Karaoke Forums

Wow. I just got back from the first half of my Friday night gig. We are absolutely packing them in the place -- you can barely move. Some complaints about not enough dance music (the previous host did a lot of filler) but the crowd is 2-3 times what the previous host had so we don't pay too much attention.

But wow -- I would almost prefer things be a bit more sedate. The people are dancing to most every karaoke song, we have great singers, it is the best karaoke in our area by a good margin. (I wasn't even there for Halloween, they said it was much crazier. Wow again!)

But we are having a little trouble with drunk management -- the configuration we chose lets them worm their way up to the equipment, particularly as it gets crowded, and the guys have not gotten good enough at setup to secure all the wires. (Or maybe I didn't provide the right stuff.) Plus the new guy did the setup, and he is fumbling as it is. We have no booth, but I am looking at one of those foldos.

I suppose when we have some technical difficulties, as we did tonight when a drunk pulled out the wire going to the 1/4" out of the BBE, we will reduce crowds somewhat. 8-\

Besides locking things down so drunks can't lean/step/fall/spill their way to bringing things down, does anyone have advice for general drunk management?

in places like that I will set up my gear against the wall. yes I have my back to the room while i set up the next song ect, but it allows me to be a buffer between drunks and my gear. some say this is a bad thing, but i like it better than people always trying to lean over a table to talk to me. it also keeps wires out of view.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I'm facing the crowd but my setup is such that zero wires are in a place where the customers could effect the system.

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

In the past when it was really crazy, i'd use high back chairs as buffers between me and the equipment. It cut down dance space but protected the wires and players.

We had a new gig on trial tonight and figured out a new configuration, and it went without a hitch. The space we occupy is just about identical to our Friday gig, so we are going to use that there too.With the new setup, there were a few people tripping over mic wires but nothing pulled out with the strain reliefs we set.

I might add a microphone for that place, though -- quite a few groups toward the end.

We absolutely rocked the house. I had a table of 6 for dinner at the place, as my daughter and son-in-law were visiting. When I went to pay the bill, the venue picked it up -- so I think they liked us. They also booked us for 1st/3rd Sat. nights regularly. I ran the show tonight, but one of the guys will do it next time. It is nice having three people, any of whom can pick up and do a gig. Even if I do say so myself, renting a centrally-located storage unit for the gear was a stroke of genius.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

keep it in a rack (hybridcases.com) where they can't get to it and use Speakon Cables for your speakers.