Karaoke Forums

There was a discussion in another post about lighting at karaoke shows and it got me back to thinking about something I proposed to my bar owner a few months ago.

The main reason I do not use lighting is that the area where I set up my karaoke is more of just an unused empty area and is not exactly condusive to lighting effects. I could certainly incorporate lighting effects, but it would just look incredibly cheesy and forced in the particular area where I am set up and people dance.

I am constantly badgering my bar owner to purchase some parque dance flooring for the empty area where I set up my karaoke. I have even offered to split the cost with him as long as he allows me to take it with me were we ever to part ways. I have found many modular systems around $800-1200 that would instantly create a real dancefloor and designated stage area PLUS would also provide me a ton more flexibility to incorporate lighting effects AND allow me to permanently install a good bit of my equipment.

My karaoke show is very popular already, but I am now back to considering financing this upgrade myself to take it to the next level. Instead of asking the bar owner to pay for half up front, I was thinking maybe I could ask for a temporary pay bump until this is paid off, again with the understanding that I take it all with me if I ever leave (I would have to get this in writing, of course).

For background, I have been at this location for about 2 years now and the bar owner is very very loyal to me. I bring in about 50-100 people on Wednesdays and about 150-200+ people (standing room only through the entire bar alot of nights) on Saturdays on a consistent basis.

Part of my reasoning to do this is that I am a perfectionist when it comes to my shows and want to put out the best product I can afford. The other part of it is that I feel as if I am in a bit of a rut lately as far as every night is starting to be the same and I am getting a bit bored and need a change to spice things up a bit.

Do yall think this is a worthwhile goal??

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Yes even rope lights add to the effect and arnt expensive. One thing to consider can you dim the regular lights in that area? I sometimes run 4 blinking par38's towards the side of the stage one or two on the singer and the rest on the dance area. In the dark Ill use a low level spot on the singer. In bigger venues Ill put 4 par38's on the other side. Ive been in places where they had intelligent lighting in fact one place was so dark I couldnt see which mic the singer was using. I did have one of the strobes for awhile but got tired of screwing with it.

lighting has got me party gigs The right lighting is well worth it. Just dont over do it.

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Yes, the bar is an 8500 square foot room that is perfectly square and all of the lights are controlled by a dimmer switch, so not problems making a lighting system stand out.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

In that case you might consider a light bar on the ceiling with the remodel and putting some strobes etc on it. Lighting can be a hastle but in a permanent installation they are awesome Another thing to consider never put a bright spot into the singers eyes I was in a place one night sang one song and quit. I couldnt take it...

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The single best karaoke show I have ever witnessed personally was at this club that did the karaoke on their main band stage and actually had someone run lighting in addition to the actual karaoke guy. Also, interestingly enough, the karaoke guy had a book with only about 300 songs in it. What he did was only pick out songs that were either super-upbeat or real crowd pleasers. He also would not let you use your own disks. You HAD to sing one of his 300 songs.

This place would pack in between 400-500 people for karaoke night on Friday nights. If you arrived early enough, you maybe got to do 2 songs, otherwise it was about a 2 hour wait to do one. BUT when you were standing on that stage in front of 500 people singing a can't-miss crowd pleaser.....

I think most people (including myself) sing karaoke because they like the attention, and that format maximized that factor!!

BTW, the guy was paid $350 a night AND all the speakers and lighting were permanent installs owned by the bar, so he just jacked in his racked mixer and CDG player, brought his 300 songs worth of CDGs (what is that, about 25 discs or so!!), and rocked the house. He was a good personality and actually looked and dressed like Richie Sambora, including skin-tight leather pants most nights.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

(whisper)  Put lights in the parquet floor.....

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If this owner doesn't even want to spend money on a dance floor, would it even be worth bothering spending money on lighting at this point ?  I enjoy lighting too, but decent lighting consoles last I was checking them out, at least decent mobile units are by no means inexpensive.. Then there's running the wiring so people don't trip over it, control the lighting in addition to your show... Laser lights, color wheels, there's alot of nice stuff out there, but lighting I've done on my own, has been for the house, not the entertainment.  It's fun mounting more permanent fixures, but if you are going to start having to have large light tree's, and controls, more stuff that might even be a liability is it worth it ?  I don't know Chris, I suppose alot depends on the setup, it just seems somewhat extreme for a guy that doesn't even care about having a decent dance floor, however for YOUR SHOW, it can be fun, thing is you'd need to find decent quality affordable mobile lighting that's GOOD quality, and another issue of course is theft as a mobile entertainer.  For weddings I could see wanting a nice ambience, or decent mood lighting... I don't know... Seems like a new source of quite a headache... Mobile lighting displays light-trees, last I looked they weren't inexpensive.. Ultimate support makes some nice light stands... I have track lighting, pin spots, and color wheels wired in my living room, I did it just for fun, and because I was bored  LOL .. Problem is, when bands had mobile displays, it got to be double the work, soundmen ended up getting PO'd, etc....also interference. Reostats always caused extraneous hum.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I have two different thoughts on this.    
One, if you're show has been doing well for the past two years without the additional lighting, is it something that you think would really make a difference.  
 
But on the other hand, if you really think that it would enhance the show and give it even more of a professional presentation, then I say go for it.  
Maybe start off with just one tree, just enough to spotlight your singers and give it more of a 'show' atmosphere. Then perhaps add additional lighting as you can afford it.  
 
My first thought though would be to make sure that the circuits on the stage or area that your in can handle the additional load, before purchasing a single light. I'm sure that they have more 'bar friendly' lighting systems nowadays, whereas back when I started out in the live bands, nothing could be more embarrassing than to be in the middle of a song and have a circuit thrown because you overloaded the system. Just a thought.  
 
James  
Maninblack

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I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

From reading your posts from the past it seems that your show have a lot of dancing and filler music for people to dance to. If this is correct then get yourself a good dance floor, your regular will love it.

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

One thing to note:  ASCAP and BMI licensing (your bar DOES have it, right?) costs more when you have a dance floor.  Make sure the bar owner is willing to pay the added expense.

I recently had a conversation with a bar owner about insurance.   He claims a dance floor really makes the premium go up.   Something about drunks spilling drinks and falling down on the dance floor.    Too much liability.    Have him check with his agent.    It maybe why he doesn't have a dance floor now.

My opinion of lights at karaoke is, the tempo of the music changes with every song.  So now besides taking care of the sound mixing, which should be your first priority, you now have to worry about the lighting.    How many different effects can you have?   If it's only a few, then it gets boring to look at real fast.    If the bar owners want to pay you for doing extra, then I would think about it.  They don't pay me enough now, without lights.     If you put up lights, you are entering in to the realm of entertaining the non singers.  

Are you a KJ or a DJ?    Those lights aren't cheap.    A lot of extra set up time too.  Plus the extra electrical considerations.   Lights are not even in my deepest thoughts.

SOund like you have sold yourself on the idea.  I see nothing wrong with the idea, if it will pay for itself.  But if you are duping money in, but not getting any return, don't do it.

As far as controlling the mixing and the lights, it is easy.  Get a digitl controll system, and set up various presets for various types of music.  Push a couple butttons, and the lighting changes.

Agreed or a progaramable light mixer.  I use an NSI MC7008 light mixer.  It can be programmed for 16 background scenes (steady lights) & 16 chase sequences (blinking lights) or you can mix & match scene & chase or inter mix different chase scenes it can also do fade chases.  You can also tap sync - tap to the beat for a couple beats for in sync light chases.
It's really not that hard to work the lights as well as the music, music starts, tap the light sync or pick the pattern, adjust the singer, cue up next singer.

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I you really want to wow your audience I would suggest using DMX moving Yoke lighting. The karaoke bars are local bars in my area, they are small and barely have room to setup, so lighting is out of the question.

I know if I had a karaoke gig that I could use lighting I would use 4 Martin Mini Mac's and 2 Martin Mac 250's.

The Mini Mac's are $1000 each and the Mac 250's are $2500 but having lighing that is used on every current tv show is priceless. The effects and plallets that can be created are amazing.

Lighting makes a difference all the time. If you can not afford high end lighting, start small and buy quality items as lighting does not resale very well.

I would start with 2 DMX LED par cans, forget traditional pars, LED work just like color changers and consume very little power. They can be purchased for around $130 each.

Do they have internal controllers? Or chase settings?

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Aha so you do use lighting!!

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Most LED Par can's have an internal program but idealy you would want to use a small DMX controller as you can control the color and chase as well as strobe them.

I never thought about the insurance implecations for the bar. I'll have to check in on that, and it may be a deal breaker!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

If you can't dazzle them with your system, you can baffle them with lights.    :whistle:


Shine it in their eyes, they'll never see it coming.    LMAO