Karaoke - Planning My First

[Megamix]

I had another thread about Karaoke kit - thanks for all your responses - very helpful

Here's my scenario - small club, audience age 35-75 on average - Numbers vary attending entertainment from 80 to as little as a half a dozen (Saturday night!) - For the actual 1st karaoke I'm thinking -

Disco to start and Karaoke later on - good idea, bad idea?
Big screen everyone can see on wall - singers sideways on so most of audience sees words and side of person (not their back)
Encouraging singers to perform from a list of well known singalongs and very familiar material
Leave printed lists for them all to choose from (approx 200 - too many?)

Do I need prizes?/ Voting/ 'Proper' Music in between?

Never been to a Karaoke night let alone done one so really in the dark on this

[womble]

I'm just about to leave to do ours. We like to set up with two screens, a small one facing the singer and a big one facing the audience.

I seem to remember you're on a mac and thinking about Kjams - these will be useful:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-PC-to-2-Monitors-VGA-SVGA-Y-Splitter-Cable-Lead-2-Way_W0QQitemZ400112513086QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Com puting_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item5d2890703e#ht_ 1400wt_1997

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/M9320G/A

If you go the two screens route and struggle to get them both working give me a shout, I have to connect mine in a certain order to get them to work. (Don't know why).

Anyway, that set up allows the singer to be facing the audience and the audience to see the words etc. We do have some pictures on the website/facebook but I'll try and get some more tonight to give you an idea about our set up.

We tend to play music (mixture of modern and classics depending on the crowd) up until about 9.30 or 10.00 sometimes earlier depending when everyones had enough to drink to start singing. Once we have 2-4 singers handed slips in we sing a song each ourselves then start with the punters, then we do singers non-stop until about 11.30-12.00 and have a disco until 12.30 - 1.00 depending on when the landlord decides they've had enough.

Hope that helps, I'm not saying it's right but it works for us in this venue. We used to do another venue that was completely different crowd and no-one wanted to sing at all so we'd have a singer, play a song or 3, have a singer, play a song or 3, have the first singer again. In the end we jacked it in (after about 4/5 months of doing this every fortnight), I don't know why the landlady persisted with it, the 5 or 6 people who turned up clearly didn't want karaoke on.

Anyway, I'm off to do our karaoke night. I'll try and remember to get the missus to take some snaps.

Good Luck with your first karaoke adventure. Hope it takes off!

[MagicMusic]

Having had the misfortune to be subjected to many a karaoke night due to my 'fun loving' pal, I have one piece of advice that I wish every Karaoke presenter would heed.

Don't use the same song as 'filler' between every singer.

I've lost count of the amount of times i've heard the same track last for most of the night. It really is tiresome for those who aren't there for the Karaoke.

Just my opinion - a real pet hate.

Good Luck!:beer1:

EDIT: I meant to add that for some reason the everlasting track almost always seems to be Artemesia - Bits and Pieces!

[StarZSoundS]

Having had the misfortune to be subjected to many a karaoke night due to my 'fun loving' pal, I have one piece of advice that I wish every Karaoke presenter would heed.

Don't use the same song as 'filler' between every singer.

I've lost count of the amount of times i've heard the same track last for most of the night. It really is tiresome for those who aren't there for the Karaoke.

Just my opinion - a real pet hate.

Good Luck!:beer1:

EDIT: I meant to add that for some reason the everlasting track almost always seems to be Artemesia - Bits and Pieces!


Just got in from an Impromptu Karaoke Night.


I can't imagine anyone playing the same filler all night....IF THEY DO THEY WANT :Censored: SHOOTING.

The quality of your fillers make you stand out as a KJ....IMHO.;) ;) ;)

[Danno13]

Having had the misfortune to be subjected to many a karaoke night due to my 'fun loving' pal, I have one piece of advice that I wish every Karaoke presenter would heed.

Don't use the same song as 'filler' between every singer.

I've lost count of the amount of times i've heard the same track last for most of the night. It really is tiresome for those who aren't there for the Karaoke.

Just my opinion - a real pet hate.

Good Luck!:beer1:

EDIT: I meant to add that for some reason the everlasting track almost always seems to be Artemesia - Bits and Pieces!


Yep, that annoys me too.. last year in Mallorca, the host insisted on playing "March of the mods" between every single track, its pretty annoying and pretty lazy to be honest. Even if you just work from CD, all you need it a good couple of compilations and the latest couple of NOW albums. Personally I tend to match the backing music to what people have sung previously just like you do when you select music for dancing to.

[Sarahjovi]

When we do a karaoke night, we have 2 screens, small one for singer, large one for audiance. 4 Microphones. I have 4 song lists. And paper slips for the singers to fill in. Pens! Get your sound right, make sure the mics are loud enough and the singer can hear themselves sing!

We taylor the inbetween songs to the audience. We try and get singers up as soon as they want to sing. Keep a tab on whose sung and get a rota going, singers will complain if you get the same people up when others haven't sung yet!

I always encourage dancing to Karaoke song or filler music! Keeps the atmosphere happy!

Enjoy the night!

Sarah:D

[womble]

Megamix - here's a picture of our set up on Friday to give you an idea...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4529473658_af5e80becc.jpg

This is the little screen that the singers see, currently showing the list of who's singing next (nobody on it as we'd only just set up):

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4068/4528842217_db415a8e4d.jpg

And here's one of our regulars, Jamie, in action:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisstanyer/4529546654/

[Megamix]

Thanks Womble - I like the idea of 2 screens, makes sense - thanks to all suggestions - I hadn't really thought about how Karaoke should work and all your comments will be considered so I can make the evening fit the crowd i have. that’s what's great about this forum - you have half an idea and you guys/gals produce the other half