Our Choir Mics - Audix 1280 and 1290

One thing that has come up with our choir microphone selection is that we have two different mics to choose from. The 1280 and 1290. Just by looking at them you can see the difference. The 1280 is more directional (uni) and the 1290 is a wider pattern (omni), but remember they are both Cardioid!! The 1290 is no longer made and the 1280 has come out with a Super Cardioid called the 1280-s. I think you will find more problems with the 1290 in keeping it away from feeding back. Probably better for recording and Choir usage, but be careful. I talked to Audix who did not hold the 1290 in high regard.

New Projection Computer

To all of you who have been putting off learning Media Shout 4.5 now is the time!! We have a new computer in place.

We will go over it more in depth on October 16th's training, so get familiar with it please. We are going to change some of the procedures so that everything for each week is resident on the hard drive. This way we should eliminate as many issues as possible.

Thanks for your patience in this.

Cry room audio discovered.

To all of you who helped me trace problems with the audio in the cry rooms Thank You!! Randy Carson came up with the final answer!! There are two fuses above the ceiling in the rooms. 250W 1.5A. Randy told me that a couple years ago they had the same problem and blew out the transformers on the speakers. That is now repaired.

The Amp that powers this is way over power for those speakers. They only handle 30 watts at the most. So, the amp should never be higher than 1/4 power, which doesn't show signal on the amp but gives you full spectrum in the rooms.

I have also relocated the amp to the storage shelf on the side where the label printer is. Cleaned up the 5 terminations and 4 splices to one leading into the Amp cleaning up any problems that might occur. Also, spare fuses are in the yellow tool box top cover.

At the Sound desk the distribution marked 'Cry Rooms' is correct and should also never go above 12:00.

Thanks to all those that gave me time and talent to trace and discover the problem. Randy gets the prize this time!!

Lighting is now updated.

We have now changed out all the bulbs in all the regular fixtures, refocused and aimed what we could. We also put in 12 new lights in the cove on the bar. There are only 11 working up there as one of the outlets is redundant to two other lights. Sometime we will need to add a "2fr" ('y' plug for the single fixture so both will come on at the same time) to the single fixture. We now know that this 40' lift works very well!! When we have training we will identify what each fixture is. Thanks to Paul Schmitt, Lee Teitsworth and Dave Fleth for help on the hang and Sam Bortel and Charles Darden for helping move pews. Thanks for the team effort.

Wireless Microphone update 8/24/10

We have had some microphones dropping out during service for no apparent reason. The frequencies have been set according to the stations around, according to the guidelines set for us. I asked Applied Audio to look into it. They did a sweep and found there are new stations broadcasting at frequencies not listed. Last week I changed all the frequencies again to match the new parameters. I think we were successful with no microphone issues. Let me know if you experience anything.

Also, SLX12 had been having some issues not seeing ANY microphone. Weeks ago I tried changing out the connectors to the antenna combiner with no luck. Today I took the unit apart and found bad antenna connections internally. A little solder and it's working as it should, so we are back to 12 microphones again.

Anytime you experience something out of the ordinary with anything (sound, lighting, projection or cameras) let me know so I can check it out.

New ETC Element Lighting Board

As of today at about noon we have a new lighting board! The ETC 'Element.' We only have about 30 channels in the church that we can use right now. We will be able to add LED's, moving lights, scrollers, scanners, up to 250 fixtures with this board. This is the smallest board they make with this type of control.

You can go to to view a tutorial on this product to get you up to speed. I think you will find it simple to catch on to.

Media Shout 4.5 has come out and loaded on our computers.

Yes, there is a 4.5. Why? Mostly for the MAC users. This is the first time Media Shout has been available to them. There are some clock time outs in this one as well as some simple updates. When we change the presentation computer out for the new one we will have to use 4.5 so get some time looking at the videos. Ann had her first experience today with 4.5 and caught on quickly! So, in about 2 weeks we should have a new operating computer.