Sound control with the Db meter

When using the Db meter make sure you set it for 'A' weighting. This will give a truer level for us. 'C' weighting allows it to be more from the bass frequencies than 'A'. Also, try and keep the volume around 85 Db for every service.

New Year additions to lighting.

Actually, these were installed around Christmas but haven't had the time to put these in the Blog. Time was at a premium with all the activities and programs. Thanks to ALL of you for making a busy time of year fun!!

First off, we started building a second lighting universe. All this means is we have a new way to send DMX control where ever we want to run cable. We are now capable of sending signal up and around the balcony, down to the flower boxes and up to the speaker towers and on to the platform area. This is all done through this little splitter (see picture). This is upstairs and can feed up to 4 signal paths at the same time.

As I mentioned this run goes to the flower boxes to add 'up' lighting and color whenever needed for accents.  We have 2 panel LED-RGB fixtures in the boxes at this time which has added a whole new look to a place that has been hard to use.

Then, on top of the speakers we have added two Colorado LED - RGBW fixtures. These are Red, Green, Blue and White allowing us to get better yellows than the standard RGB so we can balance color with the regular lighting. We are using them for lighting the worship team and special coloring for some of our Christmas events. These will add a whole new look to services and more flexibility for youth events.

Last, but not least is the ability to program the main lighting in the sanctuary with our new panel at the A/V Booth. The 5 buttons we are used to can be programmed as our needs change. One thing to remember is it's only tied into the dimmer rack, so it only affects the main lighting and 12 Fixtures pointing to the platform from the cove. No other lighting can be touched with it. But, with the sliders we can now program a 'look' from the lighting board and put those into each slider. This way, for special events or services I can give control to someone for full lighting but not have to use the lighting board.

That's it for now. We keep adding things as they come up. Any questions let me know.

Wireless Microphone Dropouts

We've been experiencing a couple issues Sunday mornings with the wireless being flaky. The Worship Leader microphone is dropping out after the sermon sometimes and SLX 7,8 and 9 have shown frequencies when only one of the mics is on. I went in and tested them all. The Worship Leader mic I let scan itself and came up with a different frequency in the same group. That's been reset. I had no issues with SLX 7,8 and 9.

After talking with Shure and Applied Audio I have come to a decision. From now on, if you have a Blackberry it cannot be used in the booth. We are feeling that this might be the issue since we are only seeing it when the room is occupied. This does mean that even someone in the church around the booth or the microphone could effect the signal. Blackberries have been know to cause carrier issues and most of the microphones today have a block setup, but this is in the past year. Our microphones are older than that. In the future, as we replace microphones, we will eliminate that issue. For now we have to live with it.

New Front Projectors in the Sanctuary

We now have new Epson G5350 projectors installed. They both have standard zoom lenses and have been turned down to conserve the lamp life. (3000 hours) They cannot be adjusted from the remote as easily as the last projectors, which was the problem. They were too easy to change. Focus, zoom, lens shift both horizontal and vertical are manual at the projector. Hopefully never to change until we need them to. The images actually match on the screen!!

New Wireless Personal Monitors (IE's)

We have two new Personal Monitors, called by some people Inner Ears or 'IE's'. This goes along with Jason's that he uses and will be available for the vocalists to use instead of a wedge speaker. We have them all in a travel case so they will always be together and available. Cables are all labeled in the back so you don't have to search too hard for them. Check them out sometime as we start using them and get used to them.

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.