, and backingtracks.tv

After mycustomtracks stopped answering my emails for requests I had to turn to other sources. I've had tracks made to stuff by ppl in the UK and Europe. Two of my faves I had done were "Grace" by Laura Story and "Every Single Tear" by Scott Krippayne.

More recently I finally was able to afford a custom made track to "Your Love Is A Song" by Switchfoot. My budget's been pretty tight lately but this time I was able to afford having a few more tracks made. The guy who did it for me only charged $65, but if he'd asked for more I would've paid it. It's a song I really love and tried to find a track to unsuccessfully.

I've sung many of the songs I had made in churches & other functions. The others I sing for fun.

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

I've used that site before a few times and there was one track I was unhappy with the finished product, but they wouldn't correct it. The others were acceptable.

I did ask them recently if they create lead vocal tracks, and he (Nico) said no. The only time they stopped answering email was the one track I was unhappy with above.

Wow....glad to know I'm not the only one who's had trouble with them.
I placed an order for a track where female vocals were required. They said there's a $40 fee for that in addition to the $80, so I paid it. But what did they do? Put male vocals an octave too low in the track instead. (For the record, I understand if they only have male vocalists, but I'd placed previous orders for tracks with female vocals and gotten exactly that.) I would love to do more business with them, but they refuse to talk to me. IMO that's sad and no way to run a business.

So apparently, they must stop answering your emails if you are displeased with your track or when they fail to provide a service and you inquire about it.

I use several different ppl now to help me with getting tracks made. Matt Adcock is one, he has samples on Soundcloud also. His site is http://www.custom-madebackingtracks.com/

He's made a few tracks for me (he doesn't do background vocals but that's ok) and the results are pretty good.

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)

In all fairness to Nico, you ordered, he provided. Even though the final product was not up to your expectation (nor mine), it wasn't as if he ripped us off and did not provide anything. Perhaps to him and others the tracks were of "reasonable" or "acceptable" quality.

I would be upset if nothing was delivered. I'm simply disappointed that the final product was of substandard quality (in my opinion). Some of his work is really quite excellent, and others he dropped the ball.

For female background vocals, I'm surprised he didn't use Vocaloid. I'm sure that would have been much more acceptable.

I understand what you're saying, and I agree. They seem to do fairly well with songs that have basic instruments and keyboards. I just wish I could find a site where I could have some 80s Christian tunes with their unique "80s sound" turned into karaoke tracks. Ah well....

Now back to my question ...I would like to know if anyone here has tried other sites as I have, and how did you like the results? As I said I've had Matt Adcock create some excellent tracks for me. Another great site is

http://www.backingtrackforsingers.com/index.html

They produce custom tracks fairly quickly and for reasonable prices. They use synthesizers but the sound definitely isn't cheezy. I've already ordered twice from there and plan to order more when the funds are available. There's also a section with "references" featuring tracks to songs they've made.

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Love & prayers, Lynda :)