Karaoke Forums

Hi, I like browsing this forum, and this is my first post.

I'm a singer and would somehow like to have my wife record me at bars when I sing. Currently we use an old, small Panasonic cassette tape recorder that doesn't sound real great (somewhat garbled) but at least gives me SOME idea of how I sounded.

Recently I tried using a digital voice recorder and I really liked how I could hook up the USB cable to my PC to transfer things to the computer and listen there.

But a big problem seemed to be that the digital VOICE recorder was somehow OPTIMIZED to record speaking voices and it thus seemed to pick up conversations at the adjoinging tables better than my singing karaoke.

Another option I considered but haven't yet tried is a digital video recorder and just use the sound feature of it.

So does anyone have any ideas on some kind of portable (hopefully digital) device I can take to be able to hear how I sang?

Thanks in advance!

I had customers with the same request and told them to bring a recorder and I would just plug it into my mixer's Tape Out connections for them, that way they would get a nice clean recording. Ask your KJ, you have no for an answer, but you can always get a yes!

AllStar (Tony),

Thanks for the reply! You sound like one cool KJ, although I must admit I'd be a little shy to ask that of someone (to hook in with their KJ system to record myself).

I'm from the St. Louis area too (Jeffco).

Checked out your Web site, and you and Shirley CAN SING ("She's More," "Your Song," "Summer Nights," "Moondance"...)!

And BTW I think your current avatar (the axeman) looks nothing like your Web site (smooth and mellow)!

I agree with Allstar. I would just ask your local kj that you want to record yourself and what's the best way to do it.

I have tape out on my equipment as well... very easy to hook up a cassette recorder, cd recorder, or digital workstation.

There are some good mp3 recorders as well... you might be able to get a rca interface that would hook up to something like that.

Is that legal to do.....................

for home use, yes, it applies to the fair use act. It's no different than recording yourself on a video cam, or whatever. As long as it's NOT for commercial useage on the owner of the video.

See Knightshow's response... for personal use - legal.

Not legal for the KJ to charge to do it (but they can refuse) or to submit as a demo or use to recruit for professional work (mechanical reproduction and other licensing applies - SC charges $150 for this PER TRACK).


I've recorded myself at shows before. I use a small minidisc player and just have them record the entire show so they don't have to remember to start the recorder later. I listen later, set track points, delete the 'fluff', and then record back onto my PC (new mini-disc player will let you transfer from mini back to pc). This way I know I get my singing, I can listen to others that do a good job or even give them their songs later on a cd. A minidisc holds a couple hours worth of music (new one holds far more though!) so I can get at least a couple songs in that time frame.

Another possibility is to use a directional mic and point it at a speaker. Most recording devices use an omnidirectional mic and will pick up everything around them. Use a decent mic and point it at the speaker while you're recording would do wonders if the KJ won't hook up recording equipment for you.

Thank you all for the ideas!