Karaoke Forums

i really think the main problem is, around here anyway is that most don't have a clue as to how to run there own equip...2nd one is...i don't believe they even care...it's a job, it's work..

I think the crux of the matter on this one is that if a person does have a hearing problem then just letting the host know that is why you want the monitor up will go a long way. Otherwise they won't understand because to them whatever adjustment they may make sounds correct.

The same goes for vision--if someone tells me they need special help, I have actually changed the entire set up so they can get their nose 2 inches from the monitor to read the lyrics. But if they had just stood there saying make the lyrics bigger when they were clear to everyone else I wouldn't know what the heck was happening as far as how to fix it.

Some people just don't do their job very well and they are their own boss and they refuse to take advice from anyone because they have been doing it their way for years and that means that they MUST know what they're doing. Duh! Not much different, in my opinion, than a host that refuses to play a customer's discs. You're in the customer service business whether you like it or not, and you don't have every song that everyone wants to sing and the customer should NOT be limited to your selctions because you are an arrogant tool. I shouldn't have to find something in your book if I already have the songs that I want to sing in my pocket. Part of my reasoning goes to the post above. As I get older my vision is getting worse and worse so I make a lot of my favorite songs over and use a much larger font than they originally came with. If you refuse to play my discs, you may be violating the Americans with Disabilities act. Maybe I can start sueing KJs and Karaoke venues for violating my rights?

I agree with you for the most part Bruce, BUT it would be nice if you let the host know what MFG the song is because they might have it. In your case that might be unlikely because you create a lot of your own songs.

I'm reading this post for the first time, and I'm noticing something pretty funny........is it just me, or does Max sound like someone else?......especially the way that "caps lock" button gets engaged every once in a while.... ....I could be wrong, but that is one good way to get someone to agree with you....lmao......gotta go.....gotta draw some blood....

another angle, i have seen may hosts without a separate monitor out and just use the other main output. if he has a "karaoke" mixer that may be the issue. he didn't turn up your monitor because it would turn up the main outs as well. and if you were mixed well for the room......
just an option that it may not have been as malicious as it may appear.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

! You were just joking there, right?

For the record, I don't play customer's discs at several of my shows for varying reasons. At my casino gig, I don't do it because they don't allow cussing there and I have no idea what is on a customer's disc. We had a bad experience with a customer bringing me a disc that was full of cuss words. It was right after that incident that I was ordered by management not to allow customer's discs anymore.

I felt I let a singer down if they had to ask for something. It can happen as people come up to talk to you about songs and such. The issue could very well be a song that was produced louder than most and it's drowning out the singer. You mix it up front but many songs start out soft them blams them.. By then you have two people talking to you and the singer is suffering. I could always tell if a singer was suffering if I could just pay attention to them. You can see it on their faces. I always ran a slight more vocals to the monitor than the mains i could easily stick my head in and check that mix and I got mostly the mains mix from the other side of the counter.
The thing is, karaoke is never a set it and forget it thing. Every song is different and every singer is different.

I would usually go up to a singer that had to ask for something and apologize and probably buy them a drink. It's gonna happen but it shouldn't be the norm and it shouldn't be OK.

The problem is that many kjs don't use a separate monitor out with just the vocals placed in front of the singer. They use two speakers on sticks at full volume, of course the singers can't hear themselves. Karaoke night is amateur night in more ways than one.

Well I guess my post was deleted or didn't go thru. I will be polite but don't tell me what to do, just tell me what you are having problems with. Don't tell me what buttons to push, turn, slide. Just tell me what doesn't sound right. Always welcome comments from those that say "I'm in (or have been) a band, this is what you need to do for me. NOT!

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

Because NO ONE could possibly know more about sound than you do, right? Unbelievable! These are the ego maniacs that ruin karaoke for people. God forbid you give the customer what he wants. He will get what you want to give him and like it....or he can just leave. Pretty much the same attitude that some KJs have with people who bring their own discs. It's not that my songs are better than your songs. The issue is that MY songs are the songs that I WANT TO SING. I've probably already sung the songs that you have and I want to sing something else. If you won't let me sing them, I will go somewhere else and explain to your BOSS why he won't have me as a customer ever again, until he gets a KJ that knows how to treat his customers. Without singers, all of you are out of work. Very few of you, if any, are getting hired to sing for four or five hours all by yourself.

It's MY equipment! I WILL be the one that decides all the controls. As I said,,,, and maybe you didn't listen (or hear), DON'T tell me what buttons to push, just tell me if you can't hear yourself, doesn't mean I'm going to turn the vocals up on the monitor, I may just turn the music itself down, I may adjust the gain or the compression or the pan,,, I will decide what to adjust for you to get what you want! I will make it so you can hear yourself! Comprende? Not saying I won't work with a singer,,,,, as I DO and you will be hard pressed to find someone who has been to my show and thought I was or am a "ego maniac" or even found me rude!


And as far as my "boss", well the bars and the owners where I am working at WOULD blow you off. Your attitude towards life simply sucks Bruce! Here is a direct copy from the owner's wife sent to me privately on fb last Tuesday. "Hi Bob, I know this is VERY short notice, but just wondering if you are busy this weekend. People have been blowing up the phone wondering when you're going to be back! Thanks!
"

Does it sound like I don't treat my singers right?

I guess I have been lucky, I've never had someone like you as a singer, had some difficult singers but you take the cake! I would suggest you stick to singing at home, then you will like the host every time!

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

I've been to many karaoke shows in my life and I've never been asked to leave. I sing pretty well and I spend plenty of money when I'm there. Most of the bar owners complain that I don't go back often enough because I like to listen to other people sing as much as I enjoy singing so I go to various places every week. I might not go back to the same place for a month or more. I never seem to get a bad reaction when I show up because I only go back to shows with a fair rotaion and KJ's that play discs for the most part. If I go to a "bad" show; I just don't go back. I've been to shows that can't play standard karaoke discs but the KJ seemed to be a nice enough guy so I would convert the songs I wanted to sing into video files so he could play them from a standard optical drive without a problem. I'm willing to compromise but as a customer, I expect to be treated as a valued customer by the KJ just as much as the owner appreciates my business. I used to go to a place that had alternating KJs. One was a nice guy and the other one wasn't to my liking. I would only go when one of the KJs was working and never went when the other one would be working. the owner asked me about it one night and I explained that the other KJ wasn't to my liking but if the other KJ was there every week I would be there more often. You can guess what happened, right? Owners listen to good customers. Another place that I used to go to recently fired the KJ because he wouldn't let the owners grand daughter and her friends sing whenever they wanted to. I supported the KJ at his new show and haven't been back to his former place of employment out of support for him. That owner was more interested in what her grand daughter had to say than the paying customers. Their new KJ is a pirate who can't play discs and his system sounds terrible from everyone that I've run into that still goes there. You're entitled to your opinions of me. I'll be just fine. This is a Forum where people talk about things that think should be changed. People rarely come here to talk about what a great time they had at karaoke the night before. People come here to vent. Last night the bartender at a new place that I've been to only a few times, tried to over charge my friend and I by adding extra drinks to our tab thinking that we wouldn't remember how many drinks we had. Should I have opened a new thread recommending that place today? To add insult to injury, I got charged for something at the Diner last night too that I didn't order. That was probably an honest mistake, but after the incident at the bar, I was beginning to wonder....maybe it's me?

When you put it more objectively like that, it goes down like a good after dinner drink instead of gasoline.

My goal is to make happy singers and sell drinks for the bars. It's a good feeling at the end of the night and gives me great gratification. I had some great singers last night, some average singers and probably the least talented singer I've ever had at one of my shows. Doesn't matter their talent level, I want to have that feeling inside that when they hand the mic back to me or put it back on the stand, that they are satisfied.

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

Actually haven't had too much trouble with band members other than the one who wasn't up on the latest technology and called my RCF ARTs "Little Plastic Speakers." Although I did enjoy his comment that he had a mixer at home that could make even me sound good.

Seems like some "band members" just have to get a little dig in that karaoke is fake. I know at the end of the night, I have more real money in my pocket than the cover bands around here have in theirs individually.

By the way, I'm not above an experienced person showing me something about mixing that I didn't know, but prefer that they do it nicely and not in a manner of making sure I know they are superior.

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

That is one reason why I prefer to pay for each of my drinks as I order them, and not run a tab.

My experience with "band members" is that they are generally used to a muddy mic. I've always assumed that this is because of them singing in front of a band - "highs" seem to me to be the first (or easiest) frequency to create a feedback loop. I've done some work with bands - like equipment rental - and each time, it appears that they overdo it with the mids & lows.

My experience with "band members" is also that they like to yell (not all - but most). Perhaps that comes from singing in front of a band as well.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

To the OP:

There could be many reasons for your attitude.

If your KJ is being a d**k, then leave and go someplace else. If you're the one being a d**k, then leave the KJ alone.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

I feel like a mother saying this: "Now Alan was that really necessary"