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KJ's


   Those of you who have excellent singing voices, have you found any correlation between (on average) better quality singers at your shows perhaps because you may in fact have a slighly better ear to tweak your eq, mix in general, and attract slightly better singers because perhaps you have a slighly better selection and aesthetic sense ?

   I'm surprised to hear on this board that there's a higher percentage of KJ's that CAN sing.  Now whether the KJ's around here are hacks, or just don't sing that well... I don't know.. Around here because most of the shows weekend nights are youngsters, there's little chance of those who can sing even wanting to come to the bar, these places get packed with young annoying brats fridays and saturdays, HOWEVER, those of you who work at venues with a slightly more laid back clientele, have you found YOUR ability to sing, tends to attract a higher percentage of participants that can also sing ?

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

I find for REPEAT customers, that's the case. I've had a lot of compliments that my system sounds really clean, and the better singers like that because of the clarity... I also don't just dump tons of ECHO out there for any ol' singer, which a lot of hack kjs will do... some think that with a sound that sounds like it's coming from an ampitheater it will make anybody sound good. No, it makes anybody sound echoy!

I've had better singers more often more because of the sound rather than me - although it is me mixing them.  I often hear that they got to sing alot at so & so's bar, but the sound was horrid.  They don't get to sing as often at my show, but they can enjoy the other singers more as well.

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

I think a good sound system with a friendly host who knows how to run their system,
attracks better singers.

I also notice on some nights all I have are good singers. I think there is a intimidation factor that happens. I've been around for a while and I've built a
following of pretty great singers. Now a newbie comes along or someone who doesn't sing that well and doesn't want to sing after hearing some of the talent
in the house. I'm sure you guys have heard someone say " I'm not singing after her".

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Yep i've had that happen as well.

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

Very similar to the rest of the posts so far.  Been told my sound system is better than others in the area and I care as much how the bad singer sounds as does the good singer.  For the most part my clientel is older; mainly on Wed nights.  Many have said they come to hear me sing because I do many of the older 50/60's type music.  I only sing in rotation and only up to a point.  Some have asked me to sing more but that's not what being a host is all about.

It's a fine line between hosting and entertainging where I KJ.  Also many of our older clientel are the ones paying the bills even if they don't sing. Many of the younger crowd tends to come in and put in a song and go else where to sing "hoping" they get back in time.  Most often they don't.  And they have to start all over again by signing a slip.  

I try to please all but cater more to the regular singers who are there all the time, and the regular crowd who come to lsten, dance and buy drinks.

I seem to have a better class character wise and vocal talent wise then most places I have ever been to.  I have several motels in my imediate area that are in walking distance.  We get vistors in from all states and quite often foreign countries.  They  are very much impressed with the singers and ask if all singers in this town are like that.  NOOOOooooo. .

Nothing is funneir than seeing 5 brothers form Ireland on their first trip to TN.

Kelly

My crowd is an odd mix of all age groups. I mostly have a male crowd. I'm lucky
some nights to get 2 girl singers. I always encourage the girls to come in because I
know where there are girls the men will follow. I have some incredible younger and older singers. It is a nice mix of song styles. I don't get a lot of rap and heavy metal
which is good. I don't mind it, but a whole night of it would drive me crazy.

I do have people come in because they like my sound system and selecion of songs,
but I think most people like the fun atmosphere. If they're having fun they'll come back no matter how nice the equipment or how few woman there are.  LMAO

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I find the first priorty is a great sounding system and an operator who knows how to tweak the best out of each singer....That pleases the singers and the listeners....The singers are extremely happy that you made them sound their best, and the listeners are happy that they could experience pro quality sound.

The next priority(and almost as important as sound quality) is music selection....singers and potential singers demand a broad music selection and especially the newest songs of their favorite genre.

Then of course you need great people skills and lots of patience.

As far as how well does the KJ need to sing?....Well, they need to be able to sing well enuff to sometimes complete a song when a singer freezes up or if a novice singer needs a duet to feel confident the first few times up...In a venue where you have a full rotation of decent singers, no one wants to wait while you show off....They will tell you that karaoke is THEIR show, not yours....It's their time to shine, not yours.

I think you will discover that most KJ's can sing rather well....Usually that's because they first started out as a singer who attended karaoke bars and got hooked on it...Then they loved it so much they wanted their own equipment and decided hosting was the best way to justify the cost and trouble of assembling it all.

What I've found as a KJ is that with good sound system, selection and fair rotations
the BETTER singers will find YOU.   MY "core" group of regulars are above average singers and probably go out singing 3 - 4 times a week at other shows.  But what happens is they tell the good singers at those shows about mine and they come down to check it out and make it there prefered shows on Saturday.   A good singing KJ is a plus at most shows UNLESS THEY HAVE A BOG HEAD AND SING TOOOO MUCH...  That turns people off the quickest ---- waiting to sing while the KJ sings 3 or 4 songs ...  :(

thats not fair to say that the young'ns come in all bratty on fri and sat nights messin stuff up cause when i go to bars i love to sing and i believ i have a great voice i dunno the only sub i have up right now is when i was drunk at a bar...it's live so not that great... but any ways it's not all us youg'ns...

From what I hear, Charmin does her fair share of messin' things up.

I don't know if this is true in all areas of the country, but 5 years or so again when most KJ's were "professionals" (i.e. no cheap PA systems, burns), hosts in my area were very good singers (but rarely sang) and put on a quality shows. Since the inception of the $50 night KJ the quality of the hosts singing ability and the shows have dropped dramaticlly. The funny thing about it is that the worse the KJ sounds, the more they sing.

The only good part of all of this is the quality of the singers in the area is still great (despite some of the hosts). That should still be the most important point, it should be all about the singers.

I have a group of regulars who are on the young side - mid twenties.
They are wonderful. Very polite and understand the rules. They behave themselves better than the older ones most of the time. I by no means want to say all
young crowds are out of hand. It was just on this particular night I had a rowdy
young crowd. I think one of the biggest reasons I have trouble is my crowd is mostly
guys with only a few woman. Sorry guys, but when you have 50 guys, alcohol and
only 2 girls in the bar things happen.

On another note: I wish all my patrons appreciated the fact I spend a lot of time
trying to make them sound as good as possible. I take personal pride in that.
I find most people don't understand all we do. They think our job is all fun and games
that we just turn on the mics and music and stand there. Do you really think people have any idea how much technical knowledge it takes to run a karaoke show? Don't get me wrong I wish they did.
They usually think they sound better because you have a nice system.

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Great sound always attracts the good singers.

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