-Paul, KaraokeTulsa.com

I know you've seen them - a karaoke singer who is WAY off key, but is up there at the pole acting like they're the best thing since Elvis Presley.  You wonder to yourself "have they ever HEARD themselves?"

The reality is that they probably HAVEN'T!

Many people who hear themselves on a recording for the first time are stunned at how different they sound vs. what they hear in their heads. You will always think you sound better than you really do. This is why it's very important as a singer that you occasionally record yourself singing.

It doesn't have to be a professional 32-track recording made in a recording studio - as a matter of fact, it's better if you don't do it that way. It's best to record in as close to a real-life karaoke situation as possible. One take, no studio 'tweaking' - just you singing live.

Many KJs now have the ability to record your performance and either burn it to a CD for you or allow you to put it on a USB drive or something similar in MP3 format. Some of them don't advertise this service - you might have to ask them.

There is a new service online called MySpace Karaoke - if you have a microphone hooked to your computer, you can record yourself on there. Don't worry - nobody else will hear your song unless you want them to.

If you have your own karaoke player at home, it's even easier to record yourself.

Digital recorders can be had for very little money now - you can get a voice recorder for less than $40. You can even use an old-school cassette tape recorder!

The next time you get up to sing at your favorite karaoke place, turn the recorder on and leave it at your table while you're singing. Don't sit too close to the PA speakers - you'll overdrive the recorder and get nothing but garbage. Record everything you sing that night.

The next day, copy the recording to a CD or to your MP3 player, and listen to it. Listen to it in the car while you're driving to work. Listen to it around the house. Listen to it over and over for a couple of days, almost until you're SICK of the song. Try to listen with an objective ear. I guarantee you'll hear things that you never heard when you were singing it. Concentrate on any difficult parts of the song - did you hit the notes? If not, practice more before singing that song again in public. Find different ways to sing the parts you can't hit - try falsetto, or even try singing a lower harmony part for just that one line. There's nothing saying you have to sing everything EXACTLY like the original.

How about your timing? Sometimes if you rely too much on reading the words on the screen, you miss a lot of the natural timing of a song. Try to listen to whether you've done this, and remember the next time you sing the song to try to not pay so much attention to the timing of how the words scroll.

You also need to be objective enough to realize if it's a song that you probably just shouldn't sing again in public - a song that you just simply CANNOT sing correctly. There are a LOT of very talented professional singers with songs on the radio that 99% of the public will NEVER be able to sing well, no matter how good they are. We can't all be Carrie Underwood! Luckily, there are tens of thousands of available karaoke tracks in every style imaginable - simply find another song (or ten) that fits your style and abilities.