Karaoke Forums

I've been to a couple of "Karaoke" shows here in the Casinos (my ideal place to go because of the good air circulation). I think casinos might be afraid of Karaoke because at both shows they mixed DJ dance music between singers. That slowed the rotation down to about 4 singers per hour!..."normal" KJ-only shows average 10-15/hour.

I feel the DJ stuff is wasted time..people can, and do, dance to the Karaoke music..why do DJ music between?
Good air or not, I prefer smokey bars that run a tight Karaoke-only rotation.

I like beer and wine too but I don't mix them in the same drink.

Casino's here don't like Karaoke, Mostly because it keeps people busy, and they arent Gambling.

KJ, and Dj really go good together, as long as you dont put a lot of emphasis on the Dj part. But if you dont have filler music, and there is a lot of DEAD AIR People tend to leave, and soon the party's over.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

I agree...dead air is bad, but 10 minutes of "filler" DJ music makes me wanna leave.

Those that do dj with karaoke should advertise it that way. If they are just saying karaoke but half of it is dj, that's wrong.
I'm not saying a dance song 1 or 2 times - which I do on occasion, like the Electric Slide or Cha Cha Slide (by requests of the SINGERS mind you) constitues advertising dj because that's not what it is. I have been to some shows that play an entire song after a singer - this would be considered dj'ing with karaoke. Some have done it with success, others just do it & they fail. It also depends on the clubs atmosphere as well. If it is primarily a dance club, karaoke may not work without dj'ing.

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Yes..I agree..
In both cases DJ'ing was never mentioned...if it was I woulda avoided it.

I ALWAYS do filler music---but no more than 1-2 mins of a particular song. And we do it as "Theme" nights, i.e., "Blues Monday", "80's/Retro Thursday", "Dance party" Friday, "Classic Rock" Sundays, etc. The Blues night is unusual---I play NOTHING but blues(local artists and classics) all night long. The kids seem to like it and I see alot of head bobbing and foot tapping--they think its a nice change of pace. I also have sax players and blues harp players who pop in once in a while and will play behind the karaoke singers on blues songs. That's really neat! Alot of the older people will dance on blues songs and swing songs--expecially Billly Holiday's "Aint nobody's business". I get quite a few people who will try a blues song when they wouldnt have before---or I get them to duet with me on songs like "Sweet Home Chicago"....so they get to try a new song and genre. So its a different kind of show on Blues Monday . For dancing---if I put up a dance song or I sing a dance song--say "Brickhouse" and get a full dance floor--then I'll keep the dance set rolling with maybe 3 dance songs--then back to Karaoke--although I've had dance sets run as long as 20 mins--cause the dancers wouldnt give up the floor!. Go with the flow, ya know? One night we started doing SALSA music between Karaoke(this was the night before Thanksgiving) and the Salsa dancers started coming in at about 10PM and literally DID NOT STOP DANCING until 2AM. It was PACKED. I've NEVER seen so many dancers--in the aisles, in the foyer, even in my DJ PIT--there were so many dancers! That night I had to turn away severall Karoake people--coulndt break up THAT dance groove and risk losing the crowd.The bar ended up doing $4000 that night. There's one place I know that 3 times a night they do a 20 min dance set--and the floor is ALWAYS full. The owners are the KJ's then they have another guy do the dance DJ sets so they can take a break. But they advertise that arrangement so no one's surprised.
But at my shows the rule is NO DEAD AIRTIME.
Dead Airtime=SILENCE=BOREDOM=PEOPLE LEAVING. I make no bones about it and make no apologies! And our newspaper add is KARAOKE AND DANCING.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

As long as it's advertised that way (karaoke AND dancing), it's no problem. Although it should be more clear that it is regular music, but at least you're saying it. The way I read it is that there is a dance floor that you can dance to the karaoke singers. I would most likely not attend this kind of show as well, there is enough karaoke music to dance to - & I don't want to be waiting an extra 20-30 minutes of dance songs.

Fill music shouldn't be confused with playing dance songs. Fill music is just what it is. It fills the time between you taking out 1 karaoke disc & loading up the next - it isn't dj'ing, once a song gets played all the way through, THEN I would call that dj'ing. When the singer is ready, the fill goes down & the singer starts singing. I have a computer full of music strictly for fill from the 50's - now & every type of genre on a random play so anything could pop up between singers, but it isn't on any longer than it has to be until the next singer is ready then it goes back down. I would never consider playing more than that between singers.

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I've got several CD's that I use as filler music between singers. They are just generic techno/trance/wave tracks with no lyrics that just serve to do away with the dead air.

I don't like to play any "regular music" between singers because several times a night you are bound to get a customer who wants you to let the song play because they like it.

KJ's that play a dance song or two in between singers even when there are people waiting to sing will not get a second visit from me.

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

My friday night show is Karaoke/DJ and we do advertise it that way. We tried just karaoke and just dj niether was very sucessful at this particular venue however when we went to both the place exploded. The way we do it is a little different though. Usually I run a full rotation of singers then 20-30min of djing. Works great the non-karaoke patrons like the break from the singers and my singers are mostly younger so they kinda like a dance break themselves. I wouldn't do it for a tuesday night show but for the weekends I think it's a good fit.

I play only filler music between and it could be nearly anything. It's just enough to cover until the next singer come up. If they like the song then they can look it up and turn in the slip to sing it. It's usually all about the karaoke so songs tend to get them wanting to sing.

And mixed shows should advertise as such. Karaoke and dance the night away at hotspot!

That's also a great way to advertise your book, get all the originals & put them in an mp3 player, then when people ask about a song, you know it's in the book & you can give them the name &/or artist because they may not remember. I used to do that when I started, don't know why I quit - hmmmm. need to go back to it!

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For clarification: we do fill music--only between songs then shut it off when the person comes up. Fill songs--no longer than 1-1.5 minute long. Dont do DANCE Sets as such. However if a group gets up to start dancing spontaneously(like on Zoot suit riot-for isntance) will play a couple more just to keep the groove happening. But its not a regularly scheduled 30 minute sets 3 times a night thing. And yes we have a beutiful dance floor and lighting system--on of the nicest here. But the people get up to dance to ANYTHING---blues, swing, country, slow romantic songs and if they havent then Ill go out and sing one that will get them up(Brickhouse usually-they cant resist that one--and thats the PERFECT song to lead in a 3 song dance set(about 13-15 mins max). So its a good way to get people a little sweaty so they'll buy anohter round of drinks. And when they do leave they invariably tell us what a fun time they had! So..............BRING YOUR DANCING SHOES! Its not jsut about the KARAOKE---ITS ALL ABOUT THE PARTY!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

Personally I feel there is no wrong or right way. It depends on your venue and customers as each are differant. I usually run my shows as 95% Karaoke with filler music after each song until the rotation gets to be around 10-15 singers. Then I just go "back to back" karaoke with a regular song between rotations. Again this changes on each and every night depending on clientele that evening. My shows are very fluid in that I try to "read" the crowd and what they are into each and every night.

If you have a crowd that likes to dance ..I see no problem in letting them dance... If they are all singers ... Hey let them sing......Some people will even request certain sings just to hear..... Whatever keeps the crowd happy ( AND THE BAR OWNER ) Personally I see my job as KARAOKE HOST...But if that night calls for a little more DJ'ing .Then thats what I'll do.... I keep looking for that one venue that will pay me $250 for 4 hours of Karaoke. It has a stage and lighting and 30-50 singers each and every night..... That would be Ideal ( for me anyway)

my ex partner does it that way jam... and you know, the chaos it ensues is just attrocious to those of us that love a regular karaoke night. I mean, that's TWICE the waiting time.

Oh well, to each their own.

I understand what you mean about until you get 10-15 singers... and if you have your crowd trained, that's great... but what about the new people coming in? Is it a karaoke bar, or a dance club that does karaoke?

Knight
My venue is a shot & beer joint. They have entertainment Wed - Sunday
Wed is oldies night ( DJ)
Thursday is Karaoke ( I Host)
Friday is DJ & some karaoke but only if they twist the dj's arm
Saturday is KARAOKE ( I host)
Sunday is DJ

Mostly the same regulars week in and week out. They're playing pool
etc. It's a small place so I see the same singers every week.
It seems to work just mixing it up enough to keep everyone happy.
That's the difficult part... Mixing the Karaoke with the Regular Music with the dance music (if I'm lucky enough to get the intoxicated woman in there).

READ THE CROWD!!!!

At a bar/club, usually play some music just to avoid dead silence. The music is usually played at a lower volume than the Karaoke songs/singers, so it doesn't detract attention from the singers. If I see people reacting to the song I'm playing, then I may hold of on calling the next singer in the meantime. Most people who enjoy singing don't mind a little bit of a mix, especially if they get a couple of girls up and dancing, and the guys follow.

MAKE THE CROWD HAPPY. Karaoke hosting is more than mixing sound and announcing singers!!!

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Karaoke:  Freedom of expression, or cruel and unusual punishment?