Karaoke Forums

I ended up getting a really sweet gig, (turned into two nights) because they didn't like the guy that only had one machine (I'm talking about laser players now which took 1 1/2 - 2 minutes to stop and reload).  He thought he was a radio Disc Jocky.      He filled the entire dead air with his banter.   People got sick of it.  I know I went to see him and it got on my nerves.    You can only say so much every three minutes without completely boring people.   All of the singers I know absolutely hate music being played when someone could be singing.    When they have the mike in hand they don't have to be johnny on the spot.   I start the song while the applause is fading away.  No count down just music.   The only time I count down is if I can't find the singer, which is very seldom.    Sometimes they leave and don't tell you.

I also do the 1, 2, 3 your gone approach, unless I see them
struggling to get through the crowd. I used a couple short bursts of
tv tunes and the strip tease song tonight. It worked great! The strip tease from full monty is a nice little intro when someone is coming from the back of the bar. I also used the Sponge Bob Square pants theme song - Lonman was right everyone got a
big kick out of it. I think in total I only used filler songs 3 times all night - I'd say that's not bad for a 5 hour show.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

copyright infringement on Bob?

No infringement as long as the bar is BMI licensed.  

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THEME (Legal Title)     BMI Work #5527626
Alternate Titles: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS CUES
Songwriter/Composer           Current Affiliation      CAE/IPI #
GUYTON SAGE                              BMI                 356732250
WAKEFIELD JEREMY L                    BMI                 353793143

Publishers:  
MUSIC BY NICKELODEON INC        BMI                 246042982

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[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

I have a secondary player playing music, and fade that in when the singer is done. I keep it at a lower level than when the singer is there. I make the announcement, and have a screen announcement that announces the next singer's name. Once they are coming up to the mic, I will start the music.

If they stop to say something to someone, I'll restart it ONLY once. I will warn them that the next time, they need to hustle up to the mic, or they will be singing with the music that already started. Same thing applies to those that want to change their selection. They have up until the last singer's song selection to change it. Other than that, it's already queued up. NOTHING irks me more as a host as when you're trying to run a timely show, and some idiot wants to do a different song at the last moment.

To those that think my policy is too hard, then tell that to the one or two people who won't get to sing their song at the end of the night as the time that's wasted bumps people further and further behind.

i personally think  it is to hard...why such a biggggg rush? were taliing sec. here not min... in almost all cases...if u waste 10 sec on each singer, and u won't....at the end of the night how much time did u save? and what if the last person to sing on ur list left? what if the last 2 people on ur list left? what then?
i'll never understand all the rush....i have had to run to a stage before doing my best to get there, u think thats fun? i think most do there best to get there in time...where i sing at its very relaxed, no rush at all...i don't hear ant gripping about it, everyone is treated the same....everyone is relaxed, in ur case everyone knows they better get there r else...thats no fun for anyone...and i'm sure there have been night when not everyone got to sing...just not enough time in the night...eve if ts not anyones fault....give me relaxed anytime....but thats JMO

Billy... I understand what you are saying ... of course, "relaxed" is the best ... I don't think anyone would debate that ... BUT ... when as a KJ you have 40+ singers in a round... an extra minute or two for lets say even 3 or 4 slow movers can be another person's turn to sing (average time per singer = 4 mins. or so).  Do that three or four times in the course of a 5 hour show.. and three or more people have lost their chance to sing.  From a singer's perspective, I can see your point.. there is a crowd to get thru .. etc.  And... as I said ... and I think most everyone would agree... if you can see the singer actively trying to get to the stage .. of course you wait for them.  However, we've had several instances where someone will be at their table in conversation ... and when we've called their name they say ... let me just finish my story.  In these cases .. the answer is NO .. and the countdown begins.  There is one woman who comes to our show... and when she first started to come to the show ... she'd hear her name... and reach for her lipstick.. apply it ... and then slowly make her way to the stage.  Well.. that was in the days when we were in a very small bar and had @ 12 singers a night.  We'd wait a little bit... 'cause everyone was getting plenty of "sing time" .... but now... we have on average ... 30-40 singers for about 3 1/2 hours of a 5 hour show... so those kinds of "slow movers" simply can't be tolerated.  As a KJ .. you not only need to keep the singers singing .. but you are also responsible for keeping your show foward moving ... upbeat ... and hopefully ... avoid unnecessary "non singing" time.  I too prefer relaxed .. but when you have a large crowd to please .. you simply don't always have that luxury.  

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[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

Right on sister.    

I'll never understand rush hosts.  We can 99% of the time finish the rotation at the end of the night.  We are a no stress, have fun karaoke, where everyone has a good time.  It must be an American or big city thing.  If the next singer is unavailable for whatever reason we go to the next singer and when the first one gets back they go in.  We do this for all and it is appreciated.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

It's not a matter of "rushing" people ... it's a matter of satisfying as many as you can ... in a fair and forward moving way.  

Compare it to standing in line at the grocery store.... If the person in front of you decided to recheck the price of each item before placing it on the conveyor belt... it would most definately have a negative effect on YOU and everyone behind you... not to mention the check out clerk.. who is trying to effectively service all the people who are in his/her line.  Being timely ... is part of being a good group participant.  

As I said.... we don't ever start the music 'till the singer has the mic in hand ... but giving people time to finish stories or apply lipstick.. or go to the bar and buy a drink ONCE their name has been called ... is really NOT okay.  If they are in the bathroom, outside having a cig .. or trying to get thru a crowded room.. OF COURSE .... those kinds of delays are more understandable .... BUT ... the other types of slow movers aren't.  

Can't speak for the others who are posting, but we are in a very small city in NE upstate NY .. no big city here.... ..... Just lots of karaoke singers.. who want to get to sing as much as they can.  :yes:  

We are just trying to please the crowd... keep 'em in the club .... and keep the show moving forward.  We've never been told we are "rushing" anyone ... and with the countdown approach ... all is fair.  Everyone gets a "little" time... to appear ... if we can't see 'em when we call 'em down.  Again.. we are dealing with nearly 40 singers in the room.  Smaller shows may be able to run things a little less like a steam engine..... but.. as we tell the club owners... when we push the button to start the show... it'll go for 5 hrs straight.... and we do all we can ... to provide what we say we will.  :D

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[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

it's not a "rush" thing as much as it's efficiency.

Like Cindy said, a few seconds I can understand. But the diva that thinks it's sweet to stop and hug and kiss everyone on the way to the mic... nope. The pimp daddy that macs his way all the way up, even stopping and sipping a beer along the way... nope.

The ten seconds mentality is fair. But look at it from this way. Say you announced the name, have the mix music going, and it's taking them an ADDITIONAL ten to fifteen seconds...

Okay, the average song is say three to four mins long. That means in an average four hour show, you'll get about 60 songs a gig (15 songs an hour).

ten seconds times 60 is 600 seconds. That's ten minutes worth of what COULD be additional singers that get a turn. THREE SONGS!

Now this is all theory. Like Cindy said, you'll get your smoker outside, your bathroom singers , the person paying for their drink RIGHT when you call their name... it's going to happen.

I'm talkin' about trying to eliminate as MUCH as possible.

guess i won't be doing that anymore....   hi matt!  


whatever it takes to make sure i get my turn(s) to sing....where i go is veryyyy relaxed but he does keep it moving pretty fast....the only problem i have with him is that he always starts his show late....that cuts out at least 4 or 5 turns someone could have had....

Milo if you come into my bar you can hug as many people as you want
when coming up to the stage to sing - I'd think it would increase my
audience ten fold.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Shotgun that's like comparing apples to oranges.  The way Matt was describing it was like a cattle call, which I call rushing, alomst like having the next singer on stage before the first one is finished singing.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Wow!  What a heated discussion.... Can I play too?  Let's see...  If you call out the next singer, who's on deck, and who's in the hole then those 3 people should take care of whatever business they need to and be ready when it is their turn.  That's not rushing a show, that's just courtesy.  

It's like being on a bowling team.  If you have two 5-man teams bowling against each other, and 1 bowler always has to be tracked down when it's their turn then the other bowlers tend to get a little ticked off.  They are there to bowl, not wait around for another bowler to get done socializing.

Singing is like bowling.  If you're a singer and you know that your turn in the rotation will be soon, then be courteous to the other singers and be ready.

Of course life isn't that simple.  For those who don't like to be courteous, I suggest the 1, 2, 3 gone method...  or what I do...  Press Play.  It's funny to see an obnoxious singer come running to the stage when his/her song starts to play.  I'll be laughing my butt off.

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---wallyd

Oh yeah, back to the main question... Dead Air...  If my next singer isn't ready then I'll throw out good bartender promotion, thanx to the audience, drink specials, future events at the bar, or just say something witty...  Some dead air isn't a bad thing.

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---wallyd

I do the same thing, I just prefer to do announcements over a little background music as well.

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Dead Air sucks!!! I have filler music at all times even if it's only for 10 or 20 seconds. If their are any anouncments then i do em over the filler. Let's face it sometimes at a karaoke night you end up with people at the shows with no interest in singing. If you wanna keep your shows going you gotta cater to all who are there. If a great filler song comes on and the dance floor fills up then just go with it. Everyone in the bar is your customer that night , Make them all happy.

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ROBDOG *WOOF WOOF*

i just want to say, i didn't kill that air.  it was already dead when i got here.  i called 911 as soon as i saw that the air was dead.  i tried to revive the air, but i guess it was too late.  i saw a guy run out of here right as i came in.  maybe he killed the air.  what's what? oh this?  oh, i found this knife on the floor.  probably belonged to that guy that ran out of here.  i didn't even notice the stab marks on the air.  maybe the air committed suicide.  yeah, that's probably it.  the blood on my hands?  that must have happened when i was trying to revive the air.   hey, why are you putting cuffs on ME?!  i was trying to help!  i want a lawyer!

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All work and no play make Homer something something

Sorry if I made it seem that way. What I was describing is the singer that takes their sweet time when you're allowing a "normal" time to get there.