Karaoke Forums

OK. Here's the scenario:

You are a singer. You take it seriously. Great sound and sounding great is very important to you.

Karaoke bar "A" has every song ever made BUT the KJ is not very good. He's got the personality of a flea, lacks people skills, has no clue how to run a fair rotation and has terrible sound. BUT, most likely he will have any song you'd like to sing.

Karaoke bar "B" has a limited number of songs but the ones he does have are the best versions. He has a great personality, treats everyone fairly and has the best sound around.

So, which one would you choose to go to.

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

Take which part seriously, though?

I take my karaoke very seriously, but not the actual singing part. I take the fun seriously. It's why I do things like pick random songs I have literally no right singing ever, sometimes choosing from an app that does random song choices, sometimes asking people to pick.

But, if all other things are similar--both bars A and B have a fun crowd, hours work with my schedule, it's not too far out of the way--I'm going with B every time.

I mean, really, "limited number of songs" is still often a solid chunk of songs. Really, aren't only 2k songs really in singing rotation?

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Really Alan are the choices that stark? Naturally you are going to pick B, but it is really not that cut and dry, rather than a case of black or white there are many shades of grey as far as hosting goes. Some hosts are better at some aspects of the job than others, the real proof in the pudding, is if the host no matter who he or she is, has the crowd needed to generate a profit for the venue. If they aren't cutting it the owner will let them go.

C) A or B depending on Crowd size

Doesn't matter how many songs the KJ has if you don't get the chance to sing any of them.

When we are talking about crowd's, size does matter. Not only to the host but the venue that hired them. Here is where it gets sticky, and an age old problem for all hosts. If you have to big a crowd and the singer has to wait an hour or more to sing they start to lose interest. In a perfect world you want the bar full with patrons buying drinks and just enough singers, where the host doesn't have to perform, and yet keep the place rocking. Most of the time you build a crowd up to a certain point, then it begins to go down, then you are in a rebuilding mode, until of course it reaches critical mass again. Sort of like the waves on the ocean. If the host can maintain a large crowd every week he is lucky indeed, and has a good show.

The quality and atmosphere of the venue are a huge part of it for me.

My favorite venue in my town, as a singer, is an OK host, maybe a B-/C+, above average equipment, pays almost no attention, just hits play and leaves the stage to go socialize, not really concerned with the vocal/music balance unless the vocal is way to loud or way too soft, and he has the same reverb and saturation of that reverb on every song, no tweaking.

So, just a suitable host. Nothing special. He is, however, ALWAYS FAIR in the rotation. Doesn't play favorites. That's his biggest strength to me.

HOWEVER, what really makes it my favorite are:

1) The crowd is VERY hospitable to karaoke. Most everyone pays attention, most everyone claps.

2) The karaoke is always busy enough that there is energy in the crowd, but never too busy that the rotation gets crazy. On any given night, I'll sing once every 30-60 minutes. Much more than that, and I'm personally just not going to wait.

3) $2.00 pints of Yuengling, $2.00 well drinks. I can bring a $20 bill and usually have $3-5 leftover to tip the KJ!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Yeah, this is pretty much me, too.

Honestly, I would take a mediocre host with a bad song selection if the bar was fun and the crowd was great...

...whether s/he sings in the rotation or not. [runs and hides]

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

See, I would *love* that show. That means it's a good, invested crowd, with lots of singers, which means approximately twenty people who you know share at least one interest with you.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

There is a big item, the marker as to the integrity of the show,which is always evaluated by every singer, and maybe the single biggest thing to look for, ALWAYS A FAIR rotation. If the host lacks consistency then he has a problem with his delivery of the service he provides, much like a big league pitcher in baseball. That is why it is so important to get the basics right.

Doesn't necessarily mean it's 'good', other factors may apply like drink prices, location and other things. I've seen badly hosted shows packed because it was just a place to get drunk cheap or the only show around (rare these days though).

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

Yeah, fair point.

Still--I tend to prefer places with more people rather than fewer.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

So does the venue owner, as long as the bigger crowd is spending some serious cash, and not all drinking soda, or smuggling in their own bottled water.

Actually even being the only show available doesn't guarantee success. We have a local show here on Saturday night that is the only available show in a 30km radius *don't ask me what it is in miles, google it* The host is fairly personable and she has an ok collection and she runs an insanely successful show in Canmore, AB on Monday nights but her Saturday show is a total hit and miss. Sometimes it's packed, sometimes the only people singing are the host, myself and one other person.

-James

come one y'all; ya gotta help him out and answer a simple question with a simple direct answer

that's what you get for asking kjs

i'll choose A) because that's what i'm used to around here and that's what i've been going to when i'm in the mood to sing. but on the low, i go to the bad hosts to learn from them; learn what NOT to do and sometimes learn what TO do.

but as a singer, when has a host really ever stopped me from doing what i wanna do? they may lower my mic, skip me in the rotatation, but i'm still coming back and doing what i do. i don't do it for the non-applause that i get, i don't do it to impress the host that doesnt' give a a damn. singers don't, but they should or could just sing for their damn self. i try to. i know pretty much as a fact, that i'm the only person who likes me, so i'll go to host a) for the song selection and do the best with the opportunity given to me by a bad host.

or we could add more of a real scenario....

c) a decent host, adequate sound, decent personality, every song ever written on karaoke.

D) good host, great sound, great personality, can't get the songs you want.

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

That would be 'Karaoke B', Alex, which is me.

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