Karaoke Forums

OK, I have a few questions for some of you that may be exposed to this.

Our Thursday night club has asked us to come in on Friday's to DJ.

Now, let me clarify a couple of things. This is not a dance club. There aren't flashing lights on the floor, etc. It's a bar, with a medium sized dance floor.

What they are looking for is something besides the jukebox that can keep a night moving, get some people dancing, etc. We all know that more dance = more drinks. Cater to the girls, and the guys will come (don't take that literally), .

I'm not going to be "DJ Kickyerbutt" and stand up there spinning the latest by Snoop Dog. The bar doesn't want that. They want the classic dance songs, and good danceable rock and pop. Like I said, something to just keep the night moving.

Where in the heck does a person start?

The way I see it, I should develop a playlist. Something that sets the tempo as the night goes on. But, where is a good resource to get the music? I know about the subscription services, etc, and I'm going to do that. But, backing up to the 70's, 80's, and 90's pop/rock compilations, I have looked at Rhino Records for those.

Can anyone give me a few pointers on do's and don'ts of this? Can anyone give me an idea of.......for instance..........."Never play this song if..........", or "These songs are guarateed to get people to the dance floor", and a resource to go get those. Are alot of these available on box sets?

Or, a web resource that tells you how to have a successful show.

Look at it this way. I am going to run it just like a commercial free radio station DJ. Just keep kicking the tunes, controlling what they hear, and inject some energy into the room.

Any ideas?

P.S. - Our first gig is Friday, .. They couldn't wait. The cool part is, I can leave my gear set up from Thursday night, so that helps.

I would get a bunch of compilations 50s-90s. Circuit City/Best Buy/Tower Records usually have pretty decent selections. You can add in some newer stuff with the "Now" and "Totally Country" type series. The Various Artists sections have everything you would need - there are some real must haves like Goin' South, Disco collections, Motown, old school hip hop, etc. A few greatest hits CDs from selected artists like Elvis, Sinatra, Neil Diamond would also be worth getting. If you have any used CD/video stores (Disc Replay, CD Trader...), you might save even more.

For online orders, I often go to cduniverse.com (I used to buy from cdnow.com, but since becoming part of amazon.com, their website is very unuser friendly IMO).

You may also be able to get away with playing some of the karaoke vocal-assist tracks if you have them, but you'd have to check them out in advance.

Good luck and have fun.

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Sounds Great! Entertainment
Bartlett, Illinois

I'm not really sure what age your patrons are going to be or where this is located, but if you're going to have to play older stuff, some 80's rock is cool by some people in the mid 20's to 30's crowd, like Billy Idol, Def Lepard, (I love Rock & Rock by Joan Jett) etc. This is not my area of expertise though just songs that people like to sing at karaoke that go over well.

As far as what songs not to play, if it was getting late in the night and you were at a bar with feisty people in their 20's, try and stay away from music that makes them want to "mosh." Otherwise their bouncers will get a work out trying to settle everyone down.

Hi Tym,
I actually DJ more than karaoke. If I had to do it all over again in getting music I would definately go to rotations.com and get their music sets. It's better than trying to get things individually. I'll second Marty's suggestion on the NOW series of discs for newer music.

[quote:Cater to the girls, and the guys will come (don't take that literally), .
][/quote:I'm not going to be "DJ Kickyerbutt" and stand up there spinning the latest by Snoop Dog. The bar doesn't want that. ]

Sometimes you would be amazed by what some of the 40yr old women are requesting these days, some of the newer hip-hop,(Usher, Outcast, etc...), I guess they just still want to be cool/hip in the bar with the youngins'.

Just remember that DJin' & karaoke are 2 different things, you almost have to be a mind reader sometimes when trying to pick out the right music for your crowd. Also you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time.

Read your crowd, if you have people chair dancing, tapping the feet, etc.,(basically body language) to see if the music is working or not. In each bar there are "groups of people",(older, younger, R&R, country, etc), my suggestion for DJin' is to play in 2-3 song sets of one flavor of music for a certain group then change to a different flavor for another 2-3 songs for a different group. People get tired of the same type of music all night long, variety is a good thing.

Hope this helps you out.

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Lito
"It's all about having FUN"

The hardest task you'll face is figuring out what your crowd will dance to. You're in luck if the owner is planning on theming the night and promoting it that way (ie: The 80's On Friday!). If you have to pick/choose your way around be prepared to spend a LOT of $ on discs (and having more than a few mediocre nights) while you get things leveled out.

The suggestions thus far have been quite good. Here's my own $0.03...

Start current and work your way back. Be strong in the 80's (there's several good collections out there that can get you started fast). Have the Disco standards and Country hits handy then work your way around from there depending on your crowd.
Assuming you're a "real DJ/KJ" and not a "weekend warrior" (ie: you have a functioning business entity/name) you might want to look into getting some back issues of Promo Only's libraries. From there spread out to some of the other collections - most have "starter sets" that can put you well on your way. And don't forget eBay!

May the Force be with you...

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DJ Shadowfax

Go to MobileBeat's web site and check out their 200 Most Requested songs list. I get a lot of requests off that list. Be sure to ask for requests, that always takes up a large portion of my night.

And no matter the age group.....Electric Slide, Cha Cha Slide, and other participation dances are always requested.

I usually start out with a couple of medium speed song, go up to a couple of faster songs, then play a slow song. That will get them thirsty, so they will head to the bar. Plus it will give the slow only dancer a chance to get up. If there's a lot of slow dancers dancing, I'll just mix right into another slow song.

Jim