Mixed Karaoke / Disco Nights

[Grahame Case]

Hi guys,

last night i was covering a Karaoke / Disco for another company, as they were fully booked, i've only done one previously before, and both times the evening seemed rather Dis-jointed

in an attempt to make it a little more organised I suggested to the organiser that we have Karaoke for a small period (1 hour) after the buffet, and then proceed to dancing. however, i had very few names up at that point, and got a few people up to sing, but then the names dried up, so i then did a half our of your typical cheesey disco tracks, in that period i had the majority of the people up and dancing , and i also got several slips up, so i decided to have another pile of singers, got therough that, then more came up with slips, so i ended up karaoke - song- karaoke - song, and it was just very bit part - the last half hour i kept completely music.


how do you guys keep it together?

[DazzyD]

Hi Grahame.

As someone who's done karaoke discos for the last nine years, I can safely say that most shows go just like yours.

However, I try and avoid the song-singer-song-singer scenario by including the disco in bursts. This usually involves several songs in the same genre (more if it's going down well) and then a karaoke singer before moving on to the next mini-set. If there's loads of karaoke requests, I do a karaoke "blitz" where I get four or five singers in a row before moving back to the disco. I always finish the night with 30-45 mins of disco and dancing depending on how successful disco was throughout the night.

But, at the end of the day, it's really down to what the client wants. Most of the time they book karaoke padded out with disco tracks. But I've always thought that my way is better! ;)

The only advice I can give you is listen to what the clients wants. If you get free reign then do what you feel most comfortable with. But, bear in mind, some (drunken!) people can become agitated when their karaoke request - 2 minutes from the end of the night - is refused! :eek:

[Grahame Case]

some (drunken!) people can become agitated when their karaoke request - 2 minutes from the end of the night - is refused! :eek:

yes, i was called a :Censored: :Censored: last night by one such punter, when i told him i was not taking any more karaoke songs now as it was into the last half hour - i went over and had a quiet word with the organiser and he was promptly repremanded.

[Jay Drabble]

Yep The Karaoke can be the killer of a good night' I Try and sell the karaoke as an add on now usually an xtra £45 an hour' I also try and get the Karaoke Over Before the Buffet That way The Punters are not singing all beer Legged and the confident singers which are good usually get up.' During the buffet i will take the karaoke down & Put it to one side' Out Of Sight Out Of Mind.

[DazzyD]

Yep The Karaoke can be the killer of a good night' I Try and sell the karaoke as an add on now usually an xtra £45 an hour' I also try and get the Karaoke Over Before the Buffet That way The Punters are not singing all beer Legged and the confident singers which are good usually get up.' During the buffet i will take the karaoke down & Put it to one side' Out Of Sight Out Of Mind.

So does this mean that you only charge for karaoke for the first part of the night? If not, then £45 per hour extra seems a fairly high price considering the customer has already paid the disco fee.

I usually do karaoke as an add-on for £50-£100 extra depending on the show booked. At the end of the day, to me the karaoke add-on just involves carrying a monitor and a bag of books, pens and request slips. Therefore, I certainly couldn't justify an extra £45 per hour on top of the £40-£75 per hour i already charge for the disco.

But, if you can command the higher prices, then good for you!

[Jay Drabble]

So does this mean that you only charge for karaoke for the first part of the night? If not, then £45 per hour extra seems a fairly high price considering the customer has already paid the disco fee.

I usually do karaoke as an add-on for £50-£100 extra depending on the show booked. At the end of the day, to me the karaoke add-on just involves carrying a monitor and a bag of books, pens and request slips. Therefore, I certainly couldn't justify an extra £45 per hour on top of the £40-£75 per hour i already charge for the disco.

But, if you can command the higher prices, then good for you!

Yes i just charge £45 for 1 hour and not for all the hours that i am there' although when i do a Karaoke on it's own i still take some lights along' But not as many as when i do a combined Disco/karaoke.

[ppentertainments]

Yes i just charge £45 for 1 hour and not for all the hours that i am there'

:confused: Sorry, maybe me being thick but do not undstand that statement.

[flatliners]

must say karaoke and disco dont really mix to well i have done a few

[Jay Drabble]

:confused: Sorry, maybe me being thick but do not undstand that statement.

We usually Charge an xtra £45 for 1 hour of Karaoke' So in other words if we do a disco for 5 hours we will do 4 hours Disco and just 1 hour of Karaoke' Works well for me and we don't get Terrible singers wanting to sing when the dancefloor is full. Jay:)

[ppentertainments]

must say karaoke and disco dont really mix to well i have done a few

A lot of people say this, but what do you do if (like most karaoke, with the exception of some pub gigs) hardly anyone gets up ??. Do you sing, sit in silence etc. This is the reason I ONLY do karaoke and disco - must be missing something :confused:


We usually Charge an xtra £45 for 1 hour of Karaoke' So in other words if we do a disco for 5 hours we will do 4 hours Disco and just 1 hour of Karaoke' Works well for me and we don't get Terrible singers wanting to sing when the dancefloor is full. Jay:)

Gotcha - good idea if it works.

[DazzyD]

A lot of people say this, but what do you do if (like most karaoke, with the exception of some pub gigs) hardly anyone gets up ??. Do you sing, sit in silence etc. This is the reason I ONLY do karaoke and disco - must be missing something :confused:


This is what I've always done for the same reason.

But karaoke and disco can coexist despite what anyone tells you. I'm living proof! ;)

[Bouncy Dancefloor]

ive never done a straight karaoke night

all of my shows are karaoke and disco

[Jay Drabble]

I Class a Karaoke as a good compere or compere singer who will sing when there are no singers and who will play a low level background music inbetween the singers'
Disco i class as full on bins and tops all the lighting smoke Bubbles etc'
I Always give the Customers a choice if they would like to combine the 2 and if so i charge them an additional £45 for 1 hour of karaoke and usually 1 out of 3 will book Karaoke as well' I think the hour bit works well as some people can only now stomach an hour of Karaoke'.
Back in the 80s There were only 2 of us doing Karaoke in our area for about a year' We were working Derby Every dinnertime and every night we would do a diffarent Pub or club every night and get virtually any price we liked'
The Pioneer Lazerdiscs Used 2 cost us around £150 Each and they only had 15-20 songs on each[ How Times Change ] We never used to use lights and all the kit was flight cased in one stack' It used to take us 15 mins to set up'
Never Mind Back to the Grindstone. Happy Days

[Tommo DJ]

Hi i have just added Karaoke to my set up at a huge cost, i did this because of all the requests i was getting for Karaoke, however i have found that setting an hour to one side around about 30-60 mins after the buffet seems to work depending on how well things are going. I usually announce to the party after about 3-4 songs,that Karaoke is available etc.
If i am in a pub it tends to be hit and miss with song-karaoke-song all night. I recently did a wedding and the customer said just bring it along just in case, i did and never had karaoke, the disco was going so well and people were dancing i did not want to break that, however the karaoke guests were ok with that and understood, so again it is down to what the party guests are happy with, the mood of them etc. Best laid plans etc lol. To be honest i wish i had not invested in Karaoke but i have it now and i would not get my money back on the investment.
Tommo

[DazzyD]

i would not get my money back on the investment.
Tommo

Ain't that the truth!

I've been building up my karaoke library since '93 and I'd estimate I've spent in excess of £20,000 in that time on media alone. I'd be amazed if I could sell it for £1,000 now. Still, it's all mine, it contains loads of rare and specialist tracks and it's not going anywhere anyway!

[1st Choice Karaoke]

I have been hosting karaoke nights in pubs as well as Dj'ing for 10 years, 7 I think every single one has pretty much been exactly the same ;-)
singer up, song on, singerup, song on etc works just fine for me! So far I have never had a single private booking (other than a kids party) ask to add Karaoke to their disco, weird.

[Cj_The_Dj]

IMHO i think that karaoke is only good for pubs and not privated.

[kjdiscos]

I currently working at a pub, Covering for karaoke on a friday night, The way we do it and the guy whos runs it, Is disco to start the night, Then when the requests come in we get them up as soon as possible, If its getting busy we do 2 singers back to back then a track, And we have a regular who always like to sing last anyway with his son :), So all works out good for us and them