Karaoke Forums

Lonny,

I totally agree. Normally the adjustmenst are so minor, no-one would ever notice. I'm talking about the one where you just can't get them in the mix, your at the point of feedback on mic and the only other adjustment is music volume...if you figure it out right away, I will make the adjustments quick. I've had a few, that i just couldn't get into the mix...usually kids.

That's the way I do it. I'm in the audience on every singer, but my set-up location doesn't allow me to get a good sound check. You can tell by testing yourself or listening to the singers if your set right...don't have a sound man working for me besides, I don't get paid enough to hire one...

I'll still stick with the "leave it alone " theory.  My reasoning is this....

The good singers already sound go and if you want to be an effective sound man/woman/person/PoliticallyCorrectWhatever there you should be in the optimum listening position which is usually dead center of the room.  Most times this is logistically impossible and if it is possible you're too far from the singer to be of any use to them.  Since you can't hear the sound including the room acoustics from your less than optimum listening position, a slight adjustment in EQ is as likely to be wrong as right.  A good singer will sound good because that is the nature of good singers.  They don't need much help.  But a bad singer you can do something with if you're not sitting in front of your mixer.  You can be the little guide vocal that no one else can hear if you're standing behind them out of the spotlight.  When they need a place to put their drink or they need an ashtray, you can't fix that from the mixer either.  You can be the warm friendly face that hands them the mic and lets the first time singer/scared little bunny feel a little less nervous becasue they're not all alone up there, but not from the mixer.

If your original settings are close to right for the room, leave them alone. Fix the singing not the EQ.

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Okay, who took my pants?

yes, but how can you fix the singing WHILE the person is singing?  Everybody isn't fixable, as well. I can use the knobs to make them more tolerable until I talk to them. yes, I will give pointers AFTER the song is over, unless they are just truly horrid and in need of onthespot help and ask for it, but I'm not stopping someone who just kinda sucks, I will dial them down or up depending. some people can't understand "hold the microphone closer to your mouth".

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Brother, is that ever true. No matter how many times you tell them.

I sometimes donate my system for PA at conferences, where speakers get up and talk into mics. Some people simply can't do it, no matter how many times you prompt them. I don't know what it is.

I would like to invent a remote-controlled mic stand that moves the mic up and down and forward and back so that I could control it for a podium microphone as different speakers come up. Maybe a better solution is to have a shotgun mic and an operator, but it would be cool to be able to move the mic to where it needs to be.

Back in the day, if we went to a karaoke show where the KJ just pushed the button and left us there with his "preferred mix", we hit the door and never came back...word got around pretty quickly too.

I have to disagree with you on this one.

Peoples voices are different...some are bass, some are treble, some are soft, some are strong...no way can you have a "canned mix"...

The little bar we are in right now we are not far from the stage but one of my pet peeves when 50 feet away You decide to do a song this round so you start one and dash up to the stage and the mics so hot you have to grab the other one Guess what its hot too  LMAO

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Nope, even a good singer may need channel eq adjustments (not the room eq), NOTHING they can do in their own voice to adjust themselves - many singers are very bass heavy with no nidrange, others have a strong high end with no bass.  Sorry - a good kj will adjust for every singer!

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Some people are hopeless singers.  No amount of EQing is going to fix them or even help them becasue off key is off key.  A singer's voice is a singer's voice.  It's personal.  If the person can't hear a mistake they will assume that they're not making one.  I must disagree about not being able to change the central frequency range of your voice, look at Roy Orbison for example.  

I no longer KJ but for those of you who do and changed the mix for each singer I invite you to try a simple test.  For any part of your show and for fifteen minutes of solid singers, put the EQ back to the detents and leave it there.  Don't make an announcement or anything just do it.  No one is going to say a word or even know that it happened.  If you ask the singer who performed during the experiment some will say they liked it better some will say "I though there was something wrong " but most will not notice.  It's only fifteen minutes.  What have you got to lose?

Simple is better.

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Okay, who took my pants?

You must have had horrid singers at your shows?  You've said something to that effect before.  Guess I haven't experienced that often, any given night 75% or better of the singers can sing & have come to expect a good sound/mix.  We have got singers FROM places that don't do anything to the mix.  
I won't need to test that theory, I had a host a couple years back that never did anything to the mix & I (and the bar) got complaints on him regarding the bad sound the entire time (3 weeks - had to give him SOME kind of a chance) he was working for me, well he no longer does, sorry unless the singers just don't care or just plain suck on a regular basis, your theory won't fly.

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It's all good...there is no such thing as a horrid singer......sometimes the ones that sound a bit....lesser skilled....tend to do a better job of paying for you....

I don't have to test this theory either. I know what it will sound like, and I can guarantee complaints. It's really about knowing how to run your system, and how to make a singer sound the best they can. People compliment me all the time about how they never sound as good at other shows. There's a reason.

If I got to the point where I didn't care about the quality and makng the performance the best it could be, I'd quit...that's a big part of why I do this.

Yes I understand.  There is no need to test the theory because we all know that the Earth is flat.

If there are complaints, then you have only messed up 15 minutes of one show.  If there are no complaints then you would have the much harder task of comming to grips with the idea that you have spent years twiddling knobs for nothing.  

Be brave, give it a try....

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Okay, who took my pants?

Don't you think some of the people here HAVE tested your theory, people who have been doing it for 20 years or more who aren't all robots?  maybe not tested in the exact way you want them too, but tested nonetheless.  It may not be us who thinks the world is flat.  i can't see letting a guy scream into my mics or letting a person whisper to the crowd all nite when you could help them by at least turning up or down the mic volumes. the world was flat because nobody could see beyond the horizon, your theory is easy to test and Im sure, HAS been, just not exactly the way you want it tested.

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[glow=red]Yo sucka, we need this hea CHOPTER, and we need it now![/glow]

Like I said it's BEEN done!  Host that didn't adjust GOT complaints on bad sound, long since fired, new host knows how to adjust - all good!  Good singers know a good mix/sound!

Here's another take from a different thread.
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10560

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Five minutes into that experiment the singers, crowd and mngr would think Ollie's drunk again  PATTY!!!!

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Okay, I'll shut up on the subject after this but I too have been doing karaoke for a while.  Not continuously but since '91 on and off.  Of course you have to adjust for the whisperer and the screamer as I said in an earlier post, but all I do is adjust for room acoustics and the mic's personality and let them go from there.

Even a good parent knows that you have to stop holding on from behind and let the kid ride the bike by himself sooner or later.  Just let them sing....

Now this is me shutting up.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Yep volume, eq & effect adjustments - at least a good host will make those per singer.  I HAVE done this continuously 7 nights a week for 15 years ( first 6 of those were mobile on top of the stationary) & singers do realize & support a host that will take the time to adjust their vocals to the music.  

Me shutting up now!

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A good kj should know how his equipment behaves, and shouldn't walk away or be inattentive to it, because everything about mixing vocals/music is unique, Different karaoke manufacturers record their music their own way, different volume levels, and different ways that voices blend into their tracks with effects. Did anyone ever notice how sometimes it will seem that no matter how hard you try that the vocals seem seperate from the music instead of being a blend?

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

If a kj does the set it & forget it I will find a venue where the kj knows what they are doing.  The kj is like the "sound man" at a live venue...except working with multiple different types of voices & musical productions.  One size does not fit all except to lazy kj's or kj's that don't care.  As a singer I care what I sound like, I have a bassy voice which needs to be adjusted at the mixer & I am willing to bet dollars to donuts that more singers care what they sound like than you think...they may not say anything or if it's the only place around may just deal with it.  Understandable why you aren't hosting clubs anymore  :shock:

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]