Karaoke Forums

You stop in at a new karaoke venue and what is the 1st thing you see that sets the "impression" of the show you are about to hear..???

With all the talk about CDG selection and megagazliawatt equipment it's the $8 SONGBOOK that will give off the FIRST IMPRESSION OF YOUR SHOW... Which reminds me its time to redo all my books .....

Besides a
COVER
A New Release or JUST ARRIVED page
Rules Page
By Song Title
By Artists
Pencils & Request slips

Sorry for the BASIC question but sometimes somebody has a very new idea out here

Are there any other items you are including in your books?
Advertisements? Games?

Do you have 1book by song and 1 by artists or are they combined ?

The only thing differrent I do, is since I use binders that you can put a front and back cover on, is put a bunch of "You know you're a karaoke addict when....." webpages from all over the internet. This way every book is unique.

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Let's Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

Honestly the sound system of any show is MY first impression of the show. If the sound sucks or the host can't mix, then I leave. I don't care how many songs they have if i'm going to sound like crap singing it.

You pretty much have the books laid out as I do. I quit putting slips & pencils inside. Have a centralized location that slips & pens are sitting. I use presentation view binders so the front cover has a flyer of my ad & maybe some of the club specials. The back cover is the Top Ten Reasons why karaoke is better than sex!

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

Don't get me wrong Lon, equipment along with quality discs the KEY to a good show , but MOST singers ( NOT TRYING TO OFFEND ANYBODY) Wouldn't know a Mackie Mixer from a singalong walmart karaoke toy ..UNTIL they heard it

But when I go out to sing I try to get there early as I know being a KJ how fast rotations can fill up ..and before the music , before the sound , all you have is the song book ..Again just talking FIRST IMPRESIONS

My binders have a clear plastic cover on them, so on the front is my business logo and contact information in case someone might like to hire me. The back cover is a copy of my schedule as to where I will be.

Page 1--How does this karaoke thing work? Explains to new customers what they need to do in order to get a turn at the mic. Explains where the slips are, how to fillit out, how the different versions of songs may differ from brand to brand.

Page 2--Karaoke etiquette

Page 3--usually advertising something special coming up. Right now this page has the info for a contest at a venue I play at.

After that is a section of music added since I last printed the books. I put this on colored paper to make it stand out. Section two is all songs arranged by Artist, section three is by Title. After that I devote a page or two to advertisers who donate items for me to give away at my shows. I've got menus from several establishments. I usually work a deal with them--A number of $5 gift certificates for a full page ad. They like it because who goes to a restaurant and spends $5 anyway? Anyhow, I digress...

In the very back of the book, I have a pouch (spend the money and get decent ones--cheapies get destroyed) where I put the pads of song slips. I also put a few business cards in there, as well as some schedules for upcoming shows. I print them in MS Word in a 3 column format so I get 3 to a page. These also have my contact info on them.

I bought those stay-put pens with the adhesive basee like they have at the bank, and I attach them to the inside of the back cover. That has been one of my better ides! I have not had to replace a pen yet, and at the end of the show, I just toss as much of it into the little pouch as I can so the chain isn't getting tangled in everything. I originally attached them to the outside of the books on the spine, but that sis not work as well.

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

I agree with you.
I find a lot of books unreadable considering the environment.

OK. Here's my gig.

Books
All type is 18pt. for listings.
Mixed case for readability.
every page is in a page protector (expensive!)

Front page of each section tells
• Artist or Title
• "The" and "A" are not alphabetised
• contact info, web site, yahoo group

Each page is double sided, numbered and has the letters on the outside of the page in 72 point type indicating which letters are on that page.

Presently, I have a new stuff section which will migrate into the book when I do my next printing.

Presently, I provide 5 full catalogs with all the repeats and duplicates.
I also provide 15 catalogs titled "The Sh*tlist" which have no repeats, no dups and just includes the stuff I think people will gravitate to.
ie less overwhelming that the full catalogue.

I renumber all my disks to my own less complex system.

All of the above are available for download in both .txt or .pdf version from my website. A lot of my singers use this and print their own edited catalogs.



Rules
There are 2 different versions on the back of my request forms.

Version One (enforced on busy nights)
You fill in a request form with:
The Singers Name.
The Artist’s Name
The Song Title.
The Disk and Track Number.
Only 1 song per form.
I will call for 10 requests.
I will take no requests, until I call for them.
The first 10 requests I receive will be played in the order that I call them out in.
If there is no response when I call out a singer's name,
I will move onto the next request.
That singer is eliminated for the night.
If the request form is filled out wrong,
that request gets eliminated.
As the host, I reserve the right to jump a V.I.P.
(Very Important Person) into the queue.
As the host, I reserve the right to kill a "lame #ss" song.
If I nix a "lame #ss" song, I will offer the singer a chance to retain their place in the queue, but with a different request, preferably a "Kick#ss" song.



Version Two (Rules a' la Fight Club)

The first rule of Karaoke is
You don’t talk about Karaoke

The second rule of Karaoke is
You don’t talk about Karaoke

The third rule of Karaoke is
Only one request in the queue at a time

The fourth rule of Karaoke is
If you leave the room before your request is called,
you cancel the request.

The fifth rule of Karaoke is
No Shirts, No shoes.

The sixth rule of Karaoke is
If this is your first time at Kickass Karaoke,
you have to sing.

This, obviously, is a little tongue in cheek
but fun...

Malibujesus