Karaoke Forums

And that is great. The bottom line is that a karaoke host is worth his or her hire. Someone who is on time, professional, has a good attitude, keeps them laughing and coming back, is definitely worth the money. If I had to do that -- and I am not sure I could with ease -- I would feel I was definitely worth any money I was earning.

I take that back. I am sure that if I took on the job, I would do it. That is the way I am. But if it didn't work out, I would do something else. I would not look for someone to blame.

It cheapens all of us.  It drags down the average fee.  It corrupts the legal KJs into thinking about doing illegal stuff to get ahead.

The average "Will work for food KJ" hurts everyone.

Do your free karaoke show at a soup kitchen.  Help the poor and homeless.

Don't help take food money from my table.   Because you feel you are such a benefactor.    Help someone that really needs the help.

I'm trying to raise my price to a respectable level.  You hurt my efforts.   Cheap KJs are literally a dime a dozen around here.   They can't find decent jobs because they are not good KJs.  In turn the bar owners think that my price, which is reasonable for what i have and how i run my show, is out of line because everyone else has to work for drinks and small change.   So cheap sucky KJs do hurt my income level.

I don't like your kind.

KGirl.   You gotta stop this ranting about stuff we already know about.   I am protecting my investment and will continue to do so. Until they line us up and shoot. ASCAP/BMI fees cover the entire CD warning.

If you don't switch over to a computerized show soon, your competition will get all the work and you too, will be able to do soup kitchen shows for free.  Helping the unfortunate, unemployed disc KJs.

I'm not switching. There is no reason for me to go out and buy a computer for music. I will not do it. I've seen too many hang up and too many KJ's making phone calls to their illegal hard-drive provider because of it, as I stated in a previous post. I've been to a "karaoke playground" where the KJ's had two laptops. Nope not me. A hard drive can only have so much space. A friend of mine and I ran sound in Nashville for Independent record labels with the karaoke equipment we still have. Hmmm. Imagine that. If I'm doing a show and someone wants to play a guitar,for example, they can plug and play. Can you all do that? This is why I have the stance I have about using computers. I will never switch. I'm sure some of you can make singers sound really good(even bad ones) with your expensive laptops or old style computers. (Guess what. I can say some positive things.)  :)

Wow, this is either a joke on us or you are a barely literate moron. What difference does it make if someone uses CDs or a computer? It's not the machine playing the music, it's the person running the show and their skills that make the difference.

Based on your nearly unintelligible and barely lucid comments I would guess that your personality isn't much better in person than what you have shown us here so far and that's why you're not getting business.

How you ever made it this many years as a host(according to you) is impossible to comprehend or believe. We can make people sound better by using a thing called a mixer and vocal effects, both existed long before anyone used a computer for Karaoke. You are obviously clueless.

Sell your equipment and go do something else because you have come to the end of your Karaoke career. Bars aren't hiring you because there are better people out there and they have decided that YOU aren't worth more than $50-$75 per night.

Computers aren't the problem, you are.

Now go away and stop bothering us with your nonsense!

And don't forget your crack pipe.

That doesn't make a lick of sense. Are you trying to say that when it comes to a town or city that there are more kjs and companies with kjs than there are bars & restaurants full of workers?

There's usually ONE KJ for every ONE BAR that offers karaoke. That's ONE family (kjs) and how many owners/bartenders/busboys/dishwasher/cook/doorman families do you reckon they are?? My math skills ain't that bad!

And you talk like karaoke companies are BIG or something. MOST have only one or two employees, and the multiriggers might have 7-10. Yeah, that'll outweigh the hundreds of employees' families by a lot.

Without bars/restaurants, our industry wouldn't exist.

Karaoke is just a form of entertainment like billiards, bands, darts, and jukeboxes are. Nothing More. Don't try to glorify it and say it's more important than the Bar or Restaurant itself.  :no:  :no:

I don't normally like to put people down; but this post of yours clearly show that you know very little about sound re-enforcement.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

No the computer is not going to make your show any better.  But you wouldn't necessarily have to use illegally preloaded drives or download your music either.  You don't get the fact that you can use a computer legally, even if you don't put anything on the hard drive & use the computer as a player, this is possible.  But you just have something against computers in general.  Sound like the phxkj ranter.  Is this an assumed name...?  Anyway as far as the rest of your equipment, why would a computer stop you from using all that?
If someone came to my show & wanted to plug in a guitar (although I don't allow it) yes I could hook it up directly to the mixer, however a PROPER way to do it would be to actually hook it up through a direct box to a channel on the mixer.  If it was an electric guitar, same thing, if they wanted distortion or some other effect, I can give that too.  Have 16 channels on my Mackie 1604, 5 channels that are free at this point in time.  If you want to get into live band sound reinforcement, I think you'd be on the low end of the scale since some of your posts seem to direct to that manner.  Many here have done pro sound as well.
I don't know what you think?  Do you think everyone just plugs the mics into the computer bypassing any mixer?  Um, no, the computer gets plugged into the mixer in place of the disc player (or in addition to in  many cases).  All mics get plugged into the mixer, JUST like they would if there was a disc player.
Again you are lumping the computer users that are truly illegal by having preloaded drives with 100K, multiriggers with one library (maybe 1 original set), illegal downloaders.  On my discs I have exactly 16,526 songs currently, on my hard drive I have 16,526 songs!  I would run the exact same show with the computer or with the discs.

_________________
[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

No but there are more kj's willing to do shows for less than desireable prices or for beer!  Which puts the kj that actually used to be able to make a LIVING on a kj job out of business since bars will not hire them as they are now labeled as 'expensive' & bars being as cheap as bars are will go with the lesser of the value, even if it means having to go through a few kj's.  Yes around here many good companies have succumbed to the undercutting crap companies or they have moved into private parties which is my case.  



I don't know about the places you work, but generally the staffs around here get tipped, sometimes well.  I have seen the bartenders & waitresses in the clubs I worked walk out with an extra 300-400 per night, and they all will tip out the rest of the staff on their own that don't work for tips but still get paid.  



When I started my company, I started with a partner, we eventually branched off, together we had 12 separate systems, complete with discs for each.  Yes we also had at least 1-2 hosts per system.  SO maximum 24 employees.  The employees we had could actually make a living on what we were able to pay them which was 1/2 of what we made since they were the voice.  What we made back then was 250-350 per night per system.  So while we may not have been a major company, we did have family workers working for us.  But according to you they were not important as compared to the struggling bars employees?  As we downsized we had to also let go several of our employees.  Now I am back down to 1 system & can't even find a bar to pay more than $100.  Private shows still making upwards to $500 per show, but these aren't steady.



Wrong, without bars & restaurants, the industry will go into strictly the private sector & will become the same problem all over again.  Luckily, most consumers still feel you get what you pay for & actually don't necessarily want the cheapest.



Never once did I say that!  I said if a bar is making money off of it, then they should pay for it IF it's a company coming in to do it all.  Now if the bar owns their own equipment and wants to hire a cheap host, then that's a completely different story.

_________________
[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

((shakes head sadly)) First of all, not ONE person is advocating you "switching".  What we're saying is that a computer karaoke person is JUST as able to do what you do with discs.

ALL the computer is for ME (speaking personally) is a song playing device, just like the cdg player you have. Oh, I have one too, for customer cdgs, that way nobody can rightfully accuse me of stealing their songs, as my show computer DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A CD PLAYER, let alone BURNER on it.

I've seen the types of shows you've seen, where the illegal hard drive buyers are trying to run a show. They're MORONS. Even those that can put on a halfway-decent show.

and yes, the amp I use can accept a 1/4" guitar insert. Doy! That's sound 101.

Now I'm gonna get silly...

Can you:
* play mix music with your cdg player and discs uninterrupted from when your singer is done, or is winding down and it's time to queue up the next singer (not using a 2nd piece of equipment)
* play videos using that same cdg player, again, uninterrupted
* have a rotation managerment. Granted, for me personally, this isn't that important, but I have found that it is an invaluable tool.
* do custom screen announcements, like who's next singing on the screen, drink specials, birthday announcements...

Now I'm not putting you down iif you CAN'T do those things without special hookups and stuff. But I can do all that and a bit more with JUST my computer and nothing else.

When you are done telling people and organizations what they should do, perhaps you can get back to your own tasks at hand.

Personally, I will get back to doing what I do. I love karaoke, but I ain't no pro because it isn't my business. It is my avocation, and you sure do have a lot of nerve telling me what I should do. Nice thing about being in the U.S. -- it is darned hard for someone to do that and make it stick.

The way we amp instruments is with a sm 57mic in the sweet spot in front of the guitar  amp. The amps are designed for tremelo and sound for that guitar. If its an old tuber then better yet. We amp congas by hanging a cheap mic inside.

Btw you can take the grille  off of a 58 and it then has the same characteristics of a 57.

All my life I have bid or demanded top price (Tv Repair, tech services, hanging sheet rock or whatever.) I have never been challenged by amatuers that worked for way less. Years ago I was so swamped I started telling everybody I wouldnt  take the back off for less than $150. In a few months I had more side work than at my real job.

 With our reputation this area about 20 years both as singers and hosts if we do walk into a place like that the host there knows that our system blows his away The singers and bar owner knows it. Also he knows that I wouldnt want his gig anyway.

There were a few here for awhile but most are gone. We get $175/ night and a $50 food/bar tab. We have a very good working relationship with the owners. We are solving problems and gradually increasing the till I could tell any of them next spring I'll be asking for $25 more. I do have the advantage that I have experience running VFW clubs and small bars.

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

I use a mixer and vocal effects, also. I'm not stupid!

Yep, those tiny hard drives from 2008 can only hold 10-12 songs...so i need 5,000 hard drives to run my show.  LMAO

If someone wants to plug in a guitar at your show, it must be "open stage" night, not karaoke.  And if it is karaoke night it must really be bad.   They want the guitar as a diversion..

Running sound in Nashville studio...on a karaoke system..  LMAO

I'll bet they have some famous stars...under contract.

Cheap KJs use cheap computers...maybe the reason for so many problems.  Maybe they can't turn on a computer without help.  I'm no computer genius, but i'm not an idiot.  My shows run non stop without problems.  No crashes, no guitar players, no tiny hard drives, no illegal music....just quality karaoke run by computer.  And an idiot to run the mouse...

Yes you are so correct.  My 500gb Hard drive will only store approx 74,000 songs ripped at their best quality through my hosting program.  Luckily I have a ways to go before I fill that up with my discs I legally purchased.  Only about 70,000 more songs to go!

So what did this statement really mean anyway.  Hard drives are relatively cheap these days.

_________________
[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

If you like using a laptop as a player, fine. We like using a tripple tray. The other stuff isn't nonsense. go to www.c4promo@aol.com and see who we got to meet; just for starters. It makes it more interesting to also have a plug and play system. I am no d.a. You haven't seen our system. Can you run bands on your system, and is your system down to 2 ohms on each side? Do you have two 18 ohm monitors for your singers? Our monitors are as lowd as most people's mains. We can allow key boards, guitars, and any instrument that plugs in.  Every mic has a vocal cmpressor and we tune every singer(even the bad ones). Also we are the only KJ's that have played at The Hall fo Fame Lounge in Nashville. We didn't do karaoke, we did originoke; tracks and/or instruments. The Hall of Fame Lounge is covered by BMI. As far as taking the front off a 58 and it having the same characteristisc of a 57, no. You must change the highs to a -9 on that mic channel. the old Pioneer lazer disks add video but we found that they distract the crowd from the singer if the singers vocals don't do so. We have a special way we do rotation that I won't mention here. It doesn't p.o the beginning singers or the old singers. The advertising and music played between songs p.o.'s hard core karaoke singers. Who caresa about adds? We announce them via mic. Your computer has a mixer, doesn't it? Yes I have inputs.

She is a computer illiterate and everything she says proves it.

That's why she has a problem with KJs on computers.  She knows nothing about them or what they can do or how they do it.

If i don't understand it, it must be illegal...  LMAO

Anyone on a cell phone at a karaoke show is calling tech support at Microsoft.  :O

 

2 postsdown
I have mic'd bands and installed sound systems since 1960 in about every type of venue there is. .  LMAO If you must argue then argue with these know-it -alls. Do not assume I am one of them for I am still learning but at my age I am forgetting more than I'm learning.

Hon you have a good weekend. I mean that.

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

18 ohm monitors for the singers?  Gees how many do you have running in serial?  To get 18 ohms as loud as most peoples mains you'd need one HELL of a beefy amp that could push at the high resistance as that is, or you are running a transformer type system that would equal pretty crappy sound.  

What does that have to do with illegal kj's?  If you want to start a what does your equipment consist of thread, then i'll go into more depth of what I run as well.

_________________
[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

I aspire to be the best KJ in town (or at least put on one of the best shows). I think I am well on my way to that goal. Most of the people who are going to my shows love to sing and do notice the little differences, and I have made a positive impact on my bar's crowd. And that is the bottom line for the value of Karaoke to a bar, and the motivation to pay KJs.

As for the local KJ market, if anything I think I attempt to show the difference between a good and a poor/average KJ. Hopefully when someone goes to my shows they see the difference. I have had a few professional musicians come to my shows and they all want to shake my hand by the end of the night. That atmosphere can do nothing but help the hireablity of "GOOD" KJs. It shows we are not all equal regardles of the price I charge (and that is between me and my bar). After only 4 months I am getting as good or better attendance than the other 3 local karaoke shows on my night (some of which have been running for years), and better attendance than the previous KJ at my bar (who had 3 years of building a crowd). Nearly every week is bigger than the last, with the exception of a few when the weather was horrible. After only being active for a couple of months I booked 2 of the biggest christmass time parties in town thrown for the employees of a couple of the biggest bars and restaruant groups. These were both 100+ person parties, (one close to 200). The people making the decision on who to hire were the bar employees that are paying attention to the local scene. They chose me not the other dozen or so people in town with a karaoke rig, or the franchise multi rigs that they could find on the yellow pages. Did I bid low? I let them decide what to pay me. They paid the local market rate. The parties went well enough that I know I will be their first choice for future parties.

The value of a generic kj is low. The value of a good KJ can be high. By being a good Kj the other bar owners will take note about what can be done with karaoke. They will pay more attention to quality and not just get the low cost KJ. I am one person I can't hurt the price market too much. But by providing an example of a good karaoke show I can only help the market. Too many KJs out there are just doing their job for their fee, and it shows. That is why a lot of karaoke shows are not as fun for the people who go to them, and they don't come back the next night.

I have seen KJs, DJs and Bands that are so bad they actually drive people out the door. Sometimes the attendence on such nights in bars is LOWER than the nights the bar has no entertainment. I have seen a bar CLEAR when a band starts many times. How much are those bands worth???  Some KJs are nearly as bad. Should the bar keep paying them out of some twisted loyalty to the idea of price structure and entitlement to a living wage? Not a chance.

Bars watch what is happening next door, and they learn which bars bring in the crowds and how.

Am I hurting the wages of KJs in town. I shure hope I destroy the wages of the horrible KJs in town, and there are too many of them. I hope I can by my actions show that Karaoke WORKS, and they should fire thier current BAD KJs and find someone who can do a GOOD job. If there was an active KJ in town that was good enough I wouldnt have started my show.

Will this hurt the Drunk kjs that dont know what they are doing? Yes.

Will this hurt the multi riggers who find the lowest price KJ to operate their rig to bring in the most profit. You bet. If they are not cutting it maybe they need to screen their kj rig runners a bit better and update their gear/songs.

Do I feel bad about that. NO!

I feel that a lot of the biggest complaints about my actions are coming from the multi-rig guys. They trained a lot of KJs under a price system that could pay for their rigs in a year or less. Well guess what, I bet a lot of their best kjs went out and bought their own rigs once they realized it was not too expensive and went independent. Nearly everyone wants to be their own boss it is human nature. Realistically $7-10k for a rig is not the biggest barrier in the world to enter into the KJ market.
You multi riggers (and the internet) let on to a lot of people how low the real barriers to entery into the market was. A few years ago this knowlege was less widespread, a few people who realized how good the market was capitalized on it and made money on 12+ rigs. Now the info is out, and more and more people know what it takes to start a karaoke show.

But if a multi-rigger trains 10-20 kjs a year, a few of them will go out on their own and try to take the full profit for themselves (understandable). These guys will usually be the ones with the best skills. If the people who were making a killing with the karaoke did not train as many Karaoke hosts in their towns, they would not have saturated their local market with trained kjs as much and killed their cash cows.


The KJs with the multi rigs began to feel the squeeze and stopped buying as many of the current songs and became less competitive. The multi-riggers were left with only the KJs who could not make it on their own or lacked the skills to do so.

Being an average KJ is not at all difficult. I bet I could grab nearly anyone out of wallmart earning minimum wage and show them how to be a decent kj in a couple of weeks. They would gladly work for $10 an hour or $50 a show. Walmart work stinks in addition to the bad wages. Being a good or great kj is a bit harder but not that much, it just takes observation, dedication, a little tallent and effort.

Karaoke quality. I am doing my best.    

If my motivation to be a good kj is the fact that it makes me feel good to do the best I can and not the money involved that is my own personal freedom of choice. I don't feel bad about it.

Uh......mckj57, i think he was referring to ME- he quoted me accusing him of saying he glorified or thinks bars/rests are more important than karaoke. I was wrong, he DID NOT say that.

My apologies. I should have mentioned it was IMPLIED (of sorts) and sounded that way to me.