Karaoke Forums

As some of you may know, I've been a simple WinAmp user for ten years... A couple of years ago, I downloaded trial versions of several karaoke programs, and ended up purchasing Just Karaoke 2... but never took the time to get comfortable with it, so never used it at an actual gig...

Lately however, I've been playing with it again, and have decided to start using it for my gigs...

My biggest challenge at the moment is deciding on a list of bumper music to include... Having been a mobile DJ for many years, I still have a gazillion tracks, but I'm drawing a blank in deciding what to use for bumper music. Is there a method you employ to decide what titles? I'm familiar with my patrons tastes in karaoke of course, which tend to slower songs... so I'd like to keep the bumpers to mostly up-beat.

I doubt if any one track would last much more than 30 seconds... just enough to eliminate any possible dead air between singers.

Do you include full tracks... or edited down "snippets"? How many would you include in a typical bumper library? Do you change librarys according to venue? How often to you up-date your bumper library(s)?

Would anyone care to share your bumper music lists? No, not the actual tracks... just the lists of titles/artists... either here, or by private message.?

Thanks

_________________
Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

I use upbeat music as my "bumper" or "filler" music and it does change depending on where I am gigging. I try to cater my bumper music to the type of crowd I have. For example, I have a lot of young white people at my Applebee's gig, so I play a lot of top 40 pop music there, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, etc...

My Tues night gig has more older black people so I play mostly old school r&b for filler there. My Friday night at the casino is mostly older country people, so I play mostly upbeat danceable country music there. My Wed night gig has a lot of rockers, so you guessed it, I play a lot of high energy rock music there.

At this moment I am using TV Themes, the crowd really enjoys them, however my fill/bumper playlist does change depending on the crowd/mood as Vince stated above.

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I too bought the 50-theme CD and used that for quite a while. People love it.

I've got a playlist of popular songs from different eras and genres that are rarely done on karaoke -- I don't like to step on songs that are frequently done. Artists I use are often male tenors, since so few of those songs get done. I also pick some AOR that never made it to karaoke. A lot of AC/DC, Guns n' Roses, SmashMouth, Keith Urban, Smokey Robinson, Neil Sedaka, Collin Raye, Four Seasons, etc. Some instrumental classics too, from bands like the Ventures and Focus.

(I'm a big fan of dead air for some gigs, but some it doesn't work so well at.)

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I only use filler between rounds, and this only since the smoking ban. When I do, I go for either upbeat or dance to keep the energy levels up. I choose my music based on average age in the venue at the time. Using the best known songs of that time frames keeps them in "sing- along" mode while they wait.

In my experience the patrons actually prefer the space between singers as an ear cleansing, though my mic may be active. The exception is the mainly under 30 crowd who have the attention span of a gnat. These folks get auto-bumper during singer changes. Though I don't use a PC, my mixer has an auto mode that allows a second music source to play if the primary is not in use.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

I think that's what people like about the TV themes. They are very familiar, kind of like comfort food.
They are a break from "real music" and there is no dead air. Also they are played at lower volume.

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I play bumper music for 1 reason only "no dead air" My selection is made up of entertaining "non-dance" music. The last thing I want on a busy night is to have people get up and dance to a filler song. My filler music is at a much lower volume too.

I don't use any specified playlist for the bumper music. I have everything from 50's doo wop to todays pop, to new/old country to 90's death metal and every other genre in between incorporated in a random shuffle auto playing. Since no song is going to be played for more than 10-20 seconds, I don't see needing to set up an actual playlist to cater to any crowds - it takes card of every crowd situation I may encounter. Often the bumper music will spark someone's memory as well & ask what that song was because they'd like to sing it.
I did try at one time to make sure all my bumper music were songs that I actually had to sing, but that became pretty tedious work.

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

I use mostly recognizable music for the venue (80's, 90's, pop and country). Since I use a separate source for fill music, I sometimes spend time queueing up tracks that I know fit with what is being sung on stage or is about to be sung on stage so I can help control the flow and mood. It is pretty rare that I just let a playlist play without manipulating it somewhat.

I have found a good way to come up with playlists is to just go to Spotify and look at the playlists they have and then just use those. They have some great ones there.

_________________
-Chris

i like using guitar instrumentals (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Paul Gilbert, etc..) so i don;t hit a song that someone wants to sing but they are all upbeat energetic song (Look up Joe Satriani "The Mighty Turtle Head" or "Satch Boogie" for an example) i keep them at 40% of full volume so i can talk over top easily but there is no dead air. i just put a bunch in the list and set it to random. i only go maybe 10 seconds between songs so one fill in track will last a while, but i can set the software to pick a new track everytime it switches to fill in.

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

About 18 months back a KJ in my area once, as a joke, ended his gig with the theme music to Jim'll Fix It.

It turned more heads than my singing the Ben L'Oncle Soul version of Barbie Girl!

For bar shows, my original plan was to use instrumental music only, but I eventually put together a couple compilations of songs that were all chosen because they are NOT on the song list (non-listed Beatles, non-listed Michael Jackson). It's easiest though to use whole albums, also chosen for having nothing that's in the songbook. I simply organize them as mp3 albums (folders), pick one, "play all", and let media player loop it until I decide to change it. That computer has it's own line on the board, and all my fades are manual. Nothing plays longer than it takes for the next singer to get set.

I like to go opposite the show mood. More upbeat stuff if it's a ballad night, really slow stuff if the crowd has gotten so raucous drinks are spilling and furniture getting knocked over.

Lately I'm stuck on ending the night with snippets of Leonard Cohen's Ten New Songs album.

That's bar shows. Private parties I use a medley of mash-ups. Lots of familiar songs do pop up, but just embedded snippets for a few seconds here and there.

Again having fill music that is IN your songlist will often spark someones memory & they will ask to sing that song as opposed to someone hearing a song & wanting to sing it but you don't have it.

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

your luck is better than mine. when it has been something someone would want to sing, they are turning that song in just as it starts to play. another reason to wish i could read minds.

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

I use upbeat dancy music.... depending on the crowd. Sometimes its country, pop, hip hop or rock. I have a playlist for each.

Katy perry to luke bryan. Between songs its high energy all the way. I expect people to be boppin' in their seats, and having fun.

If the singers are short i'll do a dance mix. Every bar I play, people like this style and I've been doing this way for years.

Most importantly, it should fun... appropriate for the bar you are in, and no 'dead air.'

_________________
Good music, good friends, howling good times!

How many of you have had someone run up during familiar filler music and say "I want to sing that! Where's the Mic!". Happens all the time to me.

Often. Many times it's simply songs they didn't know the name of & ask what it was to either sing that night or to add to their history to sing another night.

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

I suppose I could use fill songs that are on the songlist but are under-sung, might encourage someone.

Went to a show once where the host used the originals of the most over-done songs as his filler, and played big chunks of them! Why would anyone play Neil Diamond doing Sweet Caroline 5 minutes after someone had just sung it, or the original Paradise By The Dashboard Light just before someone sang it? And that went on all night. Drove me crazy. He also introduced each and every singer by saying, exactly, "Now here's [insert singer's name] to do a little bit of [insert song title]". Between that and the strange choice of filler it felt like the slowest show in history.

But I digress.

You can't digress, then end the post. You have to digress from being off topic to getting back on topic. That's what a digression is. The grammar police are going to have to take you in, sir. Cuff him.

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

There has always been bumper music playing at our shows as the singers come up. You would think they would notice. But I still get people who come to the mic and even as their title screen has come up and the bumper music is fading out they hear it and say, "This isn't my song!"