Bendigo Live's HOW TO MAKE KARAOKE

Pathway: www.bendigolive.com/tutor/createkaraoke.htm

CREATING MIDI KARAOKE FILES

FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW TO EASILY CREATE MIDI KARAOKE

If you haven't already, you should read the overview page first. This gives an explanation of what's needed to make a MIDI karaoke file.

<< MAKING KARAOKE

Assuming you already have your lyrics and MIDI file, follow the steps below.

STEP ONE: Start up the WinKaraoke Creator program and open up your MIDI file.

STEP TWO: Open up your lyrics file as well or have it printed out and handy.

In this example, I am using Last Kiss lyrics & music downloaded from Bendigo Live.

STEP THREE: Start editing your karaoke file

HOW TO EDIT YOUR FILES

Using the scroll bars situated along the bottom, you can scroll to the left & right of your MIDI file.
Start scrolling to the right until you see the first beats. This will be where your music starts.

Each beat determines an instrument and note to play. You need to attach the right words to the correct note of the tune. Wherever you place a word, it will appear at that point of the song.

The words in my song start within the first beat or two which gives me an easy reference to start so I just look for the first beat and start there.

HOW TO ADD YOUR WORDS

Find your starting point; The starting point will be different for every song, some songs start singing straight away and some have a longer musical intro. You may need to scroll through quite a few notes before adding in your word or click on play to listen to the song. In this way you can determine where the words should go.

Find the note which times your first word and right-click on the note. It should turn red.

Click on "Add Lyric" and once saved, the word will now be permanently attached to that note.

STEP FOUR: Start adding in your words.

STEP FIVE: Keep adding in your words.

KEEP ADDING IN YOUR WORDS

It's okay if you add a word in the wrong place as it is easy to get rid of it. Right-click on the note, click on "Clear Lyric" and it's gone.

Once you've got your starting point, keep adding in the words. Right-click on the next likely note, type in the word and click on add lyric.
Keep doing this until you have at least 10 or more words (not the complete song) down.

My song starts singing early so I'm starting at the 1st big note. I've simply assumed this is where it starts and I will keep going until I have 10 or so words down. Then I will save it.

HOW TO PROPERLY SAVE YOUR FILE

USE "SAVE AS" WHEN FIRST SAVING:
When you first want to save your MIDI file, be sure to use the "SAVE AS" command and then note where your saving the file and/or type in a new name for your file.

If you try to save over the file you originally opened, it will give a runtime error and close itself immediately without allowing you to save. Once you've done this, you can just use SAVE.

I suggest you use the "SAVE AS" command after the 10th word has been added and then use "SAVE" after each consecutive 10 words or so.

STEP SIX: Save your file often.

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END

Once completed, it doesn't really matter whether you save as a .kar file or a .mid file but for your own sake saving as a .kar file lets you easily see that it is the karaoke version of the song.

If you've used these instructions properly, you should be ready to start your brand new hobby. Here's my completed file
-=Pearl Jam's - Last Kiss=-

I hadn't used this program for over 2 years. It took me around 4 hours to complete this song but I think with practice I could narrow that down to 2 if and when time allows me to make some more.

It's a great time-filler & a great way to interact with your computer. If you find it fun, I would really appreciate any of the following songs "Karaokied".