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My stepdad always thought he he could tell me his lifely mistakes and thought I could avoid them and not have to suffer. But he didn't realize certain things I had to experience by myself. Here is some mistakes as a KJ and will share them with singera and fellow KJ'S alike.
1. Statrted a web site and realized that most of the drunks in the bar didnt have a computer.
2. Thought everybody wanted a totally professional system...
3. Thought I had to be totally formal and professional
4. Needed total control of the crowd and got paranoid if if I didnt.
5. Didnt differentiate between the singers that wanted to be a star and those that were there just to sing.
6. Couldnt balance dealing with public relations (flirtin with the gals) and adjusting efx.
7. Keeping track of rotation.
8. Trying to explain to the bar owner its not wat he wants but what the singers want.
9. Trying not to show favoritisms to the gals with short skirts
10. Realizing that music related businesses cannot be regulated with laws and and rules trying to control an emotional crowd or drunks.

Ok what is the number one mistake of KJ's and singers? Remember this is my major therapy and absolutely nobody should get serious about the whole enchilada...

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Great List you might include rule # 69 . Dont be banging on the club owners daughter..............

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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]  

Once you have mastered #6, make sure that if your wife/girlfriend/significant other comes to your show, she realizes that flirting is a very large part of your job, and that even though you were laughing with the girl with the 40DD's, your were only thinking of your w/gf/so's 34B's.

Some hard learned lessons that I've applied to karaoke:

1. If you don't please your employer - you won't be (employed that is)
2. The only thing you can control is you own actions - tryin' to control other people/situations is futile and it can give you a myriad of health problems including ulcers...
3. Flirtin' is flirtin' but remember KM's diet rules of dating. Just because your on a diet doesn't mean you can't look at the menu - but God help you if you get caught with a sampler platter. And remember not to drool, there are some things that just aren't pretty (your drooling) now matter how hungry you are.
4. There will always be people who come to the shows with the worst sound because they somehow think they sound good there or they just don't care.
5. Formal is fine for weddings but even at weddings people often drop down their hair at the reception.
6. The show comes first - without a show there can be no flitin' now or later.

I'm sure I can come up with more but those came to me off the top of my head... and I haven't been doing this very long either.

Some advice for those newer KJ's from my experiances

1) Careful with those little buttons on your triple tray player - Worst thing is hitting the wrong tray halfway thru someones song and having the music go SILENT.....OUCH...Then having to restart and listen all over again .

2) No matter how much the drunken singers begs --DO NOT hand him your expensive wireless to parade around with

3) Don't bump up your family or friends Believe someone in the the crowd is keeping track of the rotation like it was there JOB and they WILL LET YOU KNOW !

4) Vocopro --- Good ideas ..Bad execution of quality -I know

5) As good as you sing ...remember you are there for the SINGERS
Open your show and then let the singers roll ! ( there are exceptions)

6) If you're going to FLIRT..Make sure you know whos with who ! so you stay out of trouble

7) It might be your equipment and discs and YOUR SHOW..But you still are hired help ! Beware the Bossman and his FRIENDS and FAMILY

Everynight can't be fun and games -sometimes it just stinks --But keep smiling your are a professional !

[quote="JAMKARAOKE"]Some advice for those newer KJ's from my experiances

1) Careful with those little buttons on your triple tray player - Worst thing is hitting the wrong tray halfway thru someones song and having the music go SILENT.....OUCH...Then having to restart and listen all over again .


Done that stupid mistake more than onces. God it make me feel damm stupid

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Definitely fallen foul of the Triple-Tray buttons.

Greg's favourite embarrassment is when he misfiles a disc in the wrong sleeve (always on a busy night) to discover in a subsequent show, that he has to trace the line back 5 or more discs to put everything right and find the song the singer just wanted to do.

Another one is those discs with Demo and Karaoke version - sooner or later you end up suppressing the Karaoke track numbers and leaving in the Demos. This one, of course, comes to light within the first few bars of your fussiest singer trying out one of the songs.

My very favourite (done to me by hubby) was asking for a song "down 2 "to stand a chance of hitting a high to go tunnel-vision and almost lose consciousness on the said notes (and for him to leave it quite a few weeks to 'fess up he actually put it UP 2).

How about the song your singer just did coming up on the filler music just after they've sung it. This is how we KNOW that there is no Karaoke God, just a Karaoke Demon.

My worst faux pas = joshing Greg over the mic because "The Heart Will Go On" came up on screen for my go and (over the mic) proclaiming that me and that song would only stand a chance of co-existing over my dead and rotting body..............only for the next singer in line to be singing that very song (and, of course, it's the best song in the world ever as far as she is concerned).

And one of our favourites......3 Daves (or other common christian name)in the room and you only find out a few weeks later when the "missed out" Dave profusely thanks you for finally letting him sing.

I luv u all and this is the way I run my shows .. Informal, relaxed and can adapt to the crowd . Never get serious about self and roll with the crowd...Fun is what is it all about but I would like to hear about some more KJ and singers mistakes... Singers?////

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Yup, I've misfired the triple tray more than once. On one gig I did my audio processor was on top of my CDG player, the area they had me set up on was pretty tight. More than once I was adjusting reverb and by the way my hand was angled caught the top button on the player. Actually stopped things on the the third accident in an hour and put on some BG music to shuffle things around. ARGH!

The other thing I loathe is the Pioneer Laser Disc player. Where I KJ on Friday they have one of these, takes FOR-EV-EV-EVER for the darn thing to load, the time/side indexing does not reflect track data, just a moment in time, and if left on pause to long, will just tra la la start playing again on it's own. Been tripped up by that more than once and a couple of time had the Side B side up, not down when putting the disc in.

Hey, it gets busy back there!

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Despite the internet rumor, Karaoke is not Japanese for "drunk buffoon with microphone."  However, "rotation," is Japanese for wait your damn turn!

I hear dat! Laserdiscs are nice renditions, but we get headaches from ours. When we bought our stuff from a previous operator, we found out the hard way that when you push 7, sometimes you get 8 and vice versa. Add switching the video back and forth, we've goofed a time or twelve. I'm thinking about getting rid of our laserdiscs for their slowness and these other reasons....

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Woo-Hoo!!!

Well I've only just started KJ'ing, but I've learned not to ignore the complaints from management when they say it's too loud (even though the crowd thinks it's just right). I did just that on my second gig at a venue, and it was almost my last. The only thing that saved me was good bar profits on the night.

Sounds like your player is in need of servicing. I had one that started acting up this way & brought it in & now it's working like new. Good thing I run 2 laser players so I wan't down for any time - just slowed down a tad. Also have 1 Pioneer dual tray as well.

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Yep, my player has definitely seen better days! We have had it servied, but the plastic backing to the buttons is broken internally, so that part couldn't be fixed. We limp with that one and have another for backup, but its going to be a ticking time bomb eventually. I've tried Ebay for a replacement and got burned by one that arrived DOA and would've cost more to fix than it was worth. By the way, anyone know of a set/sets that could (almost) directly replace the original Pioneer Laserdisc Set? I don't have the time or patience to get them onto the computer and/or onto DVD or something like that..... Anyoo, thanks!

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Woo-Hoo!!!

For everyone. Remember, it is ONLY karaoke! Don't get so serious about any of it. As Shakespeare said, ALL the world's a stage.... Your bar isn't the only stage in the world and no one is paying any real attention to it anyway.

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Nephilim