Karaoke Forums

Last night, I went to a show I hadn't been to before. There on stage, front and center, under the spotlights, I saw this:



Now I know appearance isn't everything...but da mn!

My take is a quality show not only sounds good (both how the host and singers sound) but looks good too. Can't take but 10 more minutes to either gather the wires together with some velcro ties or run them under the tablecloth.

I don't think a bar owner hiring a professional karaoke host should expect anything less for their money...unless of course they're paying such a ridiculously low amount that they're happy to get what they get.

*** For mobile KJs who set up every week, how does your rig look onstage? Do you simply put your gear on top of a table with a rats nest of wires visible to the audience, or is your gear in cases with wires tucked out of the way?

Or do you even think it matters?

One last curiosity...do you sit or stand during your show?

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I would at minimum tuck the wires hanging down in front of the table cloth or put a nice banner over them advertising the company name.

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I have an open back to my rig. I try to keep it neat as possible, and gather the exiting wires into a single bundle. Admittedly, it doesn't look great... but it does look better than that... .

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My rig is pretty clean when setup. The doghouse I built for the console hides a lot of the cabling mess (and actually if one were too look inside, the cables are laid out pretty nicely in there too). The 4U rack that has my power supply and wireless receivers mounted in it hides most of the AC cords. About the worst visible portion of the whole thing are the coils of excess speaker cable under each speaker stand.

That said I honestly don't believe it really matters, at least when we're talking bar, club and restaurant gigs. People might notice if you've got a particularly messy rats nest, but if you just have visible wires hanging like in the picture you showed, I don't think folks really care. People realize it takes a lot of cabling to make this work and I honestly think they expect to see some of it. Now at a private party gig, they more than likely are going to expect a little cleaner look. But for the bar type gigs, I just don't think people really care.

Sitting versus standing? I try to stand as much as possible but usually when I'm adding singers to the rotation on the computer I'll sit for that. I try to use a high bar stool whenever possible to keep me more visible even when sitting. However most of my show is spent standing at the console and walking through the bar. I generally don't have a lot of time to sit unless the show is really dead (and even then I'll usually spend time walking the bar trying to scare up some new singers).

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I don't really have much of a choice. At both venues, I get a table with no cloth. I don't own a banner and would have trouble adapting one to fit the different tables at my 2 weekly gigs anyway.
The one gig where I'm on stage, I set up off to the side, near the DJ booth so I'm not front and center anyway. I think that the white table cloth in the pic tends to make the black wires stand out more than they normally would. With my set up, the carpet on the stage is dark so the wires don't stand out as much in the pic above. As for tucking the wires under, it looks like that cloth is all one piece, not a top and a skirt, so tucking would be impossible anyway.
Having said that, I did a wedding this summer where it was a top and a skirt and I did tuck as much away as I could. Why wouldn't I, given the opportunity? Less hanging out means less chance of it getting caught in someones step and getting ripped out.
Having said that, who really cares? It's obvious that they are a mobile unit and that it's a bar gig and not a wedding.... I'm more concerned with how good the host(ess) is and how it SOUNDS rather than how it looks.

I set up so that I am more accessible to the crowd. I set my system in a rack to neaten up my appearance. I use to have everything outside of a rack and decided I didn't look as good as I sounded. Besides it was so much easier to bring in my mixer, wireless and amplifier in one rack than to carry those same pieces in and out of gigs. Also means easier plugging in of cables because I don't have to plug in cables on every piece of equipment each time I set up. The crowd never sees the back of my rack, which I want to modify to make hooking up even easier.

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

When I think about how many shows I go to where the host is in shorts, and wearing flip-flops and......

A few years back I observed country music stars entertaining outdoors in shorts and sneakers. Usually, country artists dress "to the nines", usually. But I had never previously seen any entertain in "golf attire". I felt it was disrespectful of them to receive my hard earned dollars and show up looking like that!

Puhlease, let's not talk about karaoke cabling!

Honestly, I don't see a problem with the "looks" of her set-up. Equipment is going to have CABLES. In a PERFECT WORLD, we would all like everything hidden. However, I've never heard of ANYONE leaving a show because how the hosts cables were showing. I think the "HOSTS" appearance is a much bigger factor. As Diafel mentioned, the only thing I think she (the host) did wrong is have a white table cloth.
You have to remember, 99.9% of our singers are NOT karaoke hosts LOOKING for faults with other host's setup. As long as you run a good show, who cares about the cables.

Srnitynow

that looks like a "private event" where I think APPEARANCE is very important.
You not only represent yourself but your represent your HOST also.

Bar gigs ..tough call - I think most karaoke setups are just thrown in a tiny corner of the bar and as long as the set up is safe ..appearance is secondary.

I use a "table skirt" made of black cloth on the back of my rack.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
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Appearance all goes down to target audience.

If I showd up in a suit I might scare away more of the regular bar customers than other people I might bring in, at my regular places. On the other hand for some venues and events the exact oposite is true.

Same with equipment appearance, if people are there just to sing it is not a factor. If people are there to be in a pretty setting then appearance matters. Many bars are dives, others are not. Same with parties, sometimes yes sometimes no.

Without a context for the event, I will not pass judgement.


I nearly always stand except at the occasional house party where the gear is set up on a very low table that makes standing impractical.

Dr Fred makes a good point about dressing for the environment you're playing. Generally my goal is to be the dressed appropriately for the venue but still to make sure that there is no dobut who the KJ is. I wear my cowboy hat to some of my gigs, always make sure I've got at minimum a nice pair of jeans and some form of music related shirt on. About the most dressed up I get for bar gigs is a JD Rodeo shirt, jeans, hat and boots.

I certainly have seen the DJ's/KJ's that show up in shorts and sandals to a bar gig and that to me is not appropriate and does look unprofessional (unless of course if it is a beach cabana or something similar). The last one I was at where the pair of DJ's showed up that way, patrons around the bar were making comments about it. Of course the guys didn't do themselves any favors either since they ran their "Karaoke Show" like karaoke was just an afterthought.

For private parties, I've dressed in anything from jeans and a nice shirt all the way up to a full tux for certain weddings (usually most are just happy with a regular 3-pc suit).

I agree with the point made earlier that the hosts appearance is far more important than that of their equipment. Having a really good looking clean rig can result in a certain wow factor, but people don't seem to care much one way or the other about messy cables and such.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Here's mine

Without ignoring DrFred's excellent point, as an entertainer why would I show up anywhere in flip flops. Even at poolside event I wear an attractive shirt, deck shoes and IF I wear shorts they will be quite nice! Usually, though it's ixne on the shorts!

And at poolside events I have found other entertainers wearing a bathing suit! That's just not me!

C'mon Tov, we all know you'd love to be out there hosting Karaoke in your speedo!! Seriously though I agree to some extent. Flip Flops probably not, but maybe a nicer pair of sandals. I've seen guys hosting Karaoke at one of the local water parks dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and berkies. That looked appropriate for the gig to me.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

EVEN IN HAWAII i've never seen a karaoke host, even the old lazy ones, wear flip flops (or slippahs as they call them here).

A Hawaiian shirt, of course, but very few hosts wearing shorts, and we have summer weather year 'round. But i've never seen sandal wearers.

Local Bands on the other hand...most look homeless, wear board shorts, haven't shaved, some wear tank tops, and nearly all of them wear slippahs....pretty gross to see imho!

To stay on topic, i agree with Jam that for private events, YES your presentation on yourself and your equipment matters, but for regular small time karaoke joints, it doesn't matter much...

Nearly every wire i have is encased in my rig and i have a fan always running on the computer. The exposed wires to the tv and sound monitor run along the outside portion of the rig and down the table and along the edges of the dancefloor...barely noticeable to anyone.

Actually the host was dressed rather nicely. She wore a festive orange dress, her hair was styled neatly.


Maybe it's because I didn't start out in bars, but doing private events. Most of those are DJ events where I have far more gear than what fits on a table. I have no problem keeping my cords out of sight or at least bundled and stashed in an unobtrusive place.

To me, it seems like any KJ who would represent themselves like this is showing a lack of respect for their audience just as much as inviting them to your house that's strewn with garbage and dirty dishes. I'm taking my time to come to your house? I'm spending my money to come to your show? Clean it up!

Consider this. If you want to be taken seriously at a job interview - regardless if you have all the experience in the world - you're not going to show up in jeans and a T-shirt. Because that appearance is going to color everything else you have to say.

Similarly if I came in to a bar and saw this in the middle of the dance floor, I'm immediately going to think badly not only of the KJ, but of the bar owner who would hire a performer who thought so much of his customers that he thought this was acceptable. This particular bar wasn't a "dive", but a large and popular sports bar which maybe had 100 people in the place playing darts, pool, or watching a ton of flat screens with all the sports channels on.

This particular host works for a multi-rig company that has the contract at this bar. They feature karaoke 3 times a week, each night with a different host. (I don't know how this company's other hosts present themselves.) I won't go into this host's performance, but let's just say it was on a par with the appearance of her rig.


That's not the point. My rant is by presenting her rig that way, SHE made the decision that it doesn't matter how she looks to her audience. To me, that's a lack of respect. You're up on stage under spotlights where you're the center of attention? Every aspect of how you appear to the audience SHOULD matter. That's just plain laziness!


Sorry, I'm not in that .1%. When I go to sing karaoke, I'm there to have fun, not find fault. But when it's staring you right in the face? Don't we want to make the best impression we can on all counts...especially when it's so easy to do so?

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It also depends on the persona of the host. Here's a pic of Laurie The Guy. If he's shows up in jeans or dress pants, the first question asked is where are your funky pants. They even insist upon them at weddings and private parties. He has a large collection of similar pants.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

i tend to agree with Dan because i do come from a DJ-first standpoint performing private events long before hosting karaoke shows.

I think i must've gotten used to seeing crappy karaoke setups but didn't impose my thought on them to someone else. But when i started hosting my own, presentation was paramount.

Tim...this laurie-guy would've scared away most of my singers and a lot of my clients...is this a canadian thing?

The only thing I have to add to this entire topic is. "To each his own". All depends on the venues/events needs.