Karaoke Forums

Well I'm back from Jacksonville and we did end up finding a spot that had Karaoke. Very interesting club. Charged a small cover to get in the door, all black walls and furniture inside with very low lighting. Karaoke started at 9:00 but the Karaoke crowd didn't even start to arrive until 10:30 or so. That said, this night was a complete assault on my ears. Club had an in-house system run by a DJ/KJ who sat in a booth that is in-line with the front of the PA (i.e. he's 90 degrees off-axis from the PA so all he can hear are the reflections). They had one cheap wired mic on stage, a lyrics monitor off to one side of the stage and a huge projector screen on the wall next to the stage. Unfortunately, the projector wasn't properly focused so not all of the lyrics fit on the screen.

The KJ, started the night with a regular. He handed him some super cheap wireless mic which had the power switch broken out of it. Guy sang well but most of his vocals were lost in the music. My wife sang a tune and it almost ripped my ears off she was soooo loud in the PA. This guy really had no interest in adjusting input levls or trying to make a mix that allowed singers to be heard properly. Obviously no EQ'ing was ever done. Most folks used the wireless mic which mean that the KJ had no mic for himself. He'd yell down from his booth to the person that was supposed to sing next or in some cases would just start the song and the singer who had chosen the song would see it on the big screen, run up and grab the mic. Most of the night was spent either struggling to hear what people were singing or trying to stop the bleeding eardrums after they had been ruptured by excessive vocal levels.

All that said,the place had a good crowd of younger age folkes (21-30 year olds). Everyone, including my wife and I, had a pretty good time despite the audio assault and less than professional hosting job. In the end, it sure makes me wonder how a more committed host such as most of us here might have done in a similar environment and how much bigger (or smaller) the crowd would have been.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Think il l edit this a bit and use it for flyers

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Yet despite all that went wrong, you had a good time, Tony. I'd like to hear about what made it a fun time as well...

What made it fun? I can sum it up in two words "The People". There were a lot of really good singers, yet none of them were what I would term Karaoke Divas. Everyone there was engaged in what was going on with Karaoke. People applauded, sang along, and even the poorest of singers could feel safe on stage. I sang Tommy Tutone's Jenny Jenny and the folks at the tables were singing along in the appropriate parts. Later it was Family Tradition and the same response, got audience involvement at the usual locations in the chorus. That reminds me too, the folks there were getting into all sorts of different music. We had people singing everything from "This is how we do it" to "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" to "Crazy X-Girlfriend" to "Yellow Submarine". People got into it all.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

It's been my experience that the majority of karaoke shows are like that.. cheap mics, crappy sound, sub par host.

But what brings people to those places is they just want to cut loose and sing.. and none of them take karaoke seriously enough to care that the mics are cheap, and the PA is crappy, and the host has the personality of a piece of dry rotted lumber.

Some of you guys like to bust on the DKY DUO mics.. but man.. i've seen plenty of mics in use at karaoke venues that make the DKY DUO's look like $1,000 mics.

Most people simply don't care. They come out to have a good time, shake off the stresses of the day, catch a buzz and sing into a microphone and maybe make an (@$%&#!) out of themselves.

Sounds like a fun bar to me!

Tony,, this is exactly what I was saying in my previous thread. It really isn't about the equipment at all, its all about just having a good time with friends.. Getting a chance to have 3 minutes of "fame" and time on stage to sing to an audience. For those of us who take our systems to the "next" level, I think we are missing the boat. Tony, I agree that having the "ear assault" is not pleasing, but you still had fun with good people just wanting to let their hair down. I am really happy for you that you actually got a view from a different angle so to speak.

While I agree that you can have fun just about anywhere doing karaoke, a good host, speakers, mics, etc. are very important ingredients in making a fun night a memorable one.

A host who isn't involved and would rather text, talk to the bartender or stare into outer space cheapens the night IMHO and could be the difference in whether I stay or move on to the next place.

I think just about any sound system can be tweaked enough to make it tolerable to the ear but the host has to have at least basic mixing skills to pull it off. This past Tuesday night I literally ran out of a place because the highs and mic levels were thru the roof and I thought my ears were going to explode. I didn't offer my opinion to the host because I don't feel confortable doing that sorta thing and left instead. Many others did as well.

Honestly, I probably am more critical because I host too, but obvious things like this spoil my evening and I find it unacceptable. If your going to host karaoke, learn the trade. It's no different than any other job. If your a host and look out at your crowd and their wincing in pain... ADJUST!!!

ditto

But wouldn't have that 'ear assault' night been much better with someone that knew how to run the equipment? Don't discount people that like to have a great/fun time and STILL like to sound good doing it.
I have had fun on an occasional night at a place with a crap setup. Not my choice, usually there isn't one as it would be when we are out of town. Given a choice, i'd opt for better sound with the fun everytime.

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

But!...and there is a but.

OK, we know that it's not just about the system. As stated earlier and in other posts, it's about having fun, right? People don't care about such things, right?

And now here's where the "but" comes in:

But, don't you want to set yourself apart from the sup-par host that uses crap mics, crap speakers, etc., etc. Don't you want to be different from the rest? The rest who obviously don't care enough to make their singers sound good.

And if you think that your customers can't tell the difference, think again.

Use your equipment and hosting abilities to your advantage. Set youself apart from the rest. Your customers can see it and most like it.

I hate to disagree with that statement BUT it IS about the equipment. Otherwise, go out and buy a VocoPro amp/mixer combo, add some VocoPro mics...and for music, let's see...how about a DVD of 1000 midi files. Midi? Sure, why not. People don't care.

Let me tell you my friend, if you tried going that route you wouldn't be in business for long. So, it really IS about the equipment, the sound, the host, the music, etc. It Does matter.

Ok, now while I totally agree that good sound is much preferable, and less painful in most cases, all I am saying is that it isn't the thing that makes a great show, or a fun show. It has to do with many factors, one is which the people who attend WANT to have a good time. I think in this case with Tony, this is the case. A lousy sound system will NOT deter most people from having fun.

And yes, I "DO" set myself apart from the other hosts with sub-par sound. It just not "necessary" to have a good show. We see that time and time again. And no matter how we (or I) justify our purchases, its just a simple case of G.A.S.... we have G.A.S....(Gear Acquisition Syndrome ) and thats all there is to it.

I know you do, Scott. Everything you have ever posted about yourself and your system implies that you are a true professional. You have shown that you truely care about this business and your customers. I applaud you.

Well it kind of looks like Tony was in the same situation I described which he was out of town. Possibly not really looking (I know when I am on vacation karaoke is really the last thing I want to do so I don't spend a lot of time seeking shows) and just happened to stumble on a show & made the best of it.

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

The big question is..... will you come back to this place?

I know I won't, unless I have no other choice.

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

Well here's my take on the whole thing. First and foremost, we did have fun. However, barely being able to hear one singer and then having the next tear through your ear drums was incredibly annoying. Next time in Jacksonville would I go back to that place? No. There are other karaoke bars around, I'd be trying another before I'd ever even consider going back to that place. The people around us were also visibly annoyed by the inability to hear singers and some plugged their ears when things got out of control. I can't say whether they'd be back or not but to me as a KJ it doesn't matter. I pretty much feel I've failed in my job if people have to plug their ears.

And that's just it, sure he did his job. He got people singing, there were people in the bar, but I have to wonder how much more successful it'd have been if he didn't suck. Would he be able to bring in a crowd at 9:00 when the show officially starts, maybe have slips waiting, etc. instead of having the first hour and a half be completely devoid of people (we were literally the only ones in the bar for the first hour). Just seems to me if you have a group that is that engaged in the karaoke aspect, it should be pretty easy to build a bigger crowd. I suspect that his poor skils as a host and as a pseudo sound engineer are hinder him.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

No doubt you are correct. Having a lousy sound system that hurts the ears, or not knowing how to run it to its potential so people can enjoy the experience, I'm sure made some people think twice about even coming in at all. I believe that the biggest factor here was his inability to do a proper job as a host. Not the sound system itself. Who knows what might actually be possible if a good host was doing that show.