A Home Karaoke Machine Makes For a Great Party

It’s Karaoke time! If you’re watching a movie in a theater and hearing a song that you like, or even if you’re just sitting on the couch doing nothing but munching on popcorn, you’ve probably experienced some form of karaoke. It is an informal kind of singing, usually performed at restaurants, bars, nightclubs, in schools, and at parties. If you sing in public, it’s not uncommon to get calls from people asking you where you learned to karaoke.

One version of karaoke (Korean karaoke) involves the performers talking to each other in a tone-based language that cannot be fully understood by the human ear. This form of singing is sometimes called live karaoke, as well. In this setting, the performers are sitting or standing, making use of a machine to emit tones into the microphone that are interpreted by the performers. You might see karaoke played at clubs, at open mic nights, and at birthday parties. Karaoke is also often featured during sports events.

A machine that makes it possible for people to perform karaoke has been invented by the Japanese. In Japan, karaoke songs are sung by amateurs, sometimes by children who know the words to the songs but not the rhythms, while others are performed by grownups. Karaoke is becoming popular in North America, too, as people enjoy the exuberance and energy of the vocals that they get when they take the karaoke machines along to their favorite bars or clubs. On a recent visit to the Los Angeles area, I saw several young women enjoying themselves with the machine as they sang along to songs like, “When You’re Gone, Something Blue” by The Eagles.

As was my intuition, the machine did a good job of remembering the words to those songs and timing their singing so that they were apt to match the rhythm, which was often tight. But it was the talent that the women had that made it happen. The guys sitting in front of the karaoke machine seemed to be having the time of their lives, and the woman next to me was happily dancing around the room with laughter. It was obvious to me that these people were enjoying the song with the machine just as much as the actual singer was enjoying herself.

When you go to karaoke houses where there are actually karaoke machines, you can get your own machine, or you can try to rent one. My friend ended up renting a machine because she really liked the way it sounded, and it was very easy to use. She said that she didn’t have to stand at one end of the bar to hit the button to sing, and she could move her head to look at the words if she wanted to.

I did end up spending quite a bit on the karaoke machine in my travels. When I finally got my hands on one for a decent price, I figured that I would give it away to someone who really needed one but had no way to afford it. My friend’s friend has gotten great use out of it and has been telling me all about how great the machine is. It’s definitely one of the best home karaoke methods out there. I may even end up getting one of my own!