All Event and "Bar Night" Organizers Only!!

[LiquidKourage]

One solution to your songbook issue might be to create custom header/footer overlays and make copies of the printouts using the overlays to cover whatever you don't like. It might be a minor PITA, but probably the easiest fix.

As far as in-game audio settings: I actually leave the effects on, about a 5 on the scale. It's nice to hear the game noises, and at a low enough level, it's not distracting in my experience. Though, I can totally see your point about muting them.

About the mics I suggested... Sure, you could use the USB mic, but I HATE the way it sounds at a high volume level. There's a very noticeable delay (due to signal processing) that can throw players off. I strongly recommend you have the vocal track muted (or very close) for optimal impact. It's kind of a given based on my background; my performers are used to having to sing without a guide track. Anyway, it's really hard to consistently optimize the sensitivity and volume controls in-game to achieve a good sound, and when the singer activates OD, the "effect" that the game inserts sounds atrocious through a PA.

So, what I do is take a wireless microphone, split the output, connect one end to my mixer, and the other end to an adapter that plugs into the console. From there, I turn the mic sensitivity in-game to about a 3 (your mileage may vary), and vocal and mic volumes to 0. The nice thing is, the game picks up my mic perfectly, and I have all the control in the world over mic gain, level, and a large array of effect options. Granted, you could get away with a single modded mic, but it's cumbersome to keep transferring the mic from host to performer and back. Plus, once alcohol is involved, you don't want some yahoo having sole ability to talk through your PA. I really recommend a dedicated MC mic, preferably wireless so that you aren't tied to your sound gear during the show. It's all about presentation, after all.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

I've seen a lot of karaoke songbook formats in my day, and I have to disagree. I feel the layout of the web printout is pretty good, to be honest. It's clean, simple, and displays difficulties in a clean format. It's not perfect by any means, but it could definitely be worse

Okay, I've never been to the site you guys are talking about, but I will give you some of my gold. I do my songbook's in Excel, took awhile initially to input all that data (and if someone actually wants to pay me for that data I will be happy to oblige) but once you have your main database, pretty easy to add your new downloads every few weeks. Here's a link to a sample of how my book looks http://www.toddwadefilms.com/rockban...lesongbook.pdf

I do one list by songs, and then another by band alphabetically.

[YRDaddy]

I also use Excel sheets. I've been keeping a book going since RB1 first came out. I don't go into the whole "difficulty" section though. I always felt that it might turn some people away from doing their favorite song just because the book tells them it is difficult. Besides, no fail is always on and every song is easy on easy difficulty ! I seperate songs by Band, Song Title, and Decade (I can't tell ya how many people look straight for the 80's stuff).

[Ravaana]

I do my lists in Open Office, and save it as an excel document. We use three, though. One by Song, Band, and Recent additions. But the thought of adding the instrument difficulties never really occurred to me. Since No fail is on, and people can just get up there to have fun it seemed kind of redundant.

I don't know,

I will add some difficulties in a few lists, just to see what the reactions of the patrons will be. I think it will only make a differance with the regulars, however.

[Zoologico]

Take this with a grain of salt as I have yet to host one of these, but in an effort to get as many people to be open minded about trying it, I will not be printing any difficulty information.

The previous point about NO FAIL and the fact that they select their own difficulty seems to reduce its value.

So hopefully, this is something that I can contribute to you that have given so much already.

If you want to get professional looking booklets made, there is a company called mimeo.com. It is all done electronically and is all proofed online as well so you see what it will look like. You handle the formatting, they handle the printing and binding.

Their prices are reasonable for the service they provide and I have used them extensively over the past 5 or so years for other professional work.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not associated with them other than being a customer.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

I have had a few requests to sort the songs by decade as well, and I will probably do that soon. Currently I have four full books going with about 20 pages each, which is why the 'recently dowloaded' is very handy. As for the instrument ratings, I have a lot of players who, while on no fail mode, still use that to select their playing level, particularly those who are working on moving from m*edi*um to h*ar*d on gui*tar (they were bleeping these words the other day, still don't know why).

[Zoologico]

particularly those who are working on moving from m*edi*um to h*ar*d on gui*tar (they were bleeping these words the other day, still don't know why).

LOL
Technically we're not supposed to tell you why.

[Calendyr]

These words are for experts, you are probably not there yet Ok jokes aside, I am at a lost too... these words should not trigger any bells.

I think that doing the booklet in excel allows for the most flexibility. I am not sure about putting difficulty levels either... It could scare people away. Putting a note for very difficult songs like the ones from Metallica might be a good idea though. I can imagine someone going on stage for the first time and missing 80% of the notes and not want to repeat the experience

[TheKitchenMan]

This is something my friend and I have been thinking about starting up at a local bar. We wanted to have a 42" monitor for the singer and guitarists, smaller display for the drummer, and a projector for the house to watch. What do you guys use to divide the video signal?

[YRDaddy]

This is something my friend and I have been thinking about starting up at a local bar. We wanted to have a 42" monitor for the singer and guitarists, smaller display for the drummer, and a projector for the house to watch. What do you guys use to divide the video signal?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2783643

The great thing about using this splitter is that if you flip the switch on your component cable that comes with the xbox from HDTV to Standard, and then plug in both the component (red, blue, green) and the composite (yellow) into this splitter, you can use all 8 outputs on the distributer for video. As I mentioned before, nobody in a bar setting is going to notice that your not using HDTV. Hell... they are just colored rectangles anyways, how much HDTV do you need to see them The only bad thing about using this splitter is that it doesn't seem very durable. I'm on my 3rd one in 10 months. It's been worth it so far though. Later!