Not that I am any good at singing, mind you, but isn't that what karaoke is all about? If I can sing like Adam Lambert or God forbid, Justin Bieber, I don't need to go karaoke, do I?
Last December, I went to Loud Speaker Karaoke in Kota Damansara for the very first time.
I usually go Redbox or Neway for my karaoke haunts, but I wanted to try this new kid in town.
The only thing I like about Loud Speaker is their touch screen unit where you can choose and key in the songs you want to sing! You can choose by country, language, top hits, new releases and many other categories!
I opted for language. Look! They have a wide variety of songs in different languages! OK, why is the word "English" spelt as "Englisd"?
OK I admit other karaoke outlets like Neway and Redbox also have all these options but they don't have touch screen units.
My problem with Loud Speaker is that their song selections were not as updated as Redbox or Neway. I tried to select Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are, a relatively new song at that time, but I could not even find Bruno Mars in the male singers category! What a disappointment!
Now Redbox (picture above) may have the most updated songs compared to both Loud Speaker and Neway but I think their service sucks! The counter staff is rude (most of the time) and they like to disable the karaoke machine before your time is up! *
If you have ever been to Redbox buffet, you will know that their food sucks big time! If you are more into singing than eating, my advice is don't go for the buffet.
However, if you are more into eating than singing, then it's better to go to Neway as their food are much better. But seriously, if you are more interested in eating, why bother to go karaoke at all? Haha!!
Nowadays the newer karaoke outlets have wireless microphones. This is great because I hate all those wires hanging around that might cause you to trip over them!
But I hate it when I get screeching sounds from the mike! It's so irritating when I am singing my favourite song! Do you know how to prevent the screeching sound?
I was told that when the microphones and the speakers are too close to each other, they will cause an echo resulting in that loud irritating screech! So the solution is to move the mikes away from the speakers. Problem is, most of the karaoke rooms are too small for this, so perhaps you will need to turn down the sensitivity of the mike.
Well, I tried but it didn't really work!
Ok, I shall mention about the tidbits. Oh yes, I am never ever happy with the tidbits in karaoke outlets!
Now I am not complaining about the quality of the tidbits although they are not of high quality. Whether it is Neway or Redbox (I don't remember Loud Speaker has tidbits!), the tidbits are compulsory. Yes, like it or not, you are charged anywhere between RM12 to RM20 for the tidbits!
So when you enquire about the price, the counter staff will tell you the price per head, but that does not include the price of the tidbits! Why can't they just include everything in the price per head? Many people do not know about these hidden charges until they see the bill.
Would you like to hear me sing? I have recorded a small part of my own singing and would like to share it with you. I'll be singing my favourite Mariah Carey's song of all time, We Belong Together. Let's listen to it, shall we? Click below to play...(now don't puke!!! haha)
So how do you find my singing? Good? Bad? Pukey?
Of course it is not me singing! LOL!! It's actually Mariah Carey herself! But using this amazing iPhone app called Ringtone Maker Pro, I managed to change her voice into a male voice! Haha!!
This is my iPhone screen showing the fun Ringtone Maker Pro app.
Using the original song, I can create a ring tone for my iPhone. But instead of just creating a ring tone of the original song, I can speed up the song or change the pitch higher or lower to suit my fancy!
Notice the "pitch" buttons at the bottom of the screen? Mariah Carey's voice is at the "zero" level. To make her sound like a man, I tuned it down three notches to "minus 3".
That was fun!! Haha! I guess it's too late for April Fool's Day, but I hope you enjoyed this post! Now who wants to go karaoke?
*Based on my experience at Redbox The Curve
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