Bobby P. Karaoke Host and Dance/Music Video DJ
Etiquette
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Bobby P.‘s KARAOKE ETIQUETTE A Few Guidelines To Keep The Show Running Smoothly
Song Rotation Round One Singers are called up on a rotation basis, based on the order of the first round. The computer will keep the order constant in subsequent rounds, except for fitting in new singers, which I will do manually. The first round will contain the first 12-14 singers who handed in slips. On exceptionally crowded nights the number may go slightly higher. Round Two etc. If there aren’t any more singers to add after that, the second round will start and everyone will be in the same exact order. If however, more singers have come in and handed in slips, please see “Extended Song Rotation” below.
Duets: People who are invited to sing in a duet with another singer are not getting an “extra turn” to sing. They are simply “singing along” with another singer, during that singer’s turn. This does not cause you to wait any longer to sing. So please don’t use DUETS as an argument for “he got to sing three times and I only sang once”. The fact is, both singers still only took up one turn and you were NOT affected at all.
Leaving Early Do not ask to be moved up in the rotation because you “have to leave”, “friends are leaving”, “have to get up early” etc. This is not fair to everyone else waiting patiently to sing. Everybody wants to go next, not just you! If you were waiting in line at the supermarket, would you casually go up to the cashier and ask to please be moved ahead of everyone else in line because you don‘t have time to wait? Of course not, because that would be rude. So don’t be rude at Karaoke. If you strongly feel that you should be moved up for some reason, then I suggest that you try asking someone in front of you to switch places with you. If someone does leave, you cannot “take their spot“, everyone moves up one. If you must leave before you are called, don’t just walk out, let me know that you are leaving so that your name gets removed from the rotation. This courtesy keeps the show moving as time won‘t be wasted calling for absent singers.
Song Selection Please use the song books to pick a song to sing. There are two large books, one is categorized by Title (white book) and one by Artist (blue/black book). New additions are up front. There are pencils and request slips in the front of the books, and I have more located near the stage if they run out. Fill out the entire slip, including the song number if you find it in a book. If you can’t find a song in the book, I will look it up for you on the computer, but please make an effort to find your song first; do not ask me to look up every one of your songs every time, especially if it’s crowded. The part on the slip that says “Key” is not for the actual key of the song, but rather if you want the song moved up (plus) or down (minus) one or more half steps. For example, if you write -2 for key I will play the song 2 half steps lower than the original key. If you don’t want the key changed or aren’t sure, leave it blank. Hand in only one request slip at a time. Handing in a request slip reserves one song per round for you alone, meaning you will get to sing that song before anyone else that round. It wouldn't be fair to reserve more than one, since someone else may want to pick that same song for their turn in the same round. You can bring your next slip up when you come up to sing, or anytime before your next turn comes up. If I don’t have a slip for you by your next turn you may be skipped over.
Duplicate Song Listings Some songs in the book are listed more than once. The same song can be carried by many different karaoke disc manufacturers. The two letter code in the MFR column denotes which manufacturer produced that particular track. Generally, the Sound Choice (code “SC”) versions are among the best ones. For big band arrangements, like Sinatra tunes, Pocket Songs (PS) work well. If you see two different numbers for the same song that have the same MFR code, it means that they are exactly the same version (identical) but are located on two different disc collections. Different MFR versions all sound different; you can try the different versions each time you sing that song; you may find you like one version better than another. If you’re not sure which to pick, write both numbers down and I will decide the best one.
Uninvited Singers Do not come up and join in on someone else’s song while they are singing unless they have previously invited you to do so. Under no circumstances are you allowed to walk up and grab a mic or sing along with the current performer uninvited.
Proper Mic Technique Hold the microphone close (1-2 inches) to your mouth. Do not cover the grill of the mic with your hand, this will cause feedback. Do not yell or scream into the mic. The level will be adjusted by me so that you will be heard properly. No obscenities. Please respect the equipment: Leave your drink behind and do not swing the mic around by the cable. If you have your own mic it can only be used if it matches up well with my sound system. Not all mics will.
Group Singing Karaoke is generally for one soloist or a two person duet. There are two mics available. If you have a special circumstance that would require a larger group to be singing onstage, please be prepared to have them all share two mics. No Streaming I do NOT stream karaoke tracks nor do I use the internet to play music. Everything I play is part of my inventory on my hard drives and is all legally purchased music. Please do not ask me to play anything from YouTube or any other streaming service. Many karaoke hosts who do this do so illegally without paying royalties. Plus many times the music is of inferior quality. If you really need to sing a song that I do not currently have, I can download it legally and at a high quality 320 bit rate from Karaoke-version.com for $2.99 for you.
Dance
Music/ Karaoke Break
Custom Made CD’s You can purchase a professional sounding CD before you leave that contains any or all of the songs you sang that night. Ask me for more info.
Privacy Issues Please do not take photos of singers or ask me for Custom CD's of other people singing without getting their permission.
Extended Song Rotation (over 14 singers) If after entering the first 14 names for round one there are still more singers to add, I will keep their slips in the order which they were given to me and they will be “sprinkled in” between the already existing singers once round 2 starts. This means that the first singer from round one will sing twice before some people from round two, even if they haven't sang yet! Everyone new will not all continually be placed all at the end because doing so would unfairly punish the people who made an effort to get in early by making them wait over 2 hours (if there are 30 singers) to sing a second song.
In this case, you may not follow the same person in round 2 that you did in round 1, a new singer or two might be placed in between. The reason for this is simple mathematics; at 4 minutes per song, 30 singers will take two hours to get through a single rotation. I cannot change mathematics! People who could not make it to the show early don’t mind waiting a bit to sing, but if the wait becomes that long, they will not want to bother to stay and wait it out. This causes people to be upset, leave early and it eventually hurts the club’s revenue, which in the long run will be bad for all of us. As you can see, this isn’t as simple as it may seem.
Look at it this way: If you got here early, you would get upset if I kept expanding the first rotation by continually placing every new singer at the end of the rotation before you get to sing your second song. If you got here late, you would get upset if I made you wait 3 hours to sing your first song.
So you see how difficult this can be. So please just have some patience and realize the big picture. I will try and be as fair as possible to everyone equally. Complaining to me or the staff about the rotation will not change anything and excessive public complaining will get you banned from the show.
APPLAUD for every vocalist! It’s hard to get up and sing in front of a bunch of people and everyone deserves a BIG hand for doing it! Support Karaoke and Support each other!
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