Karaoke Forums

I've noticed it seems to be difficult to find is a a really good Karaoke Host and a bar with really good service. Why is is so difficult to find both in a Venue.

I've thought about this. Since I've been all over the country and sang in many different bars and restaurants. When I find a place with a pretty deceit KJ most of the time the service in the Bar stinks. The Bast place I have been was kaptian Kirks in Sarasota Florida Had a great host and great service. But I did sit at the bar. Where I'm from in Flint Michigan. Yanis OPa on the East side (Thrift City) is pretty good at both.

But what I've noticed with karaoke Hosts that take forever to to transition from one singer to the next really make it boring. Or playing 2 minutes of music in between singers. Those bars seem to be busy. But never really packed. One bar here in Flint used to be the best. Rotations moved along pretty quickly service was pretty deceit and the sound was awesome. In the last three years. The owner got rid of all his hosts and hired his wait staff to run the karaoke. He started a mandatory Dance break every hour for the inviso dancers so the host could go out and smoke for 15 minutes. The service has gotten bad. Went in on a weekend which I hate doing but a friend was in from out of town and wanted to go. We went in sat for 20 minutes before I went to the bar to get our drinks. We sat through two mandatory dance rounds and a host that took a minimum of 45 seconds to get to the next singer and as long as three minutes. Then in the last three years he moved his sound board and rewired 3 times. Installed a Bose system and the sound is no longer balanced throughout the bar.

One thing I've discovered about most KJ's is they all seem to think they are the best and know everything. This can easily be referenced by the thread about Pet Peeves about hosts.

One thing I've noticed about Bar owners is they go for the cheapest of everything they can. Thus to have a successful night of Karaoke. They do need a combination of host personality, decent sound equipment, a good selection, and an orderly show. Which I believe it's difficult to find cheap. Unless your a host who has been doing this for years and has spend alot of money of discs and has always had good equipment. Then just loves doing it because they love doing it and don't care about the money.

You stated it, they go for the cheapest. Why would that stop just with their karaoke, they probably pay minimum wage to their servers and bartenders too - all which will add up to poor service in alot of cases.

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

The answer for the OP is simple: You don't live near my work area....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

It is difficult for a host to find the right setting sometimes, also. Some bars will just start throwing things at the wall to see if it sticks. There's nothing like trying to start a show when the bartender hates karaoke and rolls their eyes and just acts like they want to get it over with and get out of there. The places I've liked best are when the bar staff and I strategize together as far as what atmosphere is to be cultivated and what kinds of events or specials we can plan. It is two separate businesses but it seems to work best when we can work together. If the staff isn't behind you it is difficult to overcome any of the other obstacles.

Whether I'm DJing or hosting karaoke, this is what I do. Whether I'm new to the gig or have been hosting for awhile at the venue, I converse with the owners, bartenders, waitresses. I do call outs for the servers. Sometimes we do drink specials when specific songs are played. Sometimes I have drink tokens to give away for random purposes or raffle tickets. At any rate, we are a team of indiviuals at the bar and need to pull together in order that we can all realize the ultimate goal, lots of people spending lots of money. Good service and good times for the customer is the order of the day!


Any host that has a decent size rotation and takes more than 20 seconds to get the next song started has problems. If I have a small rotation, I'm more patient with singers that aren't in the room when I call them up. But with a long rotation, I bump them. I always announce who is up next and next after that between songs. Usually one skip gets their attention. With long rotations I want the 20 narrowed down to 15 and I will announce to the house that singers should be prompt as possible so we can get more songs sung.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Hell when I ran discs, it's didn't take more than 10-15 seconds to transition to the next song. I always had the next disc cued to the point it bypassed all the logo screens if the music didn't start right away. I could actually run a faster show with discs that I do with computer. I didn't allow last minute changes (walking to stage telling me this instead) on disc as a rule, I have laxed on that rule since the computer search/add is very fast.

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I do allow them to change as well, however if they ask for something I don't know if I have, I discourage that. That could lead to, "no don't have that, well how about this, no don't have that either" so I only pull up their history (unless I already know they've sung it before) and they quickly pick. Or, if they approach me before their turn to change, I will take the time to look a song up for them. Or of course if they already have multiple songs in their que, I allow them to change on the spot as it takes no extra time.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Once a song is submitted I don't allow changes..unless the song gets sung by someone else

I'm disc so a last minute change is going to involve looking up the song number and pulling the disc. I will do it but I get the next person in line up while I make the switch. Sometimes a person puts in one song and by the time their turn comes the crowd is in a different mood. So I don't mind them wanting to play to that as long as they don't pull it all night.

I also let people give me a pile of slips put in the order that they want to sing the songs. Sometimes they will change their mind as to the order so I just give them back their pile and let them reshuffle it and give it back to me. No problem.

Full service karaoke.

As long as the singer knows the song they are gonna change it to I have no problem with it. It's the ones who come up and start with the "hey, you know that song, the one that goes lalalala", etc. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Back to the original post... I believe it's all relative. Some folks don't mind a song or two in between while others want a strict rotation. Last night at my gig we played at least 5 or 10 songs throughout the night and nobody minded. Hell, I was asked by more than 20 people to play something upbeat so they could dance. It's advertised as dj/karaoke so I beileve it to be expected.

I find much less showmanship and interaction with today's host compared to yesterdays. It's all pushing buttons and calling people up like cattle. Don't get me started on the service industry! Too many cute girls or young guys who spend more time on their cell phones than they do taking care of customers.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

I tried to get a show going at a place where the bartender spent most of the night texting on her phone and when she did talk to the customers it was all about herself and her escape plans. She finally moved on and the new person was very engaging and even spent some of her time with the people who were sitting at the bar encouraging them to look up songs to sing. She clapped after every singer and gave them a shout out. It was like night and day as far as people wanting to come in and stay.

Sometimes change is a good thing, especially if there is a like a party like dance theme going on and somebody wants to change a ballad to an upbeat number to keep the energy flow going instead of bringing it down. That is my view on it. With discs, change was harder for last minute, computer is a matter of a quick search & add and hit play.

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The comments on the speed of transition as a little startling. 45 seconds is a long time???? Surely doing the obligatory...whoo give it up for xxxx how good was that etc etc little bit of background music as you call up the next singer. Must be over 45 seconds. I've never actually timed myself, but even with my last Satuday nights busiest ever none stop sing sing sing fest, where did they all come from?, I'm sure I was over your claimed 20 seconds turn-a-round.
I was soooooo busy I had to announce to the regulars that the usual two songs on the bounce was gonna have to be scapped. That went down well......

"two songs on the bounce"?

??

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Never the same show twice!

I think he is referring to playing 2 dance songs between rotations based upon prior posts

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
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45 sec IS a long time between songs. You can get the obligatory applause while the song no longer has singing and the singer is hanging up their mic & walking off the stage/staging area, fade it out during said applause - background music fades up, call the next singer, fade out fill & start song when they get their foot on the stage - by the time they actually grab the mic, the music should be just about starting with most manus. Sometimes they take a little longer in which you can make some quick bar announcements, sometimes they are looking at the next singers coming up on the bottom of the singers/audience screen and are standing at the stage ready for their turn. Either way, it should not take a host more than 20 seconds to transition between singers as a rule.
This was just ONE of my peeves as a singer that made me want to host - too much time and dead air between singers.

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"two songs on the bounce"?

I must be getting old. I took too long to "get it". I don't do Dance song with out a request from more then two people.

I typically don't do dance songs at all. People can and do dance to karaoke singers, no need to stop that with regular music. Might occasionally throw the Cupid or Cha Cha in if I get enough requests (usually FROM the singers).

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My "claimed" 20 seconds is more than enough if you are managing the show in a manner that singers understand it and are there in time. I announce next singer and during the same announcement I announce who is next after that AND who is next after that. This gives everyone else notice they have time to go buy a drink, go grab a fag, or head to the potty. I like to get another 4 or 5 songs in at the end of the night. You continue to run your show your "claimed" way and I will do the same, to each his own.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Sorry, when I said "claimed" I wasn't suggesting you were setting world records for turn a round or anything, just that, are you sure you can get one singer off and another one up singing in 20 seconds. Seems very quick to me, that's all.

Oh and as for "on the bounce" it's a term meaning
in a row / one after another. So "two on the bounce" is two in a row.

Cheers all.