I've decided to become a KJ, now what???

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:00 am

When the economy slows down the first thing people stop doing is eating out & drinking> What do you think happens in a bar/restaurant???? EATING OUT & DRINKING. Bars are the first ones to take a hit. 2 years ago as the gas prices rose every week the crowds got proportionally smaller every week.

I expect to see a real drop in the crowds as we approach Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. Then you have dead January and February.

Just my personal opinion. They can throw as many billions of dollars at the economic problems we face now, but it won't help anything. People can not buy houses and cars in the USA when their jobs are in India and China. CORPORATE GREED is killing the country. Until they do something to totally stop it, we're doomed. So unless you know you can absolutely get karaoke jobs with your investment, personally I think I would save my money. The big crash hasn't happen yet....

Over the years I have worked in many bars. Tonight my owner told me she is canceling her Wednesday entertainment because the band is making more than she is. (She has had this Jam night for 5-6 years.) Nobody is coming out for it anymore. Don't know if it's band getting boring or the wallets getting smaller. Karaoke has been really good the last 2 weeks at her place. But so far this week the other places have not been too good at all. There are many of these bars sitting on top of the fence and they could fall off, out of existance in a heartbeat. So I think the firmly established karaoke jobs are going to do OK. If I was just starting a karaoke business/new bar night it could be very shaky ground. Bar owners are going to want to see instant results and that just doesn't happen very often. It takes weeks/months sometimes to build a new karaoke night. So they may not have the money or the patience to stick with it to give it enough time to build. Many times the crowds build by one new person a week.

That takes a year to get 50 steady people.

That's just my experience talking but you may have good luck in doing it. It will be a real challenge and if you can't afford to waste the money on something that may or may not do well.... It's nice to have something to fall back on like karaoke. But as I said before you will have to be better than the competition from day one. That is what will get you the best chance for survival. Or really good luck. Or being the cheapest KJ walking. But then again you are doing this to make money. So being cheap will haunt you. Bar owners will never increase your pay when the times get good.

And I don't know how willing they will be to take a chance on a brand new untested unexperienced KJ. Without something of a following.

alfalfa4381 · Post by **alfalfa4381** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:17 am

I am likewise investing in a KJ setup. I am taking my time and researching, reading forums like this, trying shareware versions of PC based systems, etc. I have been playing in bands for 30 years, and an accomplished lead singer. I am a computer support person. I have a trailor load of live sound equipment, boards, snakes, effects racks, etc. So, now that you have a brief overview of where I am, here is my qusetion for today: I am leaning towards a PC based system, but I noticed that the software versions of the key canger are all less than what I would call "professional" sounding. Even when changing the pitch one step either way, they all seem to have a "wavy" kinda sound. I never sang karaoke until about a year ago, and since then I have only sang about a dozen songs. So, I don't have much exposure to any Karaoke setups. Do the stand-alone systems also have this fault? Are there better software plug-ins available for the key changer?

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 3:58 am

I haven't heard any waviness or oscillation in the music.

But whenever you lower or raise the key on some songs too high or too low they start to sound funny. Some can take key changes of 3-4 clicks either way and sound good but I would say the majority can't.

It all depends on the song. Most of the time songs only are raised or lowered 1 or 2 clicks. Not enough to adversily affect the sound.

Post by **wiseguy** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:21 am

I have noticed no difference between hardware and software digital key control.

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 12:31 pm

I have. PAcemaker bites in my opinion, which is why I originally got myself a mixer/amplifier that had a keychanger built into it. Pacemaker lags for about a half a second to a second in chnaging key. The only karaoke software manufacturers that got it right happen to be MTU, Compuhost and Latshaw's Karma. All change key instantly.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 5:52 pm

Lag time should not be confused with oscillation or waviness.

If the lag time is an issue (which only happens if you change the key mid song) you can always start the song over.

alfalfa4381 · Post by **alfalfa4381** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:19 pm

Thank you all for your response. It definitely has a funky sound with just one click up or down. It must be either my computer or the trial version's quality. It is the TriKaraoke MP3+G Player.
I am leaning towards the Siglos Professional software for $99.00.
I know that you KJs are very discriminating about your sound, and you would definitely notice what I am talking about. So, I believe that the sw key changers are sonically as good as the stand-alone boxes.
Thanks again, I am getting closer to jumping in!

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:21 pm

Bigdog wrote:Lag time should not be confused with oscillation or waviness.

If the lag time is an issue (which only happens if you change the key mid song) you can always start the song over.

Pacemaker is the only one that has the lag time. The rest are instantanious.