Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DJ Clae]

I moved to Korea from the US just a few months ago. I recently had the pleasure of visiting my brother in Kyushu for a week. He has lived there for seven years. I'd never done karaoke before, but the karaoke in Japan was awesome. It was high quality and we had a great time.

Now I'd like to replicate the experience in Seoul, but I've been afraid to try due to various things I've heard about the quality. So last night I tried a random noraebang with a friend. It wasn't a particularly good looking one, it had about eight rooms maybe. Very typical from the outside.

And it's just as I feared: Midi music! The Korean songs, which I can't really sing, sound on the better side, but the quality of the Western and Japanese songs was just plain awful. It was too easy to get lost while singing because the music just doesn't resemble what I'm used to and/or sounds just plain off. In Japan I was delighted that I could pick up and sing almost any song I knew because the correct instrumentals put me in the right mode. Even the songs that didn't have the original instrumentals in Japan had instruments that sound very close, often almost indiscernible from the original. At the noraebang last night I was a wreck.

So here's the question finally: Are all the noraebangs like this, or are there better ones that aren't all cheap midi? I've done several google searches with no luck. Any insight appreciated.

[Yaya]

Yep, noraebangs here all use Midi format.

If you want to do karaoke online, try www.singsnap.com

[DJ Clae]

Just as I feared. Is there anyone with alternate info, or am I just out of luck? Surely there must be some really nice noraebangs in Gangnam or something, but they still have the same crappy midis?

Thanks for being upfront about this. Most people here won't admit any issues with the noraebang, and certainly would deny the Japanese ones being any better. Many karaoke places in Japan used midi the same way around ~2000, but have since evolved. There are three companies that make the boxes in Japan, and they all have different song selections, but none use midi anymore. I had the delight of using one from the newer company during my recent trip and loved it, but the others seem fine too.

I think the box we used in Korea was from Taijin? Are there other companies and do they vary at all in quality? The place we were at wasn't great, and the song selection seemed pretty out of date.

[bobbyhanlon]

wow you do take your noraebang seriously!
yeah it doesn't vary when you go to a fancy noraebang. the music is the same.

[DJ Clae]

Well, like I've said, I've been to a total of one noraebang so far, so I am by no means a serious noraebang user. I am serious, however, about music and was disappointed overall by the noraebang experience I had.

Thanks for the reply.

[Yaya]

I'm not familiar with the setup in Gangnam, but I hear open karaoke bars are gaining popularity in that area. I haven't tried, though.

I remember one noraebang back in 1994 had laserdisc karaoke but it was cumbersome for the staff to load the discs and stuff. That place went out of business pretty soon.

[rusty1983]

No mate its true! I was about 9 months into Korea when I went for a trip to Japan, the karaoke was fucking quality! They had Bloc Party, the Stone Roses, tons of Oasis and the sound quality was immense. Everything really is better in Japan!!!

I would actually go there sober, whereas in Korea youve gotta be plastered and get on the power ballads

[DJ Clae]

Interesting. I'm not looking for an open bar. If I wanted that, I probably would have participated back in the US. I prefer the relaxed intimate setting with friends. I like the private rooms like in Korea and Japan.

Ha ha, the simpler days with the laserdiscs. I wasn't interested in karaoke at all back then.

Here's me and my brother enjoying the karaoke in Japan, just to get an idea of what our room was like. Not too different from some of the nicer noraebang inside, I imagine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neoalec/3789201146/

[PRagic]

Oh, the 'good noraebang'? That's across the street from the convenience store next to the meat place.

Seriously. The biggest and most touted of all noraebang on the penninsula can be found in HongDae on the 'parking lot street'. It is cheesy with a capital 'C', and more often than not, you have to wait to get in. It takes up the entire building and is tough to miss.

[DJ Clae]

What's cheesy about it? Just the music? Surely it must at least be fairly nice inside of people line up for it. Maybe a big screen display? (Come to think of it, another problem with the cheap one I went to was the 8 small displays we had to view from across the room. Made it too hard to read, I think.)

[PRagic]

Happy to say I've never been in it. From the outside, it's like looking at a doll house. The rooms facing the street are all floor-to-ceiling windows. Thankfully, the windows have curtains.

Think every room has a huge system and big screens along with other theme-related stuff.

If you're into noraebangs, you can't leave Seoul until you hit this place up.

[poeticjustice]

[PRagic]

Cool. Like I said, I've never been in there.

[pkang0202]

99% of the Korean Noraebangs get their equipment from 2 companies. Both companies only have Midi.

I think if they used actual song tracks, they'd run into copyright laws. I know what you are thinking, "Koreans and copy right laws?!?". Its not Aerosmith that the Noraebang users are worried about. Its companies like SM Entertainment, JYP who are going to go after those places.

Otherwise, i would be real easy to put a crappy PC in every room with a Karaoke player that automatically strips the vocal track on songs.

[ABC KID]

On a related theme, does anyone know how long it typically takes a noraebang to add a popular song riding high in the Korean or western charts to their song lists? Is it done within weeks, months or longer?