Many things in life are based on what we see. Our perception of things influences us greatly. Based on sight and sound.
If you paid $75 to see Aerosmith and when the curtain came up you saw a tiny system similar to a Boss Tower PA system, what would you feel like? Would you be getting you money's worth. People want to feel and see the experience.
Just because it looks and sounds great in your living room doesn't mean it's meant for every room.
First thing you would notice is the sound doesn't fill the room. It won't sound full, much less loud. The little bit of sound probably wouldn't even reach past the half way mark. The equipment doesn't fit the venue.
Second you would just see all the guys standing there with their instruments. It would look like the early Beatles and other groups on Ed Sullivan and other variety shows. In those days the massive PA systems weren't even invented. They developed over the years.
In a bar the typical KJ, DJ or even local bands can't put on a big concert type presentation. But some try. Many don't.
It costs money to buy all the equipment necessary.
I get many musicians at my shows. They like what they hear. Most musicians know and understand what it takes to sound professional.
Every instrument must be heard loud and clear. This comes from quality equipment that can reproduce the sound accurately.
If it's computer generated that means a high quality sound card.
Cheap equipment can't and won't do this. So it goes right down the line. The mixer, the EQ, amplifier, speakers and microphones.
It not only sounds impressive it should look impressive. No decent singer or musician is going to want to use cheap sounding equipment. If it looks cheap or sounds cheap.
I can notice a difference in sound in the bars I play. I consider my system big enough to fill every bar in my area, regardless of size. But there will be a difference in loudness from the front to the back of the room. Based on how many people are in that space. Less people the better it sounds. That could be for two reasons. Crowd noise level and the amount of bodies absorbing/blocking the sound.
Using lessor systems would result in an even larger sound difference.
Seeing KJs that use only tiny speakers on a pole or one on a pole and the other on the floor "acting" like a sub doesn't create any type of an impressive feeling. Nobody is going to say..wow.... I'll be blown away tonight or this is so impressive.
I see people talking about..my system could fill a small or medium venue. Most KJs only have one inadequate system let alone different systems for different venues. Again the way any system sounds is based on the number of bodies and crowd noise. Most bars regardless of size, are noisy. If there is a sporting event on with the sound down the crowd still reacts to every play by making more noise.
I have played bars that are always very high levels of crowd noise all night long. People have to stand in front of the speakers to hear themselves. If you walk to the back of the bar you can barely hear the music. That's with my system. Anything less wouldn't have been worth anything.
I don't think many KJs are delivering close to enough. I had a band singer tell me they use a PA system like mine for seven singer/musicians. I was surprised because I would have probably used more PA for their type of band. Seven musicans is pretty impressive but the PA system wouldn't have conveyed that. Too small looking for seven musicians. And I don't know if it would sound as good as it could. For her band I would have used at least double what I have now.
I hope I'm delivering a unique karaoke impressive experience for my singers. That's my goal, anyway.
What are you actually delivering?
I dunno. My new pair of speakers blow a church hall out of the water and that's with the main mix of the mixer at 1/4 the power. By the looks of them they aren't that impressive until you hear them. Looks aren't everything. I know shows that use Mackie stuff that the sound blows- little or no effects to the vocals which means you'r definitely gonna hear the good, the bad and the ugly.
I'm going to assume that 99% of the people that sing karaoke do it for some type of recognition.
Some of them wouldn't know good sound from bad sound, because most KJs don't.
But of the people that do, they want to feel the experience. It's part of the fantasy of being famous and they are the lead singer in the band in front of a million people. The spot light is so bright you need sunglasses.
Part of that experience is having it sound like there is an actual band playing behind them on stage. If the sound system can't achieve that for whatever reason then the singer isn't getting what they actually want. Most KJs could care less about what their singers are getting. Because they simply don't care or they don't know how to give it to them. Or even worse they "think" they are giving them what they want.
Everyone has been to shows they won't go back to. Why? The biggest complaint I hear is it sounded crappy. If it sounds crappy then nothing is being delivered to the singer but aggravation. An unpleasent experience.
I had some singers tonight that didn't care about how they sounded because they had something else in mind.
The group of younger guys came in and right away I pegged them as goofs. Sure enough one by one they came up to tell me "Nick" needed to sing and how soon would he be up.
Finally Nick came up to look for his song. First thing he wants to do is shock the crowd with his wonderful rendition of Kid Rocks COWBOY. Wrong answer...I don't have it.. He went from that to Who's Your Daddy. After he was done singing they were all laughing as they left as fast as they came in. Couldn't shock the crowd enough to make it worth staying. He wasn't interested in any way, shape or form about how anything but his voice sounded. People actually enjoyed his singing. He was more into showing off for his friends. I'm not interested in having him be impressed unless he's going to act different.
I had some girls at the very end of the night breeze in. They sounded wonderful. Sang and left because one of their friends was so drunk he couldn't stand up. I know they never sounded as good before. The system sounded excellent because the room was almost empty...it was right after last call for alcohol.
If there would have been a bigger crowd for them, it might have made a difference to them. The people there really liked them. They knew they sounded good. Maybe it left an impression and they may want to come back, if they were from this area and not some other state. The odds of them wanting to come back will be higher if they had a good experience and they think it sounded good.
Delivering the band experience helps build bigger quality crowds. That's what I'm after.
Some of them wouldn't know good sound from bad sound, because most KJs don't.
But of the people that do, they want to feel the experience. It's part of the fantasy of being famous and they are the lead singer in the band in front of a million people. The spot light is so bright you need sunglasses.
Part of that experience is having it sound like there is an actual band playing behind them on stage. If the sound system can't achieve that for whatever reason then the singer isn't getting what they actually want. Most KJs could care less about what their singers are getting. Because they simply don't care or they don't know how to give it to them. Or even worse they "think" they are giving them what they want.
Everyone has been to shows they won't go back to. Why? The biggest complaint I hear is it sounded crappy. If it sounds crappy then nothing is being delivered to the singer but aggravation. An unpleasent experience.
I had some singers tonight that didn't care about how they sounded because they had something else in mind.
The group of younger guys came in and right away I pegged them as goofs. Sure enough one by one they came up to tell me "Nick" needed to sing and how soon would he be up.
Finally Nick came up to look for his song. First thing he wants to do is shock the crowd with his wonderful rendition of Kid Rocks COWBOY. Wrong answer...I don't have it.. He went from that to Who's Your Daddy. After he was done singing they were all laughing as they left as fast as they came in. Couldn't shock the crowd enough to make it worth staying. He wasn't interested in any way, shape or form about how anything but his voice sounded. People actually enjoyed his singing. He was more into showing off for his friends. I'm not interested in having him be impressed unless he's going to act different.I had some girls at the very end of the night breeze in. They sounded wonderful. Sang and left because one of their friends was so drunk he couldn't stand up. I know they never sounded as good before. The system sounded excellent because the room was almost empty...it was right after last call for alcohol.
If there would have been a bigger crowd for them, it might have made a difference to them. The people there really liked them. They knew they sounded good. Maybe it left an impression and they may want to come back, if they were from this area and not some other state. The odds of them wanting to come back will be higher if they had a good experience and they think it sounded good.
Delivering the band experience helps build bigger quality crowds. That's what I'm after.
