Karaoke Forums

hi, i'm not saying there is are isn't, but do any of you ever feel that a K J will sabotage a certain singer?
the reason i ask this is a good while back i was at a really nice place and the sound was really good for everyone BUT this 1 girl...she was very very good and i took it she was a regular are semi, and the k j was a woman...who sang pretty good but no where close to the lady that was singing...no matter what the lady singing did we couldn't hear her at all, people even started yelling at the k j to turn her up, she was that good....i think we all felt the same way that she/ the k j was just jealous...this lady was just TO good not to project at all, as in zero..you could hear the mic was on but barely...
but i normally find that most k j's are happy to hear good or above average singers get up to sing.....

It absolutely happens. Ego's abound in the entertainment business.

Unfortunately many rookie KJ's don't realize that great singers only make you look better!

One of my first karaoke experiences was with a host that was a pretty good singer. Anytime there was a really good singer that came up, not only did she tend to turn the mics down a tad, she would also get up to sing right after them - regardless of rotation - could almost count on it!

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Yep, I went with friends to a show once where I was told the kj did this to them regularly.We're talking nearly no volume at all so they had to strain even though all ranged from good to great and could project. I got up and sang Heart-Tell It Like It Is.(Low volume track,"big" vocal.).As predicted, mic went down...and down....and.....

That was the night that said diva kj learned that it's not only wrong to turn the mic down on other singers, it can make you look very silly if you do it to a singer who , while no opera star, has enough training and vocal weight to be heard over an orchestra or amplified music without a mic for a song or two.

There was another show like that where we turned it into a joke. We'd all go once every few weeks and have a "competition" the kj was not in on to see who could "suck" the most. Whoever the guy gave the worst mix "won".

to be honest i'm surprised at the comments, i didn't know are think it happened that often..

Max, I don't think it actually does happen that often. My experience has been 2 kj's and a woman who ran an open mic, out of well over a decade of singing.

I think we tend to remember the ones who are like this because they are the exception, not the rule. Most kj's are very supportive , and the kj's who are really good singers are often the most encouraging to others, because they got so good due to loving what they do and appreciating music and vocalists.

i use to work on the road a lot and would hit karaoke in every state/city we were in. there are some very good k j's out there but around here thats not the case at all..
some i ran across on the road were very good at what they did just didn't have the equp. to back it up. i'm guessing in a lotta cases they were just trying to work there way up..knowing that GOOD equip. does cost money, and some have to take baby steps to get there..that i understand it's the ones like 1 lady i know that didn't have a floor monitor you stood in front o the house speakers, i asked her i said why don't you have a floor monitor? she well well mine got stolen..i found out later it was stolen over 2 yrs ago...THAT i don't understand....the same lady has her friends that follow her about 5 r 6 and no matter what time you get there you will be 7th in line....

I've seen hosts who sabatoge other hosts if they knew who they were. One guy made me sound close to Rudy Valle singing through a megaphone ( If you you don't get that, think of the guy singing Winchester Cathedral). I couldn't get upset because he was actually so bad at making me sound bad ( it was obvious that he was doing it) that he made himself look worse than me. Idiot.

I have also heard hosts just sort of under-set good singers and then set themselves beautifully. Not really making the good singers sound bad, just.....not as good.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I've never understood why a KJ would sabotage ANY singer. I pride myself on my equipment and my sound. I would never want it to sound less than the best it possibly can.

It is my job to not only be a congenial host, but to also mix everyone to sound their very best. The idea of a KJ purposely attempting to make a singer sound bad is the kind of petty crap that a professional doesn't have time for.

I recently had a singer at my show say that they are impressed that I actually stay at the board and personally mix each performer, and not just "set it and forget it" like most KJs he has seen. To me that's a compliment, and I'll gladly take it!

It's total jealousy. There are those that become kj's for the wrong reasons - because they love to sing and seriously believe that being a kj is going to be the way to get their voice out there, and they are usually ok to really good singers. They believe that they should be the best singers in the house & when they hear a better singer than them, they tend to downgrade them. I've watched it in various places over 20+ years of going to karaoke places (even worked with & for a couple before I started my own company because I didn't feel that was part of a kj's criteria) - and it still happens today. These kj's do not get into the business to make sure everyone else has fun, they want to make sure they showcase themselves whenever they can and most don't give a rip about anoyone else.

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Madness. Good singers can only bring in customers, that you can, hopefully, turn into singers. I've not had, or heard, many good singers but get really excited when they turn up at my gigs, and make sure I do my very best to make them sound as good as possible.

I've never witnessed a kj deliberately trying to sabotage a singer before. I know I have never done it and I never will. That is the craziest thing I ever heard of.

If you guys have seen it, then it must exist. Just so thankful I've never encountered that type of foolishness before.

Max - Some of us have been doing karaoke as either hosts or singers for 20+ years. We have seen all kinds of antics in that time. I too have seen jealous hosts that sabotage singers. I have also seen the tables turned on them as well. It sucks, but it happens.

-Chris

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-Chris

I guess I've got my 20 years in too..

Still no cure for a stupid KJ..

I've seen some amazing tricks over the years, including the fat ugly female KJ saying,

"God d*mn I hate the song" when a slip is turned in..

And yes, she is out of a job these days..

Once a friend put in his song that he had worked on to be his "show case" song and the host announced him as, "And now for one of the most done songs in karaoke." He didn't even want to go on after that.

On the other hand, there's the kj who doesn't have a clue of what he's doing and looks like he's ruining your performance on purpose. I've been going to this karaoke bar for years, where the owner kjs sometimes (more often now since he fired the regular kj for the last two years). And though the equipment is top grade, he always ends up messing with the sound until you can't hear a damn thing, and that ususally happens when a good singer it's on stage.

I lend a hand sometimes and try to fix the sound but when he comes back resets every change I've made (which usually consists in lowering the music mid range, giving space for the voice, and playing with the reverb in each song), so the muddy sound comes back with him

With a bad singer on the mic, that's ok, because it will sound like cr*p anyway (though a lot funnier, I love bad singers), but a lot of good singers leave the building because they can't hear themselves or the others properly. And believe me when I say that the equipment and acoustics are state of the art, but the guy can't play.

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Lon, the last 2 KJ's I tried for a bit fit this to a tee.

I tell them before they even start - "You're there to work. The bar pays for us to make karaoke available to the customers - and whenever there are 5 or more singers, in most cases, you should not be singing".

Reports that I got back from the bar staff and other customers stated that they felt it was their personal karaoke exhibition. Singing too much when there were customers waiting and singing too much when there weren't any singers.

Needless to say, neither does shows for me anymore.

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

it bsolutely happens. like any other business there are good and bad.
as for the comment on sabotaging other hosts, i actually do the opposite. i focus harder and pull out every trick to make them sound godlike, this way they go back to their own show and system and go "oohhhhh " .

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

For me, I suck, so it doesn't matter.

But my wife, who can sing songs from Ozzy to Etta James, often has "issues".

I will say that it is mostly female KJs that sabotage her vocals. I am not being sexist, that is just our experience.

Good thing is, she doesn't back down. She will give the KJ 2-3 songs to figure it out, then she is asking the KJ WTF?????

BTW, my wife has been singing semi-professionally for about 20 years, and has been a KJ for 15+ of those same years.

I don't even go out to other shows anymore. As soon as the kj sees me or one of my dj's they give me the look like we're trying to steal their gig. Not all of them, but quite a few. It's quite comical, actually. We live in a small town and competition is pretty fierce.
Personally, when a kj comes to one of our shows we go out of our way to accommodate them. I make everyone sound as good as possible and that can only leave a good reflection on me.

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