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All the time I was putting this blog series together, I was planning to bring up this topic.  It became even more obvious to me recently, when during the last two weekends I had people asking me this very question - What are all those people back there doing?

There are usually either only one person back in the AV area (on Saturdays), or three people (Sundays).  The big difference is the number of microphones in use.  On Saturdays, there are usually just two microphones, so in general one person who is familiar with all the equipment can run the service.  However, on Sunday there are many more people involved, making it more of a necessity to have multiple people.  We originally hoped to cross-train everybody in the AV ministry on each station, but it didn't take long for the realization to sink in - that plan would not work.  So the decision was made that we would have individuals focus their energy on one of the three stations.

Here are what the three people back there on a Sunday take care of:

1. Mixer operator.  This person controls the audio mixing desk.  Most of the Sunday operations here are now automated.  A "playlist" is built during the week, by our Production Supervisor, that automatically turns various channel strips on/off and raises/lowers the faders automatically.  This allows them operator to run through the service by pressing one button to advance through each part of the service.  The mixer operator also start up the streaming service for those at home, makes sure to start/stop the recording of the streaming service, monitors Zoom muting (muting people as necessary), and watches for any Chat messages that come in.
2. Camera operator.  This individual controls the three cameras.  They can see all inputs into the video switching device on the multi-view monitor sitting in front of them, and control which camera to move, set up the shots prior to making changes, and operate the remote video switcher to move between camera shots.  We set up several pre-arranged shots as well, making the job a little easier.
3. Presentation operator.  This position controls what goes up on the LED screen behind the altar.  They use software called "ProPresenter" for this purpose.  Earlier in the week, our Production Supervisor receives a draft copy of the weekend order of service, and begins to build the worship graphics.  This is usually done at their home, then brought in and loaded from a USB drive.  They also update the weekly announcement loop as well.  By the end of the week, two "Shows" have been built and loaded into ProPresenter - one for Saturday and one for Sunday.  This is necessary as there are hymn lyrics on Sunday that are not needed for Saturday.  The Presentation Operator advances through the show file, and also makes the call as to when to display the worship graphics on the LED screen, and when to display the cameras.

The Production Supervisor is also usually present to assist as necessary, though not usually back in the AV stand on Sundays.  This person also usually sets up additional microphones as needed, and usually will tape down cords for safety - then break it all down once that service is done.

Our current crew:
Mixer Operations:  Steve Crowl, Laura Oldham, Hud Hamilton, Alan Fries, Roger Byler, Bryan Irvine
Camera Operations:  Ronda Hoss, James Lampe, Tony Wedeking, Roger Byler, Bryan Irvine
Presentation Operations:  Roger Byler, James Lampe, Bryan Irvine
Audiovisual crew Lead:  Roger Byler
Production Supervisor:  Bryan Irvine

-Bryan Irvine
Production Supervisor

So far in this series, we have covered our audio upgrades, and how we design and show presentations during services and other functions.  Today, I would like to speak about the cameras and their control system. 

Before our upgrades, we used older analog Standard Definition cameras.  One, by the water wall, was a fixed non-zoom camera, and the other was a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera - with a very limited zoom function - mounted right above the AV area.  Early on, during the discussion and design process, we decided we wanted to replace both old cameras, and preferably get them positioned for better viewing angles.  

The result was the three 30x High Definition (HD) Panasonic PTZ cameras.  We have three of these.  One is mounted in the rear directly over the double doors to the nave, and the other two are mounted to the concrete columns closest to the altar.  They provide great views and give the camera operator a lot of options to find the best view for a given situation.  If you watch closely during a service, you can see the various cameras moving around as the camera operator manipulates them to give them a better viewpoint.

The camera operator uses a Panasonic PTZ multi-camera controller to position each camera.  This controller allows the operator to select which camera to operate (it can control up to five), set the zoom level, adjust the focus and aperature level if necessary (not needed very often), and much more.  We also have several pre-defined "scenes" set up that allow the operator to move to a give preset without any hard work, which comes in very handy!

So, how does the operator know what the view will be, or see the changes they are making?  That is where the multi-view monitor comes into play (you can see it just below).  This monitor actually plugs into our video switcher, but gives real time feedback of the camera view as you make changes.  We have the ability to set one view as the active "feed" while having another camera in "preview" to make changes - allowing us to make a smooth transition.

So, how do they switch between the cameras that show up on the screen?  That is actually done by the video switcher, a BlackMagicDesing ATEM Television Studio HD device, but I'll bring that up in another blog.  What he have, to make our life much easier, is a sort of "remote control" for the video switcher.

This device is a Skaarhoj Airfly.  Although it looks really complicated, is is pretty simple to operate.  One row controls the Program feed, one row controls the Preview feed, and it allows the smooth transitions between the views.  We are exanding what we can do with this machine - for example, on Saturdays I use it to do greenscreen overlays that shows what scripture is being read - and we are looking at other things this gives us control over.  This remote also allows the Presentation operator to control what goes up on the LED screen behind the nave - either the feed going out to our livestream, or the graphics from the Worship Graphics computer.

When we were researching all our options, Mother Vicki chimed in that it would be good for the altar party to be able to see what was happening on the livestream or, sometimes, graphics that may be on the large screen behind the altar.  So we also installed a "confidence" monitor in the rear of the nave, over the double doors.  This is a 75" Vizeo flat panel LED TV that currently is configured to always show what is going out on our livestream.

Finally, we spent a considerable amount of time on the how best to present graphics in large scale format to everybody in the nave.  We discussed LED projectors, retractable screens vs. non-retractable screens, and LED screens.  After multiple discussions, we decided, based on the design of our worship space, that it was not truly feasible to install even an LED powered projector and screen.  It just would not be able to fight the power of the sun.  We instead decided on what is the most visible sign of all the upgrad work:  The Absen LED wall, located behind the altar.

The wall measures 6.75 feet tall by 12 feet long, and allows us to show the current active camera view or graphics from ProPresenter off the worship graphics computer.  We can also tie in a guest computer back in the AV area to show presentations from it - and can even have a guest bring in a computer that we can tie into the video switcher from a port behind the organ.  We are very happy with all these upgrades!

Bryan Irvine
Production Coordinator

It's been quite some time since a new blog entry has been uploaded, and I am really sorry about that!  I certainly want to keep this up and more to date and will try to do new entries more often.  If anybody would like to do an entry, please let me know!

ANYWHOO.......

I am going to do a blog series regarding our large audiovisual infrastructure update.  Perhaps the most visible sign to the those in the building is the 6.75 ft x 12 ft LED wall on the wall behind the altar.  However, there was a lot of stuff that was upgraded, including the "under the hood" stuff that makes the wall work.  However, I want to save the "Visual" part in the nave for another day.  Today I want to bring up the audio portion, providing a much clearer audio experience both in-house and in person.

There are a few "behind the scene" parts that have given us a LOT of room for expansion in the future - namely an Allen & Heath Stagebox.  If you look to the left of the organ you can see this box.  It gives us the ability to add an additional 16 microphones in the future, without having to upgrade to a bigger mixing console!

We have added two new boom microphones meant for choirs and have spent some time tuning them for their best performance.  

We have added a ceiling hung microphone that is meant to provide better organ broadcasting.  It also picks up some ambient noise from the room.

We also replaced the microphone at the podium with a much better model designed specifically for that purpose.  We were still a little unhappy with it's position, but fixed that with a better mounting system.

Some may have noticed that the priest and deacon now have boom style mics taped down on their face.  These are new Countryman mics.  The huge advantage of these is that they are in a fixed position, so no matter how they move their head, the mic is always in a fixed position relative to their mouth.  This makes them much clearer and easier to understand, and much easier to amplify!

With those new microphones came two new microphone "bodypack" wireless transmitters and receivers.  These are Shure QLXD14/84-G50 wireless systems, fairly new and impressive.  The receivers are back in the AV stand.  With the addition of these new mics, we now have 5 bodypack style wireless mics (our old Shure SLX1s) and one handheld wireless mic (our older Shure SLX2).  This gives us much greater flexibility when we need more than just two mics!

The most visible part of the audio upgrade is the new mixing desk or console.  We replaced our old analog mixer, limited to 16 channels, with a new digital mixing desk that can handle up to 40 channels, has digital "rack effects" (for example, we have added slight reverb on the streaming feed so the audio sounds more live and not so flat).    It also allows us to program "scenes" into the mixer.  Each scene will turn channels on/off and set the correct audio levels, which is saved.  This allows the mixer operator to just follow the order of service, move through the scenes with a push of one button on the mixer, and generally not have to worry if they turned a microphone on/off or forgot to raise or lower the fader level.  The new mixer is an Allen & Heath SQ5.  We also had an antenna manifold added to better pick up the wireless signals and route them properly to all the receivers.  Lastly, our AV contractor worked on better balancing the work done by the mixing desk and the amplifiers, to give us a much better degree of control over the final signal being fed to the speakers.

The person operating the mixer is also responsible for starting and stopping our live streaming.........but that is the topic of another blog!

Bryan Irvine
Production Coordinator
 

The pandemic has certainly changed the way we are worshiping.  For several weeks, we were only doing online worship with Zoom.  Towards the end of June, we began a limited amount of in-house services, but with continued presence via Zoom.  Like it or not, online worship availability is here to stay.

Many of us have looked for a way to provide this experience for at least the last several years.  There were always barriers - infrastructure, our network availability within the building, what platform to use, cost, and whether people would even bother using it.

The last factor went away quickly when, suddenly, we as a faith community were forced online.  Many people had their eyes opened up to this new way of reaching out.  For the first time, in a LONG time, many of our parish members who for whatever reason could not step foot in the building could suddenly participate again.  The dam burst open and we, as the Vestry, began to figure out how we could better facilitate the online experience.

My thanks to Jim Edwards, who partnered with me in working this process through.  We knew the obstacles and endeavored to eliminate them.

1. Infrastructure.  We have recorded services for many years with our current cameras and sound system.  However, what may have been great quality 10 years ago is certainly not today.  Plus, we just could not find a viable, affordable way of getting that audiovisual (AV) feed into the existing computer.  We decided to shop around for a better quality camera, and find a way to use our existing audio system to work with it.  More on the camera in a bit.  Jim got the laptop we now use, and we figured a way to get the signal to it.  Things were looking up.
2. Our current network configuration allowed a robust connection to allow the AV feed to go out.  That turned out to be a non-problem.
3. We decided to continue to use Zoom as our broadcast platform.  The parish is familiar with it, and it allows a larger number of users to login and view the services, as well as chat before and after.
4. Polls of the parish showed us that members of our parish wanted to continue having online viewing as an option.
5. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place once we figured out how to pipe the in-house audio feed into the Zoom platform.  

The new camera was put in place on August 1st.  After some discussion it was then moved a few feet to the west.  We started running Zoom tests using that camera about two weeks later.

Once we were happy with placement, all the cords were routed into a cable raceway and everything closed up to make the entire thing look neater.  

We have been using this new arrangement for the last six weeks and it works quite well.  Last month we switched Zoom to allow this new camera to broadcast at its full High Definition capability.  It's pretty easy to see from below when that change was made from standard to high definition.

We hope everybody is continuing to enjoy their online experience.

--Bryan Irvine, Junior Warden

Stewardship, stewardship, stewardship - it’s that time of year again! Do you ever think, “Can’t we skip it this year?”

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Maybe we could be one of those churches that require that 10% tithe up-front like a contract. Maybe we could be one of those churches that have audiences every week of 600 and more. Would it surprise you to know these Mega-churches like Lakewood in Houston have very sophisticated stewardship programs? These places plan it, preach it, teach it and study it!

I’m not suggesting that St. David’s be more like one of those places but I am convinced that stewardship is a way of life. All things come from God and we must take care of those gifts of life every day, and not just the last quarter of the year we designate as a time for the stewardship campaign.

We do that through our service to the various agencies we support and the ministries here in the church. We do that through our Eucharist and the healing we provide each other. Sooo let's hear that “S” word one more time!

This month's blog was from Steve Crowl
Steve chairs the Inreach Committee

You can watch Steve's Stewardship kick-off reflection by clicking HERE.