Karaoke Forums

Pretty much describes it for me too.... "Filler Music" Used to fill the gap between Singer A leaving the stage and Singer B approaching the stage, or, to fill the gap when nobody is waiting to sing.

That's exactly what my "filler music" is -- played immediately upon a song's end until the start of the next singer. It usually runs 30 to 45 seconds, sometimes longer if I have a dawdling singer.
Most of my singers are in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, so my "fillers" are rock or R&B oldies ("Boomer" music). Sometimes I play a slower "filler" in between high-energy karaoke songs.

Last night, a non-singer offered me $20 just to play more "fillers" because he enjoyed them so much. But I couldn't accept because I had so many singers lined up.
The singers are my first responsibility.

Filler is what I play when I don't have any singers with songs in period. I turn off my filler player while I have singers so singers can hear their names being called. SO while I have singers it is a traditional all karaoke show.

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

a nifty tool to combat the dreaded "dead air"

An insidious device that tends to encourage slowness in getting karaoke singers up for the next song.

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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.

A famous West Coast KJ records the singer and uses that as filler..

Almost like he never stops singing.

Seamless..

I don't have a pat answer like everyone else seems to have.

It depends on the venue

It depends on the crowd

It depends on the hour and the number of singers I have in the rotation.

And while it is ideal if a singer draws non-singers up to dance I can't always rely upon that to happen and sometimes (not all the time) I need that to happen.

And I have never offered a handful of singers (3 or less who have come by themselves) nonstop turns at singing, but I will most typically let each singer perform two songs per turn. And I pretty much use filler of one type or another in those instances, even at a show billed as "Karaoke"!

My focus is to keep my job and I figure if I am correct in my sense of what the room needs at the moment, and I am correct more often than I am not, I will satisfy enough people to keep the most important sound throbbing throughout the gig --- the sound of the cash register.

And as one poster suggested some people are just too self-centered to care much about what is required to entertain the room. And, those who don't like my show will vote with there feet, just as I have done in the past. And I have stopped going to many karaoke shows for reasons other than filler music. and in one instance because of it!

There are certainly too many considerations in putting on a karaoke show to obsess about each and everyone. You can't please all the people all the time. All I can do is all I can do.... And all I can do is enough!

Filler music for me is just something while one singer is leaving the stage and the next is coming up, no more. Never full songs.

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Filler music to me is music between singers. It could be 10 seconds or 5 minutes though. I personally have never used it. If it's used correctly and doesn't take up valuable singers time I'm okay with it.

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Exactly as I use "filler music"


My filler music player is at about 60% volume of the karaoke player so speaking over it is not an issue.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

...that noise between singers

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

I play filler only to fill time that I have zero singers/songs in. I view it unprofessional to sing song after song waiting for the singers to put in a song and once they do have to stop the show dead stop while I enter them into the system. Some might be able to multitask and get it done but I have a little trouble with the lyrics because of the songs I choose to sing when I do sing.

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

I play bumper music between singers. It helps keep the rhythm going and people have told me they like it instead of the dead air from other shows. Sometimes I play the Mentos comercial song, sometimes Underdog or George of the Jungle will come on.

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Kevin

I have an mp3 player that plays continually throughout the night that is plugged directly into my mixing board. It plays at random, so i actually don't know what its gonna play. The music is all upbeat stuff, but its not songs that are usually sang in karaoke form at my shows. All i do is turn it up and down between singers. Quite easy to do.

But here's and idea for everyone who hosts shows that are kinda slow to start. Instead of playing regular music at the beginning of your shows before people start handing in song slips, how about playing the vocal rendition of some karaoke songs. Try some that are really catchy songs that most people won't sing or have forgotten about. Who knows, you just might get someone up a little earlier to start this way by giving them some good ideas or hints on some songs. Just a thought.

Ducking (i.e. reducing the music volume while doing voice-overs) works great in this instance whether you do it manually or automatically. I have a compressor setup on my "filler music" that is keyed off of my vocal mic. When I start talking it takes the filler music volume down. When I stop it brings the music back up about 1.5 seconds later. This is how you hear it done on the radio BTW. You can do it just as easy with the fader or level knob on your console.



I like this idea, this is actually what I've begun doing the last few months at all my gigs (even the ones that are off and running right away). It reminds people of songs they can sing. The other thing I've found is that the right songs will also get the "non-singers" singing along which often times breeds new singers for the show.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Isn't that "Filler Music" too (since you're describing something that is probably less than 1 minute in play time)? If not, could everyone please give me their definition of "Bumper Music" vs "Filler Music?"

I do that at my shows (when I don't have any singers handing anything up yet). Usually I will plop in one of my Pop Hits Monthly discs from 1997, and play the multiplex track of the songs.

Now here is a situation where I have let the same 2 or 3 people get up to sing (in turn/rotation) for as long as they wanted to. If nobody else in the bar is getting up to sing, after about 3 (or maybe 4) turns each, I will make an announcement like, "If you don't want to keep hearing John and Mary sing all night long, then come on and fill out a song request slip for you to sing."

What's that?

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