What makes a good karaoke experience? Part 3

Earlier this year, I blogged about what I felt was the key ingredient in making a successful karaoke experience (and keeping people coming back to your venue for more): a good karaoke DJ (KJ).

A couple months after that, I added another story that only proved that point further, lamenting about how a poor KJ can really put a damper on a fun karaoke night.

Well, last night, despite a really small turnout of friends and a relatively quiet night at the bar, was probably one of the best karaoke experiences I'd ever had, and it was largely thanks to the KJ. The usual KJ, our beloved G-Man (whose praises I sang in my previous post linked above), was absent that night, and his young protege, Brian, was standing in for him.

I've been to OTT on nights where Brian subbed for G-Man, and always found him a relatively pleasant and unassuming guy. He was still learning the ropes, so we were all patient with him. But now, evidently, he's had enough experience to become more confident and start applying his own style to the KJ-ing. And it's refreshing!

One of the first things I noticed when the singing started was that he was gracious enough, upon seeing a few of us regulars, to immediately put us in the rotation and encourage us to sing, rather than get on stage himself. Now, I think it's perfectly acceptable for a KJ to start the night off with a song, especially when there are so few people in the bar. It's a good way to break the ice and get things going. And Brian tends to be pretty fun and entertaining on stage. But he didn't-- he chose to let us take the lead instead.

The next thing-- and this was really huge-- was that the volume was at a manageable level. Much as I love G-Man, I never go into OTT without earplugs onhand, because he cranks up the volume way too loud! Not Brian. It was loud enough for the entire bar to hear and enjoy, but not so loud that we were overwhelmed. Not once did I have to put on my earplugs that night. My friends and I didn't have to yell at the top of our lungs in order to converse. And best of all, the reasonable volume enabled Allan to actually stay in the bar for over an hour, where he got to hear all of us sing a few songs-- some of which are his favorites :-)

I noticed that every time a new song began, Brian would come out onto the dance floor and stand there for a few seconds, obviously listening to the speakers and gauging the sound level. At first I thought he was seeing if the microphone level was turned up high enough, but it turns out that he was gauging the OVERALL volume and adjusting accordingly-- turning it down for especially loud songs. I thought that was pretty awesome of him, to take the time to adjust the volume on EVERY single song so that it wouldn't overwhelm the bar.

On top of all that, he was just generally a really sweet and friendly person, making small talk when regulars came up to say hi, that sort of thing.

So-- thank you, Brian! For making our karaoke experience one of the best and most enjoyable to date. G-Man picked the perfect guy to sub for him, and I hope we see you around more often-- whether you're managing the karaoke equipment or simply hanging out at the bar, a fun-loving patron like the rest of us :-)