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My ideal scenario and honestly what I expected going into this was as follows:

1. Large audience
2. My music and equipment would amaze
3. My jokes and one-liners would be met with hearty laughter.
4. At the end of the night the manager would graciously thank me and tell me they want to bring every Thursday from that night forward.

I went there yesterday morning to set up my and sound proof my gear. Everything appeared to be good. I unhooked the speaker cables, put everything in a neat little corner and went to work.
Management said I could start the karaoke around 9:00 - 9:30 and so I showed up around 8:30 to set things up once again and get rolling. I assumed I would be up and running in 10 minutes. That was totally wrong. It took me at least twice as long. Not a big deal though since I was still on schedule.
The next problem though came when after popping in a CD while I finish the rest of my setup, I was hearing distortion in the speakers and my subwoofer was not working. I checked the obvious items (cables plugged in, amp on, etc.) to no avail. Suffice it to say I am very nervous. In an act of desperation, I unplugged the speaker wire that ran from my PA speaker to my floor monitor and plugged it into the sub. The sub starts working. This is far from the recommended setup but at this point, I'm thinking it may be manageable. It wasn't. I launched into my intro/presentation and of course nearly all the jokes and funny remarks I had lined up and rehearsed went right out the window. I was incredibly nervous and couldn't remember a thing. I called up the first singer, my friend Dave who is a pretty good singer. He starts singing when halfway through the song, the music starts petering out for 10 seconds and then came back probably due to the fact that the crossover rack can't keep up. (@$%&#!)! I knew I had to get to the bottom of the sub problem but had no idea what is wrong. My first gig is spiraling out of control and I'm like a frantic pilot pulling on the stick as hard as I can before I crash and burn. I'm dreading the worst, that my first karaoke gig will ultimately be my last. I restart the DJ software (ClubDJ Pro) with no luck. I then go to another program (a trial version of Swift Elite) that allows me to use the ASIO card on my Denon HC4500 hoping that will save me. Not any better.
Luckily, my friend Ken, a drummer for a band some of you may or may not be aware of called Lillian Axe takes my phone, calls his sound guy Jay who lives in New Orleans to help me out. Jay is lying in bed and as a testament to his amazing skill, he walked Ken through the various settings on the Driverack which are all in Jay's head no less. For 10 minutes, Ken would tweak, walk in front of the speakers, hold out the phone for Jay to listen, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, Jay helps Ken find the right setting on the Driverack until viola! The sub is working properly. I plug the monitor back in, have Ken walk to the back of the bar while I adjust the volume to just the right level and we're back on track! Everything sounds good and it's time to get this thing rolling.
In this instance, not having a large audience was a blessing. I can only imagine what would have happened if I had 300 or more people there. I apologized for the technical difficulties, sang a song to test things out and determined everything was sounding just the way it was supposed to. Since I didn't have a lot of singers yet, I played a few filler songs in between. The manager picked a song and a few other people jumped on board. Ken even decided to try to sing I want you to want me by Cheap Trick which was amazing since he had never ever sang karaoke before in his life!
From this point on, things continued to get better. Dave sang Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi and since I had a cowboy hat in a box full of props, I put it on his head to better help him get into character, as other singers come up I let them use some of the other props I have as well, shamrock sunglasses, a feather boa, a Rick James wig, etc. Props aren't essential but they can definitely help. Now even the most sceptical of patrons are getting into it. This in turn helps me relax, have fun and get into it too which is when I'm truly at my best.
The best part of the evening came when I was asked if I could keep going after midnight which is the time they usually close. I gladly agreed since I had gotten off to a bit of a late start anyway. We played for another 30 minutes before finally shutting everything down.
As the manager helped me load the last and heaviest item (my dj rack) into my car. I asked him what he thought just to get an assessment. Pesonally, if I had to grade myself, I'd give myself a C+/B-. He said, he thought I did well. I explained I was really worried initially about the sub problems to which he replied, he totally understood. There's a lot of difference between practicing in a house and actually using it in a place about 5,000 sq. ft more spacious. He said, I was the best karaoke DJ they'd had to date which while very complimentary I couldn't exactly take as such. What it really made me wonder was just how bad the previous karaoke DJ's must have been. The impression I got from him was that for the first karaoke attempt at this place in nearly a year, it went well and he believes as I do that it will continue to get better. I'm won't be able to KJ next week since I'm driving up to Utah with all my gear to DJ my sister's wedding but he told me to call him once I'm back in town to discuss when they'll have me back again.
So, with all that occurred, what did I learn? Quite a bit. Here's just a few of the items:

1. I was condescending in my previous post towards KJ's who don't have a lot of gear. Given the time it took me to set everything up, I can understand although I don't totally agree with why some prefer to just stick with the bare essentials (PA speakers, mixer, computer and/or CDG player). I would like to streamline a little but personally, I don't mind the extra time and effort it takes to set everything I have up because in the end it sounds good and I could tell the people singing noticed it too. I'm 6'5" and can handle (at least for now) the heavy lifting. I do think that generally, it's better to have the mentality of being a KJ first who then DJ's rather than the other way around because sometimes DJ's who venture into karaoke think that what they have for karaoke will easily work for karaoke. It rarely does in my opinion.
2. I have to get better at setting and disassembling everything. I need to do a better job of labeling and organizing all the wiring I have. Although you could see it from the front from where I was sitting, there were a mess of wires and I need to eliminate as much wire clutter as I possibly can.
3. Like the adage "To thine own self be true", "Know thy gear". I've printed and read the manuals for my various pieces of equipment but admittedly, I need to understand it all better. I need to prepare an audio checklist because Ken nor Jay will always be there to save me.
4. Have a good backup plan. Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with my sub but if there had been, I was ill prepared to work around it which would have been changing the configuration on the crossover that I'm not currently not totally sure how to do. I also discovered that the xlr cable to my second mic sometimes cuts out and I didn't have a replacement. It wasn't a big deal as I let people use my wireless mic but I need to have extra stuff on stanby for "just in case".
5. Practice, practice, practice. That's obviously a given.
6. When starting off, it's always better to admit you're starting off rather than pretend you know everything. If you're honest that you're still learning the ropes, people will give you a break assuming you're humble and smart enough to eventually figure it all out. If you act as if you know it all and run into a problem, they're usually much less forgiving.

In closing, I'd like to dedicate the success of the first gig to the following people:

Ken and Jay who kept what was looming as a total catastrophe as some early turbulance.
My girlfriend Julie who encouraged and inspired me to pursue this whole KJ dream in the first place and continues to support and encourage me. She's wonderful, I love her, and plan to make her my wife August 7th.
Dave for coming out and participating as well. The numbers he did were well received.
Everyone here for your advice and encouragement.

DFW,

I can't tell you how much I appreciated your post. It bought back incredible ( and scary) memories!

First, as far as nervousness goes: I have been doing this for many years and STILL get terrible stage fright until my first singer gets up. I kind of hope this continues, because it keeps me on my toes.


So you know, you did something that many new Karaoke Hosts don't do, and you proved that they should: You were honest with the venue about your experience. This does two things. They allow you more leeway for error than they would for someone who comes in claiming to know it all.

Also, and even MORE inmortant, it put them on your side. They had to know you were nervous, and in most cases, they will do everything they can to help you. Not just because they are nice, but also because it FEELS good.

Once you know your equipment, setup and breakdown will become second nature. I used to walk out of a venue amazed that I remembered to do everything, and now it's almost as if it all gets done by itself.

Knowing your equipment is also key to emergency problem solving, not just through equipment knowledge, but the confidence to stay calm and think through a crisis ( which it seems, you already did)

Hint for the day: A trip to CVS or a similar store will find you six-packs of 6" long velcro strips. Use them to dress your wires and cables ( as well as secure them when putting them away) and your dangling cable problems will be history.


Some here may or may not comment on style or other subjectuve things. In my opinion, being YOURSELF is the best way to go. Work within YOUR comfort range in terms of your hosting personality.

I believe you show a commitment and the enjoyment of your work that will make you a terrific host. Helpful and knowledgeable friends are a blessing too!

Good job, and good luck!

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Thur nights can at times be hard to get started. We did our second thur last night. Only one adgoing and we had about 40 in the karaoke room, maybe 10 singers. I started training a new host that hardly sings and has never hosted before. I trained another new one last week. The owner and I sang constantly for the first hour and I was singing songs I havnt done for a long time.

I sang for the first time on my sm58 wireless, it is totally awesome.

Here is a photo of my new host. She has a lot to learn. She has a good personality but I need to teach her how to project it on the mic.

adrienne

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I have that same wireless mic and couldn't agree more. It sounds superb!

I had a singer walk over to his table and wound up singing right in front of a main like I mean 2 feet from it. I reached towards the fader but it didnt have feedback. I was shocked because I have the gain on the receiver real high.

Also it has gain needed for those singers that hold the mic at their chest.

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Connections, definitely label the cords. You will eventually find out which cords you DO NOT have to take out or can roll them up in the rack. This will save time on set up as well. Each room will be different as far as tweaking, the Driverack you can save the settings for each room so you do not have to readjust. Mixer settings remember a good base - this may change from room to room as well.
Nervous, I still get nervous as well. It's when you stop getting nervous about performing/entertaining is when you should worry.

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DFW you have a very complex system for a novice! Congrats for getting things done.

I think you know what you need to do. You need to intimately get familiar with every aspect of your system. With your Driverack, take it out of the rack and set it on a table (or even your bed at night like a book) with the manual and go through every parameter and screen until you really know that box. Do not rely on the wizard! You aren't going to learn that way when you need to do something quickly. Do a few setups from scratch. Get so you can instinctively access things like the graphic and parametric EQs, compressor threshold, block output levels, sub Xover point instantly.

Even if you pink your room in advance you are going to be accessing these parameters as conditions change (the place fills up).

Good luck man. You're off to a good start.

Congrats on a good first gig!

That was a good candid write up on the experience. Sounds like you learned a lot and you'll have a good time learning. I look forward to visiting your show sometime.

Great write up, DFW. Hopefully the neophyte KJs will take a good long read at your first show experience. The assumption that any setup is easy and that it is easy to troubleshoot just goes out the window when you first fire everything up. Remember to start with the simplest thing first - it's easy to let the mind run wild thinking of things that could be wrong when it could something as simple as a a loose connection! (Been there, done that!)

Glad you got it all figured out - some establishments wouldn't be so understanding. Glad you found one that is. Sounds like you've established good rapport with the owner/manager. Best of luck with the gig in the future. Seems like you're off on the right foot.

DFW great read and congrats on your job well done!

Let us know if this turns into a regular gig for you.

For new gigs I used to setup at noon. Now I am a little more confident but still I am there 2 hours early.
It takes awhile to totally integrate into a business but gradually things gell.

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I go an hour early. My policy, because it gives me time to replace gear that breaks or is forgotten.
Even now, with my gigs that are "old hat" I still go an hour early.
It happened once that I drove all the way to a gig in the next town (20 minutes away) and when I got there realized that the power supply to my lappy was missing and got left at home. YIKES!!!
That was the time I was able to justify going so early to my BF who used to ask me, "Why do you go so early?".
He hasn't complained about it since!
Great write up DWF!
Good luck in the rest of your ventures!

1) Always allow more than enough time.

2) Know your hardware.

3) When it goes wrong - chill out. If you are pannicking, you will achieve nothing.

If I have not gigged in a while, I do a full setup and tear down in my garage, just for a little reassurance.

Lable your cords too

Hey...

I loved your post. I hope to be in your shoes in a month or two. Please give me all the advice you can. Did you make any purchases that you regret? If you had two thousand dollars, what would you buy to get started in the business?

Tom

TP, unless you already have a music library, good luck setting up for 2 grand. Lonman will tell you to budget 5 grand, I did mine including 2600 non duplicate songs, equipment and software at around 3 grand. I shopped around and got a lot of good deals.I still want to rack my set up, buy a conditioner and of course more tunes. I won't count the lights and items I plan on buying as I bought the virtual dj software and I did one dj gig this past weekend.

Advice? Don't buy cheap cords up front!!!!! You will regret it. If you decide to ignore that advice, let me know, I will sell you those cheap cords. Cheap!

If you only have $2000 initially, I would reluctantly suggest you take one of two strategies:
1. Get the essentials (two PA speakers, mics and cables, dj software and your music). With some careful creative shopping, you could be like me and get lucky and acquire over $2000 worth of gear for $800 (I obviously have no regrets). The upside to this, is it's enough for you to try to get your foot in the door, the downside is of course the quality. You might find some decent Peavey speakers for cheap but they'll never sound as good as some nice JBL or Mackie speakers. Plus, not having a compressor, floor monitor(s), effects rack will limit your sound quality too but you can acquire that stuff as you go. That way if it doesn't pan out, you're not stuck with a bunch of gear you're not using.
2. Acquire a little at a time. This was my initial strategy that fortunately I didn't have to fully implement. The area now where I'm still and will always be acquiring is my music selection. One week you might find a killer Craigslist deal on some PA speakers, another week, it might a karaoke CD collection or something else until after a month of two you have the ideal setup you wanted in the first place. I'll give you a good link that will allow you to search multiple craigslist sites at once for audio gear.
http://jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi

The other thing I would advise you to do is be patient. Once I got my gear, I was very excited, overly confident and couldn't wait to get a gig. Once I got my first gig, I quickly realized I still have much to learn. Check out other shows, talk to other KJ's (most are helpful) and figure out what will worst best for you given your budget, where you want to KJ and other factors. They might lead you to some good deals on gear, music and places to gig. You can also get a good feel for the style of karaoke DJ'ing that works for you.

Good luck!

You'll get some good replies if you start out a topic in the tech forum. Just state you're starting up, have $2K to start and want some advice on working. That was my starting budget and I ended up with a nice sounding system.