Karaoke Forums

I went to a show the other night and despite there being several other TVs around the venue, the only singer monitor was an 11" TV on a stand only viewable by the singer.

My venue has a 46" flat screen which faces the stage and a 19" flat screen which faces the audience. I prefer going to venues which have video monitors which face the audience because I enjoy reading along with the lyrics.

But believe it or not, at some private parties I book, they DON'T want a monitor facing the audience because it makes the singers self conscious that the audience will know if they "make a mistake" with the lyrics.

What's your take?

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[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

This is usually a split down the middle when this comes up.

I like to have a visible monitor, the larger the better, for I think it helps the crowd feel like they are part of things. They get to check out lyrics to songs -- we don't always know what they are. I just learned one tonight, myself.

Plus, when you run CompuHost the scrolling rotation marquee primes your singers so they are walking to the stage before you call them.

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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.

I like having an audience visible monitor connected. I do this at all but one of my regular venues and I don't there only because there is no display close to me to tap into and they use some type of proprietary video distribution system that I've never seen before and really don't want to mess with. My experience has been that most venues like having a display hooked up to the karaoke system for all to see.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I prefer to attend venues that have multiple viewer monitors throughout so everyone in the audience can see and read along. It definately sets the tone that it's a karaoke show.

Unfortunately at both my shows i only have a tie-in for a 46 inch lcd tv and i offer a 19 inch singer tv mounted on a music stand.

On the one hand i've attended a show in myrtle beach which had 8 GIANT screen projectors which was absolutely overkill (but cool looking!) and i've gone to a few shows which had only had a laptop screen to sing from- and no audience monitor.

Definitely a large enough screen for the crowd to watch, sing along, learn new songs, and say, "Oh my, I never knew THOSE were the words." Promotes audience involvement and participation.

Love that scrolling rotation feature. My regs are frequently just standing there before I even call their name.

A MINUMUM of two TVs is a must. One monitor for the singers, and a large monitor that faces the crowd. I have my system set up to attach to as many as four.

People like looking at the lyrics as they scroll... just to read along... or sing to themselves to see if they can do it... or want to get up and try it if they've never done it before. For newbies the crowd monitor is vital to the success of the show IMHO.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Definitely two or more in my opinion. I bought a projector and a screen in case a venue doesn't have a large screen of their own to use. I use it in all of my bars that don't have one. Works pretty dang easy, about a minute or two to set up and people really enjoy it alot, for the same reasons already mentioned.

I already had the screen, bought it a couple years ago for about a hundred bucks, and recently added the projector just a few months ago. Bought it for 200 used, but it was basically brand new, had zero hours on the lamp. Got lucky.

I went to a place a few times that is now unfortunately closed but was a great venue - the entire wall behind the singer (yes, the entire wall) showed the lyrics. It was amazing. The projector was mounted high above the singer so there was no shadow. It was great. Haven't seen that at another place ever. Wish that place hadn't closed down.

You know, you just brought back what must have been a repressed memory. While I have always said I had never heard of karaoke prior to running across it in 2005, I think I was at a show in the '90s in Chicago which had exactly the same thing. That made an impression on me, while apparently the idea of karaoke did not. (I was never a singer prior to quitting smoking in 2005.)

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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.

being that I do mobile... 2 maximum in kj mode: 15" on stand and a pull down projector screen (venue permitting). 1 in dj/vj mode with the pull down projector screen behind me.

I'd like to have karaoke screens visible from all parts of the bar, providing there are still ample screens for the ESPN watchers who aren't into karaoke. Doesn't always happen, but that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it. Minimum would be one screen for the singer to see and another for the audience to see whilst still looking at the singer.

I used the cheap < $4 100mm VESA wall mounts from monoprice, about 5 inches of PVC pipe and 2 pipe clamps to make a mount that I can just slide onto my speaker stands. Currently I just add one 15" LCD but for a wedding I 'borrowed' our 26" bedroom TV.

I've been looking at additional monitors and will be adding some COBY 19" lcds from amazon.com at around $160 ea. They take the composite rca input (much easier than vga and cheaper cables too). By eventually standardizing all my monitors and mounts I can simply swap one out for another if it breaks.

- Jonn

I will tap into the bars tv's (at least 1) for the audience. Right now I only have a singer monitor & a 60" bar tv I am connected to, but have a run to another 19" at the other end of the karaoke section that I need to get a new switchbox for.
When I do mobile shows I will usually run the cable & leave it ran in the club with an A/B switch connected so all I need to do is come in, hook up & turn the channel of the bar tv's to 3. If I lose/quit the club, I pull the cable - or at minimum the switch off of the tv.

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

We play in three different venues. One has screens about the bar we tap into, one with a big screen behind us, and one with none. I don't think it makes much of a difference.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Seriously? Afraid of a mistake? Doesn't sound like they're having to much fun then....

You definitely have to have a patrons tv also to read along with. Heck, it teaches us the words for when/if we want to try that song one night. Plus it keeps the crowd into the show more. My wife ( the non-singer ) always chooses a seat that's facing the patrons mintor.

As mentioned above, there's a place I'll hit that has big pull-down screen behind the singer too, about a 6' x 8' I'll guess. It is pretty cool. You effortlessly get to watch the singer and the lyrics. Great way to be able to watch a show.

Do you get any degradation when you hook up more than two monitors? That's a problem I seem to be having even without the involvement of any particularly long runs!

What are you using to split the signal and what type of signal (RF/coax, RCA, VGA) are you sending? Most of the better splitters are powered and amplify the signal to prevent such degradation. However if you're using coax and the typical coax splitter, I can understand why you're seeing issues.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I use plain 'digital' grade coax. Split 3 ways, have split up to 5 times without any major issues in signal. Longest run i've ever needed was 100', could've have went 75' if I didn't go up in the ceiling to conceal the cables. I've never needed a signal amp. I did have some interference when I didn't disconnect the house tv from their improperly grounded cable/satellite system - also created a loud LF hum in the system as well. Disconnected the house tv's & all was fine.
Now with all the new tv's & HD connections, this could be alot different for many, but I haven't seen a tv yet without a coax connection & for karaoke words, this is more than adequate.

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

I upload my feed to the internet, and the patrons can see it on their i Phones.

Usually I'm running just RCA lines off the S-video and splitting the lines with "Y" adapters. Sometimes it's RCA and S-video that are involved!

RCA is actually worse than coax when it comes to splitting. Ideally you really should have a distribution center. Radio Shack sells a really nice one, of course the price reflects that too. I think that would seriously help in your case.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... d=2103065#

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke