... KARAOKE singer ... a sax player friend of mine introduced me to this female vocalist who was looking for someone to work with her ... the guy who was doing it passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 68 ... So today I went to her place with my kb and worked on some stuff ... she has a great voice and really liked what could be done with the kb, but also said that some of the NH/AL places she has gigs at do not have room enough for all the equipment and asked if I would mind singing to backing tracks ... so we tried a bunch of tunes and Friday I am playing a gig with her - SINGING TO BACKING TRACKS - no kb, her speaker system, just me and my mic ... she will sing 8 songs, and I will sing 8 songs, switching off after 4 songs each (we have a couple of others ready if we need them) ... we are also doing a duet of the Neil Diamond/Barbara Streisand song "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" ... ?!?
The $$ aren't as much as I would usually make, but she has the gigs, the backing tracks, the system, and I just have to bring my mic and sing 8 songs !!! ... you just NEVER know ...

WTG Tony mixing it up is necessary to survive in the world of music today....have fun and enjoy!!You really don't need the KB on "Every Gig".... I learned that a long time ago ..just entertain them singing to quality tracks and they will love you.

Have fun, Tony.

Gary

Wishing you well Tony.

This could be the start of something big.

Col

Tony, Congrats sounds like a great opportunity! Enjoy!

I looked down on those kinds of gigs for years, until I was hired to "sing only" a Mel Torme tribute.


At least the "clinkers" the philharmonic played wouldn't have been on the track, had things gone that route.

If it feels good, DO IT!


Russ

PS Still not ready to use tracks, MP3's etc. on nightly jobs. That's just me. If you use them, KNOCK YOURSELF OUT!

No keyboard on stage?

Where are you going to hide?

Get a Dean Martin wig and wear one of those back brace waist cinchers Tony. They may decide to just book you. Hey, I like you man. I had a teacher who convinced me that people who gave me a bad time, liked me or they wouldn't take the time to say anything at all. Remember that !

Variety is the spice.........Since my web site, I have a couple offers to do some keys. If I only had the time

Believe me, even rehearsing I felt naked ... fortunately for all concerned I wasn't ...
Can't imagine what it will be like in front of an audience ... I have NEVER sung karaoke, even when out with friends prodding me to do it ...

forget karaoke ....just memorize the lyrics .....get a wirless mic and go out in the audience and give em hell!! good luck~!

When I said karaoke, I really meant just SINGING to back up tracks ... I know all the lyrics to the songs I am singing ... just don't have the wireless mic - yet ... we'll see how this works out and where it might go from there ...
The vocalist did thank my sax player friend for introducing me to her ...

I just bought a Shure GLX-D wireless Mic system from Frankie at http://www.audioworksct.com/ upon his recommendation at a Great price a few weeks ago,.. and it's the best wireless mic I ever used for sure, amazing gain & vocal presence on stage, 16hr rechargeable in unit battery!!

http://www.shure.com/americas/products/wireless-systems/glxd-digital-wireless-systems/glxd24-beta58a

Tony, I have a brand new, still in the box, Samson wireless system with a Q7 mic - call me and maybe we can work something out.

Gary

Donny and Gary ... thank you ... but I think I will wait to see how this works out before getting a wireless mic, because otherwise I have no need for it ...

... OK, so the female vocalist and I did our first gig yesterday with me not having a keyboard in front of me ... it felt very different, but pretty good at the same time ... as I said in a previous post, I know all the lyrics to the songs I sang, but had to 'peek' at the monitor a couple of times because I am not familiar with these tracks, having only sung with them at one rehearsal ...
We each alternated singing 4 songs and the second time I went to sing I got a nice round of applause from the audience and the AD - who was there for the entire show - so I guess they all enjoyed it ...
I helped pack up the gear and was on my way home in less than 15 minutes from the last note ...
Next gig with her in 2 weeks ...
We will have another rehearsal and I will try to find a way to hook up my ZOOM h4N so I can record (without any 'room noise') at least any duet we do ...

I knew you would love it Tony the more you do it the more confidence you get,..."mixing it up" on stage always is fun,invigorating, and keeps it interesting for you & the audiences, ....can't wait to hear more!!
Soon you'll be out there with a wireless Mic perusing the listeners in the crowd, there's more ways to skin a cat,

I had to do a job with midi files one time when I forgot my keyboard. (Please don't tell anybody I did that.)
It was different. People at the NH didn't know the difference, and this was years ago.

Don,
Did you have a sound module?

I won't tell anybody about the forgotten keyboard but I sure am curious as to know how that happened.

Last year I showed up at a church gig and discovered I had left the speakers for my Bose at home. Fortunately, I live within 10 minutes of that church so potential disaster was averted by a quick trip home where the speaker section was sitting right where I had left it before sliding it into the bass unit which I had forgotten to do.

God Bless,
Don

I didn't have a sound module, but I had a laptop with about a thousand midi files on it. Only reason they are on there is the remote possibility that the keyboard would quit working.
I loaded everything, p.a. system, stands, etc., except the keyboard!