Karaoke Forums

Hard drive based; binder had maybe 50 to 60K songs. No manu codes, etc. I asked him if he could play CD-G’s; no. I asked him if he could change keys; no. He was using Virtual DJ for karaoke.

He told me that the place was trying out karaoke for a month, every Wednesday from 7:00 to 9:30. Now, this is a great venue; hot house sound system, dance floor, stage and lighting. I told him that if he couldn’t play CD-G’s (real big here) and if he couldn’t key change (also used here a lot), that he wouldn’t get the gig.

He told me that if he did get the gig he would then buy a CD-G player and he would upgrade his PC based player. I doubt he’ll get the gig. You have to know the local audience and he doesn’t. The turn out was very light.

Oh yeah, no reverb or echo on the vocals and their board had it in spades. I mentioned it to the guy and he told me that it was already “heavy” on the vocals.

Guess I’m deaf...

Sounds like the kind of place where a good KJ could do extremely well, but perhaps the owners overlook the value of the host since they so often think it's not worth much if you don't have to haul in PA equipment, etc.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

....sounds like a guy on here with dual aliases....

ouch!

7:00-9:30? That seems kind of unusual. So if the show is successful will the show time be the same?

Not sure. I was thinking the same thing. It's gotta go until at least 11....

In the end, it ain't gonna work out for this guy.

Happy hour winding up, people will be leaving home after that and then when he's ready to shut down is when party would typically start commencing. Yeah I don't see that being a success. I've tried even 6-9 shows before - not enough interest to really keep it going. People getting off work just want to sit and relax with a stiff drink and wind down.

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

Agreed. A Sunday gig, it'll work, a weekday gig, nah.

BTW, what's the groups stand on how often you are asked to key change and play a disc?

I'm asked to do both constantly and when I'm out on the town, I see people bringing in their own CD's more than not.

Maybe it's an area thing?

We play singer's discs and can do key change but I think the people who ask for it most are either ourselves or visiting hosts. I wonder if most of our singers even know that key change is a possibility. We will offer to do it for some if they are having trouble.

Sounds like a guy who doesn't know how to use Virtual DJ.. you absolutely CAN change the key on both DJ and Karaoke tracks.

Seems like it's pretty early.. no surprise the crowd was light.. but again, maybe your area is different.. but i've played in numerous markets, and nothing ever started happening until 10pm, which is why I usually do 10pm till 2am shows.

I don't list mfg's code/disc/track numbers in my books anymore.. don't need 'em. Years ago when I was using TriceraSoft's $100 player you had to drag the tracks onto the deck from the file browser, so you had to look up each track mfg, then series, then disc, then track.

With Virtual DJ (and kJams on Mac) you just type in the name or artist and right up it comes. Only purpose putting manu numbers in the book would be to let singers 'in the know' what version or versions of the track you have.

All in all, though.. changing keys, being able to play customer discs, and specifying what version(s) of the tracks you have in the book are all what i'd call 'hard core' crowd must haves.

Sounds like a good place to pick up a gig for yourself. The club sounds great.. and if you're using the house PA and lights AND a stage?

Dude. That's like a dream gig. Walk in with your laptop and books and you're up and running.

If the ability to play customer discs and change keys is what you're convinced is the difference between making karaoke work in that particular club, you should drop a card off to the management.. maybe stop in on a non karaoke night and introduce yourself.

I do key changes pretty regularly, but rarely am I asked to play a customer's disc. My regulars know that I can, but it's usually only someone new who asks me to.

Must be an area thing, I can get up to 10 singer discs almost any given night. Key change is a must for quite a few. I have the key change request on the request slips - on occasion I will get someone asking what that means, then I will explain and some actually start using the key change for songs that are a little high for them.

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

The more I think about it, the more I think it's less of an area thing as it is simply a crowd thing.

You have all kinds of different bars.. sports bars.. music oriented bars.. biker bars.. fancy upscale bars. Bars that have 4 pool tables, bars that don't have a single pool table. Country bars, rock bars, hip hop bars. Bars with a wide variety of beers, and bars with only one kind of beer, and it's in a can... the way god intended.*

Probably as many different kinds of bars as there are people.

In every city i've ever been in you can find just about any kind of bar you're looking for within a 10 mile radius. From upscale dining and $10 mixed drinks, to juke joint dives and $1 drafts, and everything in between.

Styles of karaoke aren't any different. Local singers know what bars have the serious karaoke and which ones have the less serious karaoke or karaoke/DJ night.








* I haven't drank beer in a can since I was 16 years old. Yuck.

No singers disc here. I'm not carrying a player for 1 disc every once in a blue moon.

The people with disc are generally old or country people that i don't want at my shows anyhow.

I think key change makes songs sound like crap. I tell people if you cant sing the song how it was recorded don't sing it.

That’s an interesting take on things. The KJ's out here are asked to play disc’s at least 50% of the time and its spread pretty evenly among all styles of music. I’d say 30% ask for key changes. For me personally, I couldn’t sing without a key change. I have to drop the majority of what I sing 3 and 4 full steps, a couple 1 or 2. Other than Barry White and maybe Jim Nabors there’s little I can sing in the native key.

Does that make me a bad singer, or an uneducated singer? I don’t care what this answer is; karaoke is supposed to be fun for everyone, not just the ones who can “sing.”

The key change is just one tool to accomplish what you’re being paid for; to entertain the customer.

lmao......make that 3 aliases...

You do karaoke right?

Looks like I found a KJ whose show I definitely DO NOT want to go to. Nice elitist attitude...been in business long??

Here's a hint...karaoke is supposed to be fun...it ain't American Idol

Question:

How much would it cost to have a collection of, say, 60,000 songs? I looked into this KJ a little more and he was quoted as saying that "they" have all of the original CD's to back up what’s on their hard drive. That's all well and good but it got me wondering…

Just how much that would cost?

I know a person who has about 70 thousand songs,, and he DOES have every disc to back it up. He bought most of his stuff from people going out of business or ebay... so I doubt he actually has much invested at all in it. But in a normal situation, it's typically about a buck per song when bought by the disc. So the person you are speaking of would be into it about 50 grand.