Karaoke Forums

I do go out on occasion for karaoke. I unusually go to someone I know who does a good job so I won't be frustrated, but sometimes I like to see who's out there, what they are doing, perhaps to find an interesting idea to help my show, or to just gauge myself against the competition.

Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, but more often than not, I'm annoyed. Cheap mics, poor sound systems, bad hosting skills, and so on are what I find quite frequently. This annoys me because this type of crapola really hurts the reputation of karaoke.

I went out Thursday night with my wife to actually see a Dee-Jay. I've been doing Dee-Jay work for Spirit Cruise lines, and Dennis is the guy who signs my checks, and I wanted to visit him, get some tips, and just have some fun. The bar had multiple levels, and on the first floor there was a guy doing karaoke. Sooooo.... of course I wanted to sing, and show off for my wife a bit, it was my birthday after all, so we went to check him out.

I put my slip in, and it was busy.... there was a woman's 50th birthdays going on, so there were a lot of singers. No problem, I can wait.

I had a feeling it was going to be interesting as the platform he was set up was small. His solution was to stack his speakers one on top of the other, and put them directly against the wall.

I shuddered, but every seemed to be having a good time, so, I didn't let that stop me. As different people came up, it didn't seem to me like he was doing much adjustment either. Those with good mic presence could be heard, those without... were barely audible.

I glanced at his computer and saw he was using WinAmp with the karaoke plug-in. Ugh.

Anyway, after about an hour, I went up to get an idea of how much longer it would be, and that's when I knew this guy was a loser. He had "30 singers and was putting a new singer in as every other one' so he didn't know how long it would be for me.

Huh?

Even if you are not using the computer to run your rotation, a professional KJ knows his rotation at all times, sorry pal. I just rolled my eyes and told him to forget it. If he really was putting a new singer in every other time, just count the new song slips to me, and then double it.... that's how many singers before I would have come up. If you really want to be fancy, multiply that number by 4 (average minutes of a karaoke song) and you could even tell me how many minutes it would be before I sang. No computer required.

I don't know how much they were paying this guy, but I suspect he was a $100 a night KJ or less guy... and IMHO that was still too much.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I agree. It’s a no-brainer. Depending on the length of the songs & how long you take in between - 15 to 16 songs every hour, or 7 to 8 every half hour, give or take. Add a couple if you’re dealing with the younger crowd as today’s music is a bit long. Older crowd, 50’s & 60’s 2.5 to 3 min.

Anyway, if a singer asks me I can pretty much tell how long it would take. But I also have to say “approximately”.

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I love Hoster it will tell you to the minute when a singer is coming up - based on the songs time stamp. However I will still give an approximation to someone who asks simply due to people and how quick they are to get to the stage. Most are on the ball and ready, but sometimes get the couple that dawdle on their way up.

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

Yeah, Compuhost has that feature too, plus what time they put their song in so when they come back up 20 minutes later and say they put their song in over an hour ago i can let them know the truth.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

Yes, I love that feature too. Or the singer who says they haven't sang in a long time when it was actually 20 minutes ago or something to that effect. Even still, with NO COMPUTER, I could tell you when you would sing, just by counting down the slips till I get to you. Having been using the four minute rule for a long time, I know it is reasonably accurate. Most karaoke applications of any quality time stamp your singer's performances... unless, of course you are using a free plug in.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I use a RoxBox player, also has a time stamp. Terribly convenient.

As for the rotation, once I reach 12 singers I start placing new singers in the 2nd rotation every 1-2 spots. Seems to work out okay. First 12 are happy for the short wait, newbies also get a relatively short wait depending on when I slot them in.

3rd rotation is when they all start bitching, of course, because now it's 90-120 minutes to get through the list. Oh well. Wish I could make time go faster. (Which I can, with a gentle click on the "tempo" button on my player... ).

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Terry O'ke--- Fake Music for Real People.

Huh, that's nothing. One I went to last week had her, yes it was female, laptop on a table and had her back to the audience. When I went to put a request in I had to wait for her as she messed with the laptop, as she couldn't she me out of her peripheral vision. She then kept popping out for a smoke and leaving music playing, whilst her audience waited for her to put us on. We won't be back!

I'm a little confused why you would point out that the KJ was female. I don't get the correlation. We have plenty of female KJs right here on this board.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yes, could be a little more concise....was she a blonde?....

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

Quoting the OP: "I shuddered, but every seemed to be having a good time.........

There's the key, and why he's still working. I've got a guy working a venue nerby. He use ONE speaker, on the FLOOR, and it points to the bottom of the bar. I could only hear myself if I sang on one knee. He had no idea what brands he had, and they weren't in the books.

His rotation was "squeakiest wheel first", unless someone bribed him.

Just putrid. However, regulars there were used to all of this, and since this is the first karaoke this little bar had, They probably figured that this was how it was supposed to be. Therefore, they enjoyed it anyway.

Sucked, but good enough ( and probably cheap enough) for that venue....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Sorry, first I've seen. No disrespect.

First female? How bizarre. I'd say it's about 50/50 in our area. I'm not an anomaly here...well...at least not for that reason.

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Birdofsong

We have tons of female hosts around here, I have 2 that work for me. Very odd that it's the first you've seen, it's pretty common in the 20 years i've been in karaoke.

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

That's odd. We have one girl around here who calls herself DJ Delicious. . She's got a bit of an odd announcing style, but she is a pretty good KJ.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Aw, don't feel alone.....I've only seen two females in my life, and neither was a KJ.......right Ma......you weren't no KJ was ya?

CompuHost's feature isn't as good as Hoster's. CompuHost just assumes every song is 4 minutes long, unless you change it, but it doesn't use the song's time stamp. Really irritating if you ask me. If someone is third on the rotation, I tell them approximately 15 minutes, and suddenly someone sings American Pie or something.

The KJ of the Year in Salem, Oregon was a female. However, that needs to be buffered with the fact that only KJ's from a certain company were allowed to compete for it.