Karaoke Forums

Well week number six and the host finally started on time. As long has he plays discs he is ok, but he hasn't learned how to use the Compuhost-V3 in coordination with the Vocal Pro disc player. He said he had SC and CB, so I had him pull up a track, and he had great difficulty switching from the player back to the PC. An hour and 10 minutes into the show, he had another failure, the screen went black and said something about the HDMI 1 signal? So I did one song, waited 20 minutes, no filler music, decided to go home, like many other patrons.

...and yet, they keep having him back each week, even though he's an idiot and is only driving customers away.

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

but he charges less. way too many times, that is all they see or care about.

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

but he charges less. way too many times, that is all they see or care about.

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

Yes, they may be paying him less but what good is it if customers are leaving because of him causing the lodge to lose money.

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

So many businesses and people are "penny smart, dollar stupid."

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

bingo.
it also happens with the singers. 90% don't care as long as they get their song (youtube with commercials doesn't even matter to most)and a mic (good sound doesn't matter to most) and more importantly... have an audience.
half of my audience from the VFW tonight won't be there tomorrow because there is karaoke at the moose.
they tell me every week how his sound is not good at all, and some beg me to come help make it sound better.
doesn't stop them from going.
they complain that he lets his friends sing several before letting them sing
doesn't stop them from going.
but they get to sing those songs that don't exist on karaoke because he will play youtube and...well....there is a bigger audience (their hall is triple the size of the VFW hall) so they will be there.
90% of singers don't care, and the venues don't care either.

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

bingo.
it also happens with the singers. 90% don't care as long as they get their song (youtube with commercials doesn't even matter to most)and a mic (good sound doesn't matter to most) and more importantly... have an audience.
half of my audience from the VFW tonight won't be there tomorrow because there is karaoke at the moose.
they tell me every week how his sound is not good at all, and some beg me to come help make it sound better.
doesn't stop them from going.
they complain that he lets his friends sing several before letting them sing
doesn't stop them from going.
but they get to sing those songs that don't exist on karaoke because he will play youtube and...well....there is a bigger audience (their hall is triple the size of the VFW hall) so they will be there.
90% of singers don't care, and the venues don't care either.

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

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Before my regular spot closed for months (possibly to reopen soon--looking like October at this point, as rebuilding from the fire has taken longer than expected), the sound was never great due to where it was and some of the rules in place regarding sound, and the equipment wasn't great either. But the people--the people really make it a great spot. I've taken friends who've only ever done it there to places with better sound and microphones and whatnot, but they still prefer this place.

This bar has developed it's own weird little karaoke community (partially because the owner himself just really loves karaoke, so even in periods when it didn't get a lot of traction, he kept it going) mixed of grad students, folks from town (I've switched from one to the other over the years), and an assortment of now-old-enough undergrads. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, it's one of the few places where things rarely go down--super mixed crowd (old, young, straight, gay, trans, Black, white, etc) and everyone just... gets along. And no one cares if someone sings well or doesn't--it's just a fun, supportive atmosphere.

I probably wouldn't like that Moose show--the rotation thing would be the big turn off thing for me. But there is something to be said for going where there's a crowd.

The song thing makes some sense, too. A group has gotten me to use Smule, and there's so much stuff there that does not and won't exist for normal karaoke--aside from that guy in Portland who makes his own tracks for his shows and place, I've only ever seen three different Tom Waits songs at karaoke, but that app has at least twenty, I think.

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

I have built my reputation on running a quality show. People tell me all the time that they always have a great time at my shows and that I have the best sound around. So, it's hard to understand why someone would go someplace inferior. Why wouldn't you go to the place that has the best KJ and the best sound? I just don't get it.

If you were going out to a restaurant for dinner would you go to a place that has sh^tty food? Or would you go to the place where the food and service are excellent?

If you were diagnosed with a serious medical condition, would you want the best doctor to help you? Or would you settle for just anybody? Personally, I would want the best doctor for my condition.

So, why people settle for bad karaoke and bad karaoke hosts is beyond me. Then again, the human being is a stupid animal.

Personally, I will continue to uphold my reputation of providing a great, fun experience at my shows and provide the best sound around. The people who actually care about such things will come. People who take their singing seriously and want to sound their best over a great system, will come.

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

Well, convenience, for one. This is a pretty rural area. I could drive 40 minutes for a better sound system, but that's cutting into the night.

I have a friend who does one night a month at the local Legion, and sometimes I will pop in to say hi, but I never stay long. It's too much of a process--have to find someone to get signed in, have to filter all drink orders through a member, and the crowd is often all country and oldies songs. Don't get me wrong, I like that stuff and sing that stuff, but I prefer a more vibrant, varied experience. Even if it didn't have the barrier of getting signed in and having to go through a member to get drinks, it still wouldn't be my first choice. Conversely, a bar in the same town had it on Friday nights as well, but even if the sound was good (it wasn't), it was a decidedly wild and unruly undergraduate-centered bar, which also isn't the environment I prefer. I may not want to be the youngest person at a place, but I also rarely enjoy being the oldest.

So, back when there were options, I would stick to the bar that the people I liked went to, had a good atmosphere, had personable host(s), but the sound sucked.

Is the ideal a great venue, with a great host, great sound, and great patrons and staff? Absolutely. But often, it's more of a compromise. Sometimes, I will drive the 40 minutes to go to same friend's closest show, even though it's at a bar that I don't find that appealing, and since it's a family restaurant/bar, I sometimes have to suffer through a seven year old fumbling through a song in the earlier hours. Years ago, I used to go to a bar where I liked the bar, liked the staff, but despised the host and the way he ran his show, but I went because that's where my friends liked to go, including (and especially) the ones who just wanted to be out and didn't do the whole karaoke thing.

And sometimes, you just really want to do karaoke on a random Tuesday, and only place that has it in the area has awful everything, so you suffer through it and hope to find a little joy in the night anyway. Or, if you're me, fifteen years ago, you went to karaoke to hook up because you were in graduate school and newly single, and the bar with the bad sound was a better option than the bar with the good sound but everyone there was in their 70s.

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

I totally agree with this, and with everything else you've posted. I guess most people stay local, since it's closer to home and there's less of a chance of getting pulled over. So, even though the place may have inferior sound and a terrible host, there's more of a chance of getting pulled over on that 40 minute drive as opposed to a 10 minute drive. Not a worry if you weren't drinking but some people leaving the bar may have had a few too many.

So, I think drinking and driving has a lot to do with people staying closer to home. But of course, you can choose to go to the place that's 40 minutes away and have a designated driver... or would it kill you to just have one drink for the night? Then, you would be able to go to the place that has a great KJ, great sound, and a great staff... and you wouldn't have to worry about getting pulled over.

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

It's actually more a matter of time than of drinking. 40 minutes each way is 80 minutes I could be spending doing something else--especially when the cons of it are a) again, I might have to sit through children singing, and b) the whole vibe of the place isn't what I'm looking for (no matter how well anyone sings, I really don't want to sit through five Toby Keith songs).

There's also a place with great sound, great staff, great host, great equipment about an hour away (though I'm a little iffy on the "how" of the rotation there, it's at the very least consistent). Everything's great, but if I stay until the end of the night, I'm barely keeping my eyes open coming back, because that puts me at hitting my front door around 3am.

I guess my point is--there's a lot of variables that go into those decisions. It's rarely as simple as just one thing.

I mean, my ideal would be everything you mentioned, with a more demographically varied crowd (for personal comfort, and for the variety of music performed), and I'd definitely drive the 40 minutes or more for that hypothetical place. But pickings are slim out here.

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

Last night I again decided to check out the show at the Elk's. Things started pretty much on time, the host is finally getting 14 to 15 singers through in an hour, no big breakdowns. This host still has a problem with managing his screens, and their displays. He started out with an external player that stopped working with Compuhost, something about the buffering? Still no filler music between singers. The Crowd is about 40% of what it used to be, now the question is will they get back market share? One thing is for sure the Lodge has paid for this host's OJT.


P.S. This host is getting 25.00 an hour I guess this is the new going rate? Now he was getting 75.00 for three hours, they had cut the karaoke time from 5 to three hours. I told the lodge it was bad optics because they were raising food and drink prices, and cutting hours off, providing below standard service. Someone must really love this guy, they ponied up the extra 25.00 to keep him there till 8????

I wouldn't leave my house for $25 an hour.... But if you're going to accept that puny wage, you must not consider yourself worthy of anything more. No one who is a really good host would never value themselves so low and accept so little. But in this case, I wouldn't pay this guy $10 an hour.

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

You have to remember Alan this is a non-profit and many don't pay anything, but rely on member volunteers to provided karaoke service. When I was working 7 years ago my sweet spot was 150.00 for 4 hours, roughly 37.50 per hour. With the pandemic I wonder if prices have taken a nose dive?

The fact that they are non profit means nothing to me. I've worked for 2 different Eagles clubs and each one paid me $175 for 4 hours. I've also worked for the Moose club in which I was paid $150. Now this was a few years ago but I know a couple of KJ's that now work for these clubs that get paid similar.

The fact is, when I was hosting at these clubs, I brought people in and the club made money. In fact, on a good night, one of them would even give me a $25 tip!.

Like anything else, you get what you pay for. The problem is with this particular club you're talking about. They're idiots. Because, if they paid the price for a good KJ, they would make a hell of a lot more money than their making now with the guy they got.

So, while they may be paying less money to the person doing it (the idiot), they're actually losing money in the long run. So, they're not really saving any money.
__________________________________

Personally, I am not a fan of any "club" type place...

The only reason why people join these clubs, is because food and drinks are cheaper than going to a bar, which may be true but you're not getting the atmosphere and service that a good bar will provide.

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

Actually you don't always pay for what you get, since I'm convinced whatever they are paying this host it is too much. He is using a paying gig to obtain his OJT in karaoke hosting. I have been asked by the Lodge to mentor this guy, but he doesn't seem interested in doing anything except in his own way. Just as well I don't see why I should be contributing to what I see as hosting malpractice, taking money under false pretenses. In a rational world you are right Alan, non-profit organizations work on a political, rather than a logical business basis.

There you go. By asking you to step in, they obviously know they have a problem with this guy. If I was you, I would NOT mentor him. Actually, I consider it an insult to even ask you to do so.

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

Yeah he's definitely not worth the money. Just got a gig at a local American Legion on Friday nights. Small bar area. Simple setup, I just need to bring my mixer, mics, laptop and speakers. Paying $125 for 4 hours.

_________________
The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.