Worship AVL September-October 2020

AV LIGHTING SOUND REINFORCEMENT RECORDING STAGE SOUND BROADCAST

September–October 2020

September–October 2020

A LEAP OF FAITH

New premises for Faith Community Church

HOW TO DIRECT A LIVESTREAM

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO LIGHTING CONSOLES

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www.worshipavl.com

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CONTENTS

Issue 66

September–October 2020

NEWS STRIKE TO THE HEART St Matthew Catholic Church refits with L-Acoustics

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A NEW HOPE Waves supports streaming at New Hope Church

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ONE SOLUTION, TWO VENUES A single A&H console ties two venues at NBCS 7 IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTS InteRise chooses d&b for Pinelake Reservoir

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FULL FLEX Church of the Highlands turns to GLP

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THE NEXT ERA Outline upgrades Evangelical Holiness Church with Eidos

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DISASTER RECOVERY United City Church shines after quarantine

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SIMPLIFIED COMMS Seamless workflow at JPCC with Bolero beltpacks

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VOX POP dBTechnologies drives outdoor services at Vox Church

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PIPING OUT SOUND First Presbyterian Church fights unintelligible audio

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SKY HIGH Ayrton lights up the sky in Reykjavik

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PROJECTS COVER: FAITH COMMUNITY CHURCH Rutledge AV equips new auditorium

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SONIC UPGRADE Crossroads Community Church fitted with QSC arrays

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HYBRID SYSTEM Gateway Church seeks mono-stereo sound

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PERMANENT HOME Zion Living Streams converts industrial unit

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LOUD AND CLEAR d&b provides consistency at St Eugene’s Cathedral

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LEADER It is a privilege once again to bring you the latest edition of Worship AVL. Human beings may have quickly adapted to the new landscape of streaming, disinfectant, face masks, Zoom rooms and bubbles, but the need to leave our artificial cocoons has become largely overwhelming. No doubt, the experience of re-entering the sanctuary and not being shoulder to shoulder with your neighbour and unable to sing hymns is a strange sensation. Likewise, journalists continue to be thankful for today’s information technology that enables us to create content without necessarily having to change out of our pyjamas. However, it’s a diluted substitute for the real thing. Luckily, we’re blessed with visionary writers such as John Black, Gordon Moore, Frank Wells, Casey Hawkins and Bob Mentele who continue to contribute and enrich our editorial mix at a time when we need them more than ever before.

Just as the AV technicians and worship leaders have worked minor miracles to transmit the word of God to worshippers via smartphones and tablets, our contributors and readers provide us with the strength to continue publishing media for our readers. As much as the editorial team here wants to continue operating as before, we will be dictated by how worship practices evolve over the coming months. For this, we welcome your valued input.

Enjoy the read.

KNOWHOW WIRELESS MICROPHONES Multiple systems in high RF environments

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DIRECTING A LIVESTREAM How to broadcast a “live” service

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PROGRAMMING LIGHTING Tips and techniques for programming consoles

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MAINTENANCE Making a list and checking it twice

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TECHNOLOGY MICROPHONES FOR PODCASTING What makes a good podcasting mic?

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MEDIA SERVERS How media servers can enhance weekly or special services 40 LIGHTING CONSOLES The second part of Bob Mentele’s console guide

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BUYING GUIDE Tips on videowalls before taking the plunge

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PRODUCTS Equipment launches and updates

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THE TECH VIEW The Loop Lab’s Chris Hope “restores broken lives”

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Richard Lawn General manager Telephone: +44 (0)1892 676280

MEET THE TEAM Sue Gould:

Caroline Moss:

Simon Luckhurst:

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +44 1892 676280

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR sgould@worshipavl.com

10

14

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR cmoss@worshipavl.com

We're on social media

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sluckhurst@worshipavl.com

Adrian Baker:

Nick Smith:

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +44 1892 676280

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR

PRODUCTION MANAGER abaker@worshipavl.com

DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER nsmith@worshipavl.com

Chris Yardley:

Jessica Ubhi:

Carolyn Valliere:

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +44 1892 676280

T: +1 562 746 1790

VIDEO EDITOR

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR jubhi@worshipavl.com

cyardley@worshipavl.com

COVER: Faith Community Church CIRCULATION: circulation@worshipavl.com PRINTER: Times Printers Singapore PUBLISHED BY:

26

SENIOR REPORTER

Karen Wallace:

kwallace@worshipavl.com

IN THIS ISSUE

Email: rlawn@worshipavl.com

Blank Canvas (Publishing) Ltd, 17 Upper Grosvenor Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 2DU, United Kingdom

@ProAVLCentral

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All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the copyright owners.

@WorshipAVLMagazine September–October 2020 WORSHIP AVL 3

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NEWS

L-Acoustics strikes to the heart at St Matthew

St Matthew Catholic Church is home to a new L-Acoustics loudspeaker system USA The size, weight and performance of L-Acoustics Kiva II system has won the day at St Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1996, to accommodate its large and growing membership of more than 40,000 parishioners and 11,000 households, the church created a 2,200-seat, fan-shaped worship space for hosting over eight services each week. Having upgraded the sanctuary audio system in 2012 with a cluster design, a lightning strike in late 2019 signalled the requirement for a new setup.

Prior to the strike, the church’s production team had entered into discussions with local SI SES Integration to design a retrofit PA system that would provide

improved intelligibility, coverage and dependability. As a result, SES Integration recommended L-Acoustics’ Kiva II enclosure as the right choice for the Ballantyne neighbourhood Roman Catholic church.

“Size, weight and performance were the big wins for Kiva II,” commented SES integration director, Trey Blair.

Houses of worship make up 85% of their long-time L-Acoustics Certified Provider’s business. “Since we would be hanging arrays from the church’s wooden roof structure, we required a lightweight solution that gave us excellent vertical pattern control and the Kiva II was the clear solution for this. Plus, we had previously done multiple projects with the system

The three compact Kiva II arrays and were extremely familiar with its performance, so we knew from our experience that it would work well.”

Using Soundvision, Blair and his team created a new system design that featured a mono configuration of three Kiva II arrays – a central hang of seven enclosures flanked by twin arrays of six Kiva II. Solid low-end reinforcement for the sanctuary’s wide seating area is achieved by two

ground-based KS28 subs, concealed behind white scrims to the left and right of the stage. Front-fill is provided by two compact 5XT coaxials mounted into the faces of pulpits on either side of the stage, while a total of four more Kiva II with white finishes are flown over the acoustically shadowed rear left and right seating areas for delay. A single LA12X and three LA4X amplified controllers collectively power and process the entire system, which is now mixed on an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 mixing console.

In addition to being a parishioner at St Matthew for almost two decades, communications specialist and content director Jim Alvarez has also been on staff for six years. “I have known the SES Integration crew for several years, and I trust them 100%,” added Alvarez. “When I asked them to help us find the best solution for our sanctuary, I wanted every person to experience the absolutely clearest and crispest sound possible.

Our new system does everything that they told me it would. We have a large worship space, and the L-Acoustics loudspeakers perfectly fill the room.

Every person in every seat at every Mass gets a vibrant, clear and beautiful sound experience.”

o

www.l-acoustics.com www.stmatthewcatholic.org www.sesintegration.com

Dynatech and JTS cultivate an angelic atmosphere INDIA Music Home, a pro audio company based in Aizawl in the state of Mizoram, has recently completed an installation of Dynatech and JTS audio solutions at Presbyterian Church in Lawipu. Dynatech’s newest compact mixer – the UFX24 – along with the CS Series power amplifiers (CS-8001 and CS-6001) and JTS’ GM-5212 and GM-5218 gooseneck microphones feature in the upgrade.

Lalrin Fela from Music Home, who was part of the installation process, shared: “The management

Dynatech power amps at Presbyterian Church in Lawipu were seeking an efficient audio revamp for the premises. Keeping in mind their requirements for space, ease of use, performance and economic viability, we suggested the Dynatech UFX24

analogue mixer with the CS Series power amplifiers.”

The UFX24 is a compact mixer that doesn’t take up unnecessary space and is reportedly built for a trouble-free performance with minimal upkeep, whereas the CS-6001 and CS-8001 amps provide clean efficient power in an “appealing design”.

“As for the JTS microphones, the GM-5212 and GM-5218 gooseneck mics facilitate clear audio pickup,” continued Fela, “which translates beautifully through the

A JTS gooseneck microphone system. All in all, the clients are extremely happy, and so are we.” www.jts-europe.com www.sonotone.in/brands-dynatech

4 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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WORSHIP A

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NEWS

T

Waves gives new hope USA

Celebration Church upgrades with Martin Audio

As streaming continues to grow during the current health crisis, Newhope Church in Durham, North Carolina has been using a Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer and Waves plug-ins to keep services running.

“We’ve been broadcasting our services from our six campuses (Durham, Garner, Hillsborough, Wake Forest, Sanford and Kenya) for a while now but, since Covid-19, it’s become the most important thing we do on a weekly basis,” explained Dave

suite functioning as the LV1’s local I/O to transport audio to our studio monitors. We run 48 channels of Waves SuperRack at FOH, using a Midas Pro X console, with all I/Os being shared with the broadcast suite.”

On choosing the LV1 for streaming, Bookhout added: “We were already running SoundGrid through our Midas console at FOH, so adding LV1 for broadcast was a no-brainer. Also, the ability to run Waves plug-ins on every channel

Bookhout, director of creative arts and worship at Newhope Church.

“Sometimes we broadcast live using the eMotion LV1, and at other times we pre-record and then mix and master the broadcast using Logic, with all the same Waves plug-ins that we use on the LV1. Week in and week out, we use the Waves eMotion LV1 live mixer in our broadcast suite.”

The church uses four Dell TouchScreen monitors in its setup, while a DiGiGrid MGO optical MADI interface transports 128 channels between two MADI cards in the HOW’s Midas Neutron and the Waves SoundGrid network.

Bookhout also has a SoundGrid Extreme Server to handle the plug-in processing. “We have almost every Waves plug-in in our arsenal, and we are using many of them at any given time, so a powerful server is crucial. We also have a DiGiGrid IOC audio interface in our broadcast

as well as on the master gives us every tool needed to create an incredible mix. When broadcasting to Facebook and YouTube, mastering is ultra-important, and we are able to achieve great results that we were only able to hear previously when mastering in a DAW. “Adding eMotion LV1 into our streaming/broadcast workflow has greatly improved our mix quality,” concluded Bookhout. “When people tune in to our online broadcast, there is nothing more important than the mix. It doesn’t matter how good our video is – if the audio is sub-par, people will quickly leave and watch something else. Waves gives us every tool we need to build the best online streaming mix possible, which allows us to create incredible worship experiences, week in and week out.”

USA Celebration Church in Lakeville, Minnesota has received a new sound system designed by DP Design of Milwaukee after expressing a need for concert-level audio in its main auditorium. The new system is based on a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Mini (WPM) line array system.

“The church was built in the 1900s and is in the process of slowly upgrading for the first time since it was built,” said DP’s David Price.

“Now they’ve added a new PA, console and wireless, which is a big first step for them.”

The two main entrances of the church now feature CDD5TX-WRs on the exterior perimeter and Martin Audio’s C8.1T ceiling speakers in the tall lobby atrium. These were selected based on their narrow pattern and ability to throw more effectively below. C6.8Ts have been added in the restrooms, while Allen & Heath’s dLive console was also installed for FOH and wireless inears, driven by IP mixers controlling the mix busses. The rest of the band runs on an ME1 system.

Price commented: “Celebration is a very contemporary church with a large area, including a stage, built to be more of a theatrical performance venue that holds about 850 people. The basic shape is square and eventually curves out into a fan-shaped auditorium space.

We installed Martin Audio WPM based on its minimal impact on sightlines and its exceptional audio performance for mid-sized concerts, something they often do there.”

Eight WPM boxes per-side, powered

by Martin Audio’s iK81 amps, were fitted with one-box resolution to ensure maximum coverage for the audience area, along with four SX118 subs built into the stage.

“Celebration has contemporary worship music with electric bands and several vocalists for its services,” Price continued, “but they also wanted the system to be authentic for speech so we ended up installing one Martin Audio XD15 per-side for out-fills flown outside of the arrays because of the room’s width and fan shape.”

DP Design installed a CDD15 in the centre for the pastor’s mic and four front-fill CDD6s onstage for optimum coverage for congregants seated in front of the stage.

“The old PA was a large point source rig with a lot of phase coherence problems, dead spots and other issues,” noted Price. “The original subs were massive double 18s, ground-stacked on the extreme left and right, and there was just no smooth bass response.

“According to the staff, even the feel of the worship experience is different. They’ve never seen their people engage with the service so easily, coming up to the booth and saying they could finally hear what was happening,” he concluded. “It was a very rewarding experience for us as the integrator because the church was so happy with the end result.”

www.waves.com

www.martin-audio.com

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NEWS

Two venues, one solution AUSTRALIA Anchored on Allen & Heath’s dLive mixing system, Northern Beaches Christian School (NBCS) in Sydney has turned to production and installation specialist, Production

by Design (PxD), to complete an upgrade of its key performance and worship spaces. The school’s Marina Pryor Centre for the Performing Arts (MPC) and CITY indoor/outdoor meeting space each have the capacity for 800 students and host a varied programme of assemblies, worship services, musicals, concerts and celebrations.

“The MPC systems were designed in 2009 and the CITY systems in 2012,” explained Alan Schutz, the school’s general manager.

“Technology has forged ahead and some of our needs have changed since that time. There were major differences between the MPC and CITY infrastructures and gear, and the complex systems required significant manoeuvring and setup times. We required a long-term, costeffective solution that continues to be inspiring and ultra-flexible. Given students are users of the systems, all components have to be userfriendly.”

flexibility is enhanced by a selection of DX168 portable I/O expanders and an ME personal mixing system comprising an ME-U hub and six ME-500 personal mixers, all of which live in portable racks, ready to serve wherever needed.

Keating added: “Moving to dLive has given NBCS the flexibility it needed and has cut setup time for an end-of-year event from a day-anda-half for an eight-person student crew to just two hours for a single staff member. The enhanced audio quality is immediately noticeable too – even for basic assemblies – and dLive’s user-friendly interface allows the students to achieve outstanding results with the system.” www.allen-heath.com

AFTER THE SILENCE…

PxD project manager, Chad Keating, recommended the dLive system, installing DM32 MixRacks in both venues, fitted with Dante cards for integration with a Dante network carrying audio and video throughout the school. Everyday activities such as assemblies can be managed from iPads running the dLive MixPad app, or via GPIO connection to a Q-Sys system, which was chosen as the end user interface for basic room control across the campus.

For more complex events, NBCS invested in dLive S5000 and C1500 Surfaces that can be deployed in either venue, or used together to manage the largest shows, sharing the same DM32 over Allen & Heath’s gigaACE protocol. The system’s

TOGETHER, WE WILL RAISE THE ROOF

UNTIL THEN, PLEASE STAY #SAFEANDSOUND

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NEWS

d&b creates an immersive environment USA InteRise has chosen a d&b Soundscape setup for the Reservoir Campus of Mississippi’s Pinelake Church to solve issues created by the building’s low ceiling. Opened in 2003, the campus originally had a traditional, full choir and orchestra style of worship but this had transitioned to a more contemporary style in recent years. As a result, the weakness and age of the old sound system became evident and led Pinelake to contact Nashville-based InteRise and ask for guidance on designing and installing a new system that would reconnect the worship ministry to the congregation.

“There was a huge challenge with sightlines because the roof is so low relative to the size of the room and seating sections, so we had to come up with a solution that created quality audio coverage across the room but also did not obstruct the visual space,” said Philip Hagood, GM at InteRise. “We looked at a number of different manufacturers but, ultimately, d&b Soundscape rose to the top of our options because it checked so many boxes.”

Many of Pinelake’s other campuses and facilities have d&b sound systems so the church knew it had chosen a high-quality product to be installed by InteRise. Before the project began,

into the room in a way that creates an engaging and visceral experience, while also removing distractions created by traditional speaker systems, so the message is clear.

the InteRise team went onsite to take a 3D measurement of the space with a Leica BLK360 image lasering scanner in order to produce renderings that would show what the new sound system in the space would look like. The Soundscape system gives Pinelake the tools to mix the audio

“Soundscape in this application at Pinelake brings the benefit of being able to mix with space and size that’s compelling to the audience, while representing every seat in the house equally, which we refer to as objectbased mixing,” explained Nick Malgieri, d&b support team member. “This

allows the sound engineer to place objects in space and then the sound system re-renders these objects, so everyone hears the sound with proper localisation to where the performers are onstage.”

Pinelake has stayed consistent when deploying Yamaha consoles at each of their six campuses. To increase workflow efficiency while mixing, a Yamaha Rivage PM7 console was selected to drive the d&b Soundscape system as the higher channel and bus count allowed more flexibility while mixing the audio.

“With the new system, the band sounds amazing and the vocals are easy to understand. That’s so important in worship music to be able to hear the lyrics and sing along and the same thing is true for the message,” concluded Kevin Hoober, director of worship technology at Pinelake. “The Soundscape system gives us all of those things wrapped up together.” www.dbaudio.com

JBL fits the bill for Incheon Seongsan Methodist Church

KOREA TechDataPS was recently commissioned to equip Incheon Seongsan Methodist Church with a networked AV and control solution using Harman Professional products.

Previously named Hwajeong Church and founded in 1945, Incheon Seongsan Methodist Church consists of a chapel, training centre and parking structure. Previously using an audio system that was equipped for small events and speeches, the

church contracted TechDataPS to supply a higher power audio solution for hosting bigger productions.

“The previous system consisted of an ageing JBL SR 4733 main speaker as well as ceiling speakers that matched the colour of the walls and complemented the church’s aesthetics,” commented a TechDataPS spokesperson.

Without distracting the church’s interior design, TechDataPS installed

Intellivox HP-DS170 active beamshaping, self-powered column loudspeakers to provide intelligible audio and even distribution.

Complementing those enclosures, JBL AC16 and AC15 ultra-compact mounted cabinets extend the frequency range, while JBL CBT 50LA-1 Constant Beamwidth Technology (CBT) column speakers provide consistent vertical coverage.

Combining a contemporary curved design with flexible mounting options, additional JBL Control CRV architectural speakers reinforce speech and music intelligibility.

Powered by Crown CDi 4|300 amplifiers, the lower frequencies have been further enhanced with the addition of JBL SRX835P 15-inch three-way, bass-reflex systems.

Audio sources include AKG CHM99 hanging cardioid condensers, AKG GN50 E and CK31 acoustic modulars and WMS470 Vocal Set D5 vocal microphones. The inputs are routed to a Soundcraft Si Performer 2 mixing console and managed by

BSS BLU-100 processors. Ease-ofuse control has been added in the form of an AMX PR01-RX 8x8 HDMI matrix switcher, which is connected to a NetLinx NX-4200 integrated controller. Both the switcher and controller provide extensive network security features to provide a scalable platform for the future. With its quadcore processor, an AMX MT-1002 10.1-inch Modero G5 tabletop touchpanel serves as the main GUI. Real-time viewing can be accessed via the built-in web browser and document viewer.

“Since JBL speakers were already in place, we had no hesitation in selecting the new products that TechDataPS suggested,” added a spokesperson at Incheon Seongsan Methodist Church. “Apart from that, the AMX integrated control solution makes it very convenient to remotely adjust and fully control all AV devices by iPads from anywhere.”

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W fe h a …

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pro.harman.com www.tdpro.co.kr

#

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We want to personally reach out to all in our entertainment technology and production community as we face this unprecedented health challenge.

All of us – manufacturers, rental companies, venues, broadcasters, festival and event organisers, production managers, artists and of course our vast pool of highly talented individuals, designers, engineers and creative freelancers – to everyone working in all disciplines and across every each sector making this incredible industry go round – we offer our solidarity, strength, thoughts and positive energy.

together our strength will shine.

We are all facing an incredibly tough few months ahead. Cooperation, empathy, humanity and mutual respect should be paramount and in the true spirit of this great industry … please be kind and considerate to others.

When we come through, we will be stronger and more united, and our industry will be more dynamic than ever.

Josef Valchar

#togetherwearestronger

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Ladislav Petrek

Harry von den Stemmen

at the heart of our community

24/07/2020 12:29

NEWS

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Church of the Highlands turns to GLP USA GLP’s X4 Bar 20 has been selected as part of a major technological upgrade at Church of the Highlands’ Grants Mill broadcast campus in Alabama. Described as “a high impact worship environment that embraces the active use of technology to help create and support an exciting experience”, the church uses the latest lighting and visual technologies to support its services. E2i Design has been a partner with the church since 2012 but this latest project was over a year in the making, due to the HOW’s determination to select the very best fixtures and build flexibility into the already constructed facility.

“Ultimately, the technical and visual directors of the ministry wanted the ability to reconfigure their stage design any way they wanted without limitations,” explained E2i’s Josh

Holowicki. “This would allow for virtually unlimited possibilities. The style of the system we designed, which essentially is a portable rig in a permanent space, allows for just that. The X4 Bar 20s provide incredible punch for the stage. At this point, we have 18 units onstage with the hope of adding additional units in the future. They are used in a variety of ways to add the necessary visual pop to the stage designs – often incorporated into the LED videowall designs and used as an enhancement, as well as standalone lighting requirements.”

The technology will be used within the facility on most days, with the focus on weekend services and ministry special events. Meanwhile, the technical team are still coming to terms with its potential. “Certainly, once the system was put into place,

W m lar in ina Sh th au an

the organisation was able to begin realising unforeseen benefits, enabling them to open up their design concepts to further maximise

the potential it offers,” concluded Holowicki. www.glp.de

GMI goes remote AMERICAS Gospel Ministries International (GMI) has turned to Zixi to help ensure reliable and stable streams for its events that are streamed over the internet. GMI is a faith-based, volunteer-driven organisation that leverages technology to advance its mission work around the world.

As well as orphanage projects, educational and prison programmes, and evangelical and medical aviation services, GMI’s largest ministry is through a number of television and radio channels, broadcast in various languages. The programmes include children’s shows, music videos, healthy lifestyle and cooking programmes, documentaries and Biblical preaching. GMI also livestreams its events, including two regular monthly shows from the Spanish Network studio in Bolivia and up to three larger events per year from various locations in South, Central and North America.

“We often don’t have control over the location chosen for the events, as we go where we are invited by a church or ministry. Often, they prefer the event to be held on their property or choose a location that they can afford, which sometimes means that the event is held in remote locations or places with weak

A livestreamed event in Puerto Rico

A GMI event in Mexico internet connections. Because of this, we knew we had to find a very reliable and robust solution,” said Derek Solomon, systems engineer, GMI. “We wanted a solution that could ensure packet delivery of our main IP broadcast stream during live

events, and which also offered realtime feedback.”

GMI’s satellite service provider, MX1, was using Zixi to deliver the broadcast stream from GMI’s playout computer to MX1’s satellite uplink facility over public internet, so Solomon already knew that it worked well. “It made sense for us to test out Zixi, since MX1 was happy with it – and it turned out to be a perfect fit for our workflow,” he added. “All we need in order to broadcast a live event is a laptop computer loaded with our capture software and Zixi feeder. On the receiving end, we have installed Zixi broadcaster on

the same computer that we use to receive and manage our live input streams. It was very simple and very cost-effective, with no need to buy any extra hardware for either the sending or receiving side, which kept our travelling kit inventory down.”

Since the installation was completed, GMI has been enjoying the benefits of the system. “We have really pushed Zixi to the limit, with a number of live events located a distance outside the nearest city, streamed over some very weak, non-dedicated wireless, LTE and other poor connections.

Every time, Zixi has provided reliable packet delivery, as well as outstanding packet recovery and real-time feedback, with no or very little noticeable result to the viewers,” continued Solomon. “We can monitor the packet loss and recovery on a graph in real time and prepare to react to possible stream interruptions, and we can also inform the production team at the live location about the packet loss so that they can find and eliminate all non-essential bandwidth users before the stream gets interrupted.

It’s a very efficient way of working.” www.zixi.com

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Next era at Evangelical Holiness Church calls for new PA

bx_console Focusrite SC plug-in

KOREA With 1,500 seats for its 15,000 members, Jeonju-Paul Church is the largest Evangelical Holiness Church in South Korea. Coinciding with the inauguration of new Pastor Hyun-mo Shin, the church decided to upgrade the loudspeaker system in the main auditorium. Although its sermons and religious services demand high

onto a 100° (horizontal dispersion) waveguide, the 21kg weight of the Eidos makes it a powerful cabinet for its class. Positioned below the left- and right-hand side of the stage, a further pair of Outline LAB 15 subwoofers extend the lower frequencies down to 42Hz (±3dB).

The single, long-stroke 15-inch

PR ACT I CA L SO LUT I O N S TO R E A L PR O B LE M S

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Pastor Hyun-mo Shin (centre) with his wife Jeong-yang Lim (left) and CEO of Hebsiba Multimedia, Sung-hwna Oh (right) levels of intelligibility for the spoken word, amplification of the large choir and accompanying orchestra is also required.

Outline’s Seoul-based distributor Hebsiba Multimedia was commissioned to deploy an L-C-R system setup. Translating from a Greek term meaning “form”, “essence” or “type”, Eidos fittingly made its inauguration to mark this new chapter at the church. As such, the left and right hangs each comprise 12 Outline Eidos 265 line array elements together with a FlySub 15 enclosure. A further four Eidos 265 cabinets fulfil even coverage.

Comprising two 6.5-inch mid/ low-frequency transducers and a high-frequency compression driver with a 2.5-inch diaphragm loaded

WAVL Pg4-17 News.indd 11

loudspeaker is a hybrid waveguide indirect radiation subwoofer that can recover LF sound emission from the rear of its woofer.

T-Five Outline amplifiers power the system, while providing on-board DSP parameters. Each amplifier channel is capable of driving up to four Eidos 265s or two FlySub enclosures.

In addition, a number of Outline Vegas 10 and Vegas 12 point source enclosures can be deployed as stage monitors. During system setup, the Hebsida Multimedia technical team relied on OpenArray 3D software for sound prediction, coverage and weight distribution calculations. www.outline.it

Need a professional audio interface? – Start with the Red 16Line and get mastering-quality digital audio converters with Thunderbolt 3™, Pro Tools | HD DigiLink™, and Dante® connectivity; plus, digitally-controlled analogue surround monitoring, two remotely controllable mic pres, and the ability to create and control personal custom headphone mixes from your iPhone® or iPad®.

Need to add a headphone distribution system? – Add one or more RedNet AM2 stereo headphone and line output units to any Red interface via a Dante Audio-over-IP network and provide headphone mixes anywhere your facility requires with a single ethernet cable connection.

Need to record a vocal or instrument in another location within your facility? – Add a RedNet X2P 2x2 interface to your Dante Audio-over-IP network and get two remotely controllable mic preamps for mic, line or instrument level inputs, with independent level control of headphone and line outputs. Record high quality audio from anywhere in your facility via a network audio connection.

pro.focusrite.com

www.hebsiba.kr www.paulchurch.org

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NEWS

Tascam provides United City Church shines after hurricane vital link and quarantine

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USA Chauvet Professional has helped light up the rebuilt United City Church (UCC) in Humble, Texas following Harvey, the devastating Atlantic hurricane that struck in 2017. The storm left nearly 50cm of water lying in the 111-year-old sanctuary, formerly known as First Baptist Humble. Unfortunately, shortly after local integrator Stark Raving Solutions had installed the Chauvet Professional features,

fate intervened again with the coronavirus lockdown. However, after almost two months of livestreamed services, United City Church has welcomed limited groups of worshippers to its new sanctuary, following social distancing guidelines.

“The church wanted a completely fresh start in terms of the environment created in the sanctuary,” said Marcus Hammond from Stark Raving Solutions. “They wanted a really modern lighting package – lots of colour, movers and flexibility – so that’s what our team, led by Bret Hoskins, lead system designer for the UCC project, and Jason Lericos, SRS project manager, were able to provide them.”

Colour rendering effects and set pieces played a critical role in the church’s vision. The UCC team didn’t merely want to accent the stage with evocative colours, their goal was to transform the stage and the entire sanctuary in rich palettes of bold saturates and

soft pastels. A collection of 24 Rogue R2x Wash fixtures, spread out over an entire overhead grid and strategically positioned on the stage deck, are key to helping the church achieve the desired effect.

“With so many Rogue fixtures, it is easy for the church to get the range of looks it wants,” said Hammond. “We also used 10 Maverick MK2 Spots to create depth and texture on the stage.”

For added colour, the rig has two COLORado Solo Batten fixtures as well as eight COLORdash Batten Q12 and 18 COLORdash Par Hex12 IP units. Most of these fixtures are run on network distribution.

“We were limited on how many cables could physically go from the booth to the main lighting rack backstage, so the lighting system is mostly done with gateways/nodes all over,” said Hammond. “Hurricane Harvey flooded multiple conduits and broke things underground, so almost all I/O for AVL in the booth needs to run via two 2-inch conduits.

Lighting was impacted by forcing the design to use IP DMX protocol (sACN) everywhere, some via fibre and numerous managed network switches.”

Hurricane Harvey may have damaged the conduits, but the church has come all the way back, bigger, brighter and more colourful than ever.

Like all other Estonian houses of worship during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Church of the “Quick to Hearken” Icon of the Mother of God was physically closed to its congregants.

Consecrated by the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia in 2013, the church serves as a centre of Russian Orthodox religion and community for the Lasnamäe suburb in Tallinn.

However, systems integrator SG Install added streaming technology to ensure that daily services continued on the YouTube channel. Working in conjunction with Harman and Shure distributor EW Sound & Light OÜ, SG Install made a proposal to the church that would allow the services to continue, both during the quarantine period and into the future. Familiar with the church setup having installed the original sound system, EW Sound & Light proposed a Tascam VS-R264 as the streaming appliance.

“The reason for selecting the VSR264 was that Tascam is well-known for product quality and outstanding reliability,” commented Stanislav Sergejev of EW Sound & Light.

The audio setup consists of four sE4 condenser choir microphones together with two Shure VP83 condenser shotguns for the background and the reader, which are mixed separately.

In addition, the altar is served by a pair of Shure VP89M shotgun microphones, while two Shure wireless microphones and a Crown CM-31 miniature super-cardioid hanging microphone suspended in close proximity to the central gates round off the audio inputs.

The mixed microphone signals are routed to a BSS BLU-100 matrix DSP processor and wirelessly transmitted to a Shure PSM300

monitoring system. As a result of this wireless setup, the rack-mounted Tascam VS-R264 video streamer did not require additional cabling for connectivity. While a Panasonic HC-V770 camcorder currently serves as the main visual input, the church is planning an upgrade by adding a second camera with a compact Roland vision mixer.

The adoption of the RTMP protocol ensures that the simple-to-use VS-R264 can stream in full HD resolution (1920x1080p60) to YouTube.

Although recordings are currently not being made, the church is planning to utilise the VS-R264’s recording feature for more important church services, so that they can be edited and posted to the YouTube channel or the church website after the event. Within two days of the system going live, the new YouTube channel welcomed over 1,500 subscribers, which has since risen to nearly 1,900. www.ewsound.ee www.panagia.ee/index.php

www.chauvetprofessional.com

12 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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Simplified communications enhance operations at JPCC INDONESIA From humble beginnings attracting 10 young people for small prayer meetings, Jakarta Praise Community Church has grown exponentially over the past two decades. Since 2013, JPCC has hosted larger-scale contemporary services at Kota Kasablanka Mall in South Jakarta. As part of the Hillsong family, JPCC also serves under the synod of Jemaat Kristen Indonesia (JKI) and recently expanded its catchment to Tangerang City where it holds services in the larger Alam Sutera Hall.

JPCC Kota Kasablanka now stages services for up to 2,000 congregants.

Critical communications during the worship productions provoked JPCC to commission Ideal Systems Indonesia to integrate a digital intercom system for its growing requirements. The proposed design is based upon the Riedel Bolero wireless system, which incorporates an advanced DECT receiver with multi-diversity and anti-reflection technology. The combination of three intelligent

antennas and 26 Bolero beltpacks with two Network Stream Adapter (NSA) interfaces manage bidirectional signal conversion between analogue audio signals and AES67 digital audio over IP. Kota Kasablanka is made up of a main hall and a youth hall and the Bolero system can be applied separately or combined.

Serving as a marked improvement over the legacy analogue system, JPCC now benefits from a seamless workflow between the CCUs and

all the audio consoles. By adopting the NSA interfaces, the camera operators and audio team can now communicate with everyone on the system without any problems.

“JPCC’s requirements are fulfilled

by Bolero’s high-clarity voice codec that provides both higher speech intelligibility and a more efficient use of RF spectrum,” explains Ideal Systems AV sales manager, Indra Syahputra. “It supports twice the number of beltpacks per antenna for

the same bandwidth as other DECTbased systems.”

For each church service, the Bolero beltpacks are being used by four cameramen, two lighting operators, four sound engineers, three other operators, two service directors and a visual producer.

With six channels in one beltpack, JPCC has reported improved and simplified communications between the sub-groups and the whole team, resulting in easier and more efficient operations. All the channels and partylines can be defined by priority, allowing someone with a higher

priority role to talk to certain people or a group, without any interference from others. Another useful feature is the separate Reply button on the beltpack that serves as a shortcut reply to the last caller. www.idealsys.com www.jpcc.org www.riedel.net

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NEWS

Vox Church holds drive-in worship with dBTechnologies USA As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, New Haven, Connecticutbased Vox Church recently held three drive-in worship services using dBTechnologies’ DVA K5 active line arrays and SUB 18H powered subwoofers. A growing church with seven locations, Vox has standardised on these dBTechnologies models, using them for “load-in/load-out” ser vices in several locations to simplify the setup for large event configurations.

The drive-in system, used for all three services, consisted of left and right arrays of 11 DVA K5s and a 3x3 end-fire cardioid array of SUB 18H subwoofers. Vox Church FOH engineer, Eugene Mulcahy, relied upon dBTechnologies’ Composer software to design and optimise the DVA arrays. “I did everything Composer told me to do,” he commented. “The predictions were right on and we had good audio out to at least 60m.”

Vox Church crew with one of two DVA K5 active line arrays Mulcahy simplified FOH electronics by using the church’s digital mixer for processing, routing and EQ. “I had a Waves SuperRack, but the only thing we used was an API 2500 compressor,” he explained. Monitor engineer Justin Beardsley mixed the

band’s in-ear monitors from backstage and commented that the DVA K5 arrays did a great job of minimising rear spill onto the stage. “I was directly behind the arrays and did not have that flush of PA right on me or on the band,” Beardsley commented.

Based on the success of these drive-in services, Vox Church plans for more similar events. “These outdoor events for our church are going to become the norm,” furthered central production lead, Robert Roy Jr. “All the equipment is specified and prerigged with the array angles set in the shop. We know how to pack it on the truck, so moving from one location to another is simple – just ‘copy and paste’. All we had to do onsite is fly it. After the weekend, lead pastor Justin Kendricks came into our normal Tuesday meeting and simply said: ‘Our production team only knows one gear and that is awesome!’”

F u

ELLA brings good news SOUTH KOREA While the global events industry remains on hiatus due to Covid-19, some sectors are beginning to show green shoots of recovery from the crisis as TW AUDiO ELLA finds a home in numerous permanent installations around the world.

Two of the most recent examples can be found in South Korea,

www.dbtechnologies.com www.voxchurch.org

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Renkus-Heinz puts sound on the congregation CANADA The Fort Garry Mennonite Brethren Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba has turned to Renkus-Heinz to put sound where it’s wanted: on the congregation. “The church wanted a cutting-edge system, from audio to video,” said Myron Dyck of Golden West Sound Design, the integrator who installed the new AV system.

“What we installed encompasses everything from IP video distribution and projection, stage lighting and acoustical treatment, and the absolute best sound possible. So, that meant going with Renkus-Heinz.”

According to head pastor, Carl Heppner, the Fort Garry Mennonite Brethren Church is “a vibrant faith community where people of all ages and backgrounds can find a place to belong”. It is also a contemporary church known in the area for incorporating a full band into its services. The 300-seat, A-frame facility has, in the past, found it challenging to achieve consistent coverage from front to back. When

the church fills to capacity, that lack of coverage had been a huge detriment to the message being delivered.

To remedy this, Dyck turned to Renkus-Heinz’s ICLive X Series, which he believes brings flexibility to integrators and contractors seeking to improve sound in any space – no matter the size or shape. Two ICLive XL loudspeakers and two

ICLive X loudspeakers in matching arrays have been installed at the front of the hall.

“It was relatively easy to hang and install up against the ceiling using custom-made mounts, and we had perfect coverage immediately,” concluded Dyck. “Everyone is extremely happy with the end result.”

where two churches are now benefitting from the speech intelligibility and discreet small-scale design of ELLA as congregations return to services. Within both Chodae Methodist Church and the 100th Anniversary Memorial Church, two L-R hangs of five-per-side ELLA provide comprehensive coverage and the necessary audio quality. For low-end extension, Chodae Methodist Church is equipped with dual B15 subwoofers, while 100th Anniversary Memorial Church boasts two B14i installationspecific subwoofers. www.twaudio.de/en

www.renkus-heinz.com

www.ana

14 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

info@ana

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NEWS

First Presbyterian Church fights unintelligible audio USA First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, New York has turned to Ashly Audio to solve one of the most common challenges for houses of worship: a beautiful worship space featuring an ornate pipe organ was resulting in unintelligible audio. George Gleason, owner of George’s Pro Sound Company, has helped the church transform its audio performance into an experience as stunning as the building itself.

“A lot of traditional choices were eliminated immediately,” Gleason said. “The reality is they’d spent money on systems before, and they’d had some disappointing experiences. The pipe organ and the ornate space are beautiful and they didn’t want any acoustic treatment in the space that would diminish the beauty of its sound. Sightlines and the visual aesthetic were critical factors that needed to be part of any design we came up with. Basically, we were looking at how to work around a nearly 6s reverb in the

room without using the traditional ‘hanging clusters’ approach you’d take to that problem.”

Gleason and the church eventually decided on a design where multiple speakers are positioned on the backs of each pew. The result is controllable audio by specific zone – but that type of setup typically comes

with difficult challenges in installation and configuration. “That’s where Ashly came in,” Gleason added.

“Ashly made it so absolutely clean and simple to develop something that was really quite complicated.”

With three Ashly Audio PEMA 8250.70 amplifiers, Gleason was able to connect 177 TOA H1 70V

speakers and arrange them into 24 controllable zones. An Ashly WR2 controller is used for end user control of the system presets that allow instant reconfiguration of volumes and zoning for each unique type of service offered at the church.

“I thought I would need another mixer and a rack of EQ and processing, wire them together, then distribute it out to multichannel amplifiers,” Gleason contibued.

“But all I had to do was connect the speaker home runs to the Ashly components. I reused the existing microphones and connected them into the Ashly system. We then programmed the zone-specific routing, preamplification, delays, EQ and compression for each of the 24 zones right in the Protea software.

There’s so much power in Ashly’s Protea offerings, it just worked so easily to bring all 24 zones together as a system.” www.ashly.com

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NEWS

R

Ayrton lights up Reykjavik’s skyline

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ICELAND Icelandic full-service sales and rental company Exton has recently called on 12 Ayrton WildSun K25-TC LED fixtures to illuminate the façade of the Hallgrimskirkja Church in the centre of Reykjavik to mark the centenary of the Icelandic Midwives Community. At 75m tall, Hallgrimskirkja Church is the largest church in Iceland and one of the tallest buildings in the country. Its sweeping frontage and steeple dominate the skyline of the city, both with its height and its dramatic architecture. The design is the work of state architect, Guðjón Samúelsson, who was inspired by the crystalline

structures of the basalt rock that is so prevalent in this volcanic country. First commissioned in 1937, the edifice took 41 years to build with the iconic spire completed in 1974.

“The WildSun units were the only ones capable of covering such a large expanse at the required intensity,” said Erling Þorgrímson, Exton’s lighting designer. The WildSun K25-TCs were placed at ground level approximately 20m from the front of the church, from where they were able to wash the full length and breadth of the tower and wings with a brilliance that could be seen across the city.

    “The power of the WildSun K25-TC is unprecedented compared to other brands,” confirmed Exton’s technical sales manager, Vignir Hreinsson. “We were able to supply our clients with a fixture that delivers a massive amount of light with a zoom that no other brand can match. WildSun K25-TCs are

very specific fixtures with a defined kelvin colour temperature and we have also used them successfully in productions at our City Theater.

On all occasions, they have been extremely reliable and without any issues whatsoever.”

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Jericho Horns find sanctuary in Tennessee USA Located in Springfield, the South Haven Baptist Church has served as a community centre for a steadily growing congregation for over three decades. The campus expanded in 1997 to include a high school and a gym, before adding an elementary school and a daycare facility eight years later. When worshippers could no longer comfortably fit within the sanctuary, the church services relocated to the high-school gym for several years.

Fulfilling the temporary service requirements, Centerline AV designed and installed a Danley Sound Labs sound reinforcement system for the gym. Following the construction of a 1,000-seat sanctuary, South Haven Baptist Church called upon Centerline AV to design and install a new sound

reinforcement system in the worship space.

“South Haven Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church that holds services that are more on the traditional end of the spectrum,” explained Centerline AV principal,

Scott Oliver. “Where other Baptist churches would have a praise band, they have a full orchestra, a choir and a grand piano. The rectangularshaped sanctuary is wider than it is deep, but it is a big improvement over the gym that they had been using. There’s always an element of geometrical challenge when you try to put a speaker – which emits sound as a cone – in a rectangular room, but Danley’s excellent pattern control makes it a lot easier.”

Having been won over by the high-quality audio in the gym, a stereo pair of Danley J1-94 Jericho Horns were selected. Weighing in at 327kg and measuring 1.5m x 1.2m (HxW), the J1-94 is far from discreet and compact. However, for those who have heard the system, the dimensions appear small given the 148dB SPL it is capable of

continuously outputting. Having repurposed two Danley SH50 and two SH95 cabinets from the gym to serve as out-fills and choir monitors, respectively, Oliver optimised the two remaining SH50 cabinets in the gym. Powered by Crest Pro-LITE amplifiers, two Danley DSPs perform loudspeaker management functions.

“A lot of people think of Danley Jericho Horns as rock-and-roll boxes, but you should hear them with an orchestra and choir,” commented Oliver. “It’s wonderful and the system has headroom for days.” Expecting continued growth, the church included the potential to expand the sanctuary by extending its depth. However, this will require no change to the sound reinforcement system. “They could add another 60m without needing to change a thing. This Danley Jericho system is definitely the last sound system they’ll buy in my lifetime.”

Jason Royalty, director of music and communications at South Haven, added: “The visual impact is minor and much less than it would have been with line arrays, but the new system sounds phenomenal without subwoofers. We benefit from perfectly consistent sound from wall to wall and from front to back across the entire frequency range. It’s really like mixing on giant studio reference monitors.”

Ro HD

www.danleysoundlabs.com

16 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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PROJECTS

A leap of faith

A AV technical lead An Sen Soon mixing on the dLive S5000 control surface

Ministers scissor step around the LED wall when entering and exiting the stage

Wired and wireless Green-Go systems assist the BOH operators

Faith Community Church has made the transition from renting school premises to a purpose-built sanctuary with a modern AVL system. Richard Lawn reports IT TAKES MORE THAN CONCRETE, manpower and building materials to transition a Sunday service from a rented school hall space to a wholly owned church facility. Senior Pastor Benny Ho dreamed along with the growing congregation and they all dug deep so they could better serve the community in this purpose-built church located in a quiet suburb of southern Perth. As the founder of the Arrows College teaching ministry and D-Net Churches, Pastor Benny’s lifetime dedication to ministry is inspirational to others. In the lead up to the opportunity to re-envision a new space, the church’s AV team began to plan to meet the requirements that would allow them to fulfil the mission and vision of the church. One of the key members on the AV team was An Sen Soon.

“Having joined Faith Community Church as a child, I become a volunteer sound technician when I was 14,” comments Soon. “I’ve spent half of my life trying to learn what new technologies will improve our services. But it was only when we were building the new church here

Faith Community Church technicians An Sen Soon and Tom Zhao at FOH in Willetton that I realised we didn’t have the required skill sets internally to operate a more sophisticated AV system.” Soon decided to take a look at the other churches in western Australia to better understand a systems approach. “During that period, I met Thomas Chow from Riverview Church and I approached him to see if I could learn from him in the year prior to the building’s opening.”

Having led the team as head of production at Riverlife Church in

Singapore, Chow moved to Perth to lead production at Riverview Church for the next five years. In that time, he oversaw the rebuilding of their 1,100-seat auditorium, specifying the AV and acoustic requirements. The upgrade included Midas Pro3 and Allen & Heath dLive S7000 mixing consoles and a d&b audiotechnik V-Series loudspeaker system. “At the time when I was approached by An Sen, Faith was renting school premises and had decided to buy land to accommodate their growing

congregation,” Chow recalls. “An Sen and his colleagues were looking to Riverview for inspiration together with technical tips. While I was still working for Riverview, I was contracted by the building committee as their AV consultant to help specify their AV systems.”

Chow noted the differences in the style of worship that would need to be considered and addressed during the construction phase. Faith Community really enjoys corporate worship and a key aspect of this was to have a sense of the congregation singing together. With that in mind, the new auditorium was designed as a livelier room. PACT Construction and architect Chee Kin Wong ensured the right treatment was applied with diffusion and absorption. The church built in extensive amounts of CFC cladding and acoustic in-fill to the steel-framed structure out of consideration for nearby residents.

Having enjoyed working with the Perth-based team of Rutledge AV, Chow had no hesitation recommending its specialist integration services to Faith

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A high visual impact is provided by the 3.9mm pixel pitch LED screen Community. “Following a standard design-and-build package proposal, we conducted a series of workshops exploring the audio, video and other technologies within a budget they had in mind,” explains Rutledge AV WA sales manager, Ryan Agostini.

“From the outset, our task was made a lot easier as the church knew what they wanted and were interested in a high-performance AV system that was value for money.”

The support structure for the mega church’s suspended slab consists of 112 in situ concrete columns, with 17 steel columns serving as additional supports. The auditorium takes up the largest space below the 6,120m2 roof space, where 134 precast concrete plats form a raked auditorium structure that now hosts 1,400 seats. Setting the scene in the foyer area, 54 angled ceiling skylights provide ample natural light prior to the worshippers entering the auditorium. Once inside, they are immediately treated to a high-impact visual experience courtesy of a 10m x 4.5m (WxH) 3.9mm pixel pitch LED screen located at the rear of the stage.

“Having witnessed LED walls used to good effect in some other churches, we wanted the ability to control brightness and light levels, but with little light spillage,” explains Chow. “Initially, three digital LCD projectors were proposed but, during construction, we witnessed LED prices reducing sufficiently.

Although LCD projectors emit less heat, require less maintenance and are cost-effective, LEDs provide much better flexibility. We opted for the price performance features of a Unilumin LED solution as the brand is renowned for its reliability. Rutledge

The keyboard player’s view of the auditorium

The technicians have created a highly organised BOH area

Rutledge AV added plenty of patch panel options for connectivity

backed them as they had a local office and could provide spares. It was an easy decision to make as they could slot in a spare panel very quickly.”

Receiving their 4K and HD images via eight Cat-6a lines from the two Unilumin SD600E video controllers, the LED wall comprises 20 500mm x 500mm and 80 1,000mm x 500mm SMD2121 LED modules. “It’s relatively flexible as each panel only weighs 9kg, so we can drop the screen down quite easily if necessary,” explains Chow. “We like to refresh the services from time to time and change up the look by repositioning the screen. This LED is running at 50% brightness and that is enough as there is no compromise in image quality. In terms of power and cost, digital projection cannot do that.”

In addition to this main output, three Casio short-throw projectors located over the entrances serve as confidence displays for the platform team. “The video package focuses on standard HDBaseT HDMI and SDI signals being transported to the rear control room and ensuring that all the content sits on the network for streaming onto the internet,” comments Agostini. “We added full editing capabilities, providing recording and editing functions for streaming to a larger audience. We had to ensure that there was plenty of flexibility and future-proofing built into the design. Therefore, we worked with the staff to know where they may need extra connectivity and inputs in the future.”

Given the panoramic view of the auditorium from their media control room, the technical video operators, including the vision mixer and media producer, are fully aware of what is

The low frequencies are enhanced by three SB28 dual 18-inch subwoofers

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PROJECTS happening in the auditorium. The media producer can easily route video signals to another room in the building for internal broadcasting.

Crucially, the setup has enabled livestreaming via Vimeo to Facebook during the Covid-19 restrictions in Australia, while the services can be preserved in HD using a four-channel Atomos Sumo recorder.

The vast auditorium provides a multitude of visual options for the AV team. “Previously, our video infrastructure operations used just two Blackmagic HD 4K cameras, but now we are looking to add another two broadcast cameras into our Atem mixer,” confirms Chow. “In the auditorium, Rutledge has created 10 fibre points so we can put cameras into various positions. Ten inputs may sound like a lot, but it gives us a lot

Two Blackmagic cameras can be connected to the 10 fibre points in the auditorium

A Blackmagic Atem 2 ME Production Studio mixer receives 10 video inputs of flexibility in terms of moving the cameras around and refreshing the positions.”

Live switching is maintained from a Blackmagic Atem 2 M/E Production Studio mixer that can receive up to 20 camera inputs. “As an Australian brand, Blackmagic products provide us with great support and remain affordable.”

From the FOH mixing location, highquality video signals are transmitted over the fibre network to the video control room for broadcasting both internally and externally. “With continued growth, our broadcast requirements need to be futureproof as we would like to transmit our services to future campuses north of the city,” furthers Chow. The HDMI-TCP IP encoder has been included as a broadcast plug-and-play receiver.

Its inclusion is warranted when the main auditorium is full for extending video transmission to the adjacent hall normally reserved for Mandarin services.

Centrally located within the auditorium with a commanding vista of the stage, the FOH location is

also equipped with an Allen & Heath dLive system forming the basis of the digital audio production. Comprising an S5000 surface and a DM64 MixRack, the package was supplied

by Australian distributor Technical Audio Group to facilitate Faith Community’s diverse programme with its worship team consisting of singers, guitarists, bassist, drummer and a pair of keyboard players.

“I started mixing on an Allen & Heath GL2800 console and later on a Yamaha LS9 when the church moved to a school auditorium for 10 years,” explains Soon. “Having transitioned from analogue to digital, I was looking at a Dante networking protocol. Having seen the dLive in use at Riverview and after completing extensive research, the search for a mixing console was ultimately narrowed down to an Allen & Heath dLive S5000 control surface. When compared with other mixers in the same class, this decision was a no-brainer when considering the price performance benefits.”

Those many price-performance benefits, according to Soon, include

Seven LAX4 amplifier controllers power the entire FOH system excellent preamps and transparent, well-balanced audio covering a wide range of sound colouration. “It is designed with an intuitive user interface, where I can see all the functions and wrap-around rotaries that make control easy. The 26 userdefined SoftKeys allow me to recall specific scenes and mute groups.

In addition to benefitting from future firmware updates, we also have great local support from TAG’s WA sales manager, Marc Sharman.”

Two portable DX168 digital expansion boxes can receive up to a total of 32 microphone inputs onstage, including wired and wireless microphone receivers in addition to patching for stage equipment. “It is more than just a digital mixer as it comes with an entire ecosystem, allowing you to pull in audio from everywhere. The DX168 expansion boxes over the Cat-5 network to

the back of house DM64 MixRack have created an enormous amount of flexibility,” explains Soon. “For example, we can move stageboxes for the inputs around when we are hosting special events and it also comes with plenty of redundancy.”

Interfaced to the DM64 MixRack over the Cat-6a network, two Allen & Heath IP-6 and two IP-8 dLive remote controllers provide IEM mix control surfaces for up to 28 musicians and singers. Both units are configured to control the send levels, pans and assignments to multiple IEM channels from the dLive S5000 console. The functions of both controllers are configured on a laptop running dLive Director software.

“The IEM setup has created a clean stage,” adds Soon. “In addition to the two small DX168 portable audio racks, Rutledge AV added spare XLR tielines should we not need a stagebox.” Hidden by grilles, three L-Acoustics 8XT wedge monitors are discreetly located below the stage floor in front of the main Perspex lectern.

With the foldback system and other technical equipment removed from the stage floor, the audience view of the 24m-wide stage is clean and unobstructed. In the backstage area, the technical team fully charge the 12 Sennheiser wireless IEM G4 transmitters beforehand for all the vocalists and worship leaders. The 12 half-rack receivers obtain their wireless signals onstage via three A-2003-UHF antennas and AC41 antenna combiners. Sennheiser ew 500 G4 wireless microphones are used by the performers. Racked with the IEM receivers, 16 channels of EM500 G4 half-rack receivers receive their UHF signals via four ASA214

20 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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PROJECTS antenna splitter/combiners located high in the ceiling.

“We used Sennheiser models in the old church hall and found there were no drop-outs,” adds Soon. “To get good sound, you need more than a good microphone, but Sennheiser offer you peace of mind as they have proved to be reliable. In addition, the technical team and the singers were familiar with their features, so we decided to stick with the brand.

With the ew 500 G4 upgrade, I can network and monitor everything using the Wireless Systems Manager software on a PC. We’ve recycled the perfectly working older ew 100 G3 systems to the smaller multipurpose halls [MPHs].” Senior pastor Ho preaches with a directional headworn DPA d:fine 88. The back of house racking is complete with the addition of six Univox PLS-X3 loop drivers for assistive listening, together with a Furman PS-8R E III power sequencer for surge protection.

Given its industry acceptance, Faith Community specified a Dante network protocol to provide added audio distribution, such as overflow feeds. “Multitrack channels from the dLive DM64 can also be fed into PCs for remixing that can then be used as stem tracks by the musicians each week,” furthers Soon. “AV technicians need to learn IT – it took me a few long nights to understand the protocols but, once I had completed the Dante certification courses, I was able to get it up and running. We’ve also adopted Dante to perform a virtual sound check on a PC at FOH, by recording multitrack channels to get a mix down. As a result, the band does not need to be interrupted during rehearsals. Dante also serves as a powerful tool for training the ears of the volunteers and for getting their hands on the desk in their own time.”

The Allen & Heath digital console infrastructure and an L-Acoustics loudspeaker system are connected to the audio network by a series of Cisco switches. “We proposed various line array brands and the church settled on L-Acoustics speakers on account of their tonal and acoustic properties,” confirms Agostini. “It is a large, wide auditorium, but there are no issues getting the audio coverage to all the 1,400 seats as there is sufficient acoustic treatment and no obstructions such as pillars.”

“Following demonstrations, we found the L-Acoustics Kiva II system provided the best midrange for focusing on the voice and overall clarity with distribution towards the

whole congregation,” adds Soon.

“Hillsong use the French brand for some of their conferences, so that was also a good endorsement.” Both the manufacturer and distributor at the time, Hills assisted with the modelling of the schematics using SoundVision software. This led to the creation of L-C-R ceiling-suspended arrays, each comprising eight Kiva II dual 6.5-inch bass-reflex enclosures and two SB15m subwoofers.

Powered by LA4x four-channel amplifier controllers with DSP, the compact Kiva II provides 100° symmetric horizontal directivity output for even dispersion across the upperand lower-tier seating areas.

While the six SB15m subwoofers extend the low frequencies down to 40Hz, Faith Community needed more bass punch to provide enough clarity within the bass frequencies. As such, an infra-sub system now exists with the addition of two floor-standing SB28 dual 18-inch subwoofers, further extending the LF spectrum to 25Hz. Modelling depicted that the pillarless auditorium required no further delays or side-fills. Instead, eight 8XT coaxial speakers powered by a single LA4x amplified controller

Each array comprises eight Kiva II and dual SB15m enclosures

DMX panels behind the stage. The addition of Chauvet Stadium haze machines provides visibility to the beam effects onstage when required.

A Crestron AV3 platform lies at the heart of the auditorium’s control and is connected over the same Ethernet Cat-6a network as the CP3 processor in the foyer and The Arena. ProPresenter 6 content is fed to a Crestron HDMI distribution amplifier and out to the Casio short-throw projectors via 4K HDMI transmitters and extenders. Three iPad touchscreens are used for wireless control in the auditorium, MPH and The Arena, while a fixed Crestron 7.4-inch touchscreen panel is integrated into the wall of one of the classrooms. Rutledge AV further installed L-R EV XLD281 four-perside line arrays and HK Audio point source loudspeaker systems into two multipurpose halls that are primarily used for Chinese and children’s services.

When Faith Community heard that Chow had moved on from Riverview Church, they immediately asked him to come on as a consultant to the AV team. “My new role as an independent AV consultant never

A DX168 expansion unit is used for the percussionist’s mic inputs have been added behind grilles into the lip of the stage to serve as front-fills.

Members of the production team take their production cues and instructions using a Green-Go communications system during services. “I discovered the UK brand to be an affordable system that could be expanded,” explains Chow.

“The back of house area is equipped with plenty of Cat-6 Ethernet connections, allowing us to adopt a digital wireless platform using slim audio interface two-wire models and wired beltpacks. After six months, we installed a wireless system consisting of two antennas and four wireless

Beltpack X intercoms for our mobile stage managers and technicians.

Located in the video production suite, the producer instructs the technical staff on a 12-channel Desk Station, with each button assigned to a single user or group.

Two crowd and three onstage lighting trusses accommodate several fixtures and moving heads. These include PR Lighting’s LED Studio 3200T Fresnels and XR LED 300 spots, ETC’s ColorSource spots and Chauvet’s Maverick Pyxis effects.

Located at FOH, an MA Lighting dot2 XL-F control surface receives its Cat-6a and DMX signals from the five trusses via patches and a further six

really got started,” Chow admits.

“After my six months, I was asked to lead the media and production team in a full-time capacity.” Now, the team at Faith continues to build upon a solid AV infrastructure that was laid at the inception of the new building. The AV and lighting technology that Rutledge has woven into the concrete fabric of this suburban church significantly enhances the current services, while providing flexibility well into the future. www.faith.org.au www.pactconstruction.com.au www.rutledge.com.au

September–October 2020 WORSHIP AVL 21

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24/07/2020 12:34

PROJECTS

Sonic upgrade

The Winnebago campus of Crossroads Community Church has moved into a new building fitted with a QSC system HAVING CONGREGATED IN VARIOUS rented spaces over the years, the Winnebago, Illinois campus of Crossroads Community Church recently moved into its own building. Following a thorough analysis of Crossroads’ new home, events specialists White Train Entertainment was called upon to recommend an alternate PA that would replace the portable system previously used by pastors and exuberant worship bands.

“The capacity is just under 200 people, so it was a big jump for Crossroads to move to a professionally installed line array as opposed to a couple of mobile loudspeakers,” comments White Train co-owner, Jeremy Rollefson.

“As a systems integrator, I’ve been a QSC customer since 2010 and have multiple certifications in live sound and a background as a touring engineer. This helped me view the church as a blank canvas that needed a custom solution, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. QSC offers incredible value for money, but especially for contemporary churches because they’re using the system all the time with a lot more events than just Sunday services.”

Rollefson concluded that a QSC active line array would be the perfect fit. In total, four L-R ceiling-suspended KLA12 line array

Ceiling-suspended KLA12 line array speakers speakers are augmented by a pair of dual 12-inch KS212C active cardioid subwoofers underneath, together with a further four K8.2 active cabinets used as monitors and front-fills. “In a house of worship, aesthetics is important,” he explains.

“A flown line array looks a lot cleaner than multiple loudspeakers on poles or in a stack. The low ceiling and lack of acoustical dampening made a line array ideal for covering the entire space without any frequency scoop-outs. The KLA12s stand out because they have the most accurate sonic response out of all manufacturers in their price range.

They are also flexible enough to

cover 90° vertically and horizontally when rigging five boxes, while their low power consumption makes them cost-effective over the long term.”

On his decision to install the KS212C subwoofers, Rollefson adds: “The church wanted the subwoofers under the stage for visual reasons. As I only had about 500mm of clearance, the KS212Cs were ideal in terms of height and the dual 12-inch setup is comparable to a good 18-inch model in terms of output. In addition to the output, the tightness and articulation of the low end is an essential quality in a closed auditorium setting like this, because the twin drivers of the

KS212C provide directional control usually not associated with the subbass realm, projecting energy in a cardioid pattern with up to 15dB less output in the rear of the cabinet than in front. In short, these subs deliver clarity and accuracy.”

Selected for providing a wide 105° dispersion, the compact K8.2 cabinet rounds off the system setup.

“The K.2 Series products are great at adapting to multiple circumstances because of their small size, power and horn coverage. So, I used one K8.2 in each subwoofer cavity underneath the stage. The K8.2’s wide 105° even coverage benefits those listeners in the first few rows from the centre to the sides.”

Following commissioning, Crossroads Community Church was vindicated by White Train’s decision.

“At the first service for which I sound engineered, I received many compliments about how the system exceeded everyone’s expectations and the attendees finally felt at home in their new church,” declares Rollefson. “A vast demographic attends Crossroads at Winnebago.

The young people were engaged and excited, while the senior folks could hear clearly and were comfortable with the volume.” www.qsc.com www.whitetrainent.com

22 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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24/07/2020 12:36

PROJECTS

Big cats converge at the Gateway

Image courtesy of Abrahanny Photography

A hybrid mono-stereo system has been installed at one of the largest multisite churches in the US

Image courtesy of Abrahanny Photography

LAUNCHED BY FOUNDING LEAD senior pastor Robert Morris in 2000, Gateway Church welcomes more than 30,000 worshippers to its 29 weekly services at nine campuses, making it one of the largest multisite congregations in the US. To further enhance worship at Gateway’s flagship Southlake campus, the 4,000-seat auditorium at that facility was recently upgraded with 51 new Meyer Sound Leo loudspeakers configured as a novel mono-stereo hybrid system.

Located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Gateway Southlake auditorium is designed with wide, fan-shaped seating that wraps around the stage. Although this promotes a greater sense of intimacy, it challenges the maintenance of a stereo image while ensuring high intelligibility throughout the space.

“This time we wanted to see if we could use the latest technology to open up our sound with a stereo feel for most of the congregation, while still maintaining excellent intelligibility and without the effect being distracting to anyone,” comments Gateway senior audio engineer for live production, Brandon Conn.

Prior to the recent upgrade, Meyer Sound Milo line arrays had been deployed as an L-C-R mono configuration. “We had already

upgraded some of our satellite campuses to Leopard line arrays, so we were confident that the clarity and control of the Leo family would help us achieve this goal.” The eventual solution was to deploy three hangs, each consisting of five Leopard line array loudspeakers aimed to cover the first 10 rows of seating in mono mode.

The main centre section with the great majority of seats is covered in stereo by left and right arrays, each with five Lyon-M main over six Lyon-W widecoverage line array loudspeakers.

The new system was designed and engineered as a collaborative effort

by Gateway Church audio staff, Meyer Sound director of system optimisation, Bob McCarthy, and systems integrator Pro Sound & Video (a Solotech company). Onsite installation was supervised by Pro Sound & Video’s Shaun Philips, assisted by TJ Volts, under the direction of company CEO, Rod Sintow. “The idea here was to create a stereo image where it works well, but not attempt it where it would compromise performance or intelligibility,” comments McCarthy.

“Up front, a split left and right would be so wide it would pull you away from the stage. So there, a mono image reinforces an intimate connection with the stage, then from row 11 back it

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PROJECTS blends seamlessly into a more open stereo image.”

Conn had already been converted by Leopard prior to the upgrade. “When we added the Leopard arrays in the satellite campuses, we knew the new technology would be a game-changer.

This proved to be the case here as well. We can hear the difference in overall output level, with the power on the low end and with the intelligibility as well. Everybody who comes in here for special events is blown away by how great it sounds.” To assure uniform frequency response front to back, McCarthy implemented Meyer Sound’s new Low-Mid Beam Control (LMBC) in the tuning process. “When Bob inserted those filters, the improvement was impressive,” furthers Conn. “When he turned it off and on, it was easy to hear the difference.”

The audio overhaul also included new low-frequency components, with the former groundstacked system replaced by dual flown gradient cardioid arrays of five each 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements for uniform dispersion throughout the auditorium. Four new 1100-LFC elements placed under the stage enhance the visceral effect up front. Eight UPQ-1P loudspeakers have replaced the former stage side-fills, and five Galaxy 816 network platforms took over signal optimisation and drive.

Image courtesy of Abrahanny Photography

The existing delay systems, comprising a combined total of 41 UPQ-1P, UPQ-2P and UPJunior loudspeakers, were all tested and found to be performing perfectly. As a testimony to their longevity, they remain in active service.

The audio dispersion is now uniformly excellent throughout, although the subtle differences allow worshippers to select their preferred experience.

“People who are musically inclined and want the stereo image, gravitate towards the middle seats,” Conn furthers. “Others who want direct energy from the stage, congregate towards the front. Finally, those who want it just a bit quieter will go to the back, but with no sacrifice in the fullness of the music or speech intelligibility.”

“I love the way the Lyon and Leopard system allows us to deliver energy and clarity at many different volume levels,” adds director of live production broadcast systems, Jason Aulds. “Because of our many different types of events and our desire to mix with dynamics at each event, we can swing 20dB or more within the music portion of worship and not affect the integrity of the mix. We are equally happy with what it offers for spoken word and our theatre productions.”

All nine Gateway Church campuses are equipped with Meyer Sound systems, with most satellite locations updated to Leo family systems based on Leopard compact line arrays. “I love our continuing partnership with Meyer Sound,” continues Aulds.

“Their customer service as well as their investment in system design and support give us the consistently high level of audio experience we require.”

The productive three-way partnership also includes Pro Sound & Video, principal supplier for audio systems since 2007. “We always look forward to working with the audio team at Gateway,” says Sintow. “They are welcoming, forward-thinking and fully involved from beginning to end.” www.meyersound.com

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PROJECTS

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Cogent’s Robert Soo and Resonate’s Luther Ong reunite with Pastor Philip Tan

Detailed design Having rented out premises in the Bukit Merah neighbourhood of Singapore for some 21 years, Zion Living Streams has found a permanent home. Richard Lawn takes a tour UPON FIRST VIEWING, THE TWO repurposed industrial units in Upper Serangoon may not have resembled a house of God to Pastor Philip Tan. However, his vision has been created with more than a little help from his weekly worshippers and leading HOW AV and lighting consultant, Robert Soo from Cogent Acoustics.

Since 2016, places of worship needing a space and who are unable to bid for government religious land-use parcels, are able to lease commercial or light industrial units under a special provision by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Ministry of National Development.

“For us, it’s our home,” proudly comments Pastor Tan. Within a four-month time frame, the seventhlevel industrial unit was transformed into a 120-capacity church for their weekly Sunday and other community services. This included the provision of new digital audio and visual systems to enable the charismatic and musical services.

Never one to dismiss a challenge, Soo was enthusiastic to lend his expertise in converting this relatively small 90m2 unit. “The church wanted to be a good neighbour here,” highlights Soo. “Despite some of the walls being quite thick in places and the fact that there is a car park

One of the three QSC K8.2 ceiling-mounted models

The walls are covered with a limited number of

Two ceiling-mounted displays provide visuals for the rear seats

immediately below, we still needed to factor in sound isolation. The floor was floated during the conversion and semi-isolated walls were added to the interior. In addition, the structure allowed for an isolated drum room to be constructed. Finally, the outer doors to the corridor were found to be leaking, so these have been replaced with fully sealed ones that are much denser to further prevent audio pollution beyond.”

The carpeted 30cm-high, two-tiered stage is the focal point during Sunday services, where Pastor Tan, the singers and musicians gather to lead

26 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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PROJECTS the prayers, preach and perform.

Within the slant-shaped room, the walls are covered with a limited number of acoustic panels that help to retain a “live feel” yet suppress reverberation. Full-length curtains have also been integrated into the acoustic design. No stranger to the Singaporean HOW fraternity, systems integrator Resonate Solutions Pte Ltd was called upon to install the AV package designed by Soo. “Following the building works, the ceiling was reduced in height from 3.2m to 2.8m,” furthers Soo. “The odd room shape and the low ceiling really limits what can be done in terms of loudspeakers and

Live mixing is performed on an Allen & Heath Qu-32 console

Six Allen & Heath ME-1 personal mixers allow the musicians to monitor their own performances

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acoustic panels that help retain a live feel projection. I wanted to minimise the design and, at the same time, enhance even distribution, so finding the right-sized speakers was important. They’d need to be both compact and powerful. Following a full assessment with the church team, I recommended a self-powered QSC K Series to be employed.”

Weighing 17.7kg each, two K12.2 12-inch active speakers serve as L-R FOH speakers, while three smaller K8.2 models serve as delays and a side-fill. Operating down to 50Hz (–6dB) led to just one single KW181 subwoofer being required to further

located to the rear of the stage receives its images from an Epson EB1460Ui 4,400-lumen ultra-shortthrow projector.

“The ceiling height was a major consideration in selecting this model of projector. We could not use a front-loaded projector as the small stage accommodates the musicians right in front of the screen. This Epson 4K model delivers the brightness that we needed.” In addition to the HDMI input connecting the computer for lyrics, images and Pastor Tan’s sermon, two Canon HD-SDI cameras via two HDMI inputs provide images for the main projection, in addition

extend the low frequency down to 40Hz (–6dB). “In terms of price performance, clarity and the inherent 75° axisymmetric nominal coverage, the K Series measured up to spoken word, playback and live music,” adds Soo. “I rarely recommend for active speakers to be permanently installed but, as this is such a low ceiling, the Ks can be easily serviced and maintained using a small step ladder if a problem was to occur.

“Another advantage of active speakers is that you don’t need an amplifier rack,” adds Soo. “However, there is a small rack to the right of the stage where an Ashly Protea 4.8 processor connected to a GS108PP Netgear unmanaged eight-port network switch has been added to provide room DSP settings.” In addition to the processor, microphone inputs from the stage including reconditioned wired and wireless microphones are fed into an Allen & Heath AR2412 24-in/12-out stagebox.

While Pastor Tan monitors himself from a pair of K8.2 wedges, the guitarist, percussionist, bassist and two keyboardists are catered for by six Allen & Heath ME-1 personal mixers. “They’re very intuitive as the band was jamming and playing within 30 minutes of a tutorial.”

Two QSC K12.2 speakers and three smaller K8.2 models provide evenly distributed audio The AR2412 is connected to an Allen & Heath Qu-32 32-channel digital console in the production area. “Price performance was an important consideration in this selection, as was user-friendliness.

Pastor Tan visited E&E’s showroom for a demonstration before making the decision, as he wanted the church volunteers to be able to easily navigate the control surface and mix with confidence. With the downloaded Qu-Pad App on an iPad, they can also wirelessly set levels and other parameters onstage.” The addition of two Furman CN3600SE sequencers and conditioners has added further ease-of-use for powering on and powering down the AV equipment.

Given the size of the venue, the relatively simple video system that has been installed appears grand in its design. “Regardless of church size, a confidence monitor is pretty much standard in today’s design and Zion Living Streams was no exception,” explains Soo. In addition to the wall-mounted 49-inch LED display that assists Pastor Tan, a further two ceiling-mounted displays provide assistive visuals for the rear seats whose sightlines are compromised owing to the room shape. The main Remaco 16:10 110-inch motorised screen output

to streaming services for those worshippers who cannot attend the service. A Datavideo SE650 four-channel switcher routes the inputs and outputs, while a VP597 SDI distribution amplifier supports embedded audio and long-distance transmission. An adjacent meeting room combines a faithful Mackie 1608 mixer and QSC K8.2 monitors, together with an Epson 3,500-lumen projector and Remaco 95-inch diagonal screen.

Unassuming and undetected from the outside, Zion Living Streams is a cauldron of activity each Sunday morning. “Ensuring that the church could hold charismatic services here without attracting undue attention was perhaps the overriding consideration in this design,” concludes Soo. “If you are going to make such a significant investment, you need to ensure that you are future-proofed for the next 10–15 years.” Since opening, the escalation of Covid-19 has limited gatherings to less than 10 people.

As such, the foresight to provide a streaming solution is already immensely benefitting the church. www.cogentacoustics.com www.resonate.com.sg www.zlscc.org.sg

September–October 2020 WORSHIP AVL 27

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24/07/2020 12:38

PROJECTS

Where old meets new

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St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry, Northern Ireland, has undergone an extensive technical systems upgrade with xC-Series speakers from d&b audiotechnik

St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry, Northern Ireland THERE’S NO DENYING THAT THE acoustics of any house of worship built in the 19th century will be problematic. Thankfully, today’s audio technology has evolved to the point that the reflections and reverberations in these old stone buildings can be brought under control. One such case is St Eugene’s Cathedral, the mother

church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Derry in Northern Ireland, which opened in 1873. The HOW’s previous sound reinforcement system had never performed satisfactorily, with generations of congregations struggling with the acoustics inside the soaring interior.

As part of a significant architectural refurbishment, the church’s

management team turned to acoustical consultant Michael Kielty of Belfast-based MK Audio.

Kielty recommended a distributed system and contacted Absolute Technologies for a specific solution recommendation that would meet the church’s requirements. Absolute Technologies, with its experience of similar reverberant spaces such as Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin to numerous smaller churches, had an immediate understanding of the challenges. Through these previous installations, the SI had become familiar with the capabilities of the xC-Series column loudspeakers from d&b audiotechnik.

Absolute Technologies’ installation manager, Colin McKendry, supported

by Oran Burns from d&b’s Application Support team, made an initial design for the church using d&b ArrayCalc software to predict coverage and decide on suitable loudspeaker positions. Following this, an in-situ system demonstration was arranged, which confirmed the ArrayCalc predictions. The design uses an inner pair of d&b 24C-E cabinets at the front and an outer pair of 24C serving the aisles; further down the room are two

more pairs of 24Cs as delays, again arranged as inner and outer pairs. The system is powered by two d&b D10 amplifiers.

“In a big, highly reverberant room like this, one of the challenges is to stop reflection off the high ceiling, which can be heard as an annoying echo from above,” explained McKendry.

“The standard d&b 24C cabinet has six 4-inch LF drivers and an HF line array, giving us pattern control down below 400Hz. The ‘E’ is an extension to the LF drivers, which sits at the top of the 24C, giving another octave of pattern control, which helps to combat that problem.

“While a lot of column loudspeakers lose pattern control at around 2.5kHz, forcing the engineer to EQ out much of the lower-frequency information to achieve intelligibility, the cardioid characteristic of the xC-Series extends that horizontal pattern control all the way down to the low frequencies. The system’s main use is for speech, but also occasionally acoustic music. The d&b system handles it all perfectly; the tonal quality is excellent and the dispersion is very well-controlled.”

For control, the brief requested simplicity, with as little user

28 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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PROJECTS interaction as possible. An Allen & Heath Qu-Pac mixer was provided, with presets for the various regular services. “Most of the time, it’s an automix of the main fixed microphone positions,” added McKeown. “And there is always the capability for full mix control using the R1 remote control on an iPad.” St Eugene’s also presented a further major challenge to the project: building restrictions prevented the fixing of hardware to walls and pillars.

The only option was the creation of custom floor-mount brackets.

“Again, the appearance was very important,” McKeown emphasised.

“The mounting had to look right in its environment and with the speakers.

The brackets couldn’t enclose the rear of the speaker otherwise they would interfere with the cardioid pattern control. As there could be no adjustment once it was mounted, the angle of pan for each speaker had to be built into the design of the bracket. Again, ArrayCalc was very useful in achieving this.”

Designed in conjunction with the architect and a specialist engineering company, each bracket is unique, to account for floor height and pan angle, and incorporates a plate for mounting beneath the floorboards and a rear cover to hide mounting

Building restrictions prevented the fixing of hardware to walls and pillars

bolts and cabling. The back plate is finished in the same RAL colour as the loudspeaker, and the base plate in stainless steel to reflect its surroundings. “The mounts look like they are part of the speaker – it is a very elegant solution,” noted McKeown.

“We all worked together to identify clear parameters and goals for the system and to tailor the design before installation commenced,” he confirmed. “Having d&b’s support gives us access to skills we may not have in-house, plus a high level of knowledge and experience from all types of projects. We’ve worked with Oran on a number of projects, and his knowledge of electro-acoustics is invaluable. It gives the customer a great deal of confidence knowing we have the support of the manufacturer behind us.”

With the installation complete and the intelligibility and aesthetics boxes ticked, that confidence has been validated. “The clients have been delighted with the system,” McKeown confirms. “Right from the very first use, parishioners commented on how clearly they could hear, even at the back of the church, which was always an issue before.”

A high ceiling and stone pillars are typical of 19th-century cathedrals

www.dbaudio.com

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Lectrosonics Wireless Designer with frequency coordination software which includes scanning capabilities

A large-scale system – 20 channels of IFB, 30 channels of wireless intercom and 24 channels of wireless

Large-scale wireless microphones systems With the radio spectrum available for wireless microphones contracting worldwide, Gordon Moore looks at how to manage multiple wireless systems in today’s high RF environment AS CHURCHES GROW, THEY TEND to incorporate more and more wireless devices into their worship services.

Wireless microphones eliminate stage clutter (no cables), in-ear monitors (IEMs) clear loud floor monitors from the stage and intercoms allow the growing technical team to communicate discreetly and better coordinate live worship. Throw in wireless links for mixers, DMX lighting control, Bluetooth pedal boards and you have a complicated soup of radio frequency (RF) devices all competing for spectrum. And this is all in a shrinking spectrum environment.

The radio spectrum available for wireless microphones continues to contract worldwide. The promise of 5G telephone and data networks is creating a demand from much larger user groups for the spectrum needed for these new services. Governments around the world are leasing, selling or auctioning space for billions in currency and under pressure to standardise the spectrum so the cell manufacturers have a simpler, more

predictable environment in which to operate.

So, how do you manage 25, 50 or more wireless systems in today’s high RF environment? First, get a full understanding of wireless microphones, intercoms and IEMs and how they work. They are not like light bulbs where you can just turn them on. There are many resources available for understanding RF systems and you should download and study them. You need to understand terms such as intermodulation, thirdorder intercept, sensitivity, EIRP, RF distribution and cabling needs. Most importantly, find out what changes are scheduled for your part of the world in spectrum allocation. In the US, for example, they took away the 700MHz frequencies in 2009 and then the 600MHz frequencies in 2019. The first announcements of changes coming were in 1995.

Large-scale wireless microphone systems are successful only when the equipment is up to the task. Lowcost wireless systems are designed

for simple setups with just a few channels. They do not have the design characteristics required to meet the demand for dozens of channels. What are these characteristics?

Receiver front-end design High-quality systems have robust frontend designs that are characterised by the ability to reject out-of-channel interference. The front end of the receiver is the first circuit that is fed directly from the antenna. The filtering associated with the front end needs to reject as much of the spectrum as possible outside the frequency of the transmitter it is trying to pick up. Many brands will use SAW filters, pin diode arrays or other switchable circuits that can change to match the tuning range of the receiver. Every high-end manufacturer has effective methods for filtering. There is cost associated with this filtering – you can’t build it with a tough front end and keep the costs low. Good filter stages use more

current so the power supply must be bigger.

A high third-order intercept spec is a desirable receiver specification since it measures how well the receiver resists interference caused by multiple interfering frequencies.

A good number is –15dBm and an excellent specification is +1dBm or higher.

Spurious rejection measures how well the receiver rejects the entire range of frequencies that can be applied to the receiver by any outside source. Ideally, the manufacturer will have tested the receiver from audio frequencies to microwave frequencies.

This number measures how well the first RF section, the IF filters and other sections reject interfering signals.

Good is 80dB; excellent is greater than 100dB. There are other characteristics important in wireless receiver designs, but these are two of the most critical.

Generally speaking, a unit that is designed well in these regards would also be well-designed elsewhere.

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KnowHOW Antenna input – is the antenna detachable and can you put different antennae on your receiver? Low-cost systems have permanent antennas – it is cheaper and easier to pass government testing. But, in a largescale system, you will want to have an antenna distribution system for maximum effectiveness. SMA or BNC connections are a must.

Transmitter design The transmitters also need to be well-designed and resistant to thirdorder intermodulation. When you have multiple transmitters gathered onstage, their antennas not only send out a signal, they also can pick up a different signal. A poorly designed output stage in a transmitter will allow the incoming signal to heterodyne (or “beat” against the transmitter frequencies oscillator inside the unit).

For example, if the transmitter is sending out 550MHz and picking up a 600MHz signal, they will interact and create two new signals – one at 50MHz (600–550) and another at 1,150MHz (550+600). That 50MHz could then combine with another transmission at 500MHz, creating a 550MHz signal that will then interfere with the desired 550MHz original signal. That’s how messy it can get with just three transmitters – imagine the mathematics behind 50.

is completely in your hands. How you design and install your wireless system will determine the measure of your success.

Hardware setup Antenna proximity. The closer your antenna can be to the performers’ transmitters, the higher the reliability of the signal and the better they will perform in a tough RF environment.

Wireless systems are all about the signal-to-noise ratio. The signal is the radio signal you want. The noise is all the other radio signals on the carrier frequency. If the desired signal is better than the noise by at least 6dB (generally speaking), the signal is considered effective. The easy way to have a good S/N ratio is to get the antennas close. It is that simple.

So, what is better? Set the receivers close to the antenna with a short cable and long audio cables? Or set the receivers close to the mixer and have long antenna cables? In predigital days, the answer was almost always the first but, sometimes, the signal loss over cable was greater than the cable loss in the antenna run. Often, having the receivers in the sound booth was important in case there were changes to be made.

The new modern wireless receivers in large-scale systems today now have Dante or other digital transport

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Intermodulation Analysis System A well-designed transmitter will reduce this effect by having good filtering on the output stage and keep its “spurious emissions” under control. The more linear the transmitter output stage design is, the more resistant it is to these issues: –60db spurious emissions is good; <–80dB is desirable.

System design The first two factors are something you will have little control over – that will be a basis for your system brand of choice but you cannot change them. The system design, however,

ports and easy remote control of the receivers via the network. This makes placing the receiver very close to the stage desirable because you will be able to control all aspects of the system remotely with the manufacturer’s software.

Antenna distribution The next key of the physical installation is having an effective antenna distribution system. An antenna multi-coupler has a pair of inputs for two antennas and outputs for multiple receivers so they can share a single pair of antennas

Sennheiser’s Wireless Software Manager onstage. Good units have strong filtering and prevent intermodulation products. They are not cheap, but they clean up your rack and prevent the “antenna farm” – a stage bristling with multiple antennas. I was at a public performance recently where the wireless receivers were all placed at the foot of the stage – each with its own pair. It looked very much like a chrome spike farm with over 40 antennas poking up in front. Very distracting and, unfortunately, the wireless performed badly as well. A clean antenna distribution system will provide better reliability, cleaner sightlines and better overall system performance.

Proper cabling Use lowloss RF cabling for your antenna system. Read the specifications carefully. RG58 cable is fairly high loss and can cause much of your gain from close antenna placement to be lost in the cable. RG6 video cable can be found in low-loss versions – but the impedance will be wrong at 75Ω. While much better than RG58, RG6 will lose a few decibels of signal strength over a long run, more than a proper RG8 or Belden 9913F which is the proper 50Ω impedance required by wireless microphones.

Keep your antenna cables away from AC power lines, lighting controls, data cables and other RF sources.

Finally – and most importantly – learn good frequency coordination. As stated earlier in this article, wireless systems are not like light bulbs where you just plug them in and they work.

Frequency coordination, the proper selection of frequencies according to the physical characteristics of the wireless systems involved, is a complex mathematical exercise.

Just touching on the basics will take more space than this magazine could allow. The important thing is that you understand that it is important and must be done. Don’t ignore it. So, how do we do it? There are a few easy solutions.

Nearly every high-end wireless manufacturer now offers a wireless coordination program. Sennheiser, Lectrosonics, Shure and many others all offer sophisticated control software for coordinating large-scale systems.

You can scan the available spectrum (which will also reveal TV stations and other sources in the area) and then allow the software to select the frequencies in a carefully coordinated pattern that assures your bestpossible reception.

It is important that you have all RF sources taken into account. Do you use walkie talkies? Make sure those frequencies are loaded into the software. What about wireless DMX lighting controls? What frequencies are they on? Enter them into the software. IEMs? Make them a part of the calculation. Special tip – plan for spare frequencies. Large-scale systems are a bit like the stacking game Jenga. The larger the system, the more “fragile” it can be. If someone walks in and fires up a transmitter that is not coordinated into the whole system, they can cause problems for multiple channels.

Change one, and all might need to be changed. That’s why coordination software should be acquired and learned. Most of these programs are free and available online.

Finally, ask for professional help.

Many high-end manufacturers have either factory direct support or welltrained support from dealers. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when designing and coordinating your new large-scale system. Professional assistance can take away a lot of pain from your efforts and yield higher reliability in the long term.

Don’t be afraid of a large-scale system. Be prepared to spend more per unit. Be prepared to spend more time planning (don’t just order 50 systems and then think you’ll work it out in a day or two). Do it right and you will have a clean stage, wonderful sound and a long-term investment that should last for years. Mix well and be Blessed!

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How to direct for a livestream Casey Hawkins, director of video engineering at Green Acres Baptist Church, explains the process of livestreaming in HOWs THREE MONTHS AGO, I WOULD not be writing the words that I am writing today about how to direct for a livestream. That is because three months ago, I believed livestreaming of a church service was not very necessary, not only because of the equipment and the skill sets required to pull one off properly, but also the audience it appeals to. I generally believe if a church has an online-only following that are highly unlikely to attend in-person, then why not edit together a programme from Sunday recordings so that you can better control the quality of your product?

I have traditionally been in favour of recording and postproducing a quality programme versus focusing efforts and resources on livestreaming. And the television industry at large has shifted from traditional, “live” programming to on-demand because viewers want to watch what they want, when they want. So why is the church essentially going “backwards” when it comes to broadcasting trends?

In these days of restrictions on church attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic, livestreaming has replaced church services almost entirely and therefore has become a near necessity for churches around the world. The added benefit of a livestream is that it is happening “now” and that has replicated the live service experience of “coming together” as a church family.

With that said, how do you direct for a livestream? Three months ago, if you were interested in doing a livestream then I would have advised making it a repeat of what you would do when recording for a television broadcast versus IMAG (image magnification – content for in-house video screens).

Shoot a mixture of tight, medium and wide shots in order to bring the home viewer into the room with you. Show the congregation when you can, as well as the choir, the praise team and musicians. Refrain from using all closeups and medium shots like you would for IMAG. Also, consider using all lowerthird graphics instead of full-screen ones so that the viewer can still see what is going on. They need to feel like they are in the room with you.

But, today, I say produce a special programme specifically for an online audience. Do not try to make it look like a regular service and do not

The Worship Center control room bother with taking your regular services “live” anymore. Why? Good question.

Because research has shown that online viewers have a short level of dedication. Viewers sharply disengage after about 30 minutes. And those Facebook Live viewers that you are so eager to reach … they last only a few minutes on average – about six minutes to be exact. They see it while they are scrolling through their news feed or they get a push notification about it and “stop-in” for a few minutes and then move on. Where do I get my figures? From the livestream analytics at my own church. Aggregate data from several major streaming service providers that I have been presented with back up the data we have gathered internally, so I am confident in my numbers.

So, what does this look like? Well, what I have been involved in doing at my church is creating what we have called our “Digital Campus”.

We produce a shorter programme during the week and edit it together with remastered audio to make it a professionally produced, compelling programme that fits into the average view time proven when people consciously decide to watch church online. Essentially, we have catered to the viewing habits of our audience.

We record 6–9 songs each month with each of our two main church worship groups, our traditional team and our contemporary team. This gives us three songs per programme, and we alternate each week between worship styles. Then our main two pastors come into our broadcast studio during the week and we record a 20-minute sermon, which is a condensed version of what they preach in-person each Sunday. The sermon alternates each week between pastors. Same topic,

same scriptures and everything as in the live Sunday service, just shorter.

Then we add all our graphics in post, such as song lyrics and scriptures and sermon outline points. Then a short programme open and a welcome, invitation and very quick close are done in-studio by a separate pastor on staff.

The programme has averaged about 35 minutes in duration thus far. We use full-screen graphics during the

during a service because we assume that if they are online or on-demand, then they will most likely either pause the video to write the notes down or that they will be following our sermon outline on the Bible app by YouVersion, if they are even taking notes. Song lyrics remain all lower-thirds but with a bold, easy-to-read typeface.

For the sermon and stand-ups of these Digital Campus programmes, we use the Sony NX5U and EX1 cameras along with two Canon 5D Mark 3 DSLR cameras in our studio with a PC-based teleprompter for those who need that.

We have an ETC Ion lighting control system with a lighting grid to hang all our fixtures. We use an Audio-Technica boom mic for the audio.

For the worship segments, we shoot in our Worship Center just like we do our main Sunday services, using our eight broadcast-grade cameras manned by volunteers. We have five manned Sony HDC-1700 studio-configured

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An ETC Ion lighting control system in the video recording studio sermon because otherwise it is just a single camera shoot of the pastor for 20 minutes. There is not a room to bring the viewers into so the full screen graphics make it easier for the online audience to read, especially given that they might be watching on a small screen. We don’t leave them up on-screen as long as we do for IMAG

cameras and three Sony HXC-P70 robotic cameras, all with Fujinon lenses. The robotic cameras are controlled by the Ross Cambot system in the control room. We have two directors, each with a Ross Carbonite switcher (generally one directs for IMAG and the other for broadcast). For these Digital Campus programmes, one directs the programme and the other runs the Cambot system. Another volunteer shades the cameras at the camera CCU and RCP station and manages the AJA Ki-Pro recorders.

We also have two audio techs on two Solid State SSL-500 consoles, one for FOH and the other for monitors, and a lighting tech with the ETC Ion XE controller.

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KnowHOW We create our song lyrics and sermon graphics in ProPresenter. The lowerthirds and programme open are made in Adobe After Effects. We create some transitional graphics to ease the transitions between songs, sermon and stand-ups and we make those in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Audio for the worship segments is remastered and tuned using a Yamaha Nuage controller with Steinberg Nuendo software.

We master the programme in Adobe Premiere Pro and export with Adobe Media Encoder.

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and their Studio 6 software encoder programme for the livestream.

The response has been incredibly positive. Our viewers are liking the format mostly because the sermon is delivered in a very conversational way now that the pastor is speaking to the camera, an experience not had when a livestream is simply a live distribution of a regular service where the pastor is preaching to an in-person audience who rarely, if even ever, looks at the

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cameras. The production and pace of the programme have been other points of praise by viewers.

But, as I am sure you can imagine, some have wondered why we aren’t doing what we always used to do and why things don’t look like they did “before”, now that we are back to having services in-person as the state and local agencies are allowing us to open back up. That is just going to happen. But who knows, we might

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re-offer the traditional livestream of our in-person services down the road.

After all, the Digital Campus does take time to produce as well as resources to produce them quickly each week.

In the end, we have a much more polished and custom-tailored programme for online audiences today, both livestreamed and on-demand.

If one wishes to view our complete services online or on television as though they were “in the room”, we still record our Sunday services and postproduce those like we have for nearly 40 years and those will still be available on broadcast television as well as on-demand right along with the weekly Digital Campus. It will just be delayed in order to allow for the postproduction process.

It’s funny, with all that we are offering our video viewers, and at a time when livestreaming is seemingly the best, if not only, replacement for an in-person service, none of it is actually “live” anymore.

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In lockdown, the pastor delivers his sermon live to camera “That’s not a livestream!” you might say. Well you are correct, it is not.

But when you livestream it, it is. Our distribution chain is this: we upload the Digital Campus programme to Vimeo when we are finished producing it. We keep it set on “private” at first so that no one can see it prematurely.

On Sunday mornings at 10:30am, we broadcast the programme live simultaneously on Roku, our local cable channel and our website and social media pages as though it were our traditional livestream that we did before the coronavirus shutdown. At the same time, we are having a live in-person service on-campus that we are recording for later broadcast. After air, we make the Digital Campus video “public” on Vimeo for on-demand viewing. The livestream CDN archive is immediately available for on-demand viewing and it is also made available on our Roku channel on-demand as well.

We use the Vimeo Livestream service

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Programming lighting John Black provides some tips and techniques for programming consoles and cue sequences for worship services And so forth. Organising my channels in this way helps my volunteers find individual channel controls efficiently and without too much guesswork. There is no “right” or “wrong” organisational method to use, this is just what I have found to be the most effective in my situation.

Groups and palettes

A digital magic sheet on ETC’s Eos console AS A LIGHTING DESIGNER AND technician working with student volunteers on a daily basis, I spend quite a bit of time programming my consoles so that a volunteer is able to easily walk up and establish lighting looks effectively and with as little hassle as possible. As lighting rigs have seen an increase in the quantity of automated fixtures and/or LED fixtures – even in very small, lower-budget facilities – the quantity of control channels and programming possibilities with these rigs has increased seemingly exponentially.

Especially in the house of worship setting where technicians are often volunteers, it is important that systems be set up and maintained in such a manner that they feel the system is accessible and empowers them as they serve the production needs of the service.

In this article, I’m going to discuss a few tips and techniques that I have found to be useful when programming my consoles for my volunteer technicians. To my knowledge, all of these points can be applied to any modern control console. I won’t get into the specific programming syntax as that depends on the console you have available, but I will discuss concepts that you will be able to use and, if unsure, you will be able to find in the manual of your console. Most of these tips and techniques pertain to programming that is done before cuing sequences for worship service elements. These lay the foundation and are the building blocks when programming cue sequences, which

I will touch on at the end. So, let’s dive in!

have several facilities that volunteers move between):

It all starts with the patch

Channel 1–10: house lighting zones Channel 11–15: front-light stage apron (Zones 1–5) Channel 16–20: front-light mid-stage (Zones 6–10) Channel 21–25: front-light up-stage (Zones 11–15) Channel 31–35: back-light stage apron (Zones 1–5) Channel 36–40: back-light mid-stage (Zones 6–10) Channel 41–45: back-light up-stage (Zones 11–15) Channel 51–55: side-fill stage apron (Zones 1–5) Channel 56–60: side-fill mid-stage (Zones 6–10) Channel 61–65: side-fill up-stage (Zones 11–15) Channel 71–75: down-stage specials

Have you ever asked for a certain fixture to be turned “on” that should be controlled by a certain channel and, when the channel intensity is brought up, nothing happens? Or, in the absence of a channel sheet, have you had to test out channels one by one in order to find a particular fixture in the rig? Patching, one of the very first steps of programming your console as well as the starting point for any troubleshooting, is an organisational tool that can be used to help you easily navigate the rig. Patching assigns a circuit or fixture address to a control channel, allowing you to manipulate whatever controllable parameters exist for that device.

In addition to making sure all of the appropriate paperwork exists for documenting the rig’s patch, I like to organise my console channels logically in case I don’t have the paperwork in front of me. Usually, I will patch my console either by “focus position” or “purpose”. Some people will patch by fixture type, for example keeping all of the Martin Mac 700 units together.

I don’t follow this method and will explain why later in this article. Keep in mind that a channel may control a single device or a number of devices.

Therefore, my standard patch looks something like this in all of my venues (I recommend being consistent if you

If you haven’t used groups and palettes for programming before, you really should become acquainted with them. In terms of pre-programming, I spend the majority of my time building groups and palettes for quick recall of anything I want to be recallable. Groups record combinations of channels for easy and quick selection. Palettes record data for a single parameter type for multi-parameter fixtures (note they cannot be used with conventional lighting sources).

The first thing that I program after patching are groups. I mentioned this previously in the section on patching.

For example, I have 32 automated LED wash units in one of my facilities.

I find that I often want to grab all 32 fixtures at the same time, but it can be cumbersome to grab 32 channels individually. Instead, I have a group set up that selects all of those channels simultaneously. I also have groups for the full stage front lighting, all apron zones, all mid-stage zones, all up-stage zones, etc. Any grouping of channels that I think I may want or need to control altogether frequently will get programmed in this way.

Position palettes on an MA Lighting grandMA3

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KnowHOW I then move on to programming my palettes. I often begin with colour palettes because I use colour palettes all the time as I have a large quantity of LED colour mixing fixtures.

I will program a colour palette for any colour that I may want to use over and over again. My colour palette library is quite large in that when I need a new colour that I hadn’t previously programmed, I add it as a new palette so that it can be recallable if someone asks, “Do you remember that colour you used for that program last month? Can we use that again?” Storing colours in the palette memories means that I don’t have to remember the RGBWA values for each colour mix.

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Colour palettes on an MA Lighting grandMA3 I then move on to position palettes because I have a large number of automated fixtures. These fixtures allow the operator to adjust the pan and tilt of the fixtures from the console to focus the light beam on different parts of the stage or auditorium. I create a position palette (or focus palette) for any position that I think will be used during an event over and over (or that may change depending on stage setup).

For example, if lighting a band, I will create a position palette for each

Beam and gobo palettes on an MA Lighting grandMA3 major member of the band, as well as some aerial fan-outs and other specialised positions for “looks” I want to use.

Beam palettes can be created to control and recall any of the beam parameters in a fixture, such as pattern selection, iris, animation, effects slot, etc. These are especially useful when you have automated profile, spot or beam fixtures in your rig as you can then quickly recall that information for specific effects or aerial looks you want to reuse.

It is also possible to create intensity palettes for multi-parameter fixtures, but I don’t find that I use intensity palettes very often. It’s important to note that you can’t apply an intensity palette to a channel containing only conventional fixtures.

The benefit of using these palettes when cueing is three-fold. First, by referencing palettes when building cues, presets or other memories, it saves you a lot of programming time because you are recalling intensity, colour, position, beam and other data that you have already preprogrammed rather than dialing all of that information in for every fixture for every cue. You can reference a palette as many times as you like.

Second, by referencing palettes, if you need to make a change across your whole show, it may be possible to just update the palette being referenced and the change will be

reflected through all of the cues that reference that palette. The best example of this lies in regard to position palettes. If you have a palette that points fixtures to where the drum kit is set up, but then the kit actually gets set up a metre or so out of position, all you need to do is update the focus palette for the drum kit and all of the cues lighting the drummer will be updated to the new position information in the palette.

Third, palettes are empowering and make working with volunteer technicians much more efficient. It is much easier to ask a volunteer to “grab all of the Mac 700s, focus them on the lead singer, colour them magenta and add pattern 3”, than ask them to do that one-by-one, fixture-by-fixture. Using palettes, this can be accomplished in only four or five steps.

Setting up magic sheets can take some time and you will need to experiment with the format that is most useful for your situation. If desired, you could create a completely digital, controllable version of your lighting rig. This may be impractical, however, especially if your rig is quite large and would require extensive scrolling. Instead, think of the magic sheet as a customised touchscreen controller for controlling groupings of fixtures and their parameters quickly and easily. You may have individual fixture control for any specials you may have set up, but otherwise you may have a single button mapped for each fixture group or each palette in a particular show.

The way that I implement magic sheets into my events is as a method of simplifying the palette and group libraries I have for what is actively set up in the grid. For example, I have a show file into which I continually merge all of my palette information.

There are many palettes in that file that are unused in a particular event.

Instead of scrolling through lists of palettes during programming, I will create a magic sheet for only those commands that I need access to for a particular event. It simplifies access to these settings without getting rid of the entire library of memories.

Console magic sheets Conclusion If you are fortunate enough to have a console that integrates digital magic sheets, this can be an invaluable tool in working with your rig, both for yourself and your volunteers.

It adds an even more user-friendly programming layer – once created, a digital magic sheet allows the operator to select and work with fixtures, groups, palettes and other parameters through a graphical user interface.

As mentioned earlier, all of this programming happens before recording cues or other playback memories for an event. However, the more that I program ahead of time as groups or palettes, the faster the programming process will be. Not only that, but your volunteers will be able to create complicated lighting looks with ease, empowering them to be a part of the creative process with minimal upfront training. Happy programming!

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Checklists Frank Wells shares how making a list and checking it twice is a good engineering practice DEVELOPING WORK PRACTICES that mimic those of top per formers in a given field is promoted as a path to success. During a presentation at a recent Audio Engineering Society worship sound education event, I was advocating the use of checklists for numerous situations in the workflow of worship production. In the hallway after the session, I spoke to a world-class live sound engineer who ser ves on the faculty of the host university. I suggested that while someone with his experience might not need checklists, they can be indispensable tools for ensuring consistent work habits and production quality. His reply was, “What makes you think I don’t use checklists?”

Coming from a man lauded for his work with Pink Floyd as FOH engineer, I consider my point proven. Checklists provide a simple, efficient way to organise a tech team’s responsibilities.

No errors of omission

Of course, safe operation of gear can be another factor, such as always turning power amplifiers or powered speakers on last and off first so that any power on/off signal “thumps” don’t damage speaker components.

Making the list What should be on a HOW tech team’s checklists? Ever y task that’s per formed between walking in the door through to the beginning of a ser vice or event.

On the audio front, that’s powering up gear, checking console presets and making sure the appropriate star ting preset is loaded and presets that will be needed later are cued in order. It’s also ensuring that microphones are deployed where they will be needed, including spares, and also ensuring that wireless mics using rechargeable batteries have full charges and mics running off standard

Even the best techs and engineers in the world can forget things when “winging it”. Consistent use of checklists takes the need to rely on memor y out of the equation. Checklists also provide a foundation for training tech team members, are essential for new operators who can’t possibly have enough system knowledge to work without a net and, when a team member has to be absent, provide that same safety net for backup operators.

service, making it best to keep them on their own list in a form that can be updated during rehearsals for the specifics of a given service.

A service start checklist should include the distribution of an order of service checklist so that all operators know what to expect during the service.

Tearing it down It’s not just about setup, there’s also the tech wrap-up after a service or event. Before the lights go off in the control booth, there’s gear to be powered down, there’s mics to be put away or covered if left on stands. The wrap-up list should include neatening the stage – putting microphone stands where they will be needed next, or in a neutral position. Cables should be coiled neatly and staged where they aren’t a trip hazard and are ready for the next use. Rechargeable batteries should be put on chargers.

Cameras should be locked down and covered.

Write it down

Maintaining order Organisation of tasks in a logical progression and with consistency in the order of task per formance promotes efficiency. Similar tasks can be grouped together. Tasks can be also be grouped based upon location of gear and by the order of signal flow (which can help reinforce the understanding of the source-to-loudspeaker pathway).

For video, there’s gear power-up including cameras, switchers, projectors (allow for warm-up time) and videowalls. Individual cameras may need to be white balanced.

As with a soundcheck, every video source should be tested through the entire signal path to the display or screen. For HOWs that are streaming, the connection to the streaming inter face or computer should also be on the list, as well as the link to Facebook Live or whatever steaming service is being deployed.

A lighting control system and fixture checklist should begin with power verification.

A good preset to program is one that lights all

batteries are fitted with fresh batteries. The checklist should include soundcheck elements – mic checks and music playback through the PA.

fixtures to some degree for a visual per formance check. A checklist should include the recall of the starting position preset and the verification that all needed cues are loaded.

Checklists can include tasks such as lighting transitions, camera angle changes or audio console preset recalls along with cues. These types of tasks can vary from service to

If checklists don’t already exist for your HOW’s tech team, start by having each team member list everything they do, as they do it, before, during and after your next service. Print these lists out neatly and follow them and annotate tweaks through the next few services. Put appropriate checklists on clipboards for each tech team member. Don’t just glance at the lists, physically check each task off as completed. Your tech team will work more efficiently and reliably, guaranteed.

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Microphones for podcasting

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Arguably the most important element of any podcasting setup is the microphone.

What makes a microphone for podcasting special?

PODCASTING AT THE MOMENT IS big business, and it’s not just amateur aficionados who fancy themselves as radio presenters who are giving it a go. Even before the spread of Covid-19 began to impact worship services, podcasting was enjoying record popularity. The main audience is often the younger generation; in some European countries, more than half of 18–24 year olds regularly listen to podcasts. This is an audience that can be hard to attract by conventional means. Furthermore, the format is also entirely flexible. An episode can be five or 50 minutes long, depending on what the content warrants, and this typically has the benefit of keeping engagement levels high throughout.

And as podcasts are mainly consumed on smartphones, any downtime in a person’s day could potentially lead to them tuning in. It’s not surprising that they are proving successful for hosting discussions on both business and personal topics.

Much like livestreaming, extending your worship activities to include regular podcasting that can be consumed at leisure can be a very effective way of increasing engagement with the congregation

Two presenters using a single condenser mic when away from normal services.

Now, with the spread of Covid-19 limiting in-person activities, podcasting has become even more appealing.

There are several pieces of equipment required to start putting together and publishing podcasts.

These include a microphone, computer, audio interface, pop shield, headphones, audio editing or recording software, and a publishing platform such as Apple Music or Spotify. For the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus on capturing audio. What makes a microphone suitable for podcasting and what is the

appropriate investment for a first-time purchase?

If you’re just starting out, practically any microphone can suffice as a test subject. Most computers and smartphones have built-in mics.

These can be great if you want to start practising how to put together an episode but, when it comes to others listening in, a better-quality solution is almost certainly required. A traditional, professional microphone is your best bet at getting a great-sounding podcast and is an essential piece of equipment if you are serious about continuing.

Microphones can be confusing at

first look – there’s a dizzying array of options to choose from and they come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not necessary to have a specific type of microphone before you can jump into podcasting. That said, there certainly are some attributes that make certain models more or less suitable.

Firstly, consider how you will be using the microphone – what is the format of the podcast? Will you have a group of speakers sat around a table in a quiet room discussing a topic, or will you be out and about, interviewing people in their own environment? Dynamic and condenser microphones excel in different situations. Condenser mics tend to be much more sensitive, which gives them a by-product of exacerbating any poor room acoustics.

Dynamic mics tend to mask poor environments, but are less capable of capturing dynamic nuances. When people think of podcasting, the image they have in their mind is often quite similar to a radio studio setup, with a large diaphragm mic mounted to a boom-style arm. If you have a lot of background noise such as computer fans and HVAC units where you will be recording the podcast, a dynamic mic will likely be the better choice.

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TECHNOLOGY You also will probably be able to buy a cheap dynamic microphone for less than a condenser equivalent, but consider that a condenser could potentially be positioned to capture multiple speakers from a single unit.

“There are no inherent technical limitations for any microphone to be used in a podcasting setup,” explains Audio-Technica’s Gary Boss. “The real question is how they sound. Typically, purpose-built podcasting microphones will be dynamic mics to help minimise background noise and create a radiostyle vocal signature. However, if you have a good room, condenser mics can offer exceptional vocal intelligibility and detail. Many of these mics also live in a studio music recording space.

A good mic is a good mic.”

When it comes to keeping setups simple, opting for a USB microphone is a sensible starting point. A USB mic is essentially a microphone and audio interface in one. Plug it into a computer and away you go

An on-location podcast requires a different mic – here we are using a Sennheiser wireless system with dynamic mics (depending on whether drivers are required for your computer to “see” it). The downside is less flexibility.

Any adjustments will have to come from the software on the computer rather than the interface, unless the unit boasts physical controls on the mic itself. The alternative would be a mic with an XLR connector and, while these are typically known as more “professional” models, there are no specific features that make this so.

If you have multiple people recording together, you will probably want to avoid USB mics and have a little more control over the individual signals. However, this means that you’ll also need to invest in an audio interface or mixer to hook up multiple XLR microphones.

With buying options on the market that hit almost every combination of features imaginable, the biggest consideration tends to be price.

GETTING STARTED

Røde Microphones’ NT-USB A USB interface-equipped version of Røde’s popular NT1 condenser microphone. The NT-USB offers zero-latency headphone monitoring and includes a pop-filter that attaches directly to its stand.

Blue Microphones’ Snowball A very compact cardioid condenser USB mic with dualcapsule design. It’s a great choice if you are recording your podcasts on-location and need a very portable solution.

Samson’s Meteor A visually unique microphone designed with aesthetics in mind. The device is

USB-equipped and includes an on-board volume selector and mute button.

Audio-Technica’s AT2020 A US$99 condenser mic that can also be purchased with a built-in USB interface (AT2020USB+).

Boasts iOS compatibility for direct recording to an iPhone or iPad.

Antelope Audio’s Edge Go Dubbed a “smart” USB mic, the Edge Go includes Antelope’s catalogue of vintage mic models to enhance and change the sound, as well as its Synergy Core effects processing platform.

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Sennheiser’s Memory Mic Designed for video podcasting from a smartphone, the Memory Mic can be clipped onto a speaker like a lavalier mic, making it ideal for situations where freedom of movement is important.

GETTING SERIOUS

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A cheap microphone can be purchased for under US$100, while top-class models extend into the thousands.

Sound quality among nonaudio professionals is often underappreciated. When it comes to podcasting, aside from the content of the discussion, it’s one of the only production tools at your disposal. There are no flashy images to distract the audience. To create a truly professional product, the quality and intelligibility of the presenters and guests must be top-notch. “Sound quality should be the biggest deciding factor,” agrees Boss, “as long as the product will fit within your budget, interface with your setup and is made by a reputable manufacturer.”

Here is a selection of different models from popular microphone manufacturers split into two categories: for first-time users and for those taking the next step.

Apogee’s MiC 96k The MiC 96k will be at the upper end of practically everyone’s budget when it comes to podcasting but promises uncompromising audio quality and recording up to 96kHz sample rate.

Audio-Technica’s BP40 A large diaphragm broadcast mic made for radio. The BP40 includes a switchable 100Hz high-pass filter to provide extra pop protection and produces a natural, condenser-like sound.

Audix’s USB12 A miniaturised USB condenser microphone tailored to recording voice and acoustic instruments. In contrast to the other models on this list, the USB12 is a gooseneck mic and can be positioned close to the speaker, without visually getting in the way. If your podcast is recorded alongside an audience, a gooseneck model could prove more effective.

Blue Microphones’ Yeti Offers a multi-pattern pickup and on-mic zero-latency headphone monitoring, as well as built-in volume and mute controls. It has an integrated USB interface.

Samson’s C01U Pro A 19mm large-diaphragm condenser microphone with built-in headphone jack and zero-latency monitoring. The C01U promises

Shure’s SM7B dynamic vocal mic

studio-quality sound and possesses a bigger and better feature set than its other USB models.

Shure’s SM7B A broadcast-quality professional studio microphone suitable for any application.

The unit doesn’t include any functionality such as on-board headphone monitoring but excels in audio capture quality.

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The benefits of a media server in a HOW setting

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AV Stumpfl’s global business development manager, Harry Gladow, and Stephen Baird-Smith, sales manager at Avolites, talk us through how media servers provide flexibility and a central point of control for video and lighting content

AV Stumpfl’s global business development manager, Harry Gladow

IN TODAY’S MODERN WORLD, A media server will be an integral piece of equipment for HOWs that regularly use visual elements as part of their weekly or special services. Creative content can significantly enhance engagement in a service by allowing a HOW’s team to reconfigure LED screens into different arrangements and project 3D objects, so that content can be adapted to various situations, such as youth events, weddings and annual festivals.

What is a media server?

HG: In a very general sense, media servers are powerful computer systems that combine specialist hardware and software to allow real-time video compositing for the realisation of complex media playout scenarios in a professional way.

SBS: A media server is a system that plays and manipulates pixel-based media. The heart of the system’s functionality lies in the custom software, which is sometimes supplied as a product in itself via a licence, but often comes packaged with custom hardware developed by the manufacturer to support the needs of the highly graphicsintensive application. This hardware usually offers multiple inputs and outputs for video, audio and data for connection to the rest of the system and may include custom drivers

Pixera media servers from AV Stumpfl and configuration to deliver more performance than an off-the-shelf machine.

What other equipment is needed to run a media server?

SBS: Other than something to display the video on (LED screen, displays, projectors), you’ll need a way of controlling the system. In some situations, the server can be run standalone with a keyboard and mouse. With Avolites’ Ai, we designed the interface so it could be operated in this way; however, the vast majority of users opt for a lighting console as a controller. Video switchers and signal distribution may also be required to deliver the video output to the displays. Ai supports NDI to allow multiple streams of video to be sent over network cables.

HG: If you want to display and/ or synchronise audio and video content, you need projectors, LED walls and speakers at the end of the technological pipeline. For a basic approach, usually all you need to run media server software is either a dedicated media server hardware system or a very powerful computer with a monitor.

What advantages can a media server provide for HOWs? HG: Using a media server system like AV Stumpfl’s Pixera system allows for a lot of flexibility when it comes to having a central point of control from which to implement, cross-connect and adjust all the different types of media you want to use in your setup. It is also possible to create inspiring projection-

Stephen Baird-Smith, sales manager at Avolites

mapping setups or to auto-calibrate projectors via the Vioso system which we have integrated into Pixera.

A great advantage is the ability to adjust content in real time, while a programmed show is running, in order to be able to make changes on the fly.

SBS: Visual content really enhances both the teaching and the worship aspects of a service. A media server provides so much more control over this content. This could be as simple as showing a video at the same time as a presentation from a laptop, or as advanced as generative video content which reacts to music.

What features would you advise HOWs to look for when purchasing their first media server?

SBS: The end user needs to decide what they’re hoping to achieve with their video system. If they want flexibility to rearrange their screens and projectors, then they need to look for output and projectionmapping tools. If they want to use cameras and integrate presentations for teaching, then the right inputs on the hardware are crucial. However, in almost all worship situations, a system that can be easily operated live, without huge amounts of pre-programming time, has to be a consideration.

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TECHNOLOGY HG: Real-time editing functions, keying, very good and fast masking tools, easy-to-use soft edge tools and the ability to synchronise multiple servers of the same system. Ideally, the system itself should also be available in different “sizes” that remain compatible with the main server.

How do your products differ from the competition?

SBS: Avolites’ Ai system differs in a number of ways. We have both a GUI and a node engine. This means that we offer a user-friendly experience for core functionality but are also totally open for power users to reconfigure the whole system to achieve their goals. We offer both software licence keys and physical server hardware, and our hardware is fully developed in-house and built in the UK. We’re also the only company offering both media servers and powerful professional lighting consoles.

HG: AV Stumpfl’s Pixera is based on the idea that users can gradually discover the options and features and can smoothly transition from being a beginner to becoming a true specialist. On the high-end side of things, it is important to note that our powerful render engine can

handle video files up to and beyond uncompressed 8K and is ideally suited for playing back HDR or 12-bit content.

Can a server integrate with in-house lighting and audio systems?

HG: We support most standard signal protocols, such as Dante and GDTF,

so they can be easily selected and programmed. New content can also be uploaded to the server(s) from the console, video layers can be previewed on the console interface and video content can be instantly mapped onto any connected colour mixing lighting fixtures. We believe as a company that visual control is about lighting and video together as one unified medium, and all our

projection surface. Instead of three discreet screens on each surface, the whole wall is one display, and content can be placed anywhere on it.

HG: AV Stumpfl has been involved with multiple HOW projects in the past but, while parts of the theatre world were relatively quick to adopt our new and award-winning Pixera system, the HOW market is just beginning to discover its possibilities.

Have media servers become more popular in the last decade?

Avolites’ Ai media server which means that cross-connecting systems is not a problem. We also have a very powerful API for those who like to implement systems at a much deeper level.

SBS: It can, and it’s even more exciting if it is. We offer a whole feature set, called Synergy, for when any of our Ai media server products are connected to any of our Titan lighting consoles. This is a network connection using a standard Cat-5 infrastructure and, once connected, the server sends thumbnails of all the video content to the console

product development reflects this.

The server can also play audio, as well as receiving audio, which can control content generated live inside the server. We provide balanced XLR connectors on our hardware for audio in and out.

What’s the most interesting use of media severs in HOWs you have witnessed?

SBS: In Florida, we’re using Ai to transform an irregularly shaped wall at the back of the stage into a

HG: Media servers have become extremely popular over the last decade and are now widely seen as a standard component of professional AV media setups.

SBS: Certainly. The technology has moved so fast, primarily driven by the video games industry, that graphics hardware is now able to deliver live experiences which would have been impossible 10 years ago. Another important factor is that projection and LED screen technology has become so much more affordable, and this has driven audience expectation – video is part of that expectation now at almost every scale.

Changing lives and touching souls is your calling.

Making high performance worship and speech AV systems that anyone can operate is ours.

New WX Wall

Controllers

symetrix.co Inspired AV Processing & Control Solutions

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TECHNOLOGY

A beginner’s guide to lighting consoles In the second part of his lighting consoles feature, Elation’s Bob Mentele guides us through the factors to consider when selecting a lighting controller

LAST ISSUE, WE TOOK A LOOK we address multiple units to the at how lighting control developed same DMX address. They would over the past few decades. With simply be controlled by the same a little knowledge under our belt, fader or channel but would allow we are ready to look into the some expansion and flexibility if current control options available there isn’t room in the budget for to us, and how to choose the best the purchase of a larger console. one for an application. There are These consoles can also be used numerous variables involved in to control any DMX device, they choosing a lighting controller, but just do not contain the inter faces we will step through some of the needed to control them efficiently, most impor tant. so it isn’t recommended to use The initial information that we them for multi-parameter need to collect is in regard to the fixtures. lighting fixtures that are connected to the system. The feature set needed in a console is directly dependent on what needs to be controlled or will need to be controlled if there are plans to upgrade the lighting in the future. We also need to pay close attention to the quantity of For small 48 r fixtures the system LED colour mixing e ett ne S e has or will have systems where budgets c ’s S ADJ and the number of are tight and more eloquent DMX channels they require in total. If the lighting is completely dimmer-based, or single intensity parameter LED, then we can look at a ver y basic dimming controller, or perhaps a two-scene preset console. These come in various sizes and capabilities but are usually limited on the maximum number of DMX channels they can control, typically around 48. Some allow for recording of presets, or cues for show playback, while others do not. While these consoles do have limited channel control capabilities, we could operate more fixtures if

control is desired, there are a few specifically designed consoles that help to make mixing colours and using other features a little easier. These types of consoles also tend to be affordable, but they do lack some features that larger consoles have. They are also typically limited on the number of fixtures they can control but, again, we can address multiple units to the same DMX address to stretch the capabilities a little more.

These consoles tend to have quick access buttons to recall popular premixed colours

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and some have the ability to record presets as well for future use. When choosing to use this type of console, you will want to make sure to check that the colour mix in your fixtures will match with the suppor ted colour mix(es) of the controller as some are limited to one or two. Also, if

you have a system of multiple variations of colour mixes, I would not recommend this type of console because the light output from the fixtures will not be consistent. You will want to look into something more advanced.

For small systems that include a mix of different types of devices – conventional, LED colour mixing and moving lights – there are what we call hybrid consoles available. These consoles include some hardware that makes control of moving lights easier – things like encoders, joysticks, various executor buttons and perhaps a small touchscreen.

At this level, most consoles will allow for preset and cue recording

Elation’s Show Designer 2

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ETC’s Eos Ti and playback. Some will also make running effects easier with the addition of an effects engine, or a collection of prebuilt and editable effects and chases that can be recalled and assigned to specific lights. Colour chases, strobe effects, movement of moving lights in various shapes and speeds are easily added to a show with this capability. While these consoles

“Controlling a lighting system through software on a computer has become a popular method because you tend to get a lot of features and power for a low price.” do provide an inter face that is better designed for programming multi-parameter fixtures, they still tend to be limited in the number of devices that can be controlled, and they also may have limitations on the number of DMX channels a fixture can use. Fixtures that allow for pixel control of cells may not be suppor ted with a console like this. Another limitation that most of these consoles have is the lack of ability to connect an external monitor for additional display space. That can make programming a larger system difficult to keep track of and it can cause issue when multiple users need to be aware of the various programming that’s been done on the console as well.

For the most complete control of a lighting system, have a look into a fully integrated lighting console.

These consoles can handle any and all device types. The only major

limitation to them is the maximum number of DMX universes that they can control. Some console manufacturers limit the output capabilities of the consoles until you pay an upgrade fee, while others sell the consoles “unlocked” or with no artificial DMX limitations.

The limitations placed on consoles will be dependent on the computer processor that is used in them.

Some will allow for up to 64 universes of DMX, or over 32,000 channels of control. At this point in control, the variations will mostly be on the inter face side. Most consoles within a series will run the same or similar software, so functionality is the same, but, as the consoles get larger and more expensive, you gain more access to various features through the inclusion of more faders, encoders and executor buttons.

These consoles will typically have integrated touchscreen monitors and will also allow for the use of additional external monitors so that you can display more information about the system and the current programming being run. These consoles tend to be the most reliable of any type because the hardware used in them is of higher quality and the consoles are designed to take more abuse from the users. The software in these consoles also tends to be continually developed and improved by the manufacturers. They are

constantly removing bugs and adding new features to extend the life of the product. Updates are also made to make them more power ful and easier to use with new lighting fixture technology. While these consoles are going to be the most expensive, they will also last the longest.

Another possible control method for a lighting system is through the use of software on a computer. This has become another very popular method because you tend to get a lot of features and power for a low

Obsidian Control Systems’ NX4 price; Onyx from Obsidian Control Systems is free and allows for four universes of DMX output. Typically, you are using the same software as a fully integrated lighting console, but you save money by not buying the large hardware device and screen that is included in a console. One big downside is that it will take additional time to control your fixtures because you are lacking the physical inter face that enables a user to work quickly. You

will also need to include a convertor when planning to use software, either a device to convert USB to DMX or a network to DMX gateway.

This is what will be used to connect the computer to the lighting system.

When using software for lighting control, it is highly recommended that the computer running the program be dedicated to that purpose only, and not connected to the internet. The last thing anyone needs is to overdrive their computer with too many tasks, making it crash in the middle of a service. One suggestion is to look for software that allows for the use of a USB inter face. This would enable you to grow your control capabilities as budget becomes available, or as your system grows. There are some companies that offer multiple inter faces of varying sizes and prices. Adding an inter face to a software control application will help to increase the speed and ease of controlling your lighting fixtures or recalling presets. Even with adding a simple inter face, the cost of a software control application is still typically lower than that of a dedicated console. Like dedicated consoles, developers are constantly improving the software, so you are able to stay up to date with this method as well.

The choosing of a lighting controller can be a very personal decision. Each type of console will use its own method and language to control the lighting, which may or may not mesh with how you, your team and your system work. If you are looking to make an investment in a new lighting console, make sure to research its capabilities and limitations. When looking to purchase a fully integrated console, download the software and try it on a computer first to get a feel for it.

Ask your dealer for a demo and use it in your space. Try as many as you need to until you get the right one.

It’ll be worth it.

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BUYING GUIDE

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There is a lot to think about when considering a videowall installation. Worship AVL takes you through the key points LARGE VIDEOWALL SOLUTIONS typically require a serious investment, and so you’ll be wanting to make the right choice the first time round.

Adding to the challenge, some of the purchasing decisions are quite simple, such as picking the right screen resolution, while some are a little less obvious, such as long-term power and cooling requirements. Here, we’ve summed up some of the main points to consider before taking the plunge.

Any type of large multi-monitor display configuration is typically referred to as a videowall and consists of multiple computer monitors, video projectors or television screens able to output content from a shared source as one large display. This could be as basic as two LED or LCD display tiles assembled together with a computer connected to form one solution.

Selecting the right panel technology to use starts with how your ministry intends to implement its content.

Different technologies serve different needs and also have different drawbacks. A simple IMAG display for hymn lyrics doesn’t necessarily justify the same level of investment

as a modern ministry heavily reliant on flashy and creative visual elements would. Similarly, for a videowall providing 24-hour digital signage capabilities, is your goal clear communication of specific written messages in a grid layout, or is to make an impact with a unique artistic design? One use might make energy efficiency and long-term ownership costs more important considerations as opposed to image quality and colour accuracy.

Just as in the consumer market, there are two main technologies for outputting pixels on a screen – LED and LCD – and they differ in many aspects. It’s also possible to find professional DLP videowall solutions.

DLP displays are a hollow box, or “cube”, containing a projector that rear projects an image onto a built-in screen. Modern DLP cubes use LED light sources capable of delivering impressive lifespans. Furthermore, DLP is the only technology that can display static images without suffering from issues such as screen burn and image retention, meaning very low, long-term maintenance

Christie Extreme Series LCD panels

Two SquareV LED videowalls were installed at the back of the stage

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BUYING GUIDE costs. They tend to offer less brightness and require control over the venue’s ambient lighting conditions. For this reason, they are not commonly used in house of worship applications.

Further delving into LED technology, MiniLED and Micro LED are among the most popular display technologies for next-generation products, while the current mainstream LED technologies are SMD and DIP. LED displays typically boast improved visual performance with superior contrast ratio and higher brightness.

The modular design enabled by LED technology adds flexibility and gives an almost unlimited creative scope.

LED is a preferred choice in many applications, as almost any shape and size videowall can be created.

In addition, the bezel-free design of LED displays allows for the creation of seamless large canvasses with no interruption to content.

Videowall controllers such as Datapath’s VSN 11 Series are essential for driving the display While increasingly losing popularity to LED solutions, LCD still offers a cost-effective way to create a videowall. The downside is that large bezels between panels create a visible grid across the videowall, which needs to be considered with content. For this reason, LCD walls are often deployed in more commercial environments, such as operations centres and boardrooms.

LED technology creates seamless images, at brightness levels unobtainable by LCD, and at an increasingly competitive price point.

“When it comes to the LED vs LCD videowall debate, it can be hard to pick a side. For companies interested in jumping into the world of videowalls, or even upgrading your existing technology, the biggest question you’ll have to deal with is whether LED or LCD is right,” says Absen’s senior sales manager for the Gulf market, Alina Yuan. “We have always championed the use of LED technology for videowalls due to the bezel-less design. Additionally, LED displays are brighter and deliver superior contrast levels, ultimately delivering a better image quality and experience for viewers.”

Having decided which technology will power your display, we need to assess image quality requirements, typically marketed in terms of a panel’s “pixel pitch”. The pixel pitch is a measure of the distance between the individual pixels on an LED panel, or the size of the individual pixels on an LCD panel. This is analogous to a TV’s screen resolution. It’s typically referred to as pixel pitch to avoid the confusion between differing input and output resolution capabilities. Pixel pitch would essentially be the output resolution.

“Pixel pitch is one of the main specifications of an LED display,” furthers Yuan, “but it isn’t the only important one. There isn’t a best pixel pitch that works for everyone; you have to find a suitable solution for your needs.”

This means considering the size of the screen, the minimum viewing distance, its brightness and the onsite infrastructure. The controller that powers the individual displays is also as important a consideration as the panel itself. Edge-blending, self-calibration, automatic colour correction, self-certification and networking capability are all features of the controller that come at a

Barco’s MVL-721 rear projection cube

structural support in the wall, behind the mounts, it could lead to failure or injury.

Electrical requirements are another major factor when planning a videowall installation – it takes a lot of energy to output photons, regardless of the technology used. Determining the proper power consumption and assigning the right power supplies are crucial for the long life of your videowall. A surge suppressor is beneficial to make sure any spikes in power are non-destructive.

It’s these finals points that are often overlooked and, with such complex considerations, a professional systems integrator can start to pay large dividends.

Absen’s N Plus Series comes in various pixel pitches price. You will also need a media player for serving up the multimedia content and a video switcher to introduce multiple sources to the system.

If you want to save money later, choosing the right mounting solution is essential. When it comes to maintaining, servicing and supporting your displays, you will want a display mount that offers easy access to failed parts.

Structure is an often-overlooked variable. When mounting large videowalls, additional support structures are likely needed to handle the weight of the equipment.

This calls for additional engineering but is a very important step. If your videowall installer hasn’t considered

“Videowalls are a specialist area that require experience and knowledge of technology,” advises the Absen sales manager. “With their rich experience in dealing with various projects across diverse applications, SIs can take your considerations properly into account to create a bespoke solution.”

To sum up, to deliver a complete LED solution, tech teams and integrators should carefully consider the size of the screen, how it will be used, the technology powering it, any connected equipment, whether a third-party controller is required, its mounting and power requirements, and future expectations. Getting all of these factors right will not only protect your big investment but breathe new life into your services.

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NEWPRODUCTS

PRODUCTS

AV • LIGHTING • LIVE SOUND • INSTALLATION • BROADCAST • RECORDING

A–ZCONTENTS

Graphite PPC

Ross Live | 2020 rolls out With no physical tradeshows in recent months, Ross Video went full steam ahead with Ross Live | 2020

AJA

Ki Pro Ultra 12G

52

Alcons Audio

QB242

54

Allen & Heath

SQ V1.5

58

Altman Lighting

PHX3 LED/Genesis

61

Amate Audio

G7

52

Analog Way

Midra 4K/Picturall 3.0

50

Blackmagic Design Atem Mini Pro

49

Broadcast Pix

48

StreamingPix

Datavideo

KMU-200

50

disguise

r17.1

59

DPA

4097 Core Micro Shotgun

56

Elation

Prisma/NX Sync

60

ETC

ArcSystem Navis/F-Drive

61

JBL Professional

DDA 5.1

59

Lectrosonics

DPR digital plug-on transmitter

55

Mackie

EleMent Series/CR Series

56

Magewell

Capture Express 3.2

49

Martin

MAC Aura PXL/ELP Zoom Lenses

60

NewTek

TriCaster Mini 4K update

48

Panasonic

PT-RZ990/PT-RQ35K Series

51

Peerless-AV

65-inch Xtreme High Bright 50

QSC

AC-C2T-LP

54

Riedel

MicroN UHD/MuoN/VirtU

54

Robe

Hot-Spot lens system

61

Roland

V-60HD and XS-62S V3.0

50

Ross Video

Graphite PPC/Carbonite Ultra v4

46

Sony

SRG-XP1/SRG-XB25

52

Telestream

Inspect 2110

48

Williams AV

WaveCAST 8/IR Plus

56

Yamaha

Rivage PM5 and PM3

58

THE GRAPHITE PPC is a portable production centre that can incorporate up to two MEs, four DVEs, six frame syncs, four media stores and two multiviewers. Capable of handling up to 13 inputs and eight outputs, Graphite PPC also includes the same RAVE audio engine and XPression graphics and clips package that comes with the larger Graphite solution. Equipped with a soft-shell carrying case and a pull-out handle and wheels, the 19kg package further benefits from quiet fan cooling and requires just a single operator.

A v4 update for the Carbonite Ultra production switcher includes support for different frame rates, adds adjustable delays on all framesynched inputs in HD and UHD, while extending Wide Colour Gamut and HDR conversion in HD as well as UHD. First seen in the Graphite integrated solution, the RAVE audio engine is

are supported and the engine offers Sample Rate Conversion for all frame syncs.

The Canadian company’s Ultrix routing and AV processing platform has been upgraded with a v4.2 firmware update. A new SFP I/O module is included for the Ultrix-FR1, FR2 and FR5 chasses, offering multiviewers, frame syncs, clean/ quiet switching, audio embedding/

A new optional Ultrisync-UHD licence can be purchased for assigning 12G frame syncs with up to 0.5s of variable audio delay per mono channel. The licences can float inside the frame for moving between inputs as required.

The Ultricore-TLX Tie Line Control Manager automatically manages and simplifies routes between multiple frames. Ultricore-TLX is an optional licence for Ultricore-BCS offering multi-

now integrated into the Carbonite Ultra switcher. This provides access to 13x48 stereo channel mixers, 384 external audio channels (24 SDI inputs x 16 audio signals) and 10 internal inputs together with compression limiting and EQ functionality within the engine. Up to three RAVE ABU breakout boxes

de-embedding and other Ultrix features. Ideal for use with large fibre deployments, UHD systems where cable distance is important or where additional HDMI I/O is needed, the board features 16 SFP cages for standard video SFPs and two aux ports for video/MADI connections.

hop automatic path-finding between all supported router types. softGear is a new signal processing platform that draws its design and methodology from Ross’ openGear ecosystem. It is said to provide users with new ways to acquire, process, manage and distribute

The Ultrix family content and complements existing hardware-based workflows with software-based processing for both on-premise workflows and cloud environments. Within softGear, algorithms are encapsulated using modern container technology, targeting CPU or GPU rather than FPGA or DSP, and media processing services are deployed as microservices, instead of dedicated physical cards. A common user interface framework through DashBoard is said to ensure that softGear is user-friendly for operators everywhere.

Alongside these new releases, Ross Video’s Virtual Solutions control platform now integrates with Monogram’s Creative Console, a new customisable and modular console intended to perform “free-form” control. www.rossvideo.com

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PROFESSIONAL

COSMO THE INTEGRATIVE LINE ARRAY HK Audio’s new COSMO line array system combines state-of-the-art audio quality with ingeniously simple handling, utmost utility and remarkable economy to provide an extremely flexible, easily configurable PA for professionals.

COSMO raises the performance bar for line arrays, setting a whole new standard for productivity and efficiency. Integrative and versatile by design, it delivers measurably higher effective SPL in the HF range than comparable systems.

With horizontal directivities of 100°, 80° and 60°, this formidable family of ultra flexible systems provides the bandwidth needed to cover the most diverse live scenarios.

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hkaudio.com

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PRODUCTS

NewTek unveils TriCaster Mini 4K

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FOLLOWING THE launch of TriCaster Mini at the end of 2019, NewTek has gone one step further with the launch of TriCaster Mini 4K. As the name implies, the product introduces support for 4K video for the TriCaster Mini, while also adding new features such as Live Story Creator and LivePanel, which are intended to make the production of shows even easier for lone producers or small teams.

The enhanced TriCaster Mini 4K promises simple setup with extensive live production capabilities, including broadcastquality, fully customisable virtual sets to turn any environment into a professional studio. Broadcast graphics, media playback, one-touch automated control, multichannel remote Skype video calling, integrated replay and social media integration can all be achieved with up to full UHD p60 resolution.

Live Story Creator enables an individual to run an entire production from a Microsoft Word document. A script created in Microsoft Word includes trigger actions when loaded into the TriCaster Mini 4K, allowing the

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storyteller to concentrate on delivery of the message rather than on technical setup and production.

LivePanel introduces customisable, browser-based remote control of the TriCaster Mini 4K from anywhere on the same local area network, letting anyone control live switching, compositing, mix/effects, media playback, audio and automation from tablets, smartphones and laptops. Configurable macros are also supported, allowing routine but complex tasks and sequences to be executed at the push of a button. www.newtek.com

StreamingPix goes live DESIGNED TO produce compelling professional content, Broadcast Pix has launched StreamingPix, a complete live production and streaming solution that incorporates many of the manufacturer’s triedand-tested streaming tools but with the addition of easy-to-use control interfaces and a library of clips and graphics.

Features include a RoboPix PTZ camera with integrated remote control; high-quality audio capture using a LAV microphone; SDI, HDMI, IP and NDI inputs for the ability to input PowerPoint and social media; a library of ready-to-use clips and graphics; media-aware macros to make content visually interesting; and one-to-many streaming to popular streaming

services, such as Facebook Live, YouTube Live or Vimeo, and virtual meetings, including Zoom, Skype and GotoMeeting.

Tony Mastantuono, StreamingPix product manager, commented: “StreamingPix grew out of our observation that as the desire to stream events and content has exploded, particularly in recent months, most organisations lack the kind of broadcast training required by current systems on the market today. Users need a simpler, more accessible and easier automated way to produce compelling streams and get them online, at a cost-effective price point.”

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www.broadcastpix.com

Telestream helps the move from SDI to IP FURTHER EXTENDING the Telestream IQ Solutions monitoring family, Inspect 2110 helps content creators monitor ST 2110 video streams at broadcast and production facilities. It ensures video flowing across the network is correct, working as expected and synchronised, enabling users to make the shift from SDI to IP video, while introducing several benefits in flexibility, scale, migration and efficiency. Inspect 2110 solves the problem of monitoring growing and dynamic IP networks with limited staff. Any individual program can be tracked throughout the network to ensure that the video content on any particular stream is exactly what it should be in terms of media, format, audio and metadata. The video monitoring solution also offers a direct link to the Prism IP media analysis platform.

Ideal for enterprise-scale workflows, Capture C2 is the smaller version of Lightspeed Live, offering a dual-channel ingest solution

The Californian developer has announced major new functionality and feature sets for its softwarebased Prism Waveform Monitor.

Remotely accessible, the single next-generation solution is suited to SDI and IP workflow applications, including postproduction workflows up to 8K resolution. In addition

Inspect 2110 and media processing for less complex applications. The dualchannel ingest solution captures two concurrent HD inputs up to 1080p60 and generates a low-res proxy of the content. Supporting all major HD codecs, the server provides production tools, such as simultaneous edit-while-capture, transcode-while-capture and deliverwhile-capture. Telestream reports that its Lightspeed Live Capture is the only capture portfolio that supports all the common formats, HDR, VTR digitising, remote

production, IP input and delivery to Avid systems, without hardware changes. By integrating the new server system alongside its flagship, software-based Vantage Media Processing Platform, the Vantage for Capture option adds transcoding that runs directly on the Lightspeed Live Capture C2 server alongside Live Capture, Live Stream and Avid integration. Facilities include Live Edit sub-clipping of live and growing capture files using an HLS proxy embedded in a user-friendly, webbased UI.

The Prism Waveform Monitor to offering a full suite of IP-based Waveform Monitoring tools up to 4K resolution on 25G Ethernet, Prism includes enhanced High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) reports and tools. www.telestream.net

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PRODUCTS

Magewell expands with SRT streaming AN UPGRADE to Magewell’s Capture Express recording application has expanded the software’s streaming capabilities.

Version 3.2 adds new support for multiple streaming technologies, including the Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) protocol developed and open-sourced by Haivision.

Version 3.0 initially offered easy recording and previewing functionality, while the subsequent version 3.1 added the ability to stream H.264-encoded video using the RTMP protocol. Now, as well as the SRT protocol, version 3.2 provides support for MPEG-TS over UDP or RTP. The update automatically detects compatible graphics hardware in the host system and leverages GPUaccelerated H.264 encoding when possible, using the CPU for encoding only as necessary. Capture Express runs on the Windows operating system and is compatible with all

Capture Express 3.2 current Magewell capture product lines – including USB Capture Gen 2 and USB Capture Plus external devices, Pro Capture PCIe cards and Eco Capture M.2 hardware – as well as Magewell’s first-generation capture cards and boxes.

The Chinese manufacturer has also released version 1.3 of its Ultra Stream livestreaming encoder hardware. The new update enables recording to the device’s built-in

Ultra Stream storage or attached USB drive with a choice of two modes. The default method stops recording if storage becomes

full, while a continuous, loop-like recording mode automatically deletes the oldest saved clip to make room when storage fills up.

The Ultra Stream 1.3 firmware upgrade adds a user-selectable AutoRecording option that automatically starts recording to internal storage, a USB drive or both when a stable input signal is detected. The update also adds support for the RTSP streaming protocol alongside Ultra Stream’s existing RTMP capabilities.

Other enhancements include expanded controls in the web-based interface, new tools for downloading recorded clips and image adjustments, including brightness, contrast, saturation and hue. www.magewell.com

Blackmagic Design adds hardware and software

Atem Mini Pro CREATED WITH a similar feature set as the Atem Mini, the Atem Mini Pro is a new live production switcher with added features for recording, streaming and monitoring.

Blackmagic Design has launched a hardware streaming engine which allows direct streaming via its Ethernet connection to YouTube Live, Facebook and Twitch. A miniaturised control panel-based design offers support for recording the stream direct to USB flash disks in H.264 in addition to multiple disks for continuous recording. The new model integrates a multiview on the HDMI video output for monitoring all inputs on a single screen.

Equipped with four independent HDMI inputs, video sources resync to the switcher if they operate at different video standards.

Each HDMI input features a dedicated standards converter for automatically changing 1080p,

1080i and 720p sources to the video standard of the switcher. A USB connection operates as a simple webcam source for use with any video software.

Two 3.5mm stereo audio inputs provide connections to desktop and lapel microphones.

The audio sources can be further processed by the built-in limiter, compressor and six-band EQ, in addition to being routed to the separately connected Fairlight audio mixer.

A further new addition from Blackmagic is the Teranex Mini SDI to DisplayPort 8K HDR, an advanced 8K DisplayPort monitoring solution

Teranex Mini SDI to DisplayPort 8K HDR for DisplayPort monitors such as the new Apple Pro Display XDR. Dual on-screen scope overlays, HDR, scaled and pixel-by-pixel modes and 33-point 3D LUTs come as standard.

The front panel includes controls and

a colour display for monitoring the video input, audio meters and video standard indication. The Pro Display XDR panel can be used to control display settings, such as switching reference modes and adjusting brightness.

An integrated scaler ensures the video input standard is scaled to the native resolution of the connected DisplayPort monitor, although unscaled HD or 4K content can be viewed in pixel-by-pixel mode. For desktop or rack-mounted use, the rear panel of the 8K DisplayPort is

ISO for low light performance, Blackmagic RAW recording and a built-in 5-inch touchscreen for accurate focusing in 6K. With the addition of software update v7.1, the HyperDeck Studio Mini broadcast recorders now include a H.264 codec that supports true interlaced HD formats, a new AAC audio codec for uploading files direct to YouTube, Ethernet transfers of 110MB/s and support for longer duration in a single file of at least three hours. Designed to be portable, the miniaturised

HyperDeck Studio Mini further equipped with a USB-C connector, Quad Link 12G-SDI for HD and Ultra HD for up to 8K formats.

Blackmagic Camera Update 6.9 now provides a connection for the 4K and 6K Pocket Cinema Camera models to the Atem Mini switcher. The software update controls the video lens and tally light parameters of up to four cameras via the HDMI video connection.

Enhancements include up to 25600

broadcast deck incorporates H.264, ProRes or DNx codecs for recording to SD or UHS-II card media in either QuickTime or MXF file formats.

Other features include 6G-SDI for all formats up to 2160p30, HDMI for monitoring, dual SD card slots for non-stop recording and a built-in sync generator for daisy-chaining and synchronising multiple decks together. www.blackmagicdesign.com

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Analog Way presents Midra 4K BASED ON the Midra 4K platform and fifth-generation scaling engine inherited from the LivePremier presentation systems, Analog Way has unveiled the Midra 4K series of multi-layer video mixers and presentation switchers.

The four products in the range – QuickVu 4K, QuickMatrix 4K, Pulse 4K and Eikos 4K – feature 4K60 10-bit 4:4:4 image processing, genlock synchronisation, true seamless switching, HDR support and HDCP 2.2.

Created for small- and mediumsized fixed installations and live applications, the switchers offer 10 inputs, including eight 4K60 (four HDMI 2.0, two 12G-SDI and two DisplayPort 1.2) and two 1080p with user-selectable HDMI and SDI connectors. Two 4K60 outputs, each with mirrored HDMI and SDI connectors, can be combined to create a dual-output, edge-blended display or configured as two independent programme outputs

or one programme output and one Auxiliary output. A dedicated multiviewer with resizable widgets is available to monitor the Program & Preview screens and all the connected sources.

Ease-of-setup features include onboard Web RCS, which is an HTML5based user interface with live source

thumbnails. All products in the range feature Ethernet control via a standard TCP/IP socket connection supported by all major third-party control systems. They can also be controlled by the free Crestron driver in addition to Analog Way’s drag-anddrop Crestron user interface, AW VideoCompositor.

Analog Way has also added software release 3.0 for its Picturall series of media servers. New features include the support of cue tracking, the NotchLC video codec, NewTek NDI v4.5 and virtual displays, in addition to a new web-based media manager and a free AWX encoder plug-in for Adobe Creative Cloud.

The support of cue tracking enables jumping from one cue to another in the cue stack, allowing changes to be recorded between the two cues and added to the final result. The GPU-powered NotchLC video codec enables delivery of up to 10-bit colour depth for clean gradients. In its largest configuration, a Picturall media server can play back one 8K@60Hz or four 4K@60Hz video files. Support for NewTek NDI v4.5 technology reportedly increases the decoding speed and improves video quality. www.analogway.com

Datavideo switches and mixes Roland enhances its switchers THE KMU-200 has been revealed as the latest addition to Datavideo’s series of multichannel 4K touchscreen region of interest switchers. Designed for smaller HOW or panel interview applications, the portable KMU-200 combines switching and audio mixing together with built-in streaming and recording capabilities. Depending on the user, the KMU-200’s workflow can switch between horizontal (16:9) and vertical (9:16) modes, with the latter providing multiple camera angles and high-

quality audio. An integrated encoder streams directly to popular CDN platforms, while live events can be recorded with the built-in SD recording card. A single 4K camera can be used to obtain four cutouts or regions of interest and the full screen view, plus another HDMI input for an additional camera or computer.

For those applications that require social distancing, the KMU-200 reduces the need to have multiple crew members producing and streaming a production. www.datavideo.com

V3.0 UPDATES can now be downloaded for the Roland V-60HD and XS-62S HD video switcher models. Workflow enhancements and expanded control for both switchers include multiple PTZ support together with several new tools designed to simplify the streaming of broadcasts and live production content. The operation of PTZ cameras can be controlled from Roland V-60HD and XS-62S video switchers with remote control software. The V3.0 updates extend the use of Roland switchers with JVC, Panasonic, Sony, PTZOptics, Avonic and other VISCA-compatible PTZ cameras without the need for a dedicated separate controller.

The upgrades reportedly make

V-60HD

capturing stills directly from PGM possible and add frame-rate support on SDI inputs for 60p, 30p, 24p and 23.98p sources. More PTZ cameras can be controlled over IP with universal VISCA protocols.

In addition to including a delay, the audio aux function can assign analogue audio inputs 1–6 to the aux output. proav.roland.com

Peerless-AV goes to the Xtreme THE LATEST addition to Peerless-AV line-up of displays is an IP66 allweather model in the form of the 65-inch Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Display. In addition to the inclusion of Peerless’ patented Dynamic Thermal Transfer system, the product brings a new size offering to the digital out-ofhome market.

The 65-inch screen includes cover glass that is optically bonded to cut down on glare and improve picture quality, even in direct sunlight. With

an operating temperature range of –35°C to +60°C, the manufacturer claims that the Xtreme Displays are designed for year-round outside use, in even the harshest of environments. The integrated ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to optimise power consumption and the overall viewing experience. The panel is said to be fully protected against moisture, as well as any potential debris.

“We see growing demand from advertising companies to replace analogue with digital and the requirement for larger screen sizes,” said Keith Dutch, MD – EMEA, Peerless-AV. “We’re pleased

to still be leading in the market with the widest temperature range and ingress protection rating for our Xtreme range.” www.peerless-av.com

50 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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PRODUCTS

Panasonic streamlines production WITH THE development of the PT-RZ990 laser projectors, Panasonic is targeting the growing immersive experience demand among HOW congregations. The Japanese manufacturer’s Smart Projector Control feature allows users to make use of the on/off function in addition to adjustments that can be made to the lens via a smartphone. The air-tight, dust-resistant optical units further benefit from a new filter-free cooling system to reportedly promote a virtually maintenance-free, 24/7 operation for up to 20,000 hours.

Available in either black or white and compatible with 1-Chip DLP lens options, all models deliver WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution and vary between 6,000 and 9,400 lumens in brightness.

The PT-RQ35K Series has been designed to deliver eye-catching visuals with blue and red laser technology, 30,000 lumens of brightness and 4K resolution. The PT-RQ35K 4K (3840x2400) resolution with Quad Pixel Drive On and PT-RZ34K WUXGA (1920x1200) are said to significantly reduce logistics and installation hassles with the inclusion of Smart

PT-RZ990 Projector Control and Near Field Communication function. These features are said to make it easy to read and change basic setups by holding a mobile device against the projector’s touchpoint. The Remote Preview function makes it possible for users to check the content signal remotely via multi-media control software or a web browser.

The SQ1H Series has an increased panel brightness of 1,000cd/m2 to ensure high-quality content can be displayed, even in bright spaces. Available in 86- and 75-inch models, this series is capable of 24/7 operation and is said to allow for easy and flexible setup with Digital Link, based on the HDBaseT standard, connecting video, audio

and control signals to external devices with a single LAN cable. The products also feature the Intel Smart Display Module (SDM) slot, making it possible to customise the display and connectivity for a customer’s production and environmental needs.

The SQE1 Series has been created to complement the current SQ1 Series with the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity. The displays are offered in a wide range of sizes, from the large 98-inch model to the 43-inch model, making them suitable for

vertical installation and 24/7 operation. The SQE1 Series is also equipped with the Intel SDM slot, as well as a wide range of terminals, and can be connected with various playback equipment and expansion boards. Built-in speakers are featured for playing content with audio.

The Kairos IT/IP video processing platform has been developed to satisfy an increasing demand for hosting rich and engaging remote streaming content experiences.

According to Panasonic, the live video switching comes with maximum CPU/GPU processor utilisation for “virtually unlimited” ME scalability, in addition to resolution and format independence.

As a native IP, ST 2110 system, Kairos supports transitions to live, uncompressed IP workflows, bypassing the need for dedicated hardware. pro-av.panasonic.net/en

Kairos

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TRE-1201 1400W POWER OUTPUT MAX SPL OF 130DB (1M) 2 MIC/LINE CHANNEL MIXER WITH INDEPENDENT GAIN CONTROLS 12" DRIVER & 1.35" COMPRESSION DRIVER ON-BOARD DSP WITH 4 AUDIO MODES CAR 3 CARRY HANDLES

TRE-1501 1400W POWER OUTPUT MAX SPL OF 131DB (1M) 2 MIC/LINE CHANNEL MIXER WITH INDEPENDENT GAIN CONTROLS 15" DRIVER & 1.35" COMPRESSION DRIVER

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PRODUCTS

Sony promotes remote solutions

Ki Pro Ultra 12G

AJA promotes 12G-SDI connectivity WITH KI Pro Ultra 12G, AJA Video Systems has developed a singlechannel 4K/UltraHD recorder and player featuring 12G-SDI connectivity.

Offering up to 50/60p recording and playback to and from Apple ProRes or Avid DNxHR, flexible connectivity options for the Ki Pro Ultra 12G include 12G-SDI, HDMI v2.0 together with optional 12G SFP+ fibre input and outputs. Alternatively, Ki Pro Ultra 12G can provide up to four channels of simultaneous HD recording up to 1080 50/60p with independent ProRes profiles per channel.

Suited for a range of production environments, features of the 2U, half-rack unit include DMI 2.0 I/O with HFR 4:4:4 and HDR capabilities with support for the latest HDR formats, including HLG and HDR10 recording and playback. A multi-matrix HD video display can be used for up to four channels during recording over SDI monitor out, HDMI out and the built-in display. During a power failure, Ki Protect protects recordings from being lost, while WebUI ensures that file transfer and remote monitoring, configuration and control can be performed using a standard web browser.

Following the launch of the Ki Pro Go, the Californian manufacturer has released v2.0 firmware. Recording support for up to 25Mbps, 10-bit

and 4:2:2 colour space has been added, in addition to new timecode capabilities with LTC, in-system drive formatting, network file downloads and gang recording support. Five recording settings can now be selected, including low for talking heads, conference backups and security recording, medium/low, medium, medium/high and high for fast-moving content. Improved super out and front-panel audio monitoring also displays the remaining media percentage and audio meters for all four video channels. Removing

Ki Pro Go the need for a separate PC, the firmware update also adds in-system media formatting, while network file downloading promotes the recording of files to a central server on the LAN in live production applications.

Gang support has been added to allow users to connect multiple Ki Pro Go devices together via Ethernet to control the group of devices using one unit.

DESIGNED TO deliver high-quality images at 4K60p alongside full IP connectivity, Sony has developed the SRG-XP1 (POV) and SRG-XB25 (box) compact cameras. Each model is equipped with a wideangle lens or optical zoom, promoting their use in hard-toaccess applications where space is limited for a full-sized camera and dedicated operator.

time to provide a remote shooting and streaming solution.

Sony has also updated its Venice firmware. Version 6.0 allows importing of Advanced Rendering Transform (.art) files that improve monitoring picture quality and viewing options on-set.

These .art files can be generated

by Sony’s RAW Viewer software, from users’ own 3D LUT files.

The SRG-XP1 and SRG-XB25 A single network cable is required for power supply, image distribution and full IP-based camera operation. Equipped with NDI | HX1 capability via an optional licence, both cameras can operate with other NDI-compatible hardware or software on the network. Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) and Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) are also supported for AV recording and distribution. The SRG-XP1 POV camera is capable of capturing over 100° wide horizontal viewing angle, while the SRG-XB25 box camera with its 25x optical zoom is suited to larger houses of worship. When the cameras are combined with the AI-based Edge Analytics Appliance REA-C1000, content can be created in real

Additionally, Sony is collaborating with Technicolor to create a new “look library” for the Venice camera, which will be available online as a resource for creatives wishing to quickly access some of Technicolor’s established looks.

Version 2.0 of FX9 firmware supports 4K60p/50p recording through oversampling from a 5K cropped area of 6K full-frame sensor. Version 2.0 also enables output of a 4K 16-bit RAW signal to an external recorder with the optional XDCA-FX9 accessory.

This additional bit depth beyond the camera’s internal 10-bit recording is said to be ideal for projects requiring more intensive postproduction. pro.sony

www.aja.com

G7 aims for premium installations NOT TO be confused with a global conference, Amate Audio’s G7 is a two-way loudspeaker housed within an EN54-24 certifiable, hexagonalform, reinforced ABS plastic cabinet.

Capable of producing a maximum SPL of 112dB with continuous programme power handling capabilities rated at 120W, the G7 leaves sufficient headroom for instances where higher output may be required.

Behind the aluminium grille, the passive model combines a 6.5-inch

carbon-fibre woofer and a 1-inch neodymium tweeter with a titanium

dome, a custom-designed HF phase plug and flare, a bass-reflex port and a second-order crossover network. Finished in white, black and

titanium, external features include a recessed connector panel with protective cover, recessed screw sockets and integrated U-bracket mounts for the supplied wall mount.

The G7 can be applied to standard, low-impedance and 100V line scenarios by replacing the rear connector plate with a T-G7 transformer plate for 100V line applications with switchable 5W/10W/20W/40W power settings. www.amateaudio.com

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The ATEN all-in-one multi-channel AV mixer The powerful all-in-one AV mixer integrates a 1080p video capture, video switch, stream broadcaster, video converter, video splitter, and audio mixer, while the accompanying innovative app enables creators to capture, stream, and switch between video inputs over the internet and instantly take video production and livestreaming to the next level.

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The simplest, all-in-one TV-quality livestreaming studio that is small in size and big on capability.

ATEN INTERNATIONAL CO., Ltd.

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The control app turns your iPad into a touch interface for controlling, preview monitoring, real-time editing, and program mixing.

Design and preset up to 8 custom scenes with professional-looking effects.

Tel:+886-2-8692-6789 e-mail: marketing@aten.com www.aten.com

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PRODUCTS

Alcons introduces modular sub QSC squeezes in tight spaces

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ALCONS AUDIO has released a modular bass element serving as either a fully scalable low-frequency extension system for the QR24 line source column system or as an arrayable LFE system with any of the manufacturer’s pro-ribbon systems.

The QB242 can be stacked or flown in multiples, serving as a building block to form bass arrays for obtaining low-frequency projection and throw control in acoustically challenging spaces or over longer distances.

The controlled (cylindrical) projection of the QR24 can be extended down to the lower frequencies by enlarging the LFE array length and adding extra QB242 modules.

According to Alcons, the lowest usable frequency of one single element is 35Hz. The subwoofer’s two directradiating 12-inch neodymium woofers

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are mounted in a vented chamber, with large bass-reflex ports that increase overall output while minimising port compression. The tight driver arrangement caters for optimal array coupling, while the 8Ω system impedance makes for an efficient amplifier channel loading when assembling arrays of multiple units. The QB242 is powered and controlled by the ALC amplified loudspeaker controller, which offers QB242-specific drive processing. Factory presets integrated in the ALC drive processor offer the latest VHIR processing, with gain, phase and filtering matching with all of Alcons’ top systems.

The integrated mounting hardware also facilitates coupling with other QB242 modules.

The QB242 is finished in Durotect coating and comes with a six-year warranty.

THE ACOUSTICCOVERAGE Series AC-C2T-LP from QSC is a fullrange, low-profile, ceiling-mounted 2.75-inch loudspeaker, designed for installations with tighter space

170° conical coverage, reducing the number of loudspeakers required for low-ceiling applications. When combined with Q-Sys network amplifiers,

AC-C2T-LP requirements or where lower ceiling heights are more common.

Featuring a 95mm installation depth, it offers a cost-effective option for environments where voice-reinforced coverage is a primary concern.

The diameter of the AC-C2T-LP matches the AC-C6T, a 6.5-inch two-way system loudspeaker, which allows installers to interchange the two products when they encounter unexpected ceiling obstructions without affecting the look of the whole installation. It also offers a

QSC processing amplifiers or MP-M Series mixers, the AC-C2T-LP takes advantage of Intrinsic Correction, a QSC proprietary voicing algorithm that helps reduce the setup time and tuning process.

In brief, QSC has released Q-Sys Designer software v8.3.1.

Improvements include a new search and filtering function, NV Series network video endpoint enhancements and new loudspeaker voicings. www.qsc.com

www.alconsaudio.com

Riedel expands MediorNet RIEDEL HAS unveiled 13 new hardware devices and nine new software apps as part of a major expansion of its MediorNet family of video networking devices. The developments follow the German manufacturer’s acquisition of Embrionix at the beginning of the year.

The first new hardware innovation is MediorNet MicroN UHD, the big brother to the manufacturer’s MicroN media distribution and processing device. Building on a distributed and software-defined concept, the new node adds more bandwidth, more I/O, higher resolutions and more processing power to the MediorNet platform.

Close collaboration between product management and engineering teams from Riedel headquarters and Riedel Montreal, formerly known as Embrionix, has also brought forth the MediorNet MuoN, VirtU and FusioN product series. According to the

manufacturer, these new processing modules and processing hubs complement the MediorNet signal interfaces and core switches to

the device into an up/down/crossconverter, a JPEG-2000/XS encoder or decoder, an audio router or a multiviewer.

round out the Riedel video portfolio with full IP solutions.

At the heart of the new MediorNet products lies MuoN SFP technology.

MuoN SFPs are pluggable gateway and processing devices that can be used inside VirtU frames or commercial, off-the-shelf IP switches. The software-defined MuoN hardware is available with a range of different input and output configurations, including BNC, fibre or HDMI, and can be configured with a variety of different apps. A change of the software licence turns

Riedel’s portfolio of distributed video network devices is further enhanced by the VirtU and FusioN product series, which are said to boast the highest density in the market. The VirtU IP core infrastructure platform can host a large array of Riedel MuoN SFP processors in just 1U and can be used both as a bulk gateway and as a high-density processing unit.

FusioN is a series of compact, standalone I/O and processing devices that are configurable with a range of software apps. Due to their

small form factor and low power consumption, the FusioN devices can be placed close to signal sources or destinations, creating efficiencies in any production environment.

Alongside new software-defined hardware platforms, Riedel has also launched a range of brand-new apps for up/down/cross-conversion, encoding/decoding, audio routing and multiviewing, as well as a series of IP gateway apps.

In brief, the manufacturer has brought to market a new social distancing technology called DisTag to help people adapt their behaviour through reliable distance detection and create a safe environment.

The device constantly measures distance to other persons wearing such a device and gives an alarm if necessary, providing a secure reminder and eliminating forgetfulness and underestimation. www.riedel.net

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PRODUCTS

Lectrosonics adds to D Squared family THE DPR digital plug-on transmitter and the DSQD/AES3 receiver have become the latest members of the D Squared digital wireless series.

The DPR transmitter is fully compatible with the DSQD digital receiver and features a tuning range of 470–608MHz (470–614MHz for the export version). It includes high-efficiency circuitry for extended operating time on two AA batteries, and offers RF power selections at 25mW and 50mW. Phantom power is selectable to off, 5V, 15V or 48V to accommodate a wide range of microphone types, from dynamic to shotgun mics. Input gain is adjustable over a 55dB range in 1dB steps to allow an exact match to the input

The DSQD/AES3 digital receiver

The DPR digital plug-on transmitter signal level. The two-way IR port reportedly ensures quick setup and allows for encryption key transfer and other data sharing between units.

The DSQD/AES3 digital receiver is a four-channel, half-rack design with high-resolution colour display, analogue or AES digital outputs, and rear BNC antenna ports with “loop-thru” buffered BNC outputs to another receiver. It is compatible with

the DPR plug-on, the DBu beltpack, the DHu handheld transmitter, the stereo DCHT and the half-rack M2T. The DSQD/AES3 is also backwards compatible with any Digital Hybrid Wireless transmitters, including the SM Series, LT, HM Series, SSM, HH Series, UM400, UM400a, LM Series, MM Series and WM. Three different receiver diversity schemes are available, including switched (during packet headers for seamless audio), Digital Ratio Diversity or Digital Frequency Diversity.

Meanwhile, Lectrosonics has built on the success of its IFBR1A with the introduction of a new miniature IFB (Interruptible Foldback) Receiver pack, the IFBR1B, and the companion CHSIFBR1B dock charging system.

Nearly half the size and weight of its predecessor, the IFBR1B uses a slim 3.7V LB-50 rechargeable lithium ion battery instead of the archaic 9V type.

The new receiver is fully compatible with the existing line of IFBT4 transmitters, so the manufacturer reports that adding the IFBR1B receivers to existing Lectrosonics IFB systems is “quick and easy”. With a backlit LCD and membrane buttons, the IFBR1B offers 10 presets that

are programmable from the front panel. Future firmware updates can be installed in the IFBR1B in the field via the USB jack on the bottom of the unit. It comes standard with a wire belt clip for light weight and an

IFBR1B optional clamp-style belt clip, part number IFBR1BBCSL, is also available and installed with two small screws.

The CHSIFBR1B is capable of charging up to four receivers or four batteries in any combination. The charging dock can be also be ganged in groups of up to four, powered by a single power supply, allowing charging of any combination of up to 16 units or 16 batteries. www.lectrosonics.com

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PRODUCTS

4097 designed for Covid-19 age From source to mouth FEATURING THE same sonic qualities as the super-cardioid choir microphone, the 4097 Core Micro Shotgun has been optimised to pick up speech from a distance. Incorporated into DPA’s 4097 Core Interview Kit, the plug-and-play mic has been created for use with a lightweight boom and windjammer. Per fectly suited for today’s socially distanced world, interviews can be conducted from up to 2m away.

Equipped with an integrated shockmount, the 4097 provides a highly directional pickup pattern, low self-noise and flat off-axis frequency response.

As the 4097’s directional characteristics enable it to reduce background noise compared to a standard omnidirectional lavalier microphone, the new model can capture voiceovers following an interview. When combined with the MMA-A Digital Audio Inter face, the 4097 can be used as a remote recording package. The twochannel microphone preamp and A/D converter inter faces provide mono, dual and stereo capabilities for use with iOS devices, Mac and PC computers.

The kit includes a 4099 Cold Shoe Mount, MicroDot cable, transmitter plate, lightweight telescopic boom pole to further ensure social distance protocols and a windjammer for outdoor productions. Terminating in a MicroDot connection, the 4097 Core Micro Shotgun can attach directly to a transmitter or be used

The 4097 Core Micro Shotgun attached to a transmitter

CONSISTING OF the EM-89D dynamic vocal, the EM-91C large-diaphragm condenser and the EM-USB condenser microphones, the EleMent Series is Mackie’s first venture into microphone production. The EM-89D is a dynamic handheld microphone featuring a cardioid polar pattern ideally suited for stage use. The EM-91C adds warmth to vocals but can also be applied to musical instruments, livestreaming, voiceovers and other forms of content creation. The EM-USB condenser has been designed for recording, livestreaming, podcasts and online content creation, bypassing the need for a separate audio interface. With direct connection to a laptop via the USB-C cable, the EM-USB is further equipped with an integrated headphone output and controls for main input gain and mute.

Designed for multimedia content creation and AV postproduction, Mackie has expanded the CR Series of multimedia monitors with the CR3-X 3-inch, CR4-X 4-inch and CR5-X 5-inch models. Bluetooth-

with the 4099 series mounts, clamps and clips for mounting on any sur face. IP58 certified for protection against water and dust with a water-repellant nano-coating on the cover and housing, the amplifier of the 4097 is hermetically sealed and the diaphragm is strengthened by dual gold plating.

EM-89D

enabled versions are available in the form of the CR3-XBT, CR4-XBT, CR5-XBT and CR8-XBT monitors, in addition to the CR8S-XBT Bluetooth-enabled subwoofer. Housed in wooden cabinets, the CR Series comprises polypropylene-coated woofers, 0.75-inch ferrofluid-cooled silk-dome tweeters and customised waveguides.

The distinctive front-panel, brushed metal design incorporates an on/off volume control and headphone input.

Equipped with ¼-inch TRS and RCA connectors, the 200W-rated CR8S-XBT subwoofer provides extended LF response to any CR Series monitor.

Included in the package are speaker-to-speaker cables, 1⁄8-inch-tostereo RCA cables, smartphone cabling and acoustic isolation pads designed to minimise bass build-up in addition to up/down tilt control for more focused listening.

www.dpamicrophones.com

CR3-X

www.mackie.com

Multichannel assistive listening

WAVECAST 8 is the latest addition to Williams AV’s WaveCAST assistive listening family. It is designed for larger applications of up to 32 channels where high-quality sound is required from streaming multichannel audio in real time to smartphones and tablets. Built on a hardware-based DSP audio system architecture, WaveCAST 8 provides

clear speech intelligibility, musical detail and hi-fi playback. Custom presets can also be established for specific performance applications.

A digital display and touchscreen channel selection automatically selects the available channels and displays them on the screen. Up to four WaveCAST 8 systems can be connected to the same Wi-Fi network

to provide multiple listening channels, supporting up to 1,500+ users in multicast mode.

The US manufacturer has also developed a distributed IR assisted listening system that incorporates Wi-Fi. The IR Plus features a distributed IR emitter array architecture allowing up to four emitters either stacked together

for large room arrays or distributed throughout the room to accommodate obscured venue locations. The IR modulator can support up to four IR emitters via Cat-6 cabling.

Very large room applications can be supported by adding up to four IR modulators to support a total of 16 IR modulators. Control and monitoring can be managed remotely via an internal webpage. The IR Plus system also features a WaveCAST network output for streaming audio via Wi-Fi for assistive listening via an iOS or Android app. www.williamsav.com

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Wavefront Precision optimised line arrays deliver unsurpassed control, coverage and consistency of signature sound to envelop the entire congregation leading to an uplifting experience, a stronger community and a thriving house of worship. martin-audio.com

Unite Your Audience The Martin Audio Experience

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PRODUCTS

RTA updated for SQ series

ALLEN & Heath has launched V1.5 firmware for its 96kHz SQ series, adding updates for the RTA and a new, independent RTA for per channel use. The channel RTA

provides a display on PEQ and GEQ processing screens; a fixed channel option; display and averaging options; max/peak indication (with “hold” possible); a prominent

frequency indication; PEQ bar or line modes; and an LF damping option to represent “real-world energy”.

New workflow options for DCA centric mixing include an instant spill of DCA members across channel strips and layers; jump in and out of DCA spill; on-screen spill indication; SoftKey options for individual DCAs; and SoftKey for “spill on select” mode.

Sample rate conversion has been added for both USB connections, with a new 48kHz option added for SQ-Drive and USB-B. Record or playback is available for up to 32 channels using SQ-Drive and users can record only patched channels to save on storage space. There is a new USB input/output meters page and customers can remix old 48kHz DAW projects.

Following customer requests, HPF and LPF options have been added

on all input and output PEQs. Users can cut high and/or low frequencies on monitors and “clean up” noisy input signals. New slope settings for dedicated input HPF and RackFX add-ons have also been added.

Further add-ons include Hypabass, a very low distortion sub-harmonic synthesiser that can generate infra (18–36Hz) and sub-bass (36–70Hz) from sources with a weaker low end; Bucket Brigade, a stereo analogue delay model with the signal degradation and feedback nonlinearities of vintage bucket brigade chip technology; and Echo, a faithful reproduction of the classic tape echo unit, including harmonic content when driven, record head saturation and frequency warping when adjusting repeat rate. www.allen-heath.com

Yamaha extends the Rivage ecosystem DESIGNED TO deliver flexibility, performance and expandability, Yamaha has extended the Rivage PM mixing ecosystem with the launch of the Rivage PM5 and Rivage PM3 digital mixing systems.

Following the launch of the flagship Rivage PM10 digital mixing system in late 2014, the Japanese brand followed up at ISE 2018 by adding the PM7 control surface. Extending sonic quality and flexible control, the additions come in a physically smaller compact footprint to add versatility and scalability to the Rivage PM line-up that now incorporates five control surfaces and two DSP engines with different mixing capacities.

Incorporating the same three bays with 12-fader configuration, the core components of the new PM5 and PM3 are the CS-R5 and CS-R3 control surfaces. The commonality of fader configuration ensures the same layout can be maintained when using different control surfaces, while the combination of touchscreens and selected channel controls provide intuitive operation.

The 42kg CS-R5 features three 15-inch ultra-sensitive, extra bright capacitive touchscreens,

Rivage PM5 suitable for daylight viewing, and a condensed selected channel section. The depth of the control surface has been reduced to bring the controls within easy reach for comfortable operation, in addition to improving sightlines. Fine adjustments can be performed on dynamic meters located beside each fader. Measuring 1.145m in width, the CS-R3 incorporates a single touchpanel display and the same condensed selected channel section as the CS-R5.

Two new DSP engines come in the form of the DSP-RX (120 inputs, 48 mix busses, 24 matrices) and the DSP-RX-EX (288 inputs, 72 mix busses, 36 matrices). A DEK-DSP-RX expansion board can be added to upgrade the DSP-RX to full DSP-RX-EX specifications. Both engines allow DSP mirroring,

while two DSP-RX engines or two DSP-RX-EX engines can be used in mirrored configuration for redundancy purposes.

Ensuring consistency, the Rivage PM systems use the same DSP engines, I/O racks and firmware.

The Dual Console function makes it possible to use a second control surface as a sidecar. Like the PM10 and PM7, the PM5 and PM3 offer direct compatibility with Yamaha’s TWINLANe and

Audinate’s Dante networks.

Simultaneously coinciding with the release, Yamaha has announced the availability of firmware v4.0 for the entire Rivage PM series. User interface and function updates include an increase in the I/O count of the Rivage PM7 to 144 inputs and 36 matrix outputs and the addition of the premium SP2016 reverb plug-in from Eventide.

Along with a large selection of presets, the SP2016 provides detailed editing for engineers who prefer to customise their sound.

Firmware v4.0 also allows control of L-Acoustics’ L-ISA systems.

For every mono or stereo input channel, L-ISA objects or groups can be controlled direct from the Rivage PM control surface.

In brief, with the release of Yamaha’s V4 firmware, the Rupert Neve Designs RMP-D8 Danteconnected microphone preamplifier and converter can now be natively controlled from Yamaha’s Rivage PM series mixing consoles. This release will bring the new PM3 and PM5 as well as the PM7 and PM10 into the family of products that work with the RMP-D8. www.yamahaproaudio.com

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JBL visualises SPL

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Power to the next level COINCIDING WITH the launch of a six-month free licence for its Designer software running until the end of September 2020, disguise has released r17.1. Created to enhance augmented reality (AR) workflow, the manufacturer hopes the update will help technicians access the market opportunity offered by AR and give them the chance to create “spectacular and immersive visuals”. disguise has enhanced the ease of use of the software and added improvements in the way users can pre-visualise and imagine every pixel of an AR experience ahead of time, communicate and collaborate with other teams and respond to feedback at every stage of the production. With sequenced transitions, users can now transition to anywhere on a timeline using

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black and white content to define the transition. The feature is said to open new visual possibilities and saves time previously spent sequencing by simplifying the approach.

The update also includes a new ability to generate test patterns within the software to speed up workflows by removing the need to leave the software to create test patterns in other tools. Test patterns in a pre-visualisation are said to give users confidence in their screen arrangement by letting them see precisely where the divides are between each screen. Test patterns are dynamically generated, meaning users can react quickly to adapt a pre-visualisation to feedback and onsite changes.

JBL HAS added what it describes as two significant new features to its Digital Directivity Analysis (DDA) software. DDA is designed to work with JBL Intellivox products along with any point source speakers in the JBL portfolio using common

DDA 5.1 also includes the new SketchUp plug-in, which is said to enable users to easily import 3D geometry from SketchUp software.

DDA 5.1 is described as a powerful acoustic modelling software tool that allows sound system designers

DDA 5.1 loudspeaker format (CLF) data.

It enables sound designers to visualise and statistically predict direct SPL, total SPL, D/R ratio, STI and delay spread. According to JBL, DDA 5.1 streamlines the registration process and removes the need for repeated licence renewal found in earlier versions of the software.

to simulate speaker response in a 3D environment. Users can download the latest version of DDA for free directly from the JBL Professional website and begin using the software immediately after registration. www.jblpro.com

www.disguise.one

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PRODUCTS

Elation adds UV PRISMA IS a series of UV LED lighting products created for Elation’s Magmatic Atmospheric Effects range.

With a weatherproof IP65 rating, the lights have been designed to make it easier for end users to implement UV light into their projects. They are described by the manufacturer as compact, lightweight and easy to handle, and a variety of narrow and wide beam angles are available.

Because Prisma uses high-quality, medical-grade LEDs that emit UV light in the 365nm range, no visible light is emitted, meaning only the UV reactive material glows and nothing else. A further advantage over traditional UV LED lights is that Prisma uses durable LEDs with special silicone lenses that are

NX Sync UV resistant and slow to degrade, reportedly lasting up to 25 years or more.

The Prisma Par 20 comes with 12 2W high-power UV diode LEDs and a narrow 20° beam angle, while the Prisma Par 50 incorporates 16 2W LEDs and a wide 50° beam angle from a large internal LED reflector.

The Prisma Mini Par 20 and Prisma Mini Par 45 have seven 2W LEDs and a 20° and 45° beam angle, respectively. The Prisma Mini Bar 20 includes 10 2W LEDs and a 20° beam angle. Up to eight Prisma Mini Par 20, Mini Par 45 and Mini Bar 20 units can be powered by the Prisma Driver 8, a 48VDC driver that provides individual DMX-512 control, including variable delayed

time dimming modes. The Prisma Wash 25 and Prisma Wash 100 contain 38 2W LEDs and a scoop LED reflector design that creates a 25° and 90° beam angle, respectively. A Black Glass diffusion filter option creates a complete blackout effect, only allowing UV rays to penetrate.

Meanwhile, Elation’s Obsidian Control Systems has launched the NX Sync, a plug-and-play USB SMPTE timecode device that captures timecode in various SMPTE formats from its three-pin XLR connection

and converts it to a MIDI Timecode (MTC) stream, where it can be read into Onyx or any other MIDI Timecode-compatible software.

Additionally, it also has the power to take MTC and send it back out as SMPTE. It does not require custom drivers and, in addition to working with Onyx, it can be used as an SMPTE to MTC/ MTC to SMPTE device for both Windows 10 and macOS software applications. www.elation.com

The Prisma series

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Return of the Mac WITH THE launch of the MAC Aura PXL LED, Martin by Harman has reportedly created the industry’s first wash light with individual pixel control of both the main beam and Aura backlight. Featuring an RGBW LED engine capable of producing a 13,000-lumen output, the MAC Aura PXL expands on the LED backlight concept introduced in the MAC Aura. Precisely calibrated LEDs deliver rich, saturated colours and subtle, pastel hues with instant colour mixing and minimal degradation over time. The MAC Aura PXL’s silent 1:8 zoom ranges from wide wash coverage to a high intensity 5° narrow beam, while fast LED refresh rates enable flicker-free operation with no banding.

The enhanced Aura backlight comes with 141 individually controllable LEDs and the 19 pixels that make up the beam can be programmed individually or used as

a video element within a P3 system.

A single EtherCon data connection supports all protocols such as P3, ArtNet and sACN, while a five-pin DMX connection ensures universal compatibility. The Ethernet switch with fail-safe relay means the fixture

MAC Aura PXL

can be turned on and off without affecting other fixtures down the line.

The appeal of Martin’s ELP family of ellipsoidal LED light fixtures has been enhanced with a range of Zoom Lens accessories. The ELP Zoom Lenses broaden the functionality of ELP CL and WW LED ellipsoidal lights with two beam ranges in either black or white housing.

Their six-lens design reportedly delivers optics, ultrabright output, flat projection and a crisp focus of a static lens with the speed and flexibility of a zoom lens.

The lenses feature a mechanical anti-slip locking mechanism and a service hatch for cleaning and maintenance. A gobo/accessory gate accommodates A/B-size

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R ELP Zoom Lenses gobos and a colour gel frame is also included. Variant 1 offers a 15–30° range with a 7,000-lumen output (ELP CL in high output mode) and Variant 2 offers a 25–50° range with an output of 6,900 lumens (ELP CL in high output mode). pro.harman.com

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Genesis is a revelation for Altman FOLLOWING ON from the PHX LED ellipsoidals, Altman Lighting has developed the PHX3 LED Profile and PHX3 LED Zoom luminaires. Designed for use in applications requiring energy-efficient lighting, the PHX3 LED ellipsoidals use a 340W red, green, blue and lime (RGBL) LED engine that can output the equivalent of over 10,000 lumens. Available in 5°, 10°, 19°, 26°, 36° and 50° fixed focus Profile Spot models in addition to 15–35° and 30–55° Zoom Spots, the fully locking shutters and 360° rotating barrel maintain the PHX3 fixture focus intact with little light leak.

Incorporating multiple on-board control options including colour fades and strobes, PHX3 luminaires also offer a console-free, standalone Player Mode and 8-bit or 16-bit virtual dimming for smooth blackouts and colour shift minimisation during dimming.

The US manufacturer has further created the Genesis console for controlling multifunctional automated and LED luminaires. Providing the programmer with a unique familiarity for the creative control of automated and LED luminaires, Genesis fulfils ease-of-use design requests by combining a fader-

ETC simplifies installation FEATURING PRISTINE light from a modular design, the ArcSystem Navis is the latest line of LED luminaires conceptualised by ETC. Primarily designed for ease of installation and maintenance, the Navis line combines in-field customisation and high-grade TIR optics with stepless dimming. The fixtures are available in multiple colour temperature options ranging from 2,700–5,000K, in addition to

accessories. An optional wall wash accessory also transforms the Navis 100 into a luminaire capable of providing a smooth blanket of light for a wall or corridor application.

Providing power and data support via Cat-type cabling for up to 48 individually controllable Navis 100 luminaires, the F-Drive LED power control solution operates with ArcSystem Navis luminaires and

PHX3 LED based controller with a touchscreen interface. Advanced programming functionality with features such as Shape FX, Chases, Fan and Individual Cue Timing are included. Additionally, the GUI allows control of luminaire parameters via familiar icons, colour picker, movement targets or touch sliders. For moving light control, pan and tilt are also controlled via the touch pad, adding a fine movement control for critical focus points. The animate feature is said to quickly create chases, sequencing and patterned attribute control within a single cue. Genesis consoles can control up to 24 discreetly addressed luminaires, each with a physical intensity fader and bump button, and each console is capable of controlling up to one DMX 512 universe. www.altmanlighting.com

Genesis

The F-Drive and ArcSystem Navis luminaires

F-Drive R12 an RGBW colour-mixing option.

A 3,000K Fade to Warm variant provides an intimate warm light at lower intensity levels. Aesthetic changes can reportedly be made in seconds, with various magnetic trim plates, clip-in optical accessories and twist-and-click beam angle lenses. The recessed Navis 100 measures 100mm high with three wind-down clamps catering to ceiling thicknesses ranging from 0.5–20mm. Any Navis 100 can be transformed into a surface cylinder or pendant solution by sliding it into the purpose-designed hardware

third-party fixture applications.

Adding flexibility, the F-Drive family includes an R12 rack-mount option and a W1 wall-mount option.

Measuring 3U, the R12 option features 12 slots for swappable output cards with four channels of power output each, which are compatible with a variety of LED fixtures, including constant current and constant voltage loads. The hot-swappable cards allow changes to be made while maintaining power for the rest of the LED system. www.etcconnect.com

Robe creates 6:1 hot-spot lens HEEDING A request made by Lightswitch, Robe has created a patented 6:1 hot-spot lens system for their new ESprite LED profile luminaire. As the Czech Republicbased optical design manufacturer introduced its latest automated LED luminaire, the team at Lightswitch offered to collaborate. In doing so, the joint team created the Hot-Spot Lens system for the ESprite and T1 Series of LED profiles. Successfully tested in previous generations of

The ESprite without hot-spot or frost

The ESprite with hot-spot and frost

Robe LED profiles, the new lens system accessory will continue to

be implemented in future product releases. The ESprite LED is a fully

featured automated luminaire that has a fast-change, transferable light engine to troubleshoot performance longevity for white source LED luminaires.

Capable of producing 27,000 lumens and 85,000 lux at 5m, the TE 650W white LED source and the Hot-Spot Lens system allow designers to move from a flat field beam to a 6:1 ratio hot-spot beam, giving uniform intensity when overlaying beam edges. www.robe.cz

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THE TECH VIEW

Restoring broken lives Chris Hope shares the impact of the partnership between his nonprofit, The Loop Lab, an AV workforce development programme, and his church, Pentecostal Tabernacle in Cambridge, MA Chris Hope, Pentecostal Tabernacle Church

AS A HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL student, I became a born-again Christian and joined a church called Pentecostal Tabernacle, or PT as it is known colloquially, which is a multiethnic, multicultural faith community in Cambridge, MA. With a mission to “restore broken lives”, the church welcomes people from all walks of life who seek fellowship, healing, spiritual growth and, of course, faith.

I became fascinated with audiovisual technology as a ministerial intern at PT, where I helped organise a series of large outdoor gospel revivals called Kingdom Concerts, and worked with PT’s praise and worship ministry, which incorporates a significant amount of technology.

I soon became involved in all the church’s technological activities: livestreaming, video recording and audio engineering. Perhaps more importantly, I began to see where houses of worship could become spaces to help steward and to coach people into AV careers and, hopefully, to a more restored, economically stable and empowered life.

PT is located in the Port neighbourhood, a low-income community hidden among the wealthier neighbourhoods in Cambridge. Youth in Port can feel lost and displaced, so the church saw an opportunity to connect with these youth, most of whom were people of colour who play basketball across the street from the church, but was finding it difficult to draw them in.

I saw this as a mentoring opportunity, so I invited them to the church’s AV studio and to my radio show at the Harvard radio station. Their interest in AV events made me realise that most of the youth were already engaged and inspired by content creation, video and audio technology, but did not have the training or educational opportunities to translate these interests into sustainable jobs.

provided countless hours of guidance to our students.

Houses of worship make up 10% of the pro AV industry. Churches like PT can be great places for people to learn AV. At PT, in particular, our students learn how to livestream/ broadcast events, engineer live sound and gain overall service industry experience. And, unlike many corporate environments, it can be a more forgiving workspace for people who are still early in their careers. Importantly, our interns who come from the Port neighbourhood are able to reconnect with their community through the church. They re-engage with their neighbours and family members who attend services, and even become part of the faith community themselves by attending

Interns taking a class at PT That was where the first thoughts of what would become The Loop Lab were born. In 2017, I partnered with Moise Michel, a fellow believer from the neighbourhood. Together, we immersed ourselves in the neighbourhood, went door-to-door, participated in community events and asked everyone we met questions related to the kinds of opportunities people wanted to see in their community. From these interactions, two themes emerged: youth in the community consistently wanted more creative outlets and more economic opportunity. It was then that we developed the founding principles of The Loop Lab: that people are united in their shared desire for liberty, happiness and dignified labour, and that we would help people in the community achieve this by creating a workforce development programme for underrepresented youth in the Port.

The mission of The Loop Lab is to empower women and people of colour

to enter the AV workforce through training and apprenticeships. Our flagship programme is a professional media arts internship (for 18–26 year olds), which includes six months of stipend paid workforce training for students in audio and video production, business skills and soft skills, followed by a 200-hour paid internship. We partner with several organisations to establish internship sites for my students. PT was one of the first organisations to agree to accept our interns and has been an important partner in our work. Even though The Loop Lab is a secular organisation, we see our mission towards workforce equality as being aligned with PT’s mission. The Loop Lab’s relationship with PT has extended beyond an internship site.

Since 2018, the church has hired an intern for the media department each semester, contracted our team to design, upgrade and install their audio and video systems, and has

A student learns the controls of a Yamaha QL5 church events such as the men’s retreats.

As The Loop Lab continues to grow, and to expand its programming (we are preparing to launch the first Massachusetts-state sponsored pro AV apprenticeship programme in 2021), we will continue to see houses of worship, like PT, as essential partners in supporting our students holistically. We will be forever grateful for the contributions that PT has made to our organisation and our ministry. www.thelooplab.org www.ptspice.org

62 WORSHIP AVL September–October 2020

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