Karaoke can be a dangerous endeavor. What can you sing that won't make friends shun you? How can you go balls-out during your next performance? Each week in "Ask a Karaoke Host," RFT Music writer and professional karaoke host Allison Babka answers your burning questions about maximizing your melodious mutterings and minimizing your friends' pain. Ask her stuff by emailing [email protected] or hashtagging #rftkaraoke on Twitter.
Like you, I'm a KJ, and I'm always trying to help people use the microphones in ways that make them sound good and be heard while of course protecting the mics. Do you have a list of microphone tips and etiquette? -- Like a Boss
I freaking love that you wrote to me. You know that feeling when you randomly meet someone else who does what you do, and you spend three hours nerding out on super-nuanced crap within your industry? I rarely get to experience that, as there just aren't many of us professional KJs wandering the streets in my city. So if you don't mind, I'm going to pretend like a mutual friend has just introduced us at a party, and it's giving me karaoke kinship-gasms:
"Oh my GAWD, don't you hate it when people flick the power switch off and on while holding the mic? I know they're anxious, but jeez, if they'd just turn the mic so that the switch faces outward, they wouldn't be so tempted to nervously thumb over it absentmindedly and then look at me like I'M the idiot because their sound cuts out.
"And what about that jerk who screams into the mic while the music is still queuing up and then laughs proudly like a pesky teenager? I reach for the volume control the second he does that, but I'm not always fast enough to prevent the audience from his aural assault.
"While we're talking about bad mic checks, how about those people who blow into the soundstick? Not only is it bad for the microphone's internal parts, but it also gets spit everywhere. We've established that regular germs won't make karaoke singers sick, but still! GROSS!
"OH! And about once a year, I have a drunk douchecanoe who thinks it's awesome to literally drop the mic and walk away after completing a song. Who the frick does that? The guy who inadvertently just bought me a new $500 microphone after damaging the original, that's who.
"Not everyone is stupid, though. I love when we get those really boombastic singers. You know, the ladies with powerful Beyonce voices (when she's not lip syncing)? If a girl like that would only learn to hold the mic away from her mouth during the crazy-high parts, she'd be golden and we'd all be able to keep our ears.
"Whew. Ok, no more work talk. We're here for the party, right? So, uh, did you catch Killer Karaoke last night?"
