r/karaoke

39M, hosted karaoke for 2 and a half years before covid and back at it for almost another 2 years now. I've been a musician my whole life, played in school, college marching band, joined the army band, and performed in a few indy bands over the years, releasing 4 albums onto Spotify etc. Basically, I love performing.

When I first started going out to karaoke as a way to move on from a failed marriage and meet new people, I had a blast. The crowd always hyped me up when I sang. I never worked on vocals before, but my musician spirit and competitive nature got me pretty good, at least for dive bar karaoke.

Years later, I'm here KJ'ing again because I got ghosted out of my last job and needed something quick to keep up with rent. I told myself I wouldn't stay here long, but it's almost been another 2 years and I'm just dying inside.

I know it's not about me. It's for the people to come fuck around and have fun. But for fucks sake every time someone wants to do colt 45 or before he cheats or honestly so many songs I just wanna break shit. I'm so burnt out on hearing the same stupid ass songs by the same stupid ass people that think they're so cool doing fuck her gently for the billionth time this weekend.

I have no facial expressions anymore, I'm short with people, and I visibly react negatively to their song requests. I used to have enthusiasm and actual joy in my heart for this. I know you're probably thinking, "just get a different job". I say the same thing to my gf, who also runs karaoke at a different bar, when she complains about all the bullshit we deal with in the bar scene, but she feels kind of the same as me in the sense that; we still like it and we don't really know wtf else to do. After doing karaoke for so long, it's hard to imagine doing a job that has literally nothing in our interests or skillset. Like, just go be an accountant? Construction? Everything feels like even more torture than what I deal with doing karaoke.

Does anyone else ever just get fucking tired of karaoke like me? I'm always annoyed when I'm dead in the bar but this one person just wants to sing back to back to back all fucking night and they're never good singers. And I know it shouldn't matter, but it's just making me angry.

Sorry for long post, just hoping someone out there feels like me and has some insight on how to work through this. I'm not a bad person and I don't like how this job makes me act and talk to people. Just want to know if I can ever enjoy this again.

Hello all, I’m new to all this and looking to set up a small karaoke system in my living room for the wife. I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I’ve been researching a few options and wanted to get some feedback before moving forward.

Here’s what I’m considering:

Mixer: Yamaha MG06X

Speaker: Yamaha DBR12 (just one for now)

Microphone: Phenyx PTU-52 or Innopow WM-333 (looking for a dual mic setup)

Source: Laptop (YouTube) connected to the TV for video and to the mixer for audio.

Does this set up make sense or if I need anything else to make it work?

Have you found any channels that give tips on vocal technique that you've used successfully to improve your singing?

Hello. I've been enjoying karaoke more lately, and really wanting a system for my home, but I'm overwhelmed by the options. I want something simple, a plug and play with the option to just use YouTube for videos rather than a subscription. This is the equipment that I'm thinking of getting, as I would like to keep it at about $500 if possible. Willing to go up to $750 if there's a major difference in quality. Plus portability would be good for work retreats.

I used to trust internet reviews, but these days I'm worried that it's all paid bot accounts, you know what I mean? Can some non bots give me thoughts on this one?

Ikarao Smart Karaoke Break X2c with wireless mics. On sale right now, which is even more appealing.

https://a.co/d/00B6t0Dl

My kids love using our Ikarao S1, but keep accidentally turning the mic volume all the way up with the mic buttons. Any way to disable them?

I think I'm in a rut, and I have gotten a little too comfortable with my song choices. Mostly crooner, alternative, and classic rock songs that everyone does.

Help me diverge from the well beaten path and try something new.

I’ve been working on a QR-based YouTube karaoke app that keeps song requests and setup simple, but I do not want to break the forum’s self-promo rule.

So instead of linking it, I wanted to ask people here who actually host or attend karaoke nights:

• What makes a karaoke app or request system genuinely useful?
• What features are actually important versus just gimmicks?
• If you use YouTube karaoke or personal karaoke libraries, what frustrates you most?

I’m trying to keep the product focused on what real users care about, so honest answers would help.

We are ready to take on Karaoke ourselves after using a few different companies the last few years.

Karafun or Singa ?

I currently pay BMI and ASCAP

What kind of speaker/microphone set up should I get for under $500 if I can’t connect into our existing sound and video system?

Thanks!

What should i know before going? are there specific songs i should know or i can just sing what i like? The thing is i only listen to rock and idk if the friend group will like it

Yes this idea gets posted and asked a lot, but I wanted to also build a simulator around these ideas to see how in-computer simulation could match (or fail to match) real world considerations.

I'm a KJ and an avid Karaoke singer. I'm always thinking about singer rotation I've made a little top-down karaoke simulation where patrons walk in, sign up, wait their turn, and sing, complete with a KJ calling names and doing "going once… going twice…" for no-shows. Runs 8 PM to 2 AM on a clock you can crank to 200x speed.

I put down a few rules just to get ideas started, but these are by not means exhaustive nor final.

• First-timer priority: new singers jump ahead of repeats
• Fair rotation: nobody sings twice until everyone's had a turn
• Must sing before re-submitting
• Allow re-signup after singing

Try it: https://johnesco.github.io/experiments/songorder/

I need help making sure these rules match what people actual do.

Singers: What's the fairest system you've experienced? Ever left without singing because the list felt broken?

KJs: How do you actually run your rotation? How do you handle newcomers showing up late when regulars have been waiting? What policy have you landed on?

Im planning to set up a budget friendly karaoke

Im thinking of having a android tv or mini pc for source what else do i needed for the rest

Some tags are obvious, like "Title" for the song title.

But when it comes to karaoke-specific information like a catalog number or producer/publisher, there are a lot of options. For example, I have been putting the publisher into the "composer" field, just because that field happens to be visible by default in my mp3 tag manager.

Do you bother to put genre into your songbooks? I haven't been because my singers request songs they have in mind... No one ever ever said "I want to see a list of your ballads."

Then we have metadata like "Duet" or "Has vocals in the left channel." (I've been putting that after the song title.)

How do you guys do it? Is there a standard I am not aware of?

Thanks a bunch if you can share your setup!

Hey! I(25F) live in a Midwestern town which primarily only has dive bars and each has their regulars of people aged usually 40+, but mostly 60+. My music taste is all over, and have found a few songs that really get them impressed or excited. Typical songs done there are like; Black Horse and Cherry Tree, I See Red, lots of Eminem, Sublime, Sam Smith etc. Same thing everytime we go.

I normally sing Lily Allen, Say Anything, Bruno Mars, Cher, I can do some Mariah Carey songs sometimes, Britney, you know.

But I want to change up the scene and get these people jumping.

Color me Badd

Tears for Fears

Erykah Badu

Terri Clark (for the country fans)

I've noticed a few artist like these add a light to their eye or a "this was from when I was your age" "how do you know this"?

What are some artists or songs I can incorporate to my practice list??

Through my internet travels I came across this software. Seems like something a KJ might use to dial in a room. Looks like a lot of audiophiles are already using it, wondering if anyone from our community is using it?

Disclaimer: I haven't downloaded or looked at it, and it's not my software. Given how many people use it and how busy their forums are I think we can forgo the normal "Software Promotion" rule and safety checks. If this was dangerous, someone would be talking about it. This is more a less to satiate my own curiosity if anyone here about using it in relation to karaoke.