Timato's World

Communication Forum Roundtable

2010-11-30T11:58:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let you all know about an upcoming event that you might be interested in. Please read the details below; if you're in the Portland Metro area, we'd love to have you there as part of the live audience.

What: Oregon Conference Communication Forum “Video in My Ministry”
When: Thursday December 2, 2010, 6:30pm
Where: Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church, 10501 SE Market St, Portland OR 97216-2951 Map It >>
Who: Anyone involved, or interested in becoming involved, in a communication ministry in their church, school, or local community.

This Communication Forum will be a round table discussion on video systems. If your church is looking to start or increase your video ministry this will give you some insight into 3 possible HD video systems. Cameras, video switchers, storage devices... and costs. The roundtable participants will be Joe Christensen, Richard Crowley and Tim Adams (see below).

Come connect with people who share the same interests.
Learn about new communication methods.

Give us input on how we can help you communicate better.This event will be streamed live right here on this page: www.orgccommunication.adventistnw.org/communication-forum

Respect Yourself

2010-11-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

I have lost track of the number of times that I have been approached at the last second by a program coordinator or leader and asked to provide something that I am not prepared for and have to disappoint them by saying no. They don't seem to understand that I can't just pull a miracle out of my hat and that creates a rift.

As a leader and/or coordinator, it's important to realize that unless all of your wishes are expressed ahead of time, there is no way that we can be ready for what you want. I, for one, try to be proactive in my communication and coordination with leaders, but when you ask for something that we never discussed, you may or may not get it. I will not bend over backwards to make it happen. We, as techs, need to be strong enough to be firm on boundaries and reasonable requests and expectations without worrying about people "not liking us" or "thinking less of us."

If people think we are unreasonable because we can't read their thoughts ahead of time, that's on them, not us. We are there to support, yes, but not at the expense of making someone who can't plan and think ahead look good.

Thoughts?

Presentation Software

2010-10-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

What are you using to display your graphics on a projection screen during service? My hope is that most of you have grown past PowerPoint, but if you haven't, just know that there are MUCH more powerful software options available that will take you to a whole new level!

My personal favorite right now is Renewed Vision's ProPresenter software. Understandably, it's a toolbox and you should use what you're comfortable with, but allow me to fill you in a little bit on what maybe you should consider when evaluating a new presentation software product.

The most important question is what do you want it to do for you that your current software doesn't? If it's not that much, it may not be time to upgrade yet.

Next would be to do your homework; make sure that the software WILL actually do what you need it to do. Do you need to integrate live video into your slides for IMAG? How about motion backgrounds behind lyrics? Full-screen Scripture references? Multi-screen output capability? Editing on the fly with a built-in Bible passage finder? Know what you need and don't be afraid to ask the software developer if you have questions; they are happy to answer your questions.

That brings up another point; what kind of support can you expect once you purchase the product? If you have trouble getting responses even before you purchase, you can probably expect the same treatment. Make that part of your evaluation.

Ask LOTS and LOTS of questions-some of this software is quite expensive (compared to PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote) and you don't want to make a bad investment so make sure you know everything you can about the software.

Finally, have a very firm understanding of how the software will integrate into your current system. Before we purchased ProPresenter, I made sure I knew what external hardware we needed and how we could utilize the layering capabilities of the software to multi-task on the fly (powering full-screen projection, lower thirds for live video, and full-screen image for video, as well as a Stage Display).

I'd love to know what software you guys are using and why-comment away!

Update from the FCC

2010-10-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, it appears that the FCC is showing some brains and setting aside two TV channels' worth of spectrum for all of us wireless microphone, IEM, and intercom users!

To find out what this is all about, please visit: http://www.shure.com/americas/news-events/press-releases/shure-applauds-fcc-decision-white-spaces

It would appear that we will be able to operate anywhere from 14-16 wireless systems concurrently and be protected; venues with a need for more wireless systems than that can apply for additional protection with the FCC. However, I think that most churches should be able to make the 14-16 numbers work; after all, as a tech, if I can have a wired mic vs. a wireless mic, I will. Unless, of course, all of my wired lines have inherent noise in them as I have experienced at a particular church in the Portland area. :)

Anyway, praise God that we are now going to be protected in the wireless spectrum! It's still important to read the details and make sure that you are going to be safe with your current wireless microphone systems, but at least there is protected spectrum for us now! Or at least there WILL be!

Question Time!

2010-08-02T13:52:00.001-07:00

Ok, guys, let's see how many participants we can get!

I've told you how I go about researching equipment, making proposals and equipment recommendations, installs, etc.

What criteria do YOU use when you are trying to solve an equipment problem, looking at upgrading equipment, etc.?

FCC Deadline Approaches!

2010-06-10T02:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder to everyone that the FCC deadline of June 12, 2010 is quickly approaching, so if you still have any 700MHz band wireless microphones, you'll want to get those traded-in using the manufacturer trade-in programs ASAP.

That's not to say that the FCC will be knocking on your door on June 13, but you could face pretty hefty fines and even imprisonment by using your legacy equipment past June 12.

For those of you who have been living under a rock the past two years, or just don't know anything about it, visit the following website for more information: http://broadcastengineering.com/eng/fcc-deadline-looms-700mhz-wireless-mic-users-20100526/

I know the economic climate does not make it conducive to change out your expensive wireless components that will be illegal in 3 days, but should you get fined, that cost will be much, much higher!

Personal Monitors

2010-05-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm a week behind, but you'll forgive me, right?

So, last time we talked about in-ear monitors (IEMs); this week we'll look at another potential solution for "monitor terrorism," personal monitors.

These units often sit atop a mic stand and will reside somewhere in a 2-5 ft. radius around a musician. They offer a small speaker that emits a highly focused, narrow dispersion angle beam of audio energy that can really pack a wallop if you're not careful. The specific units I have experience with are the Mackie SRM150s. These are powered unit (no amp needed) that include a 3-channel mixer on-board for local inputs and mixing. They are very powerful and rarely need to be turned up much past halfway on the master volume knob, and offers a 3-channel master EQ, as well as 48V phantom power for the two XLR inputs (these also have a 1/4" input on the same connector), as well as an RCA stereo input on channel 3. Loop through capability allows for daisy-chaining multiple units together.

When we first got these units, we had been struggling with stage volume from the floor wedges for weeks as the musicians gradually kept asking for more and more volume. When we got these all hooked up and functioning, I took the house volume all the way down so I could listen to the difference. Believe me when I tell you, I was shocked as the sound reaching my ears was little more than what I would hear if the musicians were performing without any amplification at all. It was awesome!

Ok, now, to be realistic, we still occasionally have issues with these personal monitors still being too loud, but it's still light-years better than what we had with the floor wedges. This is why keeping an open line of communication with your musicians is so important. Just letting them know that the monitor volume is becoming an issue can let them know they need to dial their volumes back a little bit.

There are other options besides the Mackie unit, but I'll let you have the fun of doing that research. I would advise, however, that before committing to purchasing a particular unit of any kind, do your research on reviews, what kind of support does the company offer behind their products? Make sure you're buying from a reputable vendor-too many people have purchased hundreds, even thousands of dollars of merchandise and never saw what they bought because the company took their money and ran. So, spending a little bit more on a piece of equipment from a reputable company is worth it in the long run.

In-Ear Monitors: Salvation from an Age-Old Problem?

2010-04-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever encountered a situation where you're mixing sound and you begin to notice that the changes you are making to your house mix don't seem to be making a difference? In fact, you can take your house volume all the way down and you still have a high amount of volume?

Well, you're experiencing something I call "monitor terrorism." Your monitors are so loud that your house mix is being drowned out. This has been a bane for mixers everywhere and usually requires the house volume to be raised so high that it can be painful for the audience. The same thing can happen with a drum kit without a shield.

There have been a couple different solutions in recent years, but by the far the most popular solution is in-ear monitors. These amazing devices have saved many a mixer's sanity by providing a monitor mix directly into the musician's ears, thus eliminating floor monitors completely. The musician is in control of their volume, and most units have built-in limiters to help protect their ears.

Most solutions are also wireless, which equals freedom of movement for the wearer. There are a plethora of other options and features that I won't get into here, but most of the popular wireless microphone manufacturers also provide IEM (in-ear monitor) options, so check out Shure, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica and others.

Along with IEM technology has come the personal mixer, which has revolutionized monitor mixing. It used to be that there were three or more audio mixers present in a given environment; a FOH (front of house) mixer that provided the mix for the live audience, the monitor mixer that provided a mix for the musicians/talent, and a broadcast mixer that mixed for the TV/Internet audience. This doesn't account for any live translation mixes. With personal mixers, the monitor mix position is eliminated.

A personal mixing system usually will piggyback on a digital snake system and will allow for up to 16 channels (or groups) to be sent from the FOH mix position up to the stage. From there, the signal is either split or daisy-chained from personal mixer to personal mixer. The individual musician is then in charge of setting their own mix, which then feeds a floor wedge, a pair of headphones, or an IEM. Most units will also give 3-band EQ, pan, and one system even allows for recording of not only a local input (a guitar player's guitar, for instance), but also their mix (the MyMix solution).

What this does is take the monitor mix load off of the FOH mix position and thus he/she can focus on mixing for the house, and allow the musicians to do their own personal mixes.

So, no more "monitor terrorism." We'll talk about personal monitors next week.

Podcasting: How do I start?

2010-04-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

First, if you're serious about podcasting (audio and/or video), there are TONS of online resources to help you navigate the murky waters of hosting, RSS feeds, iTunes, etc. What I aim to do here is simply help you understand what you will need in order to start and maintain a podcast.

First, it may seem obvious, but you'll need some way of recording and archiving your audio and/or video so you can then upload the file to the Internet. Along with this, it's imperative that you also have a workflow established that will allow your church to consistently upload new content (weekly is the minimum).

Second, you'll need to choose a podcast host. This is an online company that will "host," or store, your media files.

Third, you'll need some way of creating an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication, among the many acronyms to choose from). You can either create a text file with all the information in it (kind of tedious, but people do it), or you can use iWeb if you're on a Mac to create, update, and publish your RSS feed. For a more detailed explanation of what RSS is and how it works, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

Once you have an RSS feed (usually just a URL or what might look like a web address), you can then open iTunes, go to the iTunes Store, select Podcasts from the category options, then on the right side there should be an option for "Submit a Podcast." This will take you to a page that will ask you for your URL of the podcast. Copy and paste or type in the URL, click Submit. It will ask you to log in (you'll need an iTunes Store login and password) and within two weeks, you should have an email confirmation that your podcast is available on iTunes.

There are many other places online to subscribe to RSS feeds and/or podcasts, so you'll want to Google those so you can publish your content to those places, as well.

Of course, any of you out there that have more knowledge in this area, please feel free to chime in!

Your website...

2010-03-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

It used to be that having a website for the church was optional and not really thought of as critical; well, my friends, the times have changed.

With more and more people consuming media online these days, it's imperative that your church have not only an online home, but also a presence on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking platforms. You may think that this doesn't include you, and if you want to continue reaching the same demographic of people that you currently have attending, than you can probably disregard this; however, if you do choose that road, I fear that you are choosing the easy way out, and dare I say the lazy way out?

We are not called to minister to just the people in our local congregation but to the world! If we are not actively seeking new ways of reaching those that need to hear the message God have commanded us to share, then I feel that we fall into the Laodicean category.

Your website has become your primary broadcast channel. Gone are the days when people will look up a church in the phone directory and call the office (yes, I know, it still happens). People are more likely to search for the church online, get the information they need (assuming it's easy to find) and then make their decision on whether to visit based on what they see.

A few months ago, I painted a picture for my local church congregation to help them see the benefits of a vibrant and functional website; allow me to do the same here.

"Imagine a visitor walks into our church one day. That visitor has already visited our website and read what we believe as a church, what our mission statement is, discovered a couple small groups that they might be interested in, and even watched a sermon or two...all in the comfort of their own home. What we have now is an informed visitor who is not only more familiar with the church and what we stand for, but also about what kind of people go to church here and what the facility looks like. All because that person was able to experience what our church IS before every stepping foot inside our doors." These are the kinds of visitors you want!

Maybe next week I'll talk about the worldwide ramifications of having a media ministry that is consistently updated online!

Camera Work-A Refresher

2010-03-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

After we have been working with our tech systems for a while, it's easy to forget some of the basics of the things we work with. So, I thought I would give a refresher, just in case. And if you don't need a refresher, then feel free to use this as a training tool.

First, know your direction! Pans and tilts! Pans are left and right, tilts are up and down; but don't worry about it if you get it mixed up-we all do! If you're a camera operator, focus more on the direction (e.g. left, right, up, and down) rather than the command (pan, tilt).

Second, composition: do research! Watch TV, movies and other programs to see how other people are doing it so you can keep on top of changing trends, etc. There are some basics, though, like the rule of thirds. Just divide your screen into thirds in both the horizontal and vertical and use the intersecting points to "hang" your subject on.

Third, focus: I cannot stress the importance of critical focus, especially when you're shooting in HD. Something I've noticed in my time is that I have developed the ability to tell focus, even on very small screens. However, this doesn't seem to translate to other people, so having a larger screen to tell focus on for your camera operators (and for yourself) is of utmost importance.

That's it for now!

Automation Systems-An Overview

2010-03-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, so we've covered a LOT of different topics in the past few months, and I'm beginning to run out of ideas, but this is an area that I'm about to embark on with an install, so I thought I would give you guys an idea of some of the things that are possible in the world.

As the title suggests, there are systems whose sole function is to provide a way to automate certain tasks for ease-of-use and for consistency's sake.

One of the most common uses is to provide a certain level of functionality while keeping critical components (like audio mixers, routers, switchers, etc.) away from less-experienced users. A relatively simple interface is provided to control common functions (Play, Stop, Chapter Skip, etc.) for DVD players, VCRs, projectors, lights, and even electric projection screens.

These systems rely on macros, or sets of commands, in order to properly function. For example, let's say I walk into a room and there's a control panel on the wall and I want to play a DVD. I simply push the DVD button or option (if it's an LCD touchpanel) and many things happen, both within my view and behind the scenes.

To my eyes, I can see the projection screen roll down, the projector turn on and switch to the correct input, and the DVD player powers up and ejects the tray, ready to accept my DVD.

What I don't see is the controller sending the signal to a router that sends out the following signals: a signal to the screen controller to roll down, a power up and input selection signal to the projector, a power up and eject signal to the DVD player, and finally a signal to route the audio from the DVD player to the main outputs.

In a typical situation, these are all functions that a human would have to do by hand, but in today's world of wanting more for less, it's become almost critical to install "idiot-proof" that will just work with a minimal amount of input from the user.

There are a few different manufacturers that provide automation equipment, but the three largest, as far as I've been able to find, are Crestron, Extron, and AMX.

There are other manufacturers that make more specialized equipment, but for our purposes, these three will suffice. All three offer both push-button and LCD touchpanel control solutions, and each has their own approach on this growing niche market.

Control signals are sent over either infra-red (IR) or RS-232, which is being built into more and more electronics as a means of connecting to systems such as we are discussing.

My understanding is that these systems really have their genesis in the luxury home market; those homes that have their own theater rooms and massively expensive equipment, etc. The next market to jump on board was corporate America-building in functionality and ease-of-use for board/conference rooms, then a huge surge has been seen in the education market with lecture halls, classrooms, etc. using these systems. Finally, churches have begun to implement these on a large enough scale that they can be classified in their own category.

There are so many benefits, it's hard to talk about just one, but this is a big one for me:

If you're like me, you are constantly getting called to offer "tech support" for systems that no one else seems to be able to operate. It does get annoying and this might be an option for you to have some peace of mind. In the event that you DO get a call and something is not working, VPN support, at least from Extron, is built-in, so make sure your equipment is connected to the network, and you can access the network through a Virtual Private Network in order to see what's going on. It's also a good way to do scheduling-yes, you can schedule certain things. So, if you have a Youth room that sees pretty heavy use, you can schedule the equipment to be ready and waiting for the leaders to utilize, or you can just have your local macros ready to go when they walk into the room. These systems are extremely powerful and very handy and I would encourage you to look into them as they could alleviate not only your headaches, but a lot of potential damage done by users who don't know what they are doing.

Crestron Electronics: www.crestron.com

Extron: www.extron.com

AMX: www.amx.com

Power Systems for Lighting and Sound-Part II

2010-02-22T11:09:00.001-08:00

Paul concludes his discussion on the power systems for lighting and sound systems this week-please take a moment to share your appreciation and thoughts with him for his time in contributing this information: Paul.Austen@ecd.com

I may have been too hard on my contractor and electrician last blog.
Their reactions to my requirements for power was as stated. I just don't
want to suggest that ALL contractors and electricians are like this. One
point needs to be clear, don't assume they will know your real power
needs. What you call your meeting room will make a huge difference in
their bias toward the room's need for power. Call it a Gym and you'll
likely get florescent fixtures design to illuminate the floor surface to
a level required by some sporting standard. Call it an auditorium, and
you'll get a different bias then if you call it a sanctuary. So be clear
on your needs for power early on in the design. If it's multi-purpose,
as many large rooms are, you may end up with several different lighting
systems to meet the needs.

Also, much of the need to power in your room may be handled by your
hired audio/visual consultant. They will likely get it right, and I
suspect one reason why this kind of information is not "taught" is
because such specifications are part of the audio/visual consultants
"bread and butter." However, it's not rocket science, and local codes
(it varies by city and state) as practiced by the electrician will
result in a safe system. Your knowledge how much power service is
required is all you really need to insist on when plans are being made
for power.

I mentioned "Isolated Ground" at the end of the last blog entry and I
thought I'd at least describe in words what that means and the
advantages.

The round pin on the average US power plug is meant to be an earth
ground, which means there is a conductor from that plug pin all the way
back to the mains panel and a grounding (earth) point. This is designed
to give a path, other than your body, for the "hot" voltage (120 V) to
flow safely to earth should there be a "fault" in the machine using
power. A fault is when the "hot" wire in the machine by mistake touches
a metal part, like the machines chassis. The chassis, which you can also
touch, is connected to the round pin by the green (green/yellow) wire in
the line cord. If a fault inside the machine happens, and the round pin
is NOT connected to earth via this round pin and the green wire, the
chassis becomes "hot" and now you can become the conductor back to
earth, depending on what kind of shoes you are wearing at the time. :-)
That is why it very bad practice to remove the round pin from power
cords. In most states, it's a violation of fire and safety codes as
well.

Now that's all real nice and safe, however, there is an audio reason why
this is less than good. That reason is because ALL your mic and line
level signal wires have a shield to keep noise out and this shield also
connects to the same chassis as that green wire round pin in the line
cord. This usually is done by the "sleeve" of a TRS plugs and or a
direct wire from pin 1 on XLR plugs inside the chassis of your
equipment. Why is this so bad? Because this green wire ground back to
the mains panel is fine for electrical fault currents, but it's NOT good
for RF noise and other ground noise which runs through all electrical
conduits and ground wires. These are sometimes called "noisy grounds" or
even "dirty grounds." What you need is a "clean" ground and you get that
by using an isolated ground electrical systems.

Here's how you do it?

You use those real cool orange outlets, which offer only one advantage
(besides the cool color and $13.00 each). They give you another
electrical connection screw on the side which connects to the round pin
in the plug WITHOUT connecting to the metal bracket which mounts it to
the electrical box (the noisy ground) in the wall. Then you run a fourth
wire (typically baby blue) in the conduit back to your technical (or
star) ground point. This fourth wire makes no contact to any metal,
conduits, or green witres along the way. It can be connected to other
"clean" isolated earth points at either end to shunt RF noise to ground.
This separates the noisy conduit/green wire ground system needed by the
electrician to meet code from your super clean isolated technical
ground. The only place where green wire ground, isolated ground, and the
mains panel neutral (white wire) come together is at your technical star
ground, typically in the mains electrical panel, where you will find: a
Neutral (white wire) buss, a Green wire buss and your isolated ground
buss. All three of these will connect to the "technical ground" rod
located as near this panel as possible. Now you have a safe round pin
conductor for your chassis AND signal shields which is NOT part of the
noisy electrical green wire ground needed in the rest of building.

For further details on this and other power systems for audio and visual
systems I still recommend "Power and Grounding for Audio and Audio/Video
Systems, A White Paper for the Real World" Copyright 2005-2007 The Audio
Systems Group, Inc. by John M. Woodgate, and Jim Brown which can be
found at: The Audio Systems Group, Inc. http://audiosystemsgroup.com for
more details on the issues regarding grounding for audio systems. This
has real cool schematic drawings showing how all this works and the real
advantages.

Also I recommend the presentation: "An Overview of Audio System
Grounding & Shielding" Tutorial T-2, by Bill Whitlock, President, Jensen
Transformers, Inc. www.jensen-transformers.com They have many articles
on this subject worth looking through.

Paul Austen

Power Systems for Lighting and Sound

2010-02-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

One of devoted few who have been following this blog, Paul Austen, has graciously assisted me in covering this most important topic. I bring up, again, the importance of knowing what you don't know, and in this case, I feel that Paul's experience far exceeds my own, and so I leave you in his capable hands for this week.

As many times as I have sought help in the area of power systems, I'm
surprised by how little info there is. And if you leave it to the
electrician or building design folks for your auditorium, they will put
one plug under the place on the stage where they think a pulpit may
stand, thinking the "sound system" will be under the preacher's control.

When I told the electrician we needed 50KVA for sound and 150KVA (200
KVA is enough, professional systems may want 400) for lighting, and a
"technical" ground (what's that?), their jaw fell off.

Today's lighting systems, even with LEDs kicking in, require serious
energy and good grounding. Sounds systems are going the opposite of
lighting, with more and more energy (Wattage) at lower and lower cost,
10KW to 50KW systems are common and you cannot provide that kind of
energy into the room without a power system to match.

Let's talk sound power systems first. The simple rule of thumb is to
take your power amps RMS (not peak) power rating at the load (Ohms) you
are applying and double it, if it is a 2 channel amp. This is the
Wattage you should have available to power it. By Wattage, I mean supply
Volts (typically 120V), times the supply Amperage capacity (typically 15
Amps or 20 Amps). Translated, a single breaker in a panel in most
buildings will be 20 Amp at 120 Volts. This means the maximum Wattage
your amp can consume from this circuit is 120 X 20 = 2400 Watts. Your
electrician will tell you that you can only use 80% of this, which is
1920 Watts, but that is under continuous load. As you know, you usually
don't use you amps full capacity continuously. And this does not
consider that most amps are only about 50% to 80% efficient at turning
energy in to energy out. This is just a rule of thumb, however, and will
serve well at planning the needed power service.

So you can added this up real fast. If you have a 1000 Watt per side
amp, times 2 for both channels, that's 2000 Watts. That will take one 20
Amp at 120 Volt circuit to power that single amp without the risk of
popping a breaker. Two 500 Watt per side amps can be powered on one 20
Amp 120 Volt circuit as well. If you are setting up a system with 4
monitor amps and a good 4 to 8 amps for house, with 250 to 1000 watts
per channel RMS, or more, you will need 6 to 10, 20 Amp 120 Volt
dedicated circuits for power. And this is a "modest" system. This may
surprise some electrical contractors, so be ready for some push back,
but facts are facts. And don't forget your video systems. These systems
are often linked together by and audio feed to video recording or
broadcast. So they must be powered from the same power system as the
audio to prevent nasty "ground loops" between power systems which get
connected together by audio or video shields between systems.

Lighting is a little more straight forward, since the energy consumed by
each fixture is right on the fixture or bulb and this is continuous, so
the 80% rule suggested by the electrician comes into play. You can tell
your electrician how many fixtures and their Wattage and they will
understand well how to power them.

As for the power systems themselves, here is the best way to set up a
new installation: Insist on a transformer isolated systems feeding a
panel dedicated for your sound system. I recommend a 20KVA to 100KVA 208
Volt 3 phase "wye" service, depending on the expected Wattage size of
your system. You must use a "K" rated transformer because the loading
will not be "balanced" so the neutral needs to be full size inside the
transformer. Your electrician will know about this. Also, if the
transformer is located near your power panel and sound system, or near
the auditorium, make sure it's one that does not make a lot of noise so
you don't have to listen to the humming. This transformer may step down
from a 480 Volt 3 phase power system or just isolate from a 208 Volt 3
phase "wye" system, depending on what is coming into the building. If
your service is single phase, the same need for isolation via a
transformer exists, it just uses a little different transformer.

Transformer isolation for the lighting system is also recommend, since
it helps prevent the electrically noisy load of lighting systems from
getting back through the power system. Lighting systems will require
100KVA to 400KVA at 208 Volt 3 phase "wye" power. You can use a single
phase system, as well, it's just less common. Its best to have a power
panel near the point in the room where you are going to distribute the
power.

I placed my sound power panel and transformer on one side of the stage,
and my lighting power panel and transformer on the other to keep the
system as physically separate as possible to prevent electrical noise
cross talk.

Make sure the electrical contractor keeps these systems separate.
Conduits carrying power to audio and video systems must NOT be mixed
with conduits carrying power for lighting, even though they may be near
each other. All power runs must use separate neutral (white) wires.
Don't let the electrician use a common neutral wire for two or three
separate circuits, a common practice for power systems in general room
lighting. This is for the same reason you require a "K" rated
transformer; the loads are not balanced and thus cannot share a common
neutral.

Grounding (Earthing)

With a transformer in the system, the secondary (output) of the
transformer is by design "isolated." This means the neutral from the
transformer must be grounded (earth) for safety. Do not let your
electrician connect the nice clean isolated power out neutral from the
transformer to the same "dirty" ground (earth) wire which comes up from
the main power system in the building. A separate ground must be
established at the output of the transformer. This may be any "approved"
metal grounding method allowed by code, but it must be separate from the
"mains" ground. It may include: metal beams nearby which go to the
foundation, the cement rebar, or an approved grounding rod driven into
the ground, or a combination of all of these. This is your "technical
ground." ALL circuits must be connected to this ground at the power
panel. This is what is called a "star" ground power system since there
is a single ground point and ALL circuits extend out from this point.

I will not get into "Isolated" ground systems except to say it is the
king of grounding systems and should be used if at all possible. The
links below talk about it in more detail.

The lighting ground system does not need to be so isolated, but it does
not hurt.

McMinnville 2010

2010-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my first post for 2010 will be talking about the 26-part evangelistic series I just got done directing in McMinnville, Oregon. We started January 8 and finished February 6, with Wednesdays and Thursdays off. Two weekends we produced four programs in 26 hours (Friday night, two Saturday morning, then Saturday night). The crew held up very well, and we still had our sense of humor at the end of it. :)

I'll get to my regular posting schedule next week, but I thought you might enjoy some images from the series. For you technophiles, here's the raw equipment information: we shot with four Canon XLH1 HDV cameras connected to a Ross Video Synergy 100 MD (Multi-Definition) switcher. Genlock is supplied by a Ensemble Designs unit run over Canare multi-core cable, which also carries HD-SDI, Timecode In, and Timecode Out, with one spare conductor should one of the others break. Tally is run over a custom-built system on a Cat5 cable, and connects to a Marshall 7" LCD monitor that sits atop the camera. Tripods come from Sachtler, and custom-built camera and tripod stands allow for maximum flexibility in positioning in both horizontal and vertical axes.

My directing station consisted of two shallow racks, side-by-side, with a 3-screen LCD Marshall HD-SDI monitor and a Marshall 17" LCD multi-input screen in each (one 17" for Preview, one for Program). The 17" monitors also served as the monitors for the Mac Pro capture computer. Capture is handled through a Kona 3 running into Final Cut Studio 3 using the ProRes 422 HQ codec. The data is captured to an Apple XServe RAID unit with 4TB of storage, I believe.

Ok, now to the pictures. : )

This is Camera 3, one of the two center cameras

The speaker, Jac Colon, stands in front of our "window effect." The Producer and I, in designing the set, wanted to take a strong departure from traditional "Adventist" set design and have something other than a fake plant sitting outside the window. In our case, we designed with a Tuscan theme, so why not have a Tuscan landscape outside the window? We also wanted a late afternoon/early evening color temperature, hence the orange glow.

This is how we achieved the effect-we purchased a stock image of a real Tuscan landscape with very particular lighting parameters. The Producer wanted to have a "sunlight streaming through the window effect," so once we found the picture that matched that, we had it printed locally and our set builder constructed the frame for the image. I then lit the image with two Selecon Acclaim fresnels (lamped at 575w) and gel'd with some extra gels I pulled of a gel string from a color scroller. The third Acclaim, with the same gel, is mounted up above the picture, shooting through the window. The purple on the rock is provided by Elation Opti 30 LED fixtures.

This is what my directing station looked like. My lighting director is in the foreground. We ran the show on a PC desktop with Jands Vista app as the show control. Our lighting rig consisted of: 16 ETC Source 4 Jr. fixtures (lamped at 575w), 2 Elation Opti Tri 30 LED fixtures, 3 Selecon Acclaim fresnel fixtures, 4 Elation Opti 30 LED fixtures, and 2 Elation PowerSpot 575 moving head fixtures. A relatively small rig, but it had pretty good punch. If I had to do it over again, I would have put my backlight truss span over the top of the set, instead of behind it-it would have allowed for separate lighting of the set vs. the speaker...of course, my front light truss hangs were about 4 or 5 feet too low anyway. :( I'll do better next time!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

I know I skipped a week in posting, but it's the end of the year, and we all have things that are tearing us away from our usual business, so I know you all understand.

I wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will be taking a break from blogging from now until February, when I will resume my weekly posts. Until then, enjoy the time you share with loved ones and remember to tell them you love them-we can never hear it enough!

Communication

2009-12-08T15:17:00.000-08:00

How often do we make our decisions and view our lives from a perspective that assumes other people know what we want? Just driving around, I've found that I get a little peeved when someone gets in front of me or does something that inconveniences me. Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, does a few extra seconds really matter?

In my time going around to different churches and listening to either the pastoral leadership and/or the technical leadership talk about their experience, one common element has surfaced nearly every time-a severe lack of open communication between parties.

One of the easiest things to do is to get everyone involved in the program (or at least the leaders of the different areas-coordinating, pastor/speaker, audio, video, lighting, graphics, etc.) to have a meeting before the program/service to go over everything that will happen...in sequence. There are different names for this, but I prefer "cue-to-cue." It's a chance to get everyone on the same page prior to the program and can replace a full-scale rehearsal, which a lot of teams don't have time for. It also allows the team to have a moment to pray together and really get unified.

What I often hear instead, are experiences of pastors being increasingly frustrated with performance of tech, specifically audio operators. Mics not being turned on in time, mics being left on (sometimes while people go to the restroom), and other issues. I also hear from tech teams people on stage publicly "calling out" their tech operators. For example, a worship leader asking for more guitar in the house, or a pastor commenting on a mic not working, etc. If there is a cardinal sin in being up front, it is to NEVER, EVER, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES call out your tech. How would you feel if your audio operator got their own microphone and told you, a lead singer, that you were flat over the sound system so everyone could hear it? Yeah, it wouldn't be fun and creates a VERY difficult environment for a synergy of the team to exist.

So, open communication is a good thing, and I think that any comments and/or feedback relating to tech needs to be handled by a post-program debrief session. Yes, this will require more time, but if you are having problems similar to the ones I outlined above, this is a must. Remember, the point is to have a service that allows people to enter into worship holistically, and if any member of the team falls short on their end, it will detract from that experience. Of course, if there's feedback in the sound system, chances are the operator is aware of it and is actively working on fixing it-no need to comment on it from the front.

I'm eager to hear thoughts on this post as I'm sure there are many out there that have had or are currently experiencing these kinds of issues.

If you're looking for more ideas of how to combat these kinds of situations and issues, the latest issue of "Technologies for Worship" magazine has a fantastic article called "How to Get a New Pastor" which outlines several steps of how to make sure your leadership and tech teams are working together towards a common goal.

Leadership

2009-11-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

When's the last time we thought about our leadership style?

If you're like me, you find yourself sometimes regretting how you handle certain situations with your crew and wishing there were ways of preventing that kind of response.

This will not be a post that sees me telling you how to be a good leader-this is more a journey of discovery that I hope you will participate in towards what makes a good leader-so please jump in with comments!

In my experience, a good leader has patience in spades. I know that my patience has grown in the last few years, but that I still need growth in this area. Patience to handle not just the weekly stresses of leading a ministry, but also with deal with the vagaries of a volunteer crew. People don't show up when they are scheduled, don't remember (or seem to care) about the smooth camera moves and all the training they've been given. The list goes on. I think it's important to remember, however, that we are all brothers and sisters in the family of God and that we are instructed to love one another. That is a continual help to me, though it's hard to keep that in mind when you're in the heat of a situation.

A good leader should also have a good measure of when to use both strength and gentleness. Taking a stand for what is needed against forces that would disrupt the ministry would be a good example of a time when strength is needed. Listening to a crew member talk out a rough patch of their life would be a time for gentleness. To me, it's extremely important to create a family atmosphere in my ministry. This helps to blunt a good portion of the stress that exists inside the ministry while allowing your crew to grow together as a unit, providing cohesiveness. Now I'm not saying that our ministry has reached this ideal, but it's a good goal to shoot for.

Courage is important-courage to take a stand, courage to make decisions in the face of not always having all the information. Courage to admit you're wrong and own up to your mistakes, courage to challenge the traditional paradigms...ok, that last one may not be necessary, but the point still stands. A good leader should also be a strong leader-for me, it's hard to look up and respect someone that lets people walk over them and is seemingly incapable of taking a stand for what they believe in.

Those are some things I look for in a leader-how about you?

Passion and Ministry

2009-11-17T12:55:00.000-08:00

I am very serious about media ministry-it's exactly that, a ministry. And if you don't have a passion for doing it, then why ARE you doing it? Do you feel obligated? Were you guilted into serving and this is where you found yourself?

You see, for me, media is an area where there is need for HUGE improvement in churches, yet people act like it's not important. Yet, can you imagine if the sound system didn't work at all? How many people would be blessed? What about lighting? Who would be able to see and connect with the speaker, the musicians, etc.? Video expands the reach of the church, and with the accessibility of the Internet, the potential audience that is open to the church is worldwide!

This is why it's so important that we strive to be the best at what we choose to do in the church. Maybe that's asking a lot, but when it comes to spreading the Gospel, is it too much to ask for our best?

Now I'm not saying we need to go and spend $500,000 on new audio/video/lighting systems-but what I am saying is that we need to take our A/V/L seriously and learn how to use it to the best of our ability. Maybe you don't have the best sound system-what are some ways you could improve it without spending an arm and a leg? Don't know? Seek out the answers-don't just sit on your hands and accept that what you have is the best you can afford-that's putting God in a box, my friend!

We need to get past this idea that we, as churches, have ceilings we cannot grow past. It might take a little longer to raise the funds, but there are plenty of vendors who are willing to come in and demo equipment, and plenty of opportunities around to learn how to creatively fundraise. The point is that we as media ministers need to make sure we are providing the absolute best service that we can in our respective areas because a message can't reach the heart if no one can hear, see, or experience that message.

This brings me to another point: media ministry is evangelism and should be funded as such. I would dare say that a dollar given towards a video ministry that utilizes the Internet effectively will be more efficiently spent than on traditional methods of evangelism. Maybe that's putting my neck out there a bit, and yes, I know I'm biased, but let's break this down.

Traditional evangelism methods include canvassing a neighborhood (door-to-door, handing out tracts, offering Bible studies, etc.). This method, while it does see results, is out-dated and doesn't see a great deal of results. Or maybe you're mailing postcards to advertise an upcoming event. This is a very expensive proposition and unless you do it consistently, people will just throw it away (or recycle, if you're here in the Northwest).

Now, take a video ministry that puts the message out onto the Internet every week. They post the video onto their own website, alongside archived messages, on Vimeo, TruthCasting and other popular video hosting sites (YouTube limits your videos to 10 minutes) where people will randomly come across their content, create an updated RSS feed for iTunes, send out Tweets using Twitter, maybe email the membership that the message is online, who in turn email their friends and families. This might take a little extra time, and it will take some time and effort for the online community to notice, but this is why consistency is so important. The local church congregation must get involved in sharing this content within their spheres of influence. This will help spread the message. And what that media ministry has effectively done is put the message out in the open where anyone can find it. And they have done it in a non-invasive, non-threatening way.

You see, traditional evangelism and advertising methodologies rely on interrupting people's lives and forcing them to make a decision and deal with your message on YOUR time, not THEIR time. And when this happens, people have a natural tendency to resist, because it interrupts their natural schedule. Even email and banner ad campaigns force this decision to a point. Whereas when they stumble onto your video, podcast, MP3, or website, they are usually in search and/or need of that particular message and this allows an open door for the Holy Spirit to work. Remember, it's not we who save, but we who point the way to the One who does.

Thoughts, questions, comments?

Audio Mixing

2009-11-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest things to teach a new sound operator is how to mix. It requires the development of an "ear" for what to change, when to change it, and what levels are appropriate. The best advice I usually give is to listen to the radio, CDs, and anywhere professional level mixing is done. This will go a long way in understanding what goes into a mix, but that will only do so much.

There are so many small nuances when it comes to sound, it's hard to cover them all. Developing an ear is more than just listening for certain instruments and voices, but delving deeper into the actual frequencies. For instance, I do some mixing at a small church in Vancouver, and one of the speakers has a vocal frequency range that just wreaks havoc on us mixers. For whatever reason, his voice introduces frequences (or freq's) into the system that cause feedback at much lower levels than anyone else. For months we tried our best to change EQ (equalization) settings to dial out those freqs, but to no avail. We finally discovered that all the changes we were making on our master system EQ were to the wrong side (Left instead of Right). Once we began to change the freqs in the Right side of the system EQ, we were able to finally master his voice and crank the volume to where it needed to be.

But we never would have been able to do that if we didn't have an ear for which frequencies should be addressed first. You see, a lot of church sound operators never took the time (or had the training) to dig into what they are doing. They know the basics of how to turn the system on, how to put the faders up and down, and how to mute. A bit more advanced operators will understand how to use EQ and how to route channels to the Auxiliary outputs (or Auxes). But a lot will stop there; and for good reason-what's the point of learning more than what you will need to use?

But what if something goes wrong? Do you know how to fix it? If you don't understand the ins and outs of your system (and are afraid to learn), then how will you react to a hum or squeal being introduced into the system one day? People will look to you to fix it and if you don't know how, then what? Know what you don't know, and don't be afraid to ask for help!

2 Corinthians 12:10b - "When I am weak, then I am strong." We are strongest when we admit our weakness, so don't be afraid to ask for help-pride is a major obstacle to that and I'm reminded of what Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-4 - "I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."

Thoughts?

Directing-An Overview

2009-11-08T23:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, Nick, this one's for you!

A lot of people don't know what to do when they sit down at a video switcher their first time. It can be a bit overwhelming, especially with more than two cameras. Admittedly, there is a LOT to keep in mind. So, I've decided to break it up a little bit and give you guys a very broad overview of what I expect of the directors and TD's I train. Please note that it's been a while since I've directed anything (live event or film, so bear with me).

Ok, so let's start off with the things that I advise and train my directors to keep in mind at all times:

1.) FOCUS-You can have the best shot in the world, but if it's out of focus, it might as well be the worst-nothing screams amateur like an out of focus shot. Keep it sharp!

2.) Composition-Know the rule of thirds...in BOTH axes! If you don't know that term, Google it! Others have explained it far better than I do in words...and they even have cool diagrams! A good starting place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

3.) Context-what is the speaker saying? If he/she talking about something negative? You can imagine how ill-timed it would be to show a white male with blond hair and blue eyes in the audience when the speaker is talking about Nazi Germany, right? So, listen to what is being said and try and follow that as much as possible. Is the speaker reading a Bible verse? Find someone in the audience reading a Bible. A side note here: if you lack adequate lighting for your audience, I would cut them out as much as you can-a shot that is nearly completely dark will disorient any viewers as to what's going on and will not help in communicating the speaker's message. If you MUST do an audience shot, do a wide angle pan with your aperture opened all the way to let as much light in as possible (f-numbers work in reverse; the smaller the number, the larger the opening in the lens to let light in).

4.) Camera Moves-if you're doing a zoom, what is your justification for it? If you call for a camera move just to have a camera move, don't do it. A zoom in helps to focus the viewer's attention, and a push in will allow a wide angle for the viewer to see the space, while focusing them again on the speaker. It gives a sense of space and proves that the program is not taking place in a studio. Conversely, a pull out is meant to reveal something; keep in mind that a pull out will sometimes have the effect of disengaging the viewer from the speaker, so use very sparingly. During musical selections of a large instrument like an organ, it's fine, but for intimate music like vocals or small instruments, I would stay away from pull outs and stick with push ins. Remember, pan is a side-to-side move, tilt is an up-and-down move.

5.) Aperture/Iris/F-Stop: In the digital world, these terms have become synonymous, though their origins were different. Basically, keep an eye on your overall brightness-if you lose details in your whites, you're probably too bright. If you lose detail in your blacks, you're too dark. However, ALWAYS expose for the face.

6.) Transitions-Cut or dissolve? This is more of a personal preference, but I generally prefer dissolves for music and cuts for everything else., specifically speaking. Cuts allow for much faster transitions and when you have a speaker who likes to move around the stage, this is a blessing. Dissolves tend to just muddy up the mix with speakers and get in the way-so I advise sticking with cuts, but again, it's a pretty subjective choice, just make sure whatever you do, it's intentional.

7.) Don't panic! When you get into a 4 or 6 camera shoot, it can be overwhelming! You have to keep track of all six of your cameras, any internal sources (DVD playback, computer graphics, etc), and your program and preview monitors. Just a quick review-source monitors are for the director to see the images from the cameras and/or sources (DVDs, VHS, computers, etc.), preview is for the director to "preview" a source before taking it to air-most calls for focus checks and fine composition changes occur based off this monitor, and program is what is going out "on-air," or to recordings. It is the final stop and cannot be altered once it's on program...so USE your preview!!!! Ok, back to the point-a lot of new directors tend to play it safe and stay on a single source for a long time, because they don't want to get their head (or can't get their head) around the options they have. I say just jump right in, and I will sometimes jump in as producer and make calls for changing shots to help get my directors out of this rut-it's boring for the director (and frightening) but it's also boring for the viewer-keep those cuts moving! Change at least once every 20 seconds when you're new, and at least once every 10 seconds on average as you get into it. This sounds like really fast cutting, but I assure you, it's still a bit long. :)

8.) Know your equipment-there will be times when you're working with novice camerapeople-so it's important that you know the camera better then they do and know what is and what is not possible. It's also important, in the same vein, to know the capabilities of your video switcher. Know how to bring in lower thirds with a key and fill (if your switcher has this functionality), and how to bring in and take out the Downstream Key (DSK) with both a cut and a fade (again, based on functionality). Know how to change your transition styles, learn what effects can be achieved, and then find time to practice these with your crew (if possible). And at all times...SMOOTH CAMERA MOVES!!!! They can be fast, but they NEED to be smooth.

9.) Be consistent-learn common terminology and stick with it. Don't invent your own language, and definitely don't allow different terminology within the same ministry team. It's very confusing for the camera people. When I say a wide shot, I mean a wide shot. Some of my other directors term it a "broad shot." Well, a smart-alec camera operator might go find a shot of a woman...you might be laughing at that, but in a live environment, the director needs to be able to effectively direct his or her crew to get exactly the shots they need, and quickly. There's no room or time for mis-communication, so learn proper terminology and stick with it.

10.) Finally, be willing to take suggestions. I tend to run a pretty tight ship, but I'm open to creative shots and ideas. I, as the director, am not at the camera locations myself, so I must rely on my operators to find different shots for me that I might not see myself. As a director, allow your operators to show you shots they find, and then decide whether or not to use it. Remind them that if you don't like or use their shot, it's not a reflection on them at all and it's not personal, it just didn't fit with the program at that point-it might be better served some other time, so remember those shots. Also don't be surprised if you ask an operator to find you a different shot during a particularly boring program and they give you a shot of the exit sign...it just shows their human, too. :)

Any more questions, shoot me an email! tim@timatofilms.com

Secretos de la Vida/Jaime Jorge Concert

2009-11-02T23:16:00.001-08:00

Below you will find images from my recent lighting event-"Secretos de la Vida," or for you non-Spanish speakers, "The Secrets of Life." This was a 9-night series broadcast live via satellite on Esperanza, a Seventh-day Adventist that reaches the Spanish-speaking community across the United States.

You will also find, towards the middle, images from a concert that Jaime Jorge performed on Saturday morning of this past weekend (Oct. 31). Since we were not broadcasting his performance, and since the head of A/V for the church wanted me to, and Jaime was ok with it, I flexed my creativity and programmed somewhere near 40 unique lighting cues (or "looks") that I then played back during his mini-concert. Keep in mind that I had absolutely no idea what songs Jaime would be playing, what style, how fast, what order, etc.

See for yourself and let me know what you think!

My lighting load-out was as follows:

1 - Martin Mac500 moving light
2 - Elation PowerSpot 575 moving light
6 - Elation Opti 30 LED
3 - Elation Tri-Opti 30 LED
24 - ETC Source 4 Jr. lamped at 575watts
3 - Selecon Acclaim fresnel lamped at 575watts
2 - Irradiant Hazers (not used for broadcast)
4 - C&M 1/4 ton electric chain hoists (all I gotta say is I WANT SOME!!!)
12 - 12"x12" Global Truss Box Truss-6.5' sections (we only used 9 of these)
1 - Jands Vista M1 console
1 - Jands Vista App running on a 17" Macbook Pro

That's it! Not a very large system at all, but see what can be done when your system is very flexible...and you have a kickin' stage to light! Thanks, Veruschka!

Jaime Jorge Mini-Concert:

I feel it's important to interject here that the above image was a patriotic medley Jaime played and I had to change my look on the fly to red, white, and blue (and yes, I know it's red, blue, and white, but work with me here...)

Always learn...

2009-10-27T00:04:00.000-07:00

So I'm working on a gig right now where I setup and run the lighting-no problem, I've done that before. Only, it's a professional crew that is carrying this event live to satellite every night for a week...and they do lighting a little differently. Of course, I don't find this out until two days before the event begins.

Now, in all fairness, I didn't ask what kind of lighting they wanted, so the blame partially falls on me.

Anyway, imagine you've invested nearly 50 hours thus far into a lighting project (I'm counting consulting on set design, load-in and setup) and you're just putting the finishing touches on focusing the front light truss span when the producer comes in and makes it known that she wants a flat wash...I was a bit frustrated, to say the least.

It's taken me a couple days to get over my negative feelings, but part of what helped me to do that was how I treat this experience. It's extremely simple to take on the "I'm right, they are wrong and they don't know what they're doing" attitude, but this never benefits anyone.

I've decided to learn from this experience and not to assume what kind of lighting they will need-it's always best and usually easiest to ask questions. This is one more kind of lighting setup that I can add to my toolbox and while it has been a bit frustrating, if I learn from it and apply that knowledge in the future, then it will have been a useful experience. If I choose to be negative and hold a grudge...well, that really only weighs me down and doesn't benefit anyone.

Cheers! I'll have pictures after the event has wrapped up!

So, you've got some equipment-now what?

2009-10-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Alright, you've got some equipment purchased for a video system-congrats! Now what?!???

Ok, first off, you'll need to figure out your signal flow. Let's assume that you've got a couple video cameras, some kind of recorder (hard drive-based, flash- or solid-state-based, or DVD), and a switcher. These are the basics of any video ministry system.

First, your signal flow follows a logical path regardless of the equipment that you have. Your cameras are your sources, your switcher switches between these sources, and your signal terminates at your recorder. It's entirely up to you whether or not you bring the audio from the cameras into your recorder, but I would highly recommend you get a signal sent to your recorder from the audio mixer to have the highest quality.

These systems get a little more complex when you have 4 cameras, a dedicated audio mixer to control your own mix, a number of displays throughout the church that you feed your video and audio mix to, a live signal for the Internet, capturing live into a computer for post-production later, and to DVD as a backup. Remember, the more points of connection you have in any system, the more potential points of failure you will have to deal with eventually.

Sorry for the shortened post, but I'm setting up for another evangelistic series here in town, so don't have much time.

What to do when...

2009-10-12T11:14:00.000-07:00

Whenever you deal with technology, it's inevitable that something will go wrong, stop working, or fail. This is critical to understand as it's not a matter of if, but when.

The important thing to remember is not to panic; understanding your equipment goes a LONG way in accomplishing that. You see, in a church setting, if you're sitting behind the mixer, you are the authority at that moment; if something goes wrong (feedback, a missed cue, etc.), it's you the people look at, correct?

And sometimes, even if you're NOT the person responsible for something that goes wrong, people still turn around and look at you because the only visible target! It's an unjust world, isn't it?

Anyway, so, let's say that you're at the sound board, running the service, having performed sound checks with everyone and verified that every mic is working and things are going along well. The Associate Pastor gets up with his handheld to do a Child Dedication or whatever, you unmute his channel and/or bring the fader up...and there's no sound. Meanwhile, he's talking into the mic, realizes that there's no sound, and does what every person in the world does when a mic doesn't work...taps it with his hand. Then he looks right at you for some kind of assistance, which of course only draws the entire attention of the audience to YOU. Meanwhile, you're making sure the Mute button isn't depressed, that his channel is assigned to the Master fader, that you have signal on his mic, etc.

This is a perfect time to panic, it would seem...if you don't know your equipment. More often than not, people will either purposely turn off a wireless microphone in order to rest at ease that their every word isn't being broadcast into the Sanctuary, or they will inadvertently mute the microphone. Either way, it's not your fault, right?

Wrong! As the sound person who is responsible for the sound duties that weekend, I believe it's your responsibility to help train the participants in how to hold a mic, why they need to hold it in that manner (pickup patterns), how a wireless microphone works, where the Mute and Power buttons are, and assure them that they need to leave the microphone on and that you will control when it's amplified through the house system, etc. This will go a great distance in alleviating any potential problems. Another part of your responsibilities is to make sure your wireless mics are using fresh batteries-I can't tell you how many times I've seen sound guys try and save money by re-using old batteries or using rechargeables...bad juju, guys! If you don't have the budget to use new batteries every week, then it's time to have a sit down with the leadership and explain things to them.

So, let's assume that the mic was left on by the pastor, the channel us unmuted, and all the settings are correct, but there's still no sound. Well, perhaps the battery went out...perhaps you're getting blasted with some major RF interference...all that's important in the moment is that your wireless isn't working properly. It would probably behoove you to have a wired backup mic somewhere on the platform that can be grabbed for situations like this. Maybe that's overkill, but that's your choice. I prefer to have my bases covered as I really don't trust wireless anymore than I have to. The best choice is still a wired mic, if it's logical and feasible to have one.

What you do NOT want to start doing is trying to troubleshoot the problem during the service unless you have the knowledge, experience, and personnel to do so. Your primary job is to mix sound for the service, but if you have someone that can take that over, or go searching for a problem, than you're ok. And definitely don't start ripping cables out! Save your frustration for when you're alone and can vent without disrupting the worship service. And really try to channel your frustration into finding the problem-I usually try and adopt the attitude of viewing it as a challenge to my knowledge and experience and an opportunity to learn something new. This puts a positive spin on it and when I eventually find the problem, the satisfaction is much more appealing than looking at it negatively (e.g. "I should have known this would go out on me. I'm so stupid."). The spin would be more like this; "Wow, I didn' t know that would happen...I better file that one away so I can be anticipating this next time."

You see how that will affect your mental attitude? And you see why it's important to have people who understand the system besides you? While you don't want other people tearing apart your system looking for problems, I'm sure you also don't want to get phone calls or emails week in and week out requesting that you come and look at another problem in the system, right? At the very least, make sure that if you do have to go and investigate a problem, you make sure someone else from your crew is present so that it can be turned into a learning opportunity. :)

I hope that helps!

Multi-Channel Audio-Last Second

2009-10-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry all, I just realized I hadn't put a post up for this week!

So, one of the ideas that Nick Knecht wrote in to me about was how we captured multi-channel audio for our Momentum evangelistic series in January, 2008. Let me first explain our normal way of doing things.

Twice a year, the North Pacific Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists...or NPUC, for short, produces an 8-part evangelistic series for airing on the Hope Channel (an Adventist-owned satellite channel that reaches most of the countries of the world) in an effort to help Adventist churches and institutions in the NW evangelize their local communities. In January of 2008, our crew was in Anchorage. Yes, it was cold. :)

Our mobile system is comprised of a lot of equipment, which I will list:

A Ross Synergy 100 production switcher (16 in, 16 out), a Yamaha 0196V2 digital audio mixer, four Canon XLH1 HDV cameras, two Canon XH G1 cameras (all supported with Sachtler tripods), a collection of Marshall LCD monitors for monitoring, Clear-Com intercom system, an entire lighting system, and various computers and peripherals.

Due to the expense of shipping our entire equipment list to Anchorage, and not wanting to risk driving the equipment up there, we opted to only take the essentials. This included our cameras, tripods, personal laptops, and some LED lighting. No switcher, no LCD monitors (except on the cameras), no audio mixer, no intercom...you get the idea. So we had six cameras with no way to communicate other than hand motions.

Now that I've set the stage, let me get to answering Nick's question. I had purchased a PreSonus Firepod (now called the FireStudio, I believe). It consists of a 1 rack-unit frame with 8 mic/line inputs that outputs through a Firewire connection into your computer, where you can capture all 8 channels (if your hardware is fast enough) into the audio production software of your choice. We originally were going to use Soundtrack Pro, part of the Final Cut Studio suite. However, we could not get it to work. Unfortunately, this had been the plan since before we headed up there, so we had no backup. After doing some research during setup week, I discovered that GarageBand would multi-track, but only with the latest version. I had to go buy the iLife bundle to get the new GarageBand to work and once it was configured, I was multi-tracking in no time.

I should mention the signal flow for those of you wondering what it looked like. Our mic situation wasn't that complicated. We had two mics (one handheld and one headset), but we also had a stereo CD signal that had to get split into discrete channels. We did remember to take our XLR splitters with us (passive) and we split off the channels prior to the FOH (front of house) audio mixer. This way we would get a clean feed; the CD player was run to us from an Insert, I believe (that or a Tape Out). Because we were tight on budget for this particular series (travel to Alaska is NOT cheap!), I was performing the duties for three people during production. I was multi-tracking the sound (recording multiple channels of audio), running the lights (from the same laptop!), and running one of the cameras. Fortunately, the camera did not require much attention as it was decided that it would be a lock-off shot (unless Win ran that one...I don't remember-Win, do you?).

Anyway, once the audio was recorded, it was saved, by GarageBand in a deceptive "single file." In other words, I didn't have a list of my recorded tracks. I was freaking out until I discovered that GarageBand creates this file as a reference, but if you right+click on the file, you have an option to "Reveal Package Contents," and once that is selected, your files appear like magic. :)

I created a folder with those files inside for each presentation and once we were finished, the tapes were collected from the cameras and once we got home, the huge job of editing began. Imagine...six cameras x 8 programs=48 tapes total. This was also the only program we recorded in SD (standard definition). It seemed counter-intuitive to create MORE work for ourselves by recording to HDV and then having to go through the hassle of dealing with HDV on capture. Even in SD, we were dealing with somewhere around 630GB of data needed in order to store all the raw video! Feel free to browse back to the blog post in April to see images from this event in Anchorage!

The point of this story is that there are always more ways than you might think of getting something done and just because you either can't afford to do it the right way or don't know how, it can get done. A further note, though-when you're thinking of "McGuyver-ing" something-make sure safety won't be a factor. When you're hanging things over people's heads (like lighting or other potentially fatal equipment), there is NO WORK-AROUND for the right way. You can either spend the money to have it done properly, or spend potentially millions of dollars in lawsuits for shoddy and inadequate installation work that was done to save a couple thousand dollars. You do the math.

Eugene Momentum

2009-09-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

Who's Paying Attention?

2009-09-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's YOUR turn to come up with a topic! I want to know what my audience is looking for, so hit me with your questions, topic ideas, suggestions, comments, concerns, critiques, etc.

Maybe I'm too lazy to think up a topic this week, but I'd also like to know who is actually reading my blog, so if you're reading this, please be kind enough to leave a comment-even if it's just your name. That will help me get a feel for my audience and what you guys (and gals) are looking for.

Thank ya' kindly!

Tim

Planning Ahead

2009-08-31T10:43:00.001-07:00

There comes a time in any ministry where you have to upgrade the equipment, or implement a training rotation, or make some kind of change that will require planning.

All I can say is that it is extremely beneficial to start the habit of planning ahead. Preparing for an upgrade to an A/V/L system is no trip to the beach. You have to plan, literally, for every wire, every cable, every input and output-it can be quite daunting.

I've been wanting to post this image for a while, but haven't had the opportunity to yet. Above is an example of a system diagram I created (in Photoshop, for those who are curious) for my church's high definition video system (it doesn't exist yet, but we're getting there).

While I haven't accounted for EVERY wire, it's a good roadmap showing me all the important pieces that will need to be connected. Yeah, it took me a few hours to put this together, but it will be worth it when we get to the install phase of the upgrade. I can reference this over and over again. The alternative would be trying to figure it out on the fly, and I would ultimately waste time in the install, thus keeping our ministry "off-air" for longer because I failed to remember a few wires, or I didn't connect things in a certain way.

So, anyway, feel free to download the image, or I have PDF and JPEG versions of it, as well, if you'd like a higher quality version-just email me.

Mac or PC?

2009-08-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking already-he's just opened a can of worms. I admit, that yes, I have, but I encourage you, no matter which side of the debate you fall on, to be open-minded.

It has long been known that if you want to work in graphics- and video-related industries, you would probably be working on a Mac. Everything else was run just fine on Windows. And I've heard, and participated, in the endless discussions of which operating system is best and why.

"Mac OS addresses the system hardware more efficiently."
"PC components are more readily available."
"Mac OS is more stable."
"Windows is more widely supported. "

Around and around it goes.

The truth is this: every piece of equipment you choose to use is part of a toolbox. Some tools are better fit for certain jobs than others. If you find that you work best on a PC running Premiere CS4, far be it from me to try and "win" you over to using Final Cut Pro on a Mac! When I setup and run lights, I use both platforms...depending on what laptop is available. Yes, I prefer the Mac OS and hardware, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to use a Windows machine.

I have found that it's beneficial to understand BOTH sides so that I can remain as flexible as possible. Limiting myself to either Mac or PC is about a logical as limiting yourself to learning addition in mathematics, but not progressing any further-it just doesn't make sense.

So I encourage you PC users to go down to your local Best Buy or Mac-friendly retailer and play around. Find someone you know who is in the industry that uses a Mac and Final Cut Pro and sit down and play around with the system.

And Mac users, do the same with PCs. Sit down and play around with Premiere, Sony Vegas, SpeedEdit...and, if you must, Avid. I draw the line with Avid, but that's a personal preference of mine, so feel free to explore it for yourselves.

Let's focus on working together instead of focusing on which system is better, etc. After all, nothing man creates is perfect as it was built by a fallen race. So get over it. Besides...everyone knows that Mac is better anyway. Hahaha! Sorry, I had to say it just once!

Connections

2009-08-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last week, we talked about workflow-this week, let's talk about connections. As in, how you hook all that equipment together.

You may have been to larger churches, and noticed they had a pretty clean installation, a few cables were visible, but nothing too messy, right?

If you're like me and go back to your church and look at your installation, you probably have a spaghetti mess of cabling, right? Don't be discouraged! This is normal! In fact, those churches you visited also have a mess of cabling...the difference is they hid it all!

The simple truth is that it takes a LOT of cables to transport all the audio and video signals from their sources to all of their destinations. For example, at my church, we installed a video system in 2000 that ran on S-Video cabling. We have an 8x8 S-Video router with stereo audio. So, I can have 8 separate inputs that I can "route" to 8 separate outputs, with stereo audio. Assuming I have all inputs and outputs connected, I would be looking at a minimum of 32 separate cables. How?

Well, I have 8 S-Video cables going into the inputs, I have another 8 S-Video cables connected to the outputs. I have 8 stereo audio RCA cables connected to inputs, and another 8 stereo audio RCA cables connected to the outputs. 8x4=32...and that's for ONE piece of equipment!

When you add everything up, you'll probably come into the neighborhood of 100-200 separate cables, which is fine, but you need to know how to run them so you're not having bundles and bundles of exposed cables. If you have questions about that, I can give you ideas, but we're already off-topic.

Ok, so connections. First, video connections:

Analog:

Composite: This is by far the most common type of video connection I've seen around-usually identified by the color yellow on an RCA cable. Two plug types can be used for composite cables: RCA/Phono (a single male plug, usually round, extending from a round sleeve), or the BNC (a twist-lock connector with a very small single pin extending from a locking sleeve...the female end has a long hollow sleeve with two small posts that the male connector slides over, twists, and locks to). Composite is also known as "video soup," due to the color and brightness information being carried over the same conductor/wire.

S-Video: Also called Y/C, this cable has a four-pin connector and connects one way. A small plastic block extends inside the sleeve with the four small pins and carries luminance (brightness) and chrominance (color) information on two separate conductors/wires.

Component: Also known as YPbPr or RGB, this cable looks deceptively like an RCA cable with audio, though you need to pay attention to the color coding. In truth, an RCA cable and Component cable are interchangeable, but you must remember to match the colors on both ends of the cable and know what kind of signal you're plugging into. Component is the highest quality analog connection I know of. The reason is that it separates Red, Green, and Blue onto separate conductors/wires. Brightness is carried on the Green conductor since the human eye is most sensitive to the color green.

Digital:

SDI: Short for Serial Digital Interface, this comes in two flavors, SD (Standard Definition) and HD (High Definition). A digital signal is simply an analog signal that has been converted into a stream of zeros and ones (hence the term 'digital'). A digital signal is also inherently resistant to interference, etc. The reason why this is goes over my head, but I'm sure you can find a broadcast engineer to explain it. :)

Fiber: This is similar to SDI, only that it runs digital signals over fiber-optic cable, instead of copper. A very high capacity connection, fiber is able to use light division multiplexing technology...essentially, equipment that is able to "slice" light into different wavelengths so more information can be carried on it...in short, an extremely efficient transmission medium. The reason we are seeing such high bandwidth Internet services becoming available is due to the installation of fiber-optic cables throughout the country...sometimes even to our doorstep. So, if you're planning to install for the future, I would highly recommend at least researching fiber equipment...it might be cheaper to install it now than to have either re-run cabling in conduit, or worse, rip up flooring and walls in order to get to your cabling.

Ok, now for audio:

Analog:

XLR: I'm honestly not sure what the acronym stands for (stereo left/right, maybe?), but this connection is the standard, the workhorse of the industry. Microphones and virtually every instrument and/or piece of audio equipment must use this connection at some point to connect to an audio system. It utilizes three wires (hot, neutral, ground-I think) and is a locking connection, so no accidental "unplugs." It's a fairly robust connection, though the wiring can get damaged fairly easily. It's a balanced input, meaning it can carry stereo signal (left and right).

1/4": Ok, I'm a bit lost when it comes to the venerable 1/4" connector. There are many different flavors, and I don't pretend to know them all. I know there is a TRS (Tip, Ring, Sleeve) designation on some 1/4" connectors, but I'm still not sure what purpose they serve (can someone fill me in?). But I DO know you can get them in mono or stereo configurations, and that will determine how you can use those cables and what you can plug them into. This is the connection that instruments use to connect to a sound system, and it's by and large an unbalanced connection, unless it's stereo (or TRS???). Seriously, I've no idea. hahaha

1/8": A little brother to the 1/4" connector, this would be your computer speakers/iPod connector, which has turned into quite a flexible connector of late. Capable of running three separate signals over this little connector (even video!), it's much more than just an audio connection...but you'll need to understand how this connector fits into your system.

Digital:

Cat5: Ok, let's get the easiest out of the way first-you can convert your analog audio signals into digital signals to run over Cat5/6 cables (this is the stuff you use to connect a computer network together) for long distances. The advantages of this over using traditional mic snakes are a many, though I will only outline two of the biggest: form factor-a single cable can carry multiple channels (up to 96, I believe, depending on the audio spec). This saves you a lot of weight since the mic snakes of the past rely on three-conductor copper for every mic channel x how many feet of distance you have (let's estimate a 100 ft. snake with 24 channels...that's close to if not over 100 lbs!). So, a HUGE savings in setup time, weight, space, etc. Ok, factor number 2: Interference: Cat5/6 is naturally resistant to interference (RF-radio frequency and power being the main culprits), which means that if you have a hum in your system or if you're picking up radio stations, replacing some of your copper with some Cat5/6 will at least begin eliminating where the interference is entering your system.

Toslink/Optical: This is similar to fiber, but transmits a red light that carries high-quality audio and is capable of some pretty impressive sound. :)

SPDIF and all others: Ok, this is where I start to lose it on the audio side, I'll admit, but a lot of these connections simply provide you with high-quality transport options so you get the highest quality sound you can.

Ok, next week-what does a system map look like?

Workflow

2009-08-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Great! You've gotten your new video system with your 4 HD cameras, your $20,000 HD switcher, your production audio board, and all the other components and you capture it into your computer...now what????

Assuming you have big plans to distribute your content widely (like the big boys do), you're going to be looking at the following needs...each and every week:
1 - 100Kb streaming video
1 - 300Kb streaming video
1 - 1Mb streaming video
1 - HD Master
1 - SD Master (properly formatted for 16:9 letterbox
1 - Audio MP3
1 - Master DVD (meaning additional time to compress to the .m2v and .ac3 codecs)
1 - Broadcast Master edited to the 58:30 broadcast hour or the 28:30 broadcast half-hour

That's a LOT of encoding! It's important to figure out how you are going to manage to do all of this in one week! Especially if you are an all-volunteer crew. This is where the importance of workflow comes in.

Consolidating your effort into a few simple steps can save you a world of hurt. Batch encoders like Compressor on the Mac (part of Final Cut Studio) allow you to batch encode, or to encode multiple files to multiple output formats/codecs. While the encoding process is still somewhat long and arduous, it's become a lot more efficient and if you have a multi-core Mac system, you can take advantage of every core using Apple's QMaster program located in System Preferences to speed up that encoding process.

Once you have your versions encoded, it's a matter of getting them into their final forms for delivery. For online, that means uploading (another time-inefficient step) so make sure you have plenty of upload bandwidth from your Internet provider. For DVDs, authoring the DVDs and so on and so forth. Storage for HD and SD masters (which SHOULD be full resolution masters) will be another item to consider. I would strongly recommend investing in a fairly spacious RAID storage solution for the immediate future until Blu-Ray discs, burners, and authoring software become more reasonably priced (probably sometime next year).

So, the lesson is to make sure you understand your workflow and be willing to compromise a bit in order to make it work.

Attitude-Part II

2009-08-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

I know I've written on this before, but without feedback, it's difficult to come up with original topics.

I was just working on a project that required a crack crew to work together to produce a very high-quality end product. Attitude from everyone was key on this project. If we had one person who wasn't willing to pitch in to help, it would bring the entire thing screeching to a halt.

One of the things I've learned is that your ego is only as big as you allow it to be. If you think you're too good for something, than you've automatically judged yourself to be better than the people who actually do that activity. If it's moving a table, cleaning a room after shooting is wrapped...whatever.

In this day in age, we have to be willing to help where it's needed. Be observant, volunteer yourself, offer your help when you think it might be needed, think ahead. I was able to see that my services were not needed after the lighting was done for the shoot today, and I knew that the location would be wrapped today, so I told the director I would go downstairs and begin to pack up and organize the cases and other equipment in order to speed tear-down and load out. We were let go early, but I would imagine this greatly aided the remaining crew in getting their equipment loaded out for transport.

If someone offers some advice, at least listen to it. If you close yourself off to suggestions, comments, and/or advice, you've effectively put yourself in a box and refused to even find the edges of that box...forget stepping out of it to see from someone else's perspective.

Anyway, be willing to listen, bring up your objections and/or thoughts of why not to do things their way and see what they say. You just might learn something. :)

Technology

2009-07-29T18:07:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be good to talk about the importance of at least attempting to stay up-to-date with new and emerging products and trends.

For church leaders, it's important to follow the pulse of the society that our churches exist in so that we can continue to be relevant to the people we are trying to reach. Blogging, Facebook, sermon mp3s and the like are yesterday's trends, yet so many churches are struggling to catch up to these fairly simple trends. What does the future hold? And how can we strive to make our worship services more experiential?

I'll be the first one to admit that it's nigh impossible to stay on top of everything-I've nearly gone crazy just trying to keep up with the changes in cameras in the last year! But I do subscribe to industry magazines and e-newsletters in order to keep as current as I can. My subscriptions (all free) include "Technologies for Worship," "DV," "Sound & Video Contractor," "Millimeter," and "Church Production" magazines, along with their corresponding e-newsletters. These allow a very quick glimpse at emerging technologies in manageable chunks.

Currently, I don't have time to read other people's blogs or to even research other blogs, but I know there are some good ones out there. To find some, you might write to the editor's of the magazines I mentioned above to see if they have any recommendations, or you can do your own research. If you find one you like, please drop me a line and let me know about it so I can subscribe and maybe in a spare minute or two can do some reading: tim@timatofilms.com

Gladstone Campmeeting 2009-Lighting

2009-07-19T16:14:00.000-07:00

A Job Well Done

2009-07-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you in production, you know how much work goes into the process. Planning, planning, planning, setup, change of plans causes the original setup to change, then production, strike, load-out, and on to the next project.

Something I've noticed inside of me is a tendency to get bitter that no one appreciates the amount of work that has to happen behind the scenes, and this attitude is SO contagious! So you've gotta be careful about what attitude you have and who you have it around.

But something else I've noticed is that when you pour your heart and soul into a project and sit back during production and watch it come off exactly or pretty close to how you planned is so rewarding and it makes it all worth it. And then the next project comes along and the grumbling and complaining begins again...but we all know we love what we do otherwise we wouldn't do it, right?

So, take satisfaction in a job well done, then move on! :)

Attitude

2009-07-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

So, I'm working on a fairly large lighting gig right now, just finishing the setup for a week and half run. However, to date, this has been the most complicated, stressful, and confusing environments that I've worked in. Forget Plan B, Plan C, etc. We've got to be on Plan TT by now!

Without going into the details, I wanted to make a quick point about attitude. If you don't have the ability to adapt to an ever-changing situation, I would suggest trying to learn that skill. It's much better for everyone in the end when people can be flexible (within reason). This doesn't mean that you race to go get the bucket truck at 3pm to change two lights for a program that starts at 4pm. There just isn't enough time. But if someone has a suggestion for changing how you focused your lights, or what lights you're using where, be willing to at least dialogue with them about why you did it that way and what advantages might be gained by doing it their way.

Remember, you're ALWAYS a student, so look for opportunities to grow and learn! It can save you from falling on your face because of your pride.

Stories from the Field: Temperament

2009-06-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Oh, the stories I could tell about this word! How do I choose just one?

Let me paint you a picture of the kind of environments you could potentially find yourself in; especially those of you in church media ministries that send out mission teams.

Imagine, you're in Kenya, in the bush in the southern part of the country. Electricity is 60 klicks (slang for kilometers) away, and with it all your support personnel and equipment.

Ok, so that's the environment, the space you're working in. Now, let's throw some complications into the mix:

You need to shoot inside a vehicle while it's moving, but we all know that your footage will likely make the viewer seasick and there's nothing you can do about it, right? Well...if you have your camera neckstrap, don't be worried! Attach your camera strap to your camera, take up about 6 inches of slack and "paste" one hand to the ceiling of the vehicle, allowing the camera to dangle by the strap in front of you. Make sure the camera is level front to back! What you have is a modified stabilization platform. You have eliminated the up and down motion of the camera! Now use your other hand to stabilize the lateral (left to right) movement of the camera and while it won't look like the aerial "Planet Earth" gyro-stabilized helicopter shots, it WILL look a lot better than trying to shoot using the normal handheld method which has you compensating for every bump in all 3 dimensions!

Now, another problem: You have edited together an amazing video in your hotel room (still in Kenya, say you're hotel is in Nairobi), and all you're missing is some voice-over (VO). Another problem-you don't have any mics with you other than your on-camera mic, which we all know picks up EVERYTHING!!!! How can you get a quality VO and have a finished video before you even get home? Well....

There are two methods I would recommend:

1. Use if you have a sofa with cusions in your room or access to one inside a relatively quiet place.

Take the cushions off of the sofa, place the camera on the sofa, facing you. Take two of the cushions and place on either side of the camera, on their ends (not flat). Place the third cushion on top of the other two cushions; lay this one flat. What you have should look like a post-and-lintel type construction (two pillars and a flat piece on the top). Next, grab the blanket off your bed and drape it over the entire assembly.

Now just crawl inside, draping the blanket over your body, hit record, and record your VO! Hey, I know it's not perfect, but it's better than hearing everything else in your room! And it's a better quality solution than option #2, but we're talking about you being in a pinch, right?

Note: This solution might have a tendency of sounding bass-heavy or "boomy." Be prepared to compensate for that with EQ inside your editing program. Also realize the importance of the proximity effect in audio recording (Google it).

2. Use this if you do NOT have access to a sofa.

This is actually a little easier-take the blanket off of your bed, drape it over a chair that you've placed your camera on. Get on your knees and hit record and do your VO! Again, I know it's not ideal, and you won't have nearly the amount of isolation as option 1 above, but it really does work in a pinch! I know it works because I've had to do it! And once you get music in there, no one will know the difference anyway. Again, be mindful of the proximity effect.

The point of telling these stories is that your temperament will play a HUGE part in your ability to come up with creative solutions to problems that WILL arise as you continue in this industry. This is not just limited to video, either, as I'm sure you all know. Keep a cool head, and check your ego at the door-take advice and suggestions, and don't discount other people's thoughts and/or ideas just because it goes against what you know-it's so crazy, it just might work!

And just so you know, I'm not perfect and I suffer from a poor attitude a lot of times. As Christian men and women, it's important to admit when you're wrong, own what you've said and/or done, and apologize. The world is hard enough without letting divisions come between us!

That's it! Until next week!

Lighting Basics-Safety

2009-06-22T22:43:00.001-07:00

Before we go any further, let's talk safety. Any time you are suspending, or "flying," equipment above people, you expose yourself to potential liability. A 5 lb. Par64 can might not seem to weigh that much, but when it falls from 20 ft., it has time to pick up quite a bit of momentum and can be lethal to anyone below.

For this reason, it's important to bring in a professional "rigger," or someone who is ETCP-certified. ETCP, or Entertainment Technician Certification Program, is the ONLY organization in the U.S. that certifies individuals in all aspects of permanent and temporary rigging. ETCP operates under the ESTA (Entertainment Services & Technology Assocation) organzation and provides "rigorous assessments for professional technicians. ETCP focuses on disciplines that directly affect the health and safety of crews, performers, and audiences." Near as I can tell, it is a prestigous certification to have, and you must qualify to even take the test. In order to qualify, you must have worked a certain amount of hours in the industry as a technician already (according to my math, it equates to around 3000 hours and/or some college degrees help count towards that requirement).

Imagine a touring concert, say Michael W. Smith. Let's say he's in the Staples Center in Los Angeles and he has a lighting rig that is also supporting LED screens, flying line arrays (suspended stacks of speakers), and a couple set elements that move around the set over the band during the show.

Now, suppose the rigger who set up that night was tired, lazy, or otherwise not doing his job properly and he forget to put in a shackle, or a span-set, or one of a hundred critical pieces of rigging hardware. The show is going great until an 800-lb. truss with four moving lights on it falls because of that missing piece. What do you think would happen? Nothing good, that's for sure.

You see how dangerous things get when you fly equipment? There is no room for error when rigging. I won't go into details of how to rig equipment, because I'm not a rigger. I'm interested in pursuing more knowledge and experience in this area, but it's not something I have in my head yet, so no advice. Besides, each application is different; what works for me in a certain situation may not work for you, which is why it's so important to know what you don't know, and find someone who does!

So, if there is ever a doubt in your mind about anything at all...DON'T!

Remember, if you have questions or topics you'd like discussed, please let me know!

Lighting Basics-Part 2

2009-06-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we've covered basic terminology, now we'll move on to basic lighting principles.

There are two main schools of thought when lighting subjects. The first is from a more theatrical and event-based mentality and dictates that you must light from the center, usually with a truss span or other mounting solution. This is to provide an even wash of light.

The second school of thought comes from somewhere else, probably more film-based, and dictates that you use lighting creatively to express emotion, tone, and atmosphere in order to help your audience be immersed in what they are watching.

I tend to fall into the second school. I prefer to light about 45-degrees off-center left and right, and about 40-45-degrees from level in the vertical (see diagrams below).

This allows for some "sculpting" of the subject's face to occur, but without shadows covering half their face. If you light from the central position and your subject turns 90-degrees left or right, half of their face will disappear in the shadow created by the front light. Proponents will state that you simply add light on the sides to "fill in" the shadows. I say, if you're going to light from the sides, why not just put all of your front light on the sides and create a more visually interesting yet still acceptable image? The logic doesn't compute for me, so I just light from the sides and it works out pretty well.

Now, with any lighting system, it's a VERY good idea to think about back light, also called hair light. The purpose of this lighting is to separate your subject from the background. There are differences of opinion in this regard, as well. Some people like using white light, some people like using colored light. I will tell you this, though-if you are planning on using white light, you will need to use close to the same amount of light from the back as from the front, otherwise it will never show. However, with using colored lighting, you can get away with much less wattage and your back light will still show up because it's not having to fight through all that white light with white light. Color shows up much better against white than white does. :) Kudos to you if you followed all that logic! I'm kinda confused myself right now.

Accent lighting is another area that a lot of churches are beginning to utilize. The most popular lighting devices used for accents are LEDs and moving lights, or movers. If you want examples of what can be done with these devices, see my first post on this blog from March, 2009. You will see pictures that chronicle pretty clearly what is possible. I just love LEDs and movers-they are so much fun to experiment with, and you can create some pretty spectacular effects with them.

That will do it for this week...again, if you have questions or comments please post them!

Lighting Basics-Part 1

2009-06-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

Lighting-it can be your best friend and your worst enemy. At times, it seems to have a mind of its own, taunting your knowledge. It is a constant challenge...and this is why it is my favorite area to focus on.

If you're like me, lighting is an area that you avoid because you don't understand how it works. I finally had to face it in college as part of the degree, and what I found is that once you understand some fundamental basics about light, it becomes a joy to work with...a joy tempered with frustration as you try and build on what you have learned before.

Without getting into the science of things, let's look at some of the basic terminology in lighting as it applies to the theatrical and venue-based systems:

Lamp: What some would call the bulb, it is the source of light in a lighting fixture. There are tungsten, halogen, fluorescent, LED, and many more. The most common that you would deal with in a church situation are the four I mentioned.

Fixture: The unit that houses the lamp and serves as the device that we are used to seeing hanging from a lighting rig.

Lighting Rig: A group of fixtures attached to the same mounting apparatus that provides illumination for a program. For example, you would have a stage rig that consists of fixtures that light the stage area from an overhead position.

Yoke: An arm, usually metal, that extends from the fixture that allows for mounting to an external support structure. Also used as a verb to describe how you are mounting a fixture (e.g. "You'll want to yoke that straight out to clear that rail.").

Par: A fixture that relies on a parabolic reflector to send light from the lamp down the barrel; a good general lighting fixture, it often lacks the control of the light beam that other fixtures employ.

Ellipsoidal: Similar to the par, but using a more efficient ellipsoidal reflector (hence, it's name), it often allows for "shaping" of the light beam through shutters installed in the barrel, allowing for precise positioning of the edges of the light beam. Also allows for "focusing" of the light beam, from soft to hard edges.

Mover: A fixture mounted on a yoke that allows rotation in the vertical and horizontal axes. Usually comes with other light beam modification options, such as color changing, "gobos," or patterns the light beam shines through to create a projected pattern, and others effects. These are some of the most expensive pieces of your lighting package. Always has its own dimmer, so you do not plug these into a dimmable circuit.

Dimmer: Conventional, or white, lighting fixtures, such as pars and ellipsoidals cannot dim up and down by themselves, so they must be attached to a device that alternates the electrical current being delivered to these fixtures. This device is called a dimmer, and usually consists of more than 1 dimmer per device. If a dimmer has four circuits, then you can plug four fixtures into that dimmer. There are exceptions that I will address later.

DMX: Digital Multiplex, the control protocol developed to control lighting devices. It was developed in order to provide a standard control protocol for all theatrical lighting manufacturers. Naturally resistant to interference due to the digital nature of the protocol, it can be run long distances, and is a very useful tool. Allows the operator 512 channels of control per "universe." For example, if you have 20 lights that you want to dim up and down, you will require 20 DMX channels to do so. For a standard RGB (Red, Green, Blue) LED (light emitting diode), you will require at least three DMX channels (Red-Dim, Green-Dim, Blue-Dim).

RDMX: A newer "amendment" to the DMX protocol, it allows remote control of RDMX-compatible equipment. Options like remote device management and remote DMX addressing are possible, depending on your equipment compatibility. It's even possible to receive status updates from your fixtures regarding temperature, lamp life, and more.

Universe: A full 512 channels of DMX. With lighting systems getting more and more complex, it has been discovered that often-times more than 512 channels of control are necessary, particularly if you're dealing with close to 100 moving lights, each requiring 16 DMX channels...or more. A DMX universe simply contains a full 512 channels of control and makes it easier to divide up where certain fixtures reside (Universe 1, Channel 56 vs. Universe 2, Channel 56). The same channel can be assigned in a different universe to a different fixture. It's quite ingenious!

Ok, so that covers some of the basic terminology. If I mention something that doesn't make sense, please, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to explain it.

Let's talk electricity. First, if you don't understand it, either learn or hire someone to do the electrical work for you. I know enough to be able to converse with electricians up to a point, after which I'm lost. Remember what I mentioned in one of my earliest posts-know what you don't know, and find someone who does. I personally have a healthy respect for electricity, and as such, don't mess with something I don't know about.

So, just some basic numbers for you for a 120v system (unfortunately, many lighting rigs require 240v service due to the sheer number of moving lights and other elements).

10amps=~1200watts
20amps=~2400watts

Therefore, if you have 6 575w ellipsoidal fixtures to put in and you want individual control over each fixture, you will need a dimmer with 6 10A circuits. You might thing that you could put two lights on one 10A circuit, because you would still be below the 1200 watts. However, you never want to fill your circuits all the way. You notice that I said it was around 1200 watts, not 1200 watts exactly. There are lot of other factors that go into this, but again, ask and electrician that is familiar with theatrical lighting (there are great resources available nationwide, just look up lighting rental facilities and ask to speak to someone about electrical needs).

Ok, so that concludes Part 1 of Lighting Basics. There is SO much more to lighting, this might take 3-4 posts just to cover the basics. Remember, you can have the same video system in many different facilities because the components in that system will always operate the same, without much thought to external influences. Audio and lighting systems must take many things into consideration at the facility itself, and hence why audio and lighting consultants have to create custom systems for every venue.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions I might answer, and feel free to pass this along!

Audio Systems: What's changed?

2009-06-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

There are undoubtedly some of you out there who are doing your best to keep current with the changes in the media ministry world, and one of the largest areas to undergo change are audio systems.

The norm is no longer made up of racks and racks of amplifiers, outboard processing units (i.e. compressors, equalizers, reverb generators, etc.), but smaller and more efficient digital devices.

Take a mixer: the overall look and functionality of the mixer has not changed all that much, but the feature-set you get with something like a Roland V-Mixer of Yamaha M7CL is a far cry from what you would expect from an analog Mackie.

You now have compressors, equalizers (EQ), limiters, gates, reverb and other effects available on each channel...standard! You can have libraries of effects you can call up on any channel at any time; you can save configuration presets so if you have traditional and contemporary services using the same system, you can simply call up a preset at a touch of a button. You can plug your laptop into the USB port on many mixers and adjust settings from the computer. Most units even have built-in recording options that let you plug in a thumb drive and record a stereo mix.

Technology is amazing, and that's just the advances in the sound mixers-what about the amplifiers and speaker systems that have control over Ethernet?!?!? I would love to meet some of the engineers who think this stuff up.

So what if you're a small to medium-size church that is looking to upgrade to a digital system? It's important, as mentioned before, to know what you don't know. For a small sanctuary with straigh walls and a fairly straightforward shape (rectangular with straight surfaces), you can probably spec out a good system without the need to go all digital (the benefits will not be fully realized in such a small space). However, if you do not have something as straightforward as mentioned above, I cannot stress the importance of bringing in at the very least a professional who can apply a professional's eye, ear, and mind to your needs. If you have the budget, also consider an acoustician who will model the space so as to understand the optimal speaker locations, how much coverage you will need, where dead spots are likely to occur, and all the little details that go into something people thought so simple at one point in time. Keep in mind this will cost a bit of money, but is it better to continue purchasing audio systems to try and solve a problem that spending the money one time would have fixed?

Microphones are another area of improvement that many people do not give much credit to. The basic argument I use is the question: Doesn't it stand to reason that with all the technological advances in so many areas in the past two decades (of my life, at least), that there would have been significant changes and improvements in the field of _____? Fill in the blank-there has been very few industries and areas that improvements have not been made, and in the field of microphones, this is also true. An EV mic from the late 80's will likely not sound as good in tone, and won't have the same pickup characteristics, as a Shure SM58 Beta, for example. Be willing to invest in newer technology in all areas of your sound system so as to eliminate weak links. Does it makes sense to purchase a new digital audio mixer, speaker system, and amplifiers, even a digital snake, if you're going to be using microphones from the 80's? Perhaps it does because you like the sound of those mics, but if the mics are falling apart, then your argument isn't a solid one...at least to me.

Finally, digital snakes. Audio snakes, for the unititiated, allow for several audio sources, such as microphones and instruments, to be connected to an audio mixer through a length of bundled wire that usually terminates in a stage box on one end (with XLRs and 1/4" receptacles) and XLRs and 1/4" plugs on the other (to connect to the back of your sound board).

Historically, these snakes have been heavy, ungainly, and were prone to breaks in the bundled cables by people walking over it, trying to bend it around a corner, etc. But, it was the only way to get numerous audio signals back to the audio mixer. Wireless did help in this regard for speaking and vocalists, but any sound person worth their salt will tell you they rely on a wire any time they can vs. wireless. It's cheaper and more reliable.

With the advent of digital snakes, this has all changed. Instead of having to roll up a 100 or 200 feet of heavy bundled cable, you simply need to roll up two lines of Ethernet cabling. The digital snake carries the same amount of audio channels that a big analog snake did, but over smaller, more inexpensive, and much lighter cable. Now yes, Cat5 cable is a bit less rugged, and thus they have tougher versions of it for touring and heavy use, but for installation, nothing could be simpler. Terminating Cat5 doesn't require solder and a solder gun, which makes repair much easier.

One of the biggest advantages that I like about Cat5 cable is that it naturally rejects interference from radio frequency (RF), as well as AC power. For this reason, it is also used to run video signals, but that's a separate blog post. :) This means that hums and radio stations you have in your sound system can be greatly reduced...IF the interference is coming through your snake. Remember, that any break in cable insulation on standard copper wiring turns that wire into an antenna, so switching to Cat5 may not be the panacea, the cure-all, you're hoping for, but it WILL help you eliminate where the interference is NOT coming from, which is a huge help in tracking that kind of thing down.

So, digital is here to stay, and more and more houses of worship are upgrading to digital equipment for the plethora of benefits the technology offers. Should you upgrade, too? That's a question for your tech team, the church, and God. Walk with Him in all decisions and he will never lead you astray.

Have a good week!

Proposals

2009-05-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Proposals come in many different shapes and forms. There are word processing programs that, in their newer releases, include templates for project proposals.

In order to prepare a proposal for your church's governing body, you need to ask yourself what it is you're trying to communicate. In the world of Audio/Video/Lighting, this usually means a laundry list of equipment, most of which the people in the church have never heard of. Despite your possibly being an expert in the field, you have to assume that the vast majority of your church membership hasn't a clue what a sync generator is, or what a "back porch" is on a waveform monitor. So explanations are needed.

I usually provide a number of documents, depending on what equipment I am specifying in the proposal. I will always have a spreadsheet, made in Excel, with exact line items, by phase (if appropriate), indicating unit pricing, quantity of units, and total cost for that line item. I will also include a Word document with images of the equipment, what the device is called, a paragraph describing what each device does, why it's needed, and how much it costs. There is also a Project Proposal document that outlines the purpose of the proposal, what the project aims to accomplish (or what needs it will address), and any contractual agreements that exist between myself and the client.

Now, depending on what kind of equipment I am specifying, there are additional documents that I also include:

For an audio and/or video project, I will include a diagram of how the system will be laid out, with images of the actual equipment and color-coded lines representing the different cable and signal types needed. This is time-consuming, yes, but for the end user, it's invaluable, and the more they understand of what is needed, why, and what to expect at the end of the project, the more they will buy into your proposal.

For a lighting project, I also create a diagram, but this time, it's as accurate a representation of the space as I can manage, from an overhead view, with lighting positions and fixtures, again color-coded, to indicate mounting positions.

These diagrams are useful in two ways:

1. It allows the client and/or church board to see exactly where each piece fits, and why it's important, thus educating them in the project, and creating ownership.

2. As a safeguard for me to make sure that I have all the equipment that is needed. For lighting, it helps me plan out lighting coverage, lighting zones, and all the small details that come in the realm of lighting.

And don't forget to ask yourself what all your ministry will want to do with an audio/video/lighting system. Are you going to purchase high definition equipment initially, or down the road? If you're going standard definition for now, make sure you have a clear upgrade path ahead of you, and a clear understanding that upgrades will need to happen in the future and set a timeline for that.

If you're going HD, will you need to down-convert that before displaying it somewhere? If you have a public access broadcast, do they accept HD content? If not, you'll have to figure a way to give them an SD recording.

If you're audio system will need to handle multi-track recording for later editing and mixdown, how do you accomplish that? What about feeding audio live into secondary rooms, like mother's rooms, the kitchen if you're having a meal after the service, etc.?

What will be the most demanding event at your church for your lighting system? Will you require moving lights, or just conventional white lighting? How much energy can your church save by switching to LED and higher-efficiency fixtures? In Oregon, a non-profit called The Energy Trust of Oregon provides cash incentives for building upgrades that conserve energy, including lighting, HVAC systems, and more.

Do your research and provide as much information, in easy to understand language, to the people in charge. Hope this has helped!

What if I'm from a small church...?

2009-05-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing we all know, it's that the larger your church is, the more money there is available to spread around. And there is a belief, though wrong, that small churches cannot have a media ministry because they can't afford it.

While it does make it more difficult, it's not impossible. Remember Philippians 4:13 - "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength."

If you feel that God is calling you to begin a media ministry, understand that it will likely consume a great deal of your time; first in learning what you don't know, then finding the right equipment to create a proper proposal, then convincing the church they need to buy into your proposal, then fundraising, constantly re-evaluating changing products as you wait for the money to come in, and finally, purchasing, installing, and running the equipment.

It will be a LOT easier if you are able to convince your church board to give broad support to this ministry, including, but not limited to, actual funds from the general budget to help bolster the fundraising efforts. Something like a matching program, where the church will match every dollar given in support of this project. While this might be a pipe dream (I'm working on such a proposal right now), you never know what they will say until you ask. And if you don't get that broad support but still feel the leading of God, then keep going...he'll take care of you.

If you just can't manage to get the support of the church, take heart. Patience is indeed a virtue, and if you are willing to wait for the good stuff, then focus on actively approaching people individually and request a one-time or ongoing financial contribution to your project. Don't be afraid of getting up front and pleading your case. In fact, the more you do it, the more exposure you get, and the more likely you'll reach your goal. Of course, people may just give money to the cause in order to shut you up, but the end result is the same, right? hehehe Ok, ok, that might be a LITTLE extreme, but if you want to do this, understand that it will require action on your part-it's not fair to expect God to bring you $80,000 to go buy a new video system.

A final note: know what you don't know. Don't have such a large head to assume you know it all. Know what you know and know what you don't know. If you know that you don't know anything about video switchers, then either find someone who does or teach yourself. Don't operate under the premise that you're knowledgeable in an area that you are not. Bad things can happen very quickly when people do that. Equipment is purchased that doesn't fill the need, or is overkill for the needs. Quality equipment is not purchased because the proper research did not go into finding out whether or not that $800 video switcher was worth anything and was durable enough to last in an environment of volunteers.

So, know what you don't know and go find someone who does know what you don't know and ask them to teach you. :)

Video Components

2009-05-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

One of the first considerations you should think about is whether or not you are willing to put in the time, energy, sweat, and yes, even blood, to launch this ministry. Too often, people think they know what will be required and quickly burn out due to not doing their research.

Visit other churches that have an active video ministry...and those that don't. Learn what is involved in accomplishing what you want to accomplish. Yes, you will need to sit down and write out what it is you want to accomplish with this video ministry.

Do you want to just provide a live video signal to video screens throughout the facility? Do you want to create DVDs for shut-ins and other individuals who either can't get to church or would like a copy of a particular worship service? Do you want to take the time to edit your program into either a 58:30 or 28:30 form factor to broadcast at your local public access station? How about live streaming, 24/7 video on demand, or 24/7 linear streaming? Do you want to do all of these?

Write out what you want to do and then visit churches that are doing something similar so you can learn from their journey.

Regardless of what you are trying to accomplish, there are several basic video components you will need in order to get video from one point to another point. In fact, I would estimate that 75% of what you need to know in order to launch a video ministry is simply how to get a particular signal from one point to another point. This includes knowing signal types (analog vs. digital, composite, component, SDI, DVI, VGA, HDMI, etc.), connector types ("F" connector, coax, BNC, RCA/Phono, etc.) and cable types (Cat5, RG59, RG6, etc.).

Basic components are as follows:

Video Cameras:
This should be self-explanatory, but you will need something that can acquire the video image initially.

Cabling:
This will allow you to run your video signal from the camera to other equipment.

Video Switcher:
This device allows you to connect video sources (e.g. cameras, DVD players, etc.) and switch between them. There are a myriad of these switchers on the market, but what separates the low-end devices from the high-end, among other things, is the ability to lock into a timing/reference signal, referred to as "Genlock." Instead of taking the time to explain it here, Google it! It's best that you learn how to research things sooner than later. Besides, if I told you everything, I'd be out of work! :)

Video Recorder:
Most systems will include some sort of video recording device. This could be a DVD Recording Deck, a VCR, a unit that uses a digital video cassette (DVCAM, DVCPro, etc.), solid-state media (the new AJA KiPRO, Firestore, etc.), or straight into a computer using a protocol called Firewire/IEEE 1394 (Sony calls it i.Link) or some Input/Output device (AJA Kona 3, Blackmagic Design Multibridge, etc.).

This device allows you to have a "Master" recording that you can then archive, use for editing, or simply record over (not recommended!).

Master Sync Generator:
A lot of video switchers and higher-end live video production equipment will require a signal that locks all the equipment together (remember Genlock?). This device provides that signal.

Now, depending on what you want to do, the list of equipment below may or may not apply to you.

If you are planning to distribute a video signal to a number of screens around the facility (not to the sanctuary, though), then you will need to decide if you're delivering standard definition or high definition video material, or if you will be sending a computer signal, as most LCD TVs are now capable of displaying either video or computer signals. Either way, you will need to research equipment to make that happen.

If you are planning to distribute to sanctuary screens, you will need to consider delay as part of your system. Every time the video signal passes through a device (switchers usually introduce the most delay), there is a small delay that is introduced. Assuming that you are simply cutting or dissolving between your cameras, you can expect a minimum 1 frame delay. That's not usually a problem since there are 30 frames in a second, but if you're manipulating that video signal, such as adding graphical overlays, and using transitions such as 3D rotating boxes, etc., the potential for a longer delay increases. Delay is a big deal because the video the congregation is seeing and the audio they are hearing are passing through two completely different systems. If the video doesn't sync to the audio, there's going to be some really annoyed people. It can have the effect of watching a dubbed movie if you have a particularly long delay. You will want to talk to a knowledgeable professional in the closest large metropolitan area to you.

If you're planning on delivering DVDs to shut-ins or taking your program to a local public access station, then you will need to have some sort of solution for editing your video material and outputting it to DVD and/or a format your access station will accept.

I'm a Mac user myself, so I am a big proponent of Final Cut Pro. However, I'm not so far down that path that I don't realize not everyone is a fan of the Mac. It's really a tool box, and if you like PCs and prefer to stay on that platform, then you will be just fine using Adobe Premiere Pro, Sony Vegas, or any of a host of other editing platforms. Keep in mind that, as with everything else, do your research. A lot of the software developers will allow you to download or obtain a free demo of their software that will allow you to familiarize yourself with their workflow. Google the product and look for reviews, and definitely look for problems people are having. Utilize the articles at Technologies for Worship magazine (www.tfwm.com) and the articles and user comments at Church Production Magazine's website (www.churchproduction.com). Teach yourself and don't be afraid to ask questions. Remember, know what you don't know.

Finally, remember that you should not be the only person who takes this on. If you don't have a team in place, wait until you do. Trust me, having run a video ministry for going on 9 years now, it's NOT something you should do by yourself. It's an incredible opportunity to build a great team, and to learn each other's stories and become family. It's a lot of fun, a lot of pain, and an incredible amount of frustration, but if you feel called by God to start a video ministry, then go for it. But I encourage you to continue to stay close to Him at all times, and to take the initiative in making it happen.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

Where do I start?

2009-05-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this is a familiar feeling when you're looking at upgrading your audio, video, and/or lighting systems at your church. Without formal training, it can be quite daunting.

You have to balance your real job with the duties that you have taken on as a volunteer. Teaching yourself all the ins and outs of audio, video, and lighting systems can be exhausting, and you don't know where to begin your research. So you start thinking about bringing in an professional to do all the work you don't have time to do. Unfortunately, these professionals often cost a lot of money and then you begin to feel guilty about not being a good steward, and on and on it goes, around and around.

I hope to provide a source of information and serve as a sounding board for ideas you might have regarding your church's A/V/L systems and help point you in the right direction.

So let's start with Lesson 1: Starting Your Research.

To begin your research, you need to establish a few things:

1.) Project Scope
How big is the project? What all is the church trying to accomplish with this project? Are you upgrading all three systems (audio, video, and lighting), or just one?

2.) Requirements
Work with the leadership at your church to create a list of what they are looking for in any upgrade and then do not stray outside of that list. If you find in your research that you can provide more for the same amount of money, always re-consult with the leadership so they can fully understand what they are to expect.

3.) What don't you know?
Too often, people who know a little tackle a project that's too big for their current knowledge and they end up getting equipment that needs to be upgraded sooner than it should be because they were not humble enough to admit they didn't know something. Know what you don't know and find the resources in your area and/or region to get the answers you need. Don't try and lone wolf it...especially if you are in over your head. That doesn't mean be afraid to take on a project, but have a solid understanding of your limitations.

4.) Find a sounding board
Even if you have a solid grasp of the systems you are working on, it never hurts to have someone who has been in the industry a little longer or a younger person who has a passion for this area and run your plan past these people. Many brains makes it a LOT easier to catch a potential problem before it blooms into a real situation. For example, if you have a solid grasp of your video system, but you get bogged down in your proposal-making and forget to include a sync generator, you could have a lot of problems down the road when your images from your cameras aren't in sync. Another advantage of having a sounding board is that they might know of a piece of equipment that you don't that will provide more features for less money. It doesn't hurt to run it by someone and if your pride is going to take a hit from doing that, then you already have a problem.

5.) Keep current
I know time is at a premium, but take advantage of the free trade magazine subscriptions out there. Technologies for Worship magazine offers free subscriptions to North American residents, Church Production magazine also provides free subscriptions. These can serve as amazing resources for keeping current on trends, equipment reviews, and what other churches are using to fill their A/V/L needs.

Now I have the distinct advantage of being self-employed and so I have a lot more free time (sometimes!) to keep current and I get around 6 or 7 trade magazines every month. It's a little taxing, but it allows me to keep fairly current in the A/V/L markets, as well as cinematography and film as that's another area I'm interested in.

There was a startling statistic I read a few months ago that stated the vast majority of churches will "upgrade" their media systems three times before spending the money to do it right. That's a LOT of wasted money! I also remember reading a definition of stewardship that defined it as "not how much money we save, but how much money we don't waste." In light of the aforementioned stat, I feel this definition is more than relevant.

I should mention that while the old adage "you get what you pay for" is still true, that doesn't mean you have to spend $100k on a new sound system. There are plenty of high quality systems out there that will provide what you need without costing you a fortune. Having said that, I feel I should also mention that if you are putting a $5000 analog sound system into a 1000-seat sanctuary, you're probably not going to have a lot of success in providing enough sound reinforcement to provide adequate coverage in that space, let alone enough headroom to have clear intelligibility.

So, I hope that has helped in some small way. Next week's subject will deal with video systems and the different components you should have. Of course, I'm always open for questions or suggestions for a topic.

My Work: Lighting

2009-03-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

This is where you can find all my lighting work samples. Enjoy!

Vancouver, Washington February 2009

Spokane, Washington October, 2008

Anchorage, Alaska January, 2008

Boise, Idaho October, 2007