Karaoke Forums

Ya never know. I'll jump on here and tell you about it tho when/if I see someone bringing their traveling personal karaoke cart to my local hangout;)

_________________
♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Yep. I'm one of those (gasp) singers who bring my own disks sometimes. Only because I know I have some songs KJ's don't normally have though. (bluegrass? not everyone's favorite to sing) But if a KJ can't/wont accommodate a disk I bring, I flip through the books. (i only curse them in my head, not out loud)

Bring my own mic? Nope, never. I figure that by drinking a shot or two throughout the night can kill any germs I may inhale off the mic. (my regular hangout, the KJ swabs the mic regularly in between singers... thank heavens, I've met some seriously slobbery fellas while at karaoke bars)

_________________
♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I used to go to a show that had a guy who was a huge Van Halen fan and used to do a very good David Lee Roth. He'd bring his own microphone, the KJ would plug it in and off he'd go. I have to admit I never paid attention to the brand but he sure sounded better using his own mic compared to the couple of nights he'd sing with the house mics.

Sometime the singers do have better stuff than I do.

I would just say NO, anyone that wants to be that much of a diva is not welcome at my show. Diva is different from good or great singer, I have many good/great singers but I try my best to treat everyone equally, and such "special" treatment is not worth it for ANY singer.

I have decent mics, (SM58s) and the difference that any other mic would have for an individual singer is NOT worth the hassle. Yes it is not much work or effort at all, BUT it is just that I am providing the service NOT the singer. It is as if you are going into a restaraunt and saying that you want to bring the food for them to cook yourself. Yes some places might handle that, but in general the person that asks is going to be more trouble than they are worth. If anything it would create a false impression that the mics I use are not up to par among some of the other singers.

I guess Howie Mandell will not be singing at your show any time soon.

If it got to 20 or 30 people bringing their own mics....I think you would reconsider....could happen....

The ones that brought their own mics to my show I wouldn't consider 'divas', they simply didn't want to sing on mics that everyone else were spitting into all night, and not there are no 'sanitary' way to avoid that aside from cleaning the mic screen after every singer inside & out which isn't practical during a show, I used to provide disinfectant wipes for singers to use, it would rarely get used so most singers do not mind - which is pretty gross when you really think about it.
But again, i've only had it happen a couple times - someone bringing their mic, it's not a regular occurance.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

No reconsideration would apply I would simply have an extra empty mic cord available on stage (nost likely would devise a holder or have it sitting in it's own mic stand) for those that want to hook into, always connected to the mixer, just muted when not in use like any other mic. They get up to sing, plug it in, they get done, unplug & walk off stage.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

um.. well I thought it was a great idea.. guess I'll go unload my trailer now

EXACTLY!
Who want to touch a mic, much less have one close to their mouth, that has been spit on all night by everyone? I really don't see what's "diva" about that. It's a HEALTH issue!
The places around here never clean their mics.
One show has been going for over 12 years and I am friends with the hired host (not her equipment and she doesn't get paid for maintenance. Yes, she's been at it over 12 years - same place). She told me that the mics have never been cleaned. NEVER! Yuck!
Thanks, but I'll bring my own mic...
Nothing diva about that.

Cheese:

You are a breath of fresh air. Your posts are clear and concise and you have no hesitancy to challenge the conventional "wisdom", much of which I don't agree with.

As a KJ, I've had so many questions over the years regarding much of what you have touched upon in your many recent posts, but I lack the experience that you possess leaving me less able to support my "theories"

To arrive at conclusions for myself, I often look at matters in the extremes. And as suggested in this thread, what would a Kj do if he had to accommodate everyone bringing their own mic (with and without cables)? Wouldn't that interfere with getting the best mix for each singer as quickly as possible?

In my humble opinion, too many KJ's don't concentrate enough on making karaoke fun but rather focus on setting the stage for a "performance", including the self-established requirement that they provide this mic, or that amplifier.

And I don't know why there are people who can go anywhere to sing and have a good time while others prevent themselves from doing so because of perceived equipment deficiencies.

I have been singing karaoke for over 15 years and have never avoided a show because of the equipment, but I have avoided shows because of the KJ

AS A NURSE, IF IT IS TRULY A HEALTH ISSUE THAN YOU SHOULD AVOID GOING TO ANY KARAOKE SHOW. YOU WOULDN'T WORK IN A FACILITY THAT DIDN'T PROVIDE GLOVES

No need to shout.
I'm not sure why you think I should avoid going to any karaoke show, but whatever.
If you had seen these mics, you would agree with me. Just looking at them makes me want to hurl. Gunk all embedded in the mesh.... ewww!
Now I never said I would bring my mic to EVERY show, did I?
I also ASKED the host first, and if would have been a problem I would have known right away. It wasn't. So what's the big deal?
What I'm saying is that my reason for not using the shows mic (at least around here) would be because they don't clean them, not because I think my personal mic is any better. I'm the one who believes the Behringer is just fine for karaoke, remember? I really don't care what the equipment is, as long as it doesn't kill me in the process or hurt my ears. I do, however PREFER a show that sounds better. Who doesn't? If that makes me a diva, then I guess I am!
Oh, and AS A NURSE, there are many thing that people probably shouldn't do, but they do them anyway. Like having sex for instance. Theres a risk of getting all kinds of communicable diseases with that! But would you have sex with someone who had been sleeping around with everyone??? I would hope not! There are reasonable risks we take, and then there are some that are just not worth it!
Gunky slimy mics are in the not worth it category!

sorry

But not all mics are created equal. If you are not cognizant of the mics out there, you could damage your equipment. Some mics require phantom power.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

I would certainly like to bring my own mic to other shows, but frankly, I have always thought it would irritate the KJs.

I wouldn't mind if someone wanted to use their own mic at my show, but this has never happened to me. I am jealous of the rest of you.

Curiously, every time I have a band that brings their own mics, the mics are inferior to the ones I supply for their sources (instruments or vocals.) I had a guy last night insist on using his own Beta58, but it took me just a few minutes to decide it was a terrible mic for his voice, he'd have been better off with a regular SM58, and another mic I had in my kit would have been much more appropriate for him.

Two weeks ago, I had a drummer insist on using his own Beta52 on his kick and SM57 on his snare. The Beta52 is certainly no better than my D6, and the i5 and various Heil mics I own for snare are a lot better than an SM57.

Even experienced, gigging musicians (on a bar level) have no clue what mic is best for them. Go figure.

_________________
Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

As for a health issue, yes spit (and whatever else) can get on the mic area, but unless the singer is actually licking the mic or the singer is drooling on the barrel of the mic (where the next singer holds it) the chance of transfer of germs should be minimal. Probably far less than talking to a person in normal conversation. When we speak even normally we can release micro droplets of liquid into the air from our lungs that can transmit various diseases. But those droplets should generally settle within a matter of seconds. Once the droplets (which may contain bacteria/viruses) settle (on a mic or whatever) they are not likely to become airborne again. So even if the mic has bacteria/viruses on it from the prior singer they are not being released back to the next singer as an aerosol.

No it is not 100% safe, and a risk can exist, but I suspect it wold be less than talking to a person in normal conversation. Just do not lick the mic. If someone has TB in your show, they are more lilkely to transmit due to shared AIR as opposed to a shared mic.

If they look gross they should be cleaned, but to really look bad you either have to have someone who spits a LOT and just ate or years of neglect without cleaning.

If there was a paninc (even unreasoned) due to fear of some disease, and people started talking about bringing in mics, I would find a way to sanitize them between singers. THere is no way that I would let it get to even a small number of singers regularly bringing their own mics.

I don't really have any problem with someone else bringing in a mic -- one time I let a guy plug his guitar in and play along with the music while he sang. It's all good as far as I'm concerned.

Having said that, I know a lot of singers who bring their own tracks in for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the swipes are totally wrong on certain brands -- the host's only version of your favorite crowd pleaser is on Sweet Georgia Brown, etc.

Sometimes even good brands such as Sound Choice put out a bad version of a song -- e.g. they totally screwed up the intro section of Runaround Sue.

Sometimes you want to sing something really fast and you have to memorize the part that comes up immediately after the swipe because there isn't enough time to read it before the music starts.

Mics do have different qualities, but I'd assume that most of the hosts here are at least going to try to listen and adjust a bit to make their singers sound good regardless of what mic they are singing on.

I figure that since I don't play outside discs because I don't carry an outside player, which would be the only way I would play outside discs so to take away the thought that I might be ripping their disc into my system, that I would extend that same rule to mikes. I'd rather not mess around behind my rack which is where I would have to hook the mike up at anyway.

_________________
The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Most mixers today can do so without damaging anything, although I wouldn't keep the phantom power on all the time unless the mic connected was a condensor.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!