Bar & Club Asked to Do Karaoke at Bar...

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TheOlogee

DJ Extraordinaire
Dec 4, 2011
561
519
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Texas
www.idjdfw.com
An events planner that I work with contacted me on yesterday to see if I could KJ/DJ at a bar a couple of towns over for 2 hours on Saturday nights starting this weekend from 8p - 10p to replace a guy they had that got drunk and started hitting on the ladies midstream. There is another DJ that will come in at 10 and finish. The planner is in week 3 of a 1 year contract with the bar and called me in a bind.

I haven't been to this bar before. I looked up some reviews and it seems to be a really nice place with tons of traffic. We are doing lunch there tomorrow for a meet and greet as well as walk through. The start pay is $100 for the 2 hours, I also get a meal a couple of drinks, and they offered day care though I wont take them up on that. The rate goes up to $200 an hour if I do well (after first show).

I don't have anything this weekend and the place is about 20 minutes away so I thought what the hell at the least I can get my name out there.

Would like yalls opinion on how I plan to approach this as it will be my first bar performance. I've done a couple of private KJ parties that went well.

My library is small ~ 3000 tracks from 60s to current which the planner is aware of and ok with. I use JustKaraoke to KJ and will bring my NS6 with Itch to kick off and for mixing between singers.

I have a 17 inch and a 26 inch monitors for singers and the audience. If this gets serious I will bring my projector and screen to use in rear projection mode and use the 26 inch monitor for singers.

Will use the K10s for sound and an Berhinger X1204Fx mixer for reverb. I may bring the KW181 sub.

For lights will use the 4bar and 4play combo.

Mic wise I am torn between a couple of Pyle Pro PDMIC58s or Behringer Ultravoice XM1800s. I've used my line6 mics in previous shows but don't want beer or worse in them. I also like corded mics to reduce the chance of my wireless ones walking away. The PDCMIC58s and the XM1800s are less than $20 each. Again if this gets serious I may look at bringing better mics like my Shures.

I will also print my own singer/request cards.

Am I missing anything or do you have any other suggestions?
 
An events planner that I work with contacted me on yesterday to see if I could KJ/DJ at a bar a couple of towns over for 2 hours on Saturday nights starting this weekend from 8p - 10p to replace a guy they had that got drunk and started hitting on the ladies midstream. There is another DJ that will come in at 10 and finish. The planner is in week 3 of a 1 year contract with the bar and called me in a bind.

I haven't been to this bar before. I looked up some reviews and it seems to be a really nice place with tons of traffic. We are doing lunch there tomorrow for a meet and greet as well as walk through. The start pay is $100 for the 2 hours, I also get a meal a couple of drinks, and they offered day care though I wont take them up on that. The rate goes up to $200 an hour if I do well (after first show).

I don't have anything this weekend and the place is about 20 minutes away so I thought what the hell at the least I can get my name out there.

Would like yalls opinion on how I plan to approach this as it will be my first bar performance. I've done a couple of private KJ parties that went well.

My library is small ~ 3000 tracks from 60s to current which the planner is aware of and ok with. I use JustKaraoke to KJ and will bring my NS6 with Itch to kick off and for mixing between singers.

I have a 17 inch and a 26 inch monitors for singers and the audience. If this gets serious I will bring my projector and screen to use in rear projection mode and use the 26 inch monitor for singers.

Will use the K10s for sound and an Berhinger X1204Fx mixer for reverb. I may bring the KW181 sub.

For lights will use the 4bar and 4play combo.

Mic wise I am torn between a couple of Pyle Pro PDMIC58s or Behringer Ultravoice XM1800s. I've used my line6 mics in previous shows but don't want beer or worse in them. I also like corded mics to reduce the chance of my wireless ones walking away. The PDCMIC58s and the XM1800s are less than $20 each. Again if this gets serious I may look at bringing better mics like my Shures.

I will also print my own singer/request cards.

Am I missing anything or do you have any other suggestions?
Try and save yourself the work. Bring a screen for the singer but try and setup near to one of the Bar's TVs so you can patch into it. You will need to visit the place to see what kind of connections are required. If they have an overhead projector to a big screen, then you may want to find a way to connect to that. Depending on where the singer is facing you may not even need the Singer's Screen. If your Library is limited, I would play a regular song immediately after each singer has finished singing for about a minute or two while you call the next person to the stage to sing. This will bid you time and also put some excitement into the show. Good luck with it.
 
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Always have a Sub(s) in a bar. You will need it to compete with the noise level and give some energy to the crowd. People need to "feel" the music. This ain't no Wedding! ;)
 
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For just karaoke in a small bar, I would forgo the subs, no one's going to be dancing. If you feel there might be a lot of DJing instead, then go for it.

As for songs, mics, etc., it depends on the crowd. For most of my karaoke gigs, the crowd is pretty rank amateur and sing mainstream stuff (Journey, Stones, Elvis, Sinatra, etc.) and they are bad enough that almost anything works. If you have good singers, then they may dig deeper into the archives and may look for a floor monitor to hear themselves.

Everything else you seem to have covered well.
 
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For just karaoke in a small bar, I would forgo the subs, no one's going to be dancing. If you feel there might be a lot of DJing instead, then go for it.

As for songs, mics, etc., it depends on the crowd. For most of my karaoke gigs, the crowd is pretty rank amateur and sing mainstream stuff (Journey, Stones, Elvis, Sinatra, etc.) and they are bad enough that almost anything works. If you have good singers, then they may dig deeper into the archives and may look for a floor monitor to hear themselves.

Everything else you seem to have covered well.
In my opinion, that makes for a Mediocre show. A full bodied sound will be remembered every time over the Regular Karaoke Setup. Why be one of the masses when you have the chance to stand out and be heads up above the rest? As long as one is charging enough it is well worth the extra effort.
 
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We just got back from the meeting. The location is a grill and bar. The bar area accommodates about 70. The "dance floor" is 10 by 10 if that.

They have a front projection system in place and I plan to plug into that for the crowd and use the 17 inch monitor for the performers.

I brought my wife along as she digs karaoke and given the distance I expect her and her entourage will pop in.

The planner's husband was there and we talked for a while and he asked what I planned to bring for sound. I told him about my plans above and considering a sub. He said the last guy didn't have a sub and thought his sound was off. I took the hint and will pack the KW181 for sure. This will be the first time I get to use it since it came in last week.

My challenge now is to figure out how to publish my karaoke song list. Ill tackle that tomorrow.

- - - Updated - - -

For just karaoke in a small bar, I would forgo the subs, no one's going to be dancing. If you feel there might be a lot of DJing instead, then go for it.

As for songs, mics, etc., it depends on the crowd. For most of my karaoke gigs, the crowd is pretty rank amateur and sing mainstream stuff (Journey, Stones, Elvis, Sinatra, etc.) and they are bad enough that almost anything works. If you have good singers, then they may dig deeper into the archives and may look for a floor monitor to hear themselves.

Everything else you seem to have covered well.

Thanks Steve...I pondered a monitor but dont want to put my QSC stuff at risk. If this grows I will likely get one of those Samson wireless speakers with mic or a Berhinger piece. Either would also come in handy for a ceremony system. Actually booked a wedding today with a ceremony add-on.
 
I picked up a little Behringer B208d powered speaker to use as a monitor. It's small, ok sounding and cheap enough that if it gets ruined I won't be crying much.

For song lists, I recommend Latshaw Systems Song List Generator or Pilot Software Song Book Creator. The Latshaw one will roll up all versions of a song and show 2 character codes delineating them, saving a whole bunch of pages. My 11,000 songs has probably 30% overlap of songs, some individual songs (many Elvis, Sinatra, etc.) might have had 10 different versions with the variety of labels I have, and the Latshaw software lets you decide how many versions to show (I chose 3) and then only adds the little tags, so my songbook went from 175 pages down to a manageable 100 or so.
 
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If this grows I will likely get one of those Samson wireless speakers with mic or a Berhinger piece. Either would also come in handy for a ceremony system. Actually booked a wedding today with a ceremony add-on.
Until you get a monitor, send an audio feed to the Singer's TV and turn up the Volume on it. You can also try and place the Singer a bit forward of your speakers (This is where putting them up high as possible is to your advantage, it will lessen feedback from the Mics.

Update: I meant to add that putt the Singers a bit in front of the speakers will allow your Singer's to hear the music and thus eliminate the need for a monitor.
 
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What Live/Mic Mixer are you using/going to use. If you are going to get a Live Mixer, get something adequate with good preamps. One where you can plug in your DJ Mixer's Outputs and have a couple Mono Sends, one of which can go to a Powered Monitor/Speaker.
 
What Live/Mic Mixer are you using/going to use. If you are going to get a Live Mixer, get something adequate with good preamps. One where you can plug in your DJ Mixer's Outputs and have a couple Mono Sends, one of which can go to a Powered Monitor/Speaker.

Yep...my Berhinger X1204 will do the job and is what I have used in the past.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/X1204USB
 
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The show tomorrow has been cancelled. I was really looking forward to it. I will have another chance in two weeks. My family is having a reunion tomorrow afternoon so it looks like tomorrow eve is family and friends karaoke at our place instead.
Can you please tell us why it was cancelled? If you do get to do this gig i would leave the Shure mics at home. So long as the mics you use are OK then it shouldn't matter that much because you don't want something to happen bad with such expensive of mics. Remember you'll be dealing with people who might be very intoxicated and certainly don't know or care how much you paid for your gear. Since you've never used the sub before do bring it so you can see what it can do for other gigs besides the bar. If it works out well for you build up on your library of KJ songs and good luck.
 
I use wired Shure mics not because they are the best sounding microphone but they are as tough as nails. Also any serious singers or soundman know what they are going to get with a 58. I've got several SM58s that have endured many years of abuse by singers at my weekly karaoke show. I have had several problems with my wireless Shure products and don't plan to purchase anymore in the future.


I've been around the block a few times on this microphone thing.
 
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I use wired Shure mics not because they are the best sounding microphone but they are as tough as nails. Also any serious singers or soundman know what they are going to get with a 58. I've got several SM58s that have endured many years of abuse by singers at my weekly karaoke show. I have had several problems with my wireless Shure products and don't plan to purchase anymore in the future.


I've been around the block a few times on this microphone thing.

I know...I have 1 SM58 at the time that I started out with that I now use for voiceover work.

We used the Pyles this past weekend at our house show and they did ok. A tad lighter in the SM58 in feel and sound. The folks at the bar are not hard core so I think I will be ok with what I have to start with and it only costs me ~ $20 for the two. If this gets serious and or I sell more karaoke shows then I will look into some better stuff. Will surely bring better stuff for a private paid gig though.

On the wireless Shures...been there too. I do sound for my church and we switched to Line 6. We would get a lot of noise in the line when we used rechargeable batteries. We also had some Sennheisers that worked great with the same batteries but the issue with the Senns was that the little power switch wore off on the bottoms.
 
An events planner that I work with contacted me on yesterday to see if I could KJ/DJ at a bar a couple of towns over for 2 hours on Saturday nights starting this weekend from 8p - 10p to replace a guy they had that got drunk and started hitting on the ladies midstream. There is another DJ that will come in at 10 and finish. The planner is in week 3 of a 1 year contract with the bar and called me in a bind.

I haven't been to this bar before. I looked up some reviews and it seems to be a really nice place with tons of traffic. We are doing lunch there tomorrow for a meet and greet as well as walk through. The start pay is $100 for the 2 hours, I also get a meal a couple of drinks, and they offered day care though I wont take them up on that. The rate goes up to $200 an hour if I do well (after first show).

I don't have anything this weekend and the place is about 20 minutes away so I thought what the hell at the least I can get my name out there.

Would like yalls opinion on how I plan to approach this as it will be my first bar performance. I've done a couple of private KJ parties that went well.

My library is small ~ 3000 tracks from 60s to current which the planner is aware of and ok with. I use JustKaraoke to KJ and will bring my NS6 with Itch to kick off and for mixing between singers.

I have a 17 inch and a 26 inch monitors for singers and the audience. If this gets serious I will bring my projector and screen to use in rear projection mode and use the 26 inch monitor for singers.

Will use the K10s for sound and an Berhinger X1204Fx mixer for reverb. I may bring the KW181 sub.

For lights will use the 4bar and 4play combo.

Mic wise I am torn between a couple of Pyle Pro PDMIC58s or Behringer Ultravoice XM1800s. I've used my line6 mics in previous shows but don't want beer or worse in them. I also like corded mics to reduce the chance of my wireless ones walking away. The PDCMIC58s and the XM1800s are less than $20 each. Again if this gets serious I may look at bringing better mics like my Shures.

I will also print my own singer/request cards.

Am I missing anything or do you have any other suggestions?[/QUOTE
 
I have my request slips printed for me and also had pens made with my name & phone number....if you have the right songs 3000 will be fine as long as you have books for the guests to look thru. I normally play music after each full rotation just to keep things high energy as a lot of singers like to sing slow love songs (yuck).