How many songs make a decent collection?

Just talk about kJams stuff with each other, describe things you did that worked, talk about your setup, anything that doesn't fit into the other forums!
bckaraoke
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Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 11:04 am

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by bckaraoke »

I've been doing Karaoke on and off for the last 14 years or so.. generally when i'm in between bands.

I play two clubs regularly every week, and find that I could really do both shows with just a few hundred songs.. if you figure a 4 hour show, average song length 3 minutes, plus the time it takes to cue up the next singer.. you're only reasonably going to get 10 or fewer singers up per hour.. x 4 hour night, that's really less than 50 songs you'll play.

And that's if you have non stop singers.

I always end up singing a few myself, or playing DJ music during shows, especially at the beginning of the show to fill the gap between singers.

So i'll echo what's already been said in this thread: it really isn't the number of songs you have, it's the titles of the songs you have.

I like having a wide general selection just in case, especially when you go into a club for the first time and really don't know what people are going to want to sing. If someone requests something I don't have, I make an effort to get it and add it to the collection.

As to the top 100 most requested Karaoke tracks? Check out this list:
http://www.validmusiccentral.com/Most%2 ... 0Songs.pdf

Of course the actual popular list in your area will vary slightly, but generally speaking, i'd say that list is pretty accurate.

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by jfbiii »

You can get a lot more than 10 songs an hour if you keep things moving. Skipping people who don't appear very quickly tends to keep folks on their toes. I go back for them, of course, but I work hard to keep dead time to a minimum. I hate it when I go to a show and the KJ doesn't start to look for a disk until after he's called the name. Even when I was disc-based I had a stack of five to ten already pulled and waiting. Saturday night we ran from 9:30 to 12:45 and did 52. I typically figure on 14 an hour.

I wish I could call two people every song and let them race for the stage. First person with a mic in their hand gets to sing, loser has to wait for the next rotation. But people would get hurt. It would be hilarious, though. :twisted:
From he to whom much liquor is given...much singing is expected.

Karanight
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Location: Stockport UK
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Karanight »

I love jfbiii's idea of singers racing to the stage to sing. I might try it one night. At the moment I call singers up and they sit there, Take a sip of their drink, tell their friends to listen to their singing, slowly get up to come over, have a chat with some long lost buddy on the way over, before they get to me shout out the drink order to whoever's going to the bar and then falls about laughing. By the time they get to me I've slit my wrist

I looked at bckaraoke's list but only saw 49 tracks, interesting though
Here's my list of songs that have been sung on my karaoke
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse ... =469506059
This is a list for UK singers though
Len
Posted by Len of LensKaraoke fame

Web site at
http://lenskaraoke.com

jfbiii
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by jfbiii »

See Len, when I know they've heard me and they dawdle too long, I just start the song. It only takes once or twice before they get the picture. I tried the Bjork last Saturday (wasn't too bad, except the shrieks, which I skipped for the sake of my dignity). Last night, at a new gig, a couple of regular singers found it in my new books and did it (they're the fourth and fifth people to tell me that they just loooove Bjork, who knew?). The girl was dead on with the shrieks, but the rest of the song was awful.

For my new books, I just took the thousand or so songs that people have sung in the last year and included only those songs. Much slimmer books AND each book has an alphabetized section by title and by artist. Cheaper, easier, and people know to ask about songs not in the book. Worked like a charm. I can't seem to find the post where someone suggested that, so I don't know who to give credit for the idea. But I like it!

Last night was 40 songs in 2 hours and 40 minutes. A little better than 14 songs an hour.
From he to whom much liquor is given...much singing is expected.

Karanight
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Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:30 am
Location: Stockport UK
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Karanight »

It was meeeee. see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=632&p=3675#p3675

Another irritant is when I get "KJ's" coming to my karaoke (their like doctors, The worst patents in a hospital) Every time a fellow KJ gets up to sing its, turn the music up a bit, turn the music down a bit, turn the voice up, down (off when I'm really wound up) Turn the echo up, down etc. One night I had a particularly tiresome one who asked if I'd turn the echo down once to often, so I turned it of and went to the bog. She didn't ask for anything else that night.
I often wonder, if their KJ's why their not working! maybe it's because they work on a windows machine and haven't got kjams
Posted by Len of LensKaraoke fame

Web site at
http://lenskaraoke.com

Brendan
Posts: 424
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: Vacaville, CA.

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Brendan »

Hmm, i would love to see a volume equalization, or the ability to remember the volume, my personal top request. 120,000 songs? Holy shit! I am at just over 2000 and i have been told i have a nice collection, i will get there someday :D .
I have duplicates also, i like the idea to try different versions and find one that best suits you. - Brendan

dave
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by dave »

i would love to see ... the ability to remember the volume
it's in the latest version. See Volume.

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by jfbiii »

Thank you, Len! That was an awesome tip on the books.
From he to whom much liquor is given...much singing is expected.

Brendan
Posts: 424
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 1:05 pm
Location: Vacaville, CA.

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Brendan »

Ahh sweet! I will have to play with the volume thing tomorrow night, cant wait. Thanks!

bckaraoke
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon May 18, 2009 11:04 am

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by bckaraoke »

In between singers, I interact with the crowd on the mic with background music playing.. some of my favorites to use are the theme music from the TV shows "Sanford & Son" and "Benny Hill". I also like using Mojo Dixon's "Beer 30".

Coming from a broadcast background, I know nothing causes a performance to loose momentum faster than dead air.. and having people lined up like an assembly line to sing is just not real practical.. or fun.. so it's good to have those few seconds between singers to make announcements.. like whatever other entertainment the bar has on the schedule.. other nights you'll be there, stuff like that.

I also keep a collection of funny radio commercials to play to fill the gap between singers.. a good example would be those Bud Light Real Men of Genius radio spots.

I also play guitar & sing in a local rock & blues band, so when I do karaoke, i'm bringing my whole band PA setup, complete with lights, floor monitor, etc.. i'm not a stranger to live audio.. but still at least 3 times a week I get some douche nozzle who wants to tell me how to run my show.

They invariably start by saying something like, "I used to be a DJ.." or some other such line in an effort to establish their credibility just before telling me whatever level it is they think I have set wrong.

I generally just smile and nod, but if they get particularly annoying I just say, "What? And you think I just woke up yesterday and decided to do this?"

Karanight
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Location: Stockport UK
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by Karanight »

That volume control thing is beautiful. You never know how much you'll like a feature until you get it. They say you can't miss anything if you've never had it, but once you've got it, you wonder how you lived without it.
But now I want more
Is there a way to have every track selected so when I change the volume on any track it is remembered without having to "turn it on"
Thanks Dave
Posted by Len of LensKaraoke fame

Web site at
http://lenskaraoke.com

jfbiii
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:22 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by jfbiii »

I also keep a collection of funny radio commercials to play to fill the gap between singers.. a good example would be those Bud Light Real Men of Genius radio spots.
I like that idea. I might give that a shot tonight.
From he to whom much liquor is given...much singing is expected.

kman2010
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:55 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by kman2010 »

I started with buying about 4,800 various all genre, year, artist almost all hits (I'm an ex dj so I know most of them). They were CAVS, NUETECK, PANORAMA, SWEET GEORGIA BROWN, HOT STUFF, all on CAVS type formats with a CAVS 109 player for $350. I then sold the player for $135. Best deal I ever made. Every karaoke program worth using converts CAVS.

Since then I been adding CHARTBUSTER 50 and 450 packs whenever I can. Occasionally I'll pick up a deal from Sound Choice. For cheap customer requested songs,
I go to BuyDownloads.com first. I found out SBI and Sunfly are made out of Sony Hong Kong, that's why so many of the lyrics are incorrect and the music is identical.

Now I've about 19,000 songs. Of course some are duplicates. But I also have a great many 'sing-a-long' songs for people who are just learning. They seem too enjoy the occasional choice.

Have fun singing. Kman2010 :)

dave
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Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by dave »

keep in mind that with TriceraSoft, if you subscribe for $10 per month (and have decent internet at your venue), you have access to 10,000 songs automatically. If you have no internet, then for $100 per month you can subscribe to the KaraokeCloud database (also 10k songs) and take the whole thing with you, then you can "stream" from your local copy of the cloud data.

M@gicMike
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 6:36 pm

Re: How many songs make a decent collection?

Post by M@gicMike »

Question....

Doesn't your library have to be 1 for 1 to be "legal"

If so?? Should I not use tricerasoft???

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