Karaoke Forums

I agree with a lot of what's being said here, but I have to vote combination, because most of the time it is. If no one claps after an amazing performance, that's an issue. You bet I will get on the mic and say... "hey come on, that was an amazing performance, give I up for 'X'." but if I have to do that... if the applause wasn't spontaneous, that fundamentally alters the mood.

Those nights when everyone is into it... when someone sings 'Sweet Caroline' or 'Don't Stop Believin' and everyone joins in, and then applauds after every performance, that's an amazing 'warm fuzzy' night. I'd lik to say they're all like that, but different crowds make things go differently.

Now, that said, with a bit of prodding I can get some people to participate, and I walk around and table touch, etc, and that can help move things in the right direction... add in some alcohol to the mix too... but not always. Sometimes it just is what it is.

I love doing this. Its my passion. I'm ever HAPPY to be there.. to be that guy who gets to make everyone feel good with music. I'll do what I have to, to make it work. I'll sing something goofy, or poignant, I'll suggest songs to the singers, I'll go to tables and encourage people to sing, I'll play a fun dance mix, or line dances... whatever it is... This is music entertainment. People have had a rough day at work, and I get to make them feel good and smile. I'm blessed... but I also work hard to sharpen my skills.

In the last few years I've become known as a top Dee Jay in my area, not just a Kay Jay. I've worked hard to learn a vast repertoire of music, from Hip Hop to Country, I can entertain whatever crowd is in front of me. I go to other KJs and see what things they are doing... or not doing, and learn from that. Always learning, and growing, and I have been rewarded with my efforts by being able to make this my sole means of income.

All of that said... if the crowd isn't with you... your job is a whole lot harder.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Big thumbs up to this!

I bill my company as a "mobile entertainment company". Currently we focus on regular, weekly karaoke shows at bars/clubs, but we do private events and weddings on occasion and I also want to do more than just karaoke.

I sometimes feel like some karaoke hosts believe that if they allow anything other than rapid fire karaoke to take place that they are doing something wrong. No one will kick you out of the Karaoke Host Club for doing a 3 some dance break, or a light show, or even a comedy monologue.

I tend to stick to karaoke with the occasional dance break, but I have dabbled in doing some spontaneous comedy, laser and light show breaks, and I just dusted off some of my magic trick books the other day.

I don't want to be known as "Chris, the Karaoke Guy". I named my company "Feel Good Productions" for a reason. I have always had a long term goal of doing more than just karaoke with intention of having a feel good time.

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-Chris

I would like to think we all do that. You have to try to please everyone at sometime every evening! I see the line dance folks trying to dance to someone doing Karaoke and I just ask them do you wont to dance to something special and away we go. Why not, we all go to have fun.

i have always been of the philosophy "if you try and please everyone, you will end up pleasing no one"

course it didn't work out for me, so I could be wrong

You probably won't please EVERYONE, but you should please MOST everyone. . What I mean is, this job requires you to be active, to look around, see what's going on... get a feel for your crowd.

Sometimes, you got some TERRIBLE performances happening, and it can be grating. Not everyone is there for karaoke... at least not in the places I play at... and EVEN IF THEY ARE, its good to break up the routine with something poppin' and lively. Get people off their bar stools... and yes, get some of the girls shakin' it. No harm in that.... they WANT to show off and have a good time, you put together the right mix and away you go!

Now you've got a party, and everyone is having fun. Call the next singer, and don't be passive about it, you've set the mood, keep the energy going.

"You always do a great job", "Its always so much fun", "You're always easy to deal with", etc. These are the things I hear from people as they are leaving after last call, smiles, handshakes and hugs. It takes effort to stay current in this business. Listening to the latest music, even if perhaps you don't like it... but hey it can grow on you.... especially with the right mix.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

yall gonna have to break it down to me how anyone but the KJ sets the general mood & tone

to me, it always comes back to the KJ. it may be a matter of opinion, or how you can easily manipulate statistics to show anything you want, but i feel like i can trace most things back to the KJ.

and maybe what folks don't see is that the truth is where you KJ has stock in how you KJ. location, location, location. not meaning where you KJ in the city, but where like if you KJ in the south as opposed to KJ in the west. there's gotta be a difference, right? if you're raised with a southern charm a southern approach to things, you may not understand the bluntness of a KJ from elsewhere. right?

recently, i've been thinking about this thread when i do karaoke. and when the crowd comes to life i wonder did the crowd set the mood or was it me? and it always comes back to me, the KJ. not to sound narcissistic. it's the kj.

one night, in the middle of show, a packed house, i shut down the karaoke, unplugged it and went home. because i didn't like where the show was going. (someone dropped the mic disrespectfully, absentmindedly) and it had happened multiple times before, always innocent, but i got sick of it. i put my foot down and unplugged the show and went home. no, the manager didn't like it, nor the bartenders, nor the crowd. but i told them, this is my show and i can't do my show if i'm not in the mood. who cares if the crowds in the mood? if the kj's not in the mood, there's no show, to me. i set the mood when i unplugged my show that foolishness like dropping the mic like you're spiking a football to show off isn't cool to me or other KJs. i put my foot down for all KJs and bartenders who put up with drunks doing stupid stuff when i unplugged my karaoke stuff in the middle of a packed house over 1 bad apple and walked out. no, i won't do it again. and i'm sure someone else will come along to test me. but this is the example that i can think of about who sets the mood and tone at a show.

all i could think of when that dumbo dropped my mic like he spiked a football was now this fool thinks he can go anywhere and do this and will cite that he first did it HERE. i can't have that. you're not putting out my name and my show and say it was ok when i did it with product 19. so, i set the mood, i set the tone, it's my show, i shut it down. sure, my boss was furious but every time i think of it, i know i did the right thing. and i know, the crowd respected KJs a whole lot more after that. you should've heard how many people in the audience scoffed and said no way he's leaving a packed house. no way. and a handful followed me in the parking lot to my car like no way you're gonna just leave a packed house over 1 bad apple who didn't do it to be disrespectful to me personally, he just wanted to show off to the crowd. but it's my show. i can't have a full audience witness that and go on to YOUR shows and copy that. i put my foot down. i'm setting the tone. and now when i walk in the room at that same place and i still work there, folks take heed when i speak. they know i'm not afraid to walk out at the drop of a hat and i'm always ready screw with everybody's money and good time. kjs set the tone. not kjs and the crowd. not the crowd. to me.

My, aren't we a bit full of ourselves?

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

i know it sounds like i'm full of myself but sometimes when it seems like i'm talking about myself, i'm talking about we KJs in general...the few KJs that i persoally know

and i'm sure i'm gonna have to repeat this over and over: i have no problems with other KJs. I respect all KJs on this board and not on this board. as KJs we're all one big co-ed fraternity. i can't say what i'm doing is right and what you're doing is wrong. whatever works for you, works. i dig the diversity in all different KJs shows and approaches.

folks don't have to agree with me or like me. but i do want folks to hear me and think about what i've said. to me, a KJs potential is ever endless. i personally think we're better than average DJs but we don't tap into it. i don't know why more KJs aren't asked to host award shows like the oscars, etc. to me, crowds are followers by nature. someone's gotta explain to me how any crowd shares with a KJ how to set the tone. as i said before, the venue pays the single KJ, not the crowd. if the crowd shares in the success of a night, why don't venues just pay them half of what the KJ's charging and give the other have to the KJ.

KJs tap into the crowd and bring the crowd to life, to me. it's not a shared thing or a co-writer thing. like being a journalist. if you ask one certain question when interviewing somebody, you can get that one scoop that noone got because you tapped into it. same thing with KJs. tap into the vein of the crowd and you'll get success. it may seem that the crowd shares a part of the success but KJs need to see it was us that first tapped into it. we need to understand how and why we sparked a crowd to life to make a successful evening.

i blame every bad and good thing on me during my shows. i don't blame my crowd. which is why it was so right for me to unplug my show. i blame myself for making an atmosphere for that guy to throw down my mic like he was spiking a football. he wouldn't have thought to do that with 9/10 KJs. something about me made him think it was safe to show off to a crowd by doing that. so i fixed it by shutting off the show and pressing the reset button. i allow my crowd to be themselves and act crazy but that was too much. and i set the tone.

A kj can only do so much. You can coax and direct the crowd only so much, but on the rare occasion they do not want to get into the coax'ing, then even the best kj isn't going to change that. So the crowd plays just as much of a role (if not more IMO) that a good kj can do.

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

i respect you a lot. but i still don't get it. and folks will just have to shrug and give up on me

i say to the crowd once in awhile "i'm partying with or without you" and i mean it. i don't even need the whole crowd, i'll get a few followers to tag along and we'll party. the crowd can catch up to us when they're ready is my motto.

i can't grasp how a KJ can only do so much. i'll do unorthodox things to get things moving. i don't care if i have to go out of pocket. i don't care if it doesn't make sense. i don't pause just because nobody's done it. i don't ever feel any night is a hopeless cause. i'm a sheer optimist when it comes to KJaying.

ok. so i was recommended to a spot to be their weekly karaoke guy. monday nights. rough. did it for about 2 months and they dropped us. maybe we had a total of a dozen singers during my 2 month run. place was always 85% empty. they needed a boost, don't know if karaoke is the answer. those were hopeless nights--bad location, i'm not the right KJ for it, blah, blah.

but it's on me. i didn't, but i could pull some unorthodox things to turn it around. may have to dig in my pockets. think outside of the box. it's never hopeless, to me. if the crowd isn't there, make a crowd. nobody says i have to use their crowd or please their crowd. i can bring in my own. i can pay my own to be there, who cares, i'll make the money back. and crowds run dry. things change. people move. but the KJ is the only constant. i can't see sharing success with the crowd or with anything.

this has been a fantastic question.

but the true answer can be found when KJs are out of their comfort zone.

who can really answer this question without working a karaoke gig in all 50 states--in cities and in the country, with diverse races or a segregated crowd, with young and old folks, during different nights of the week and in different hours including happy hour hours.

and some of us host karaoke in bars while some host in restaurants. there is a big difference. there will be a different outlook from some KJs who think one way because they've always worked in bars and never in restaurants or vice versa.

Product 19 was a good cereal. I don't know how much of a KJ it is. . I think everyone at a show sets the mood, from the bartenders, through the crowd, and on down to the KJ. I have seen nights, on both sides of the mic, packed house, but the crowd was a bunch of dead sticks, and other nights where there were five people in the place and it would be an awesome party!! The crowd come to party, or they come to chill. Sometimes, no matter how much you poke and prod, as a KJ, the crowd doesn't respond. Other nights the crowd is the BIGGEST factor in making it a party. I consider myself a decent pretty decent KJ, (based on 20 years as a Karaoke patron, dealing with many different KJs.). I would come to one of my shows, as a patron, but I don't care how good a KJ is, including myself, you have a boring crowd, and you will have a boring night.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Dude, you are out of your comfort zone EVERY TIME you start a gig at a new place. But you STILL need a good crowd to make it fun for everyone.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

This is where I have to disagree with you. In your example here, you didn't set the mood, you killed it. In your statement where you say you were pointing out that you put your foot down in order to teach the people a lesson, do you think the Bartender would kick everyone out and shut down/close the place if there was just 1 drunk misbehaving in the place?... 2 drunks??... 5 drunks???

Like I said, the ONLY thing you did was to kill the mood for everyone else in the place. For the most part, there will always be some drunk person at a Karaoke show (ESPECIALLY when it's held in a Bar). You can't control every person's actions. Drunk people don't think straight. They're already impaired. This drunk who slam-dunked your Mic, had nothing to do with whatever mood may have been set prior. Drunk is drunk, and stupid is stupid. The one thing you DEFINITELY CAN CONTROL, is who you allow to come up to the stage and use your equipment. If you see someone who is obviously too drunk, you can tell him/her that you won't allow him/her to get up and sing. Then you can have them take it up with Management. If Management has a problem with your decision about that, you can set them straight as to why.

Nope. Lon, I don't know if you work from a booth yet consider yourself "accessible", or whether you walk out into the crowd and interact face to face. However, I can tell you that a good "in the crowd " interacting Karaoke Host CAN change the mood as required.

The "in crowd " is a large part of the key, as well as good mic work and feeling of the crowd mood. Direct interaction when properly applied to just a few can affect the entire crowd.
It 's not "coaxing ", it's more akin to "mood management ". A good host can also spread the joy he / she feels performing his / her work ( assuming one DOES feel the joy) to others, also raising the mood. All that and much, much more can be applied to set the mood.

Karaoke hosting and karaoke singers have a psychology all their own. It is the strength of the connection between the two that truly allows the good Karaoke Host to manage the mood.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

So walking up to your patrons, and slapping them upside the head, and making them sing is a BAD thing?? Hmmm, better rethink my approach.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

High majority of the time, but not always!

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

So here is a question for those of you of you who think that ONLY the KJ can effect the mood of a show.

You have a real party crowd kind of vibe going at your show. The majority of people seem to be singing real high energy, upbeat music.

Someone comes up to you and hands you a slip for a really dull, slow, boring and damned LONG song. You go up to them and try to get them to sing another song.

"No, i want to sing this song. it means a lot to me. It was my mom's favourite.. She died yesterday"

are you telling me you're not going to play there song, just for the sake of keeping a mood? and you can't tell me that someone singing a song like that wouldn't change the mood of a show.

-James

Along with the presong dedication over the mic that seems to take forever.

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

Let me break it down for you. Your crowd consists of a bar hag, who's barely able to hold on to her beer, much less a microphone, 5 biker dudes that are pissed off at you that you won't keep playing Metallica every song, and a couple of rednecks who are loud, drunk, and obnoxious, and primarily want to get on the microphone to do shoutouts to their buddies and cuss.

Now.... you go right ahead and 'put your foot down.'

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!