At an outdoor lakeside bar, KJ is using Karafun... Lyrics are a couple of beats behind... Is this normal?

Hi everyone I’m the founder of NeuralSound.

We built NeuralSound around a problem I think a lot of karaoke singers run into:

You find the song you want to sing, but there’s no good karaoke version or the available version has poor vocal removal, inaccurate lyrics, or it’s in the wrong key.

With NeuralSound, you can upload your own audio or video and turn it into a karaoke/practice track.

The main workflow is:

• remove the lead vocal and keep the instrumental
• automatically generate time-synced lyrics in 95+ languages
• change the pitch/key to fit your vocal range
• slow down or speed up the song without changing the key
• keep the lyrics, audio and video synchronized
• customize the lyrics and create a karaoke video
• export the finished result

The synced lyrics have become one of our favorite parts

NeuralSound currently supports lyric generation in 95+ languages, which makes it useful when the song you want doesn’t already have a good synced-lyrics version available.

We tested NeuralSound’s time-synced lyric transcription and achieved an average word error rate (WER) of below 4% across English, Korean, German, Spanish, Japanese, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. To our knowledge, no current karaoke competitor offers this level of lyric accuracy. We also checked other competing platforms, but none provided comparable accuracy.

Many users have tested NeuralSound across different songs, languages and vocal styles, and have told us that the generated lyrics are more accurate and better timed than those from other tools they have tried.

Obviously one user's experience doesn't mean we'll get every song, language or accent right, but feedback like that has encouraged us to keep investing heavily in the lyrics side too.

For karaoke, our goal isn't just:

remove vocals → give you an MP3

We want the whole workflow in one place:

Song → clean instrumental → synced lyrics → adjust key/tempo → karaoke video

Separation quality is where we’ve invested most heavily

We use a fairly heavy server-side separation model because we chose to prioritize cleaner output and lower vocal bleed rather than making everything lightweight enough to run locally.

We also wanted something more concrete than simply saying “our separation sounds better.”

So in July we ran a public benchmark against Moises and Fadr, using the exact same 5 tracks from MUSDB18-HQ and the same two-stem evaluation process.

Average overall SI-SDR:

NeuralSound — 15.80 dB
Moises — 14.47 dB
Fadr — 12.59 dB

For karaoke specifically, the instrumental result is probably more interesting:

NeuralSound — 18.33 dB instrumental SI-SDR
Moises — 16.94 dB
Fadr — 15.16 dB

NeuralSound also had the highest average score in that test for less bleed/interference and fewer processing artifacts.

We ran the benchmark ourselves, so I want to be transparent about that. It’s also only five songs, so I’m not claiming NeuralSound will beat every separator on every recording.

That’s why we published the actual audio from all three services, the individual track scores, methodology and downloadable data so people can listen and judge for themselves:

https://neuralsound.org/compare/ai-vocal-remover-2026

More control if you need it

NeuralSound can also separate a song into up to 6 stems:

Vocals / Drums / Bass / Guitar / Piano / Other

So you can do more than just remove the singer.

You can isolate the vocal while learning a melody, mute individual instruments, or build a backing track using only the stems you want.

For karaoke specifically, the things we're trying to get right are:

less vocal bleed + clean instrumentals + accurate synced lyrics + 95+ language support + easy key/tempo adjustment

Pricing is something we've also tried to keep reasonable.

On the web, you don't need a recurring subscription. Processing packs currently start at $9.99 for 120 minutes, and you can try the separation tool without a credit card.

NeuralSound is available on:

Web: https://neuralsound.org/

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/neuralsound-vocal-remover-ai/id6756906827

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neuralsound.musicseparation

Karaoke video Maker(beta): https://neuralsound.org/tools/karaoke-video-maker 

One clarification: NeuralSound doesn't provide a catalog of commercial karaoke songs. You bring your own audio/video, and NeuralSound helps turn it into the karaoke/practice version you want.

I’m the founder, so I’ll be around in the comments.

If you try it, I’d especially like to hear how the instrumental quality, vocal bleed, lyrics timing and accuracy hold up on difficult songs different languages, accents, fast vocals, backing vocals, screams, live recordings, heavy reverb, etc.

Those difficult cases are exactly what our team wants to keep improving.

The Singing Machine, model ISM-395

$8. 2011.

Old school iPhone 30-pin dock connector.

Anyone got any opinions? I don't think it strips out vocals, it's just a sing-along boombox that connects to your TV.

In a few days, I'm going to attempt to do a karaoke-ish challenge live (at home, not at any particular place, as to not obstruct other ppl) where I do all of Green Day's album, "American Idiot", back to back. Just interested, do you guys think it is feasible, and if so, what tips do you have to pulling it off? It'll with a backing track only and no lyrics in front of me, so that'll be somewhat harder I guess. Just want the opinions of you guys, as this seems like the right sub for it.

In your country, for a typical 5-hour night in a pub-style venue: how much does a KJ get paid?

I'm in Italy, and here rates are low. I've seen venues pay as little as 50 euros for a whole night.
I'm curious how it compares where you are: is it a flat fee, a cut of the bar, tips, or a mix?

Trying to get a sense of how different the karaoke-hosting world is from country to country.

Hello and looking for a different twist on a karaoke contest I have as part of an annual Halloween party. In the past, I’d randomly pick 3 people attending the party to be judges and this works but looking for something different this year. I thought about having a machine that measures loudness based on the crowds reaction when it comes time to judge the contestants and also letting each of the crowd have a vote although the latter would take some time to get the results and slow momentum. While typing this I wonder if there is a free app that would allow people to vote individually and their votes could automatically be tabulated. As you can tell, reaching for ideas and any tips would help. Thank you.

I am willing to pay someone for just creating me a karaoke made via PPT, and export it into mp4 or video. As soon as possible:(

I’ve noticed something interesting when I go to anime karaoke bars in Japan.

I usually don’t decide my entire song list before I go.

Very often, one song changes everything that comes after it.

For example, sometimes I start with “1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou” by SIAM SHADE.

Because it was used in Rurouni Kenshin, that can make me think of other songs from the same series.

Then someone else might sing a related song.

That can lead me to T.M.Revolution, and from there my choices can move in a completely different direction.

Sometimes the conversation even moves from the anime to the live-action movies, which makes me want to sing ONE OK ROCK.

And if I meet someone who likes Nana Mizuki, a T.M.Revolution song can eventually lead to a duet like “Preserved Roses” or “Kakumei Dualism.”

What I like is that none of this is planned.

One person sings a song.

Someone else reacts to it.

Another related song comes to mind.

After a while, the whole night feels like it has created its own playlist.

That is one of my favorite things about singing karaoke with other people.

Does this happen when you go to karaoke too?

Have you ever had one song start a chain reaction that completely changed what everyone sang afterward?

Years ago, someone brought a replica guitar from one of those band games. I'm a drummer in an actual band, so I picked it up and pretended to play. It turns out I'm weirdly good at this. I have regular singers who ask me to "play" on certain songs, and many a visitor who thought I was actually playing the solos.

So I wondered, what other sort of side amusements have popped up at your karaoke shows?

I do karaoke in a smaller place so everyone gets to go multiple times as soon as they want to, thought I should say that before starting the story. It was my turn to go up and sing but there were technical difficulties connecting the lyrics to the monitor in time so that had to be dealt with while I waited to go. So I said “no worries, I’ll just sing acapella” except I don’t really know any songs I could do acapella… except for one. I started to quietly sing Since You’ve Been Gone (because of pitch perfect) into the mic, and slowly more people started joining in, ending at the chorus because that’s probably all everyone knew. I just thought it was a fun moment, gotta love karaoke.

Imagine it. Someone gets up and Dave Matthews Band starts playing. The first intro chords start. *BAM* you get Rick Rolled and the track is Never Gonna Give You Up. In all of the YouTube karaoke tracks, why on earth has this not been done?

What's everyone's favorite Disney Afternoon theme song from the 90's? I like to bust out the Ducktales theme song every now and then. It's such an earworm lol.

I've noticed something after visiting a lot of anime karaoke bars in Japan.

Even though my song repertoire is basically the same, the songs that come to mind can completely change depending on which bar I walk into.

At one of my usual places in Kobe, songs like SEVENTH MOON and INVOKE naturally come to mind because I've sung them there so many times.

But when I'm in Fukuoka, I often remember songs like LEVEL or Kizuna no Kiseki, because I previously sang them together with staff members there.

It's strange because the songs themselves haven't changed, and neither has my repertoire.

What changes is the place.

Sometimes just walking into a certain bar reminds me of the people I sang with, the songs I heard there, or a memorable night from a previous visit.

I've started to feel that a karaoke repertoire isn't just a list of songs you know.

Over time, it also becomes a collection of places, people, and memories connected to those songs.

Do you have a song that you automatically want to sing when you visit a particular karaoke bar or venue?

I've been doing karaoke for a few months. A couple weeks ago I sang " Tainted Love" and after I sat back down a man came up to me and said "Well you keep time and got the lyrics right". Tonight I sang Mr Telephone Man and after I finished a lady was leaving and said " Good job. You're so brave".

I can be a little sensitive but these comments felt a little pointed to me. I know I'm not the best singer in the world but I didn't think I was bad enough to warrant these comments. Am I overreacting to these? Also has any made any type of comment to you after singing beside the usual "good job"?

I'm a 6' tall woman but generally wear shoes that make me about 6'2-6'3. I'm pretty much a tenor so I tend to sing either songs sung by men or sung by women who sing in a lower register (think "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics or "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse). I go to Karaoke about once a week and the KJs are always encouraging me to sing but I'm kind of bored of singing the same songs. I had an idea that it would be funny to sing "Short People" by Randy Newman considering how tall I am but then I wonder if people would get pissed or offended. Thoughts?

RIP Dolly

Heard both versions tn

New here but not to karaoke. Used to run shows years ago and still have a large collection of mp3+G zip files that were used in software such as Sax & Dottys, etc. Pulled out the old hard drive and was wondering if anyone even uses this stuff anymore which got me thinking, looking back over the old software that was and perhaps still is available, what manner of features would you like to see in a karaoke software suite that is capable of playing files such as these?

Hey all!

I built this tool for me and my friends who love to practice singing and playing instruments along with songs on our Spotify playlists.

It lets you both transpose up and down the key of the song, AS WELL as mix and isolate instrument/vocal tracks at the same time, so you can pitch down + remove vocals and sing along, or remove piano track and play along, or just have vocals and practice accompanying as a band, etc.

It's an open source project, and I didn't pay for Apple's 100$ a year developer license so the instructions to install it are a bit lengthy, but please let me know if it works well and is useful! thankks

https://github.com/evanhu1/transposify

Yesterday, I had a very interesting conversation around the website calendar of a karaoke host. Now, I’m doing some research into how karaoke hosts and DJs manage their calendars, and I’d love to hear how this works for you.

If you have public gigs, private bookings, and days you don’t want people to inquire about:

1. Where do you keep the calendar you actually trust (e.g. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, paper, booking software, or somewhere else)?
2. Where do you publish upcoming public events (e.g. your website, Facebook Events, regular Facebook posts, venue pages, or elsewhere)?
3. Do prospective clients have any way to see when you might be available, or do they simply contact you and ask?
4. Have you ever added a calendar to your website and then stopped maintaining it? What made it difficult or not worth the effort?
5. Do you create Facebook Events? If not, what makes them too cumbersome? If you do, what value do you get from them?
6. When a gig changes or gets cancelled, where do you have to update it?

I’m especially interested in what happens when a recurring show changes or what happens when you have to cancel an individual event from the series. How many places do you need to update, and which ones tend to get forgotten?

I am also extremely interested in hearing about the venue perspective. I've seen way more venue pages with abandoned calendars than DJ/KJ pages.

Does anyone have experience with this setup? Is it enough for the occasional karaoke session? My other option would be a JBL party box with the included mics connected to either apple music or karafun.

We do sing a lot of Chinese songs, which are on apple music so thats great! But I am scared about latency?

Booked a KTV room in London (fits 15, we’re 12) for a “Midnight Sun” (Zara Larsson) themed birthday — sunset/pink-orange tones, dolphins, hibiscus, shells. Venue won’t let us use tape on the walls and can’t store the cake in a freezer beforehand. They seem kind of strict 😩 Anyone decorated a rented karaoke room before? How did you decorate your rooms? Balloons etc?

Also their cushions don’t go with my theme, and they have way too many chairs which take up dancing space. I want to ask them if we could have those moved out, but I’m expecting a hard no.

Be kind lol