Guide to Being a Computerized DJ and Karaoke Host

Over the years I have been asked a lot of questions about how to convert to a computerized DJ system, computerized karaoke, and generally how to become a DJ. While I am not an expert, I have a lot of information. I selflessly want to share it with you.

OK, the truth is, some bastard on eBay is selling how to manuals for a buck, and I just want to chap his ass!

What makes a good DJ or KJ?

Wow. What makes a good movie? What makes a good song?

People have different tastes in what is "good." In general, we can say a good DJ or KJ has an entertaining show, and if he or she is at a bar, gets a good crowd, which makes a lot of money for the bar.

How do you do that? I personally like to have high energy shows, where there is never dead air, people are encouraged to participate, and it just feels like something is always going on, never boring. I like to be a little vulgar, obnoxious, loud, insulting, and flirty. That may not be the best thing to bring to the old folks home, or a children's party. It is aimed at 20 somethings.

One of the ways I make my show work is to have control of my sound and equipment at all times. A Good DJ with bad equipment can become a bad DJ very quickly.

Some KJ's use props, like funny hats, some do trivia contests, or use any other number of gimmicks and games. Generally speaking, if the people come back week after week, you are doing a good job.

Since it is related, I also want to answer the question;

"What makes a good karaoke show?"

• The Host
• The Song Selection
• The sound

What kind of equipment should I buy?

The best you can afford!

The sound is one of the 3 things that makes a great karaoke show. If you can't hook up your home stereo and DVD player, just give up now. You need to be good at this, or there's no point!

• Speakers. I own nothing but JBL. Samson, Mackie, B52, Black Widow, Cerwin Vega, Bose, they all make some nice stuff too, there are lots of great speakers out there, but these are the ones I personally recommend.

How much does it cost to start?

Well. I have at least $13,000 in equipment alone, that I actively use. I have probably got another $5,000 worth that will go on eBay someday....

But you asked what it costs to start. I first started with a budget of $2,500 for my first system. I spent $5,000 before I had my first gig.

That was just on hardware.

The expense of music is enormous. Plan on spending $20 to $50 grand before you're done.

So, how was your nap? Did you not pass out?

If you want to have a collection encompassing all of the music ever made for karaoke, and to DJ, that's what I would bank on.

Now, if you don't want to DJ, we can cut a huge chunk out right there, now can't we? You can also save money by buying collections on eBay, when people are getting rid of entire collections. You end up buying the same stuff over and over, and putting the duplicates back on eBay.

You also will want to subscribe to Top Hits Monthly (or Pop Hits Monthly, same thing) for all the new stuff that comes out every month. Top Hits Monthly can also be found in your local karaoke store. Promo Only is a service that does the same thing for DJ's. You can find them all online.

Still, count on at least $5,000 to $10,000 for a complete karaoke collection. You can try to pear that down by only going with one manufacturer, like Sound Choice, and getting every disk they ever made. If you order them all at once, you MIGHT be able to convince your supplier to give you a deal.

What software do you recommend?

I kept this separate from the hardware and costs for a reason. I have only used one karaoke player since I began, and I have never found a reason to switch. Prices are all over the place for music too.

Sax and Dottys Karaoke Hoster. It is a homegrown program created by a karaoke host. It plays Mp3 + G files that have been zipped together. It costs about $50, and is well worth every penny! Sax also monitors the forums on his site, and responds to user input/requests for help. The program uses the winamp engine, and some free plugins, to play the karaoke.

There are other karaoke players, but I don't bother with them.

For DJ'ing, I have tried several programs. PCDJ is very big in the DJ world, but I have had stability issues with it. There are plenty of DJ's that love it, and never had a single hiccup. Virtual DJ is cool if you might want to mix video at some point.

I use Traktor DJ studio, version 2. At the time I write this, Version 3 is out, but I just don't like it as much. Maybe I'm just resistant to change.

To rip your Music CDs and Karaoke CDs to MP3 or MP3+G, I use and recommend Audio Grabber. It's Free!

KJ Pro is software to create karaoke books, which is updated every month with new disks available from the different manufacturers. Not all inclusive, but really good. Good way to find what disks you want to buy as well, using the lookup feature.

CD+G Autoname - Must have KJ Pro installed to make this program work. It uses the KJ Pro database to help automatically name files on your computer, as long as they are named with the manufacturer code, disk, track format. So if you used Audiograbber to rip your Sound choice, disk 8805, all tracks, CD+G Autoname will rename it automatically filling in the artist and title.

How much can I make?

Well that depends on a number of things.

• The area you are in. Bigger the city, the more it costs to live there, the more you can ask for.
• How good you are. How big your "following" is.
• What night of the week is it?
• Private Party or Recurring Bar gig? Recurring Gigs pay less, but at least you think they will always be there. Private Parties pay premiums!

You need to ask around, find out how much local hosts get paid. In Ft. Lauderdale, most hosts are working for $150 to $200 per night in bars, and charge $100 to $125 per hour for private parties.

In smaller communities, you may start at $75 or $100 a night for the bars, and not find anyone able to pay more than $50 an hour for private parties.

• Be prepared! When someone asks you how much you charge for a private party, be ready to try to figure out how much you can get out of them, explain you have some questions;
• Number of people attending
• How many hours
• Location (this is good if you know the rich neighborhoods, or really bad ones, you raise the rate. Rich people expect more, dangerous neighborhoods won't bother to hire you if you cost too much).
• You may need to charge extra if you have to go up stairs (assistant),
• Provide your own tent for outdoor parties (it's either sunny, and too hot for your equipment, or might rain on your equipment)
• Wedding, well, you shouldn't be doing weddings if you need to read this. Weddings require huge amounts of work before the gig, you can't wing it.

 

• Research. You can check out the bar on the night you want to play there, get a feel for their current crowd, how much they charge for a drink, all the things that go into how much you can get out of a bar. You may need to take a lower amount to start, explaining before hand that when things pick up, you will expect a raise.
• If on the spot they ask for a price, be honest, you have a different pricing structure based on night of the week, size of the bar. Explain you may have to bring bigger speakers or something, and that you would really like to see the bar first, before quoting a price, but your usual range is $$$ to $$$. Go low and high, so they aren't scared off.

I've heard stories of KJ's in big cities, like NY and Orlando who make 3 or 4 hundred a night at bars, or even more. If you hear of the name of the bar, please email it to me at jamie@djjamie.com. Hehehe.

Which karaoke manufacturer do you like?

Wow. There are so many. In no particular order;

• Back Stage - A lot of old timers like these, they were one of the first to make disks with songs from a single performer.
• Chartbuster - Similar to Sound Choice, disks are often less expensive.
• Dangerous - Don't have a lot of experience with Dangerous, but "you oughta know" is better than even the sound choice version.
• DK - A lot of older karaoke regulars live and die by DK. I love their version of "You've lost that lovin feelin" better than any other.
• Legends - Another favorite of old timers. Some very good stuff.
• Sound Choice - High Quality, usually reliable, expensive. Not the quickest to get new songs out.
• Sweet Georgia Brown - ugh. The tool kit was ok, but some of their stuff is horrible. The Weird Al disk is exceptionally bad. I stay away from it, but sometimes your singers ask for it. I don't know why. I wouldn't spend any kind of money on SGB.
• Top/Pop Hits Monthly - Decent Quality, usually reliable, They get new stuff out fast. Every month, in fact.
• Zoom - I love zoom. pricey, but they put out some good stuff. They can be the only manufacturer to produce some of our favorites, but less popular songs, like Eagles - Wasted Time.

There are a bunch of "cheap" disks, that are out there, All Hits, Karaoke Bay, Etc.. Take em or leave em. There are more I didn't list, but these are the ones I have the most experience with.

How do I run a rotation?

Carefully. Very Carefully.

Nothing ticks off karaoke regulars like thinking or feeling they are getting screwed out of their turn at singing. I use a modified version of the rotation described by Steve Hess at Floridakaraoke.com under "rules". I highly recommend you read his entire "rants" section as well.

Basically, I use the signup method described, but instead of making people put their own name on a sheet, and try to decipher their writing, I just do it myself on my computer. Open a text file, put the names on, and when a new singer asks for a song, put their name ABOVE the current singer. Then continue DOWN the list. Everyone has to wait one rotation.

If you just add names to the bottom, then people who walk in near the beginning of the rotation wait and wait, and people who walk in near the end will magically get to sing almost immediately. That's not fair. If you try to work new people in every other singer, the people who have been there all night SUPPORTING YOU FOR HOURS will have to wait longer than new people. That's not fair. If you have people come in at the end of the night, because they just got out of work, or left another show, and you let them sing, you just made their one drink before closing time worth more than the ten drinks the people who were there all night had less meaningful.

No matter what you do, someone will be pissed off, and you can never make everyone happy. Do your best, and be sure not to play favorites. And for god's sake, don't sing more than anyone else.

I have an additional rule about rotation. If a singer wants to help their friend, that's fine. But you can only sing twice per rotation. That means if you sing a duet with your brother, and help your best friend sing their song, I will skip YOUR song. Someone wants to see you on stage more than twice per rotation. But not as much as they want to see themselves.

If it is obvious one person is only singing to "double-up" someone else's chances to sing, I'll ask them if they think it is fair to everyone else.

How do I get gigs?

• Private Parties

How do I download music or karaoke?

Downloading music is bad. You are going to hell!

I realize you may hold a different opinion than I do, about downloading music. But the truth of the matter is this, they caught that little girl downloading "twinkle, twinkle, little star" and sued her family.

What do you think they'll do to someone who is MAKING PROFIT from stolen property? They'll go out of their way to make an example of you, and try to get the max fines as well. If you own a home, or have a real job, is it worth losing those? Because the amount of time you'll spend in court will cost you your job, and the lawyers will take your house.

But if you wanted to do it, which you shouldn't, well, the methods for downloading music change all the time, Limewire, Kazaa, Napster, Bit Torrent, Whatever.

There are far, far fewer places to download karaoke. And I will tell you how to find them if you buy my book, for only $74.99!

Just kidding, I don't have a book.