Been considering and reflecting lately on the sometimes reviled topic of Consistency. Depending on the context of a situation, consistency can be a huge negative when absent or a major plus when prevalent. For this writing, my thoughts are concentrated primarily on how to design and operate a production on a more consistent basis. On both a personal and professional level, developing, maintaining, and improving my consistency has been, and remains to be one of my greatest challenges. Striving to find consistency is paramount amongst the thousands and thousands of decisions that make up every event.

At COTM, we’re known to change it up considerably from time to time but overall there is consistency on several levels that is always present. This could translate to something as simple as the warmth you feel when entering our main auditorium prior to an event; how the house-lighting, music, volume, color, and texture of the décor all work to create an atmosphere that is consistent and true to what our guests have become accustomed to. Or maybe it translates to the complexity of a full-blown production element involving layers of personnel, equipment, scene changes, lighting cues, audio mix, and video shots all converging into one glorious moment.

However basic or complex our production is, our consistency directly reflects the level of excellence that has been established by everything that has preceded us—we’ve grown accustomed to the consistency of a professional and top-notch production: consistent audio, consistent speech intelligibility, consistent lighting, consistent video, etc. Maintaining these consistencies has just about become a state of mind as they start to operate from the same common denominator. My production team’s commitment to maintaining this consistency is what protects us from losing valuable production ground as we continue to grow and change.

No matter what situation you come from or whom you represent, staying consistent doesn’t cost a cent nor does it involve being lavish or extravagant. You don’t even have to make some huge leap from marginal to awesome overnight—you can make a massive difference by simply finding what things you already do great and make them amazingly consistent—then spend time focusing on making improvements consistently over time.

Consider this, if your event fails from the most fundamental task, a mic goes out, a lamp blows, a projector dies, etc—a better foundation could be established by perfecting these small things on a consistent basis. Excelling at a small level may allow you to start rising above the minutia and build to something bigger and better.

Editor’s Note: We’ve noticed parts of this video are difficult to see due to incorrect camera settings. We’re working with our Production team to get this issue resolved.

Many may identify with the following thought about working at a church: fortunate as I am to work and serve at COTM, the job never seems to be done–every event completed only means we’re one step closer to having to start over again and sort out the next one…rarely seems to be much time to even debrief and reflect on a job well done. Admittedly, it can get a bit mundane sometimes but I took a trip recently that encouraged me a great deal…read on.

Daniel Connell and I recently attended Live Design International, a large production and lighting design conference and exhibition held down in Orlando. In our quest to keep our production design current and relevant, this is one of the better places for us to stay informed to what new options are out there. Since we were in Orlando, we took advantage of checking out some of the production situations at Disney and the Cirque du Soleil show at the La Nouba theatre.

Have never been much of a Disney guy but will go on the record right off the top that I have THE utmost respect for what it has taken to build that empire and applaud the technical expertise highly evident on every front. Must be an amazing situation to have a worldwide team built only of the best of the best. I’ve been to Disney many times but always with a visiting production or entertainer trying to complete the gig and get out as unscathed as possible.

At Disney, I didn’t fall in love with everything I saw but what I DID love was witnessing one of the best displays of teamwork, co-existence, and synergy I’ve seen in a long, long time. An ideal I try to implement in our COTM productions was summed up quite well from the Production Manager of one of their evening shows (where they project 3D imagery onto the castle) stating “It’s not about opening night, it’s about every night.”. Truly ultimate words to live by as we all strive to keep things at a consistent level weekend to weekend and event to event.

Was greatly encouraged to see these guys at Disney embracing older technology and devices and USING THEM EXCEPTIONALLY WELL. As one who has never been much of a gear-head, I’ve never been at ease with the way some production people think that the new tricks, bells, and whistles are going to make everything great—ultimately hoping it will cover up their lack of experience and skill. On the contrary (and as witnessed at Disney) it’s team, discipline, maintenance, knowledge, and plain old skill coupled with hard work that makes an excellent production, NOT the gear you’re using. Disney certainly demonstrated this perfectly while using a lot of older gear to its complete potential. THAT was worth the trip.

As for the Cirque show–we spent some time meeting some of their technical staff and touring the facility to see how they pull off their completely amazing production. Ever since being blown away by one of the original tent Cirque shows in Madrid many moons ago–they’ve never ceased to amaze at how they continually turn things upside down to pull off something new and crazy. My view on production, shows, and creativity has been skewed ever since. As for their shows, what can you say? Creative, epic, perfectly simple, amazingly complex…always a perfect display of creative genius and production prowess blended into one. While their team functions on all cylinders using every tool and trick available to them, they also use some old and seemingly outdated technology that might cause the uninitiated to scoff; but it not only showcases the superb skill level of their staff, it also perfectly demonstrates to those of us working at churches that if the gear is right for the job—who cares if it’s older technology? If we’re using it to its utmost potential and it fills the need—then it’s perfect.

In both of these examples, it’s never been more clear to me of just how cool the mundane can be and how amazing “old” gear can be if put in the right hands and used in the right way. One of the things I’ve started to look at over the years is how well a production person can do with old gear and the old room—serves as a great primer to the potential of that same person when they get blessed with the new gear and/or the new room.

While reflecting on these great examples of outstanding crews using old gear to pull off amazing shows, I am mindful of the state of our situation here at COTM. Yes, we have some great equipment in some great rooms, but we also have PLENTY of old stuff in old rooms that we employ week in and week out with outstanding results. We’ve made the choice to keep the focus on the technical expertise and skill sets of the production staff and volunteers instead of trying to keep up with every bit of technical gear out there.

By NO means, have we arrived nor is that even in our sights—we still have plenty to learn and much room to improve. Seeing these brilliant Disney and Cirque examples of how the team expertise (and not the gear) made the show, I’m reminded that what truly makes my team great IS the team itself.

If you want to read more about our process, click here:
Capturing Audio for Video

To see the final video for this weekend, click here:
Now Faith Is - Part 2

In our creative and production process I’ve noticed that there is a distinct “WHAT” phase–where an idea or creative concept is dreamed up and put forth. Then there is a “HOW” phase–how do we take the WHAT from the drawing board and turn it into a creative experience? This HOW is where my primary focus lies as a Production Manager.

Switching from touring to church production about 6 yrs ago, it’s been interesting to note the wide variation with which churches tackle the HOW. Some churches have a near-perfect scenario with a distinct separation between a creative team determining the WHAT and a production team staying focused on the HOW.

But what to do if this isn’t the case? Perhaps you have only a few people who are tasked with doing it all or maybe you’re a one-person-show? Whatever the case may be, we all still have to accomplish the task at hand, but I’ve noticed that sometimes basic production principles and most importantly, safety, is usually completely disregarded. Reviewing some of the more popular websites and blogs here and there I’ve noticed that most safety and fire-code restrictions & regulations are rarely addressed or mentioned. Although this blog isn’t the proper forum to try and address all of this, it’s imperative that we all exercise due diligence to cover the bases so safety guidelines are followed to the letter. We owe nothing less to the churches and congregations we serve. Over the past 20 years, these guidelines became the mainstay of my career, as non-compliance with a safety guideline or a fire-code here or there could be the kiss of death for a show or event.

This may be the first time this safety topic has come up for some or for others it might seem that it doesn’t really apply to your specific situation–but hang in there with me! Here’s a few examples that may be of interest:

• It’s rare to find a church that doesn’t have some type of soft goods and/or curtains in use as part of their production and stage setup–check this out:

• Most of us employ some type of audio rig–some small, others quite massive–how well is it rigged?

• Stage lighting of some sort is something else almost all of us have in common: large or small, complex or simple–the safety issues are elementary. Look at this:

I could go on and on with example after example of safety and compliance concerns but I’d wager a guess that with very little investigation, most of us could find several areas that need improvement. Becoming adept at the correct way to accomplish the HOW of your WHAT is an art and there are some of us that have spent our career cultivating what we do, however, have hope as it can certainly be done on any level as long as you are willing to cover all the bases.

With this in mind, hear me say: If it can’t be done safely–it shouldn’t be done at all. There is no middle ground. You MUST commit to either acquiring the knowledge personally, consult someone credible AND knowledgeable or adding someone to your team or sphere of influence who possesses the knowledge.

Most of us are investing real dollars into real gear resulting in real safety concerns to factor in–if not taken seriously, structures can be damaged, services can be cancelled, money gets wasted, and people can get seriously hurt. Investing a bit of time to acquire a base of knowledge on the HOW can be remunerated many times over as it will distinctly affect the development of the WHAT you are planning. Over the years, Whit and his creative team have started to really understand some of the basic principles of what is realistic in regards to HOW we can go about making their WHAT a reality and a success. It is a continued learning process amongst all of us but it only serves to make our team stronger and more adept at how we look at our future.

Although it’s easy to get great production ideas and such from this and other websites and blogs–some ideas and suggestions are simply that: an idea or suggestion. They may need to be taken with a grain of salt as everyone has built their production based around their own specific needs and situation. Take heed as what you see on the web may be (and most often times IS) completely different than your situation.

Check out a few resources that might steer you in the right direction:

The “2009 International Fire Code” and the “2009 International Building Code”–I’ve given these guides quite a workout over the last several years especially when it comes to working with architects and building designers–have been told this is pretty much the holy grail for them. Do not be afraid–dig in!

Also the “Backstage Handbook” is a great but simple reference book that provides a bounty of info for basic stagecraft–from building a scenic flat to tying perfect stage knots (please learn how to properly tie a bowline–perhaps the world’s most perfect knot)–it lays it out. This should be a staple for anyone needing solid stagecraft answers or just a reputable reference guide.

A final note that everything we do at COTM is applicable to our situation only. It remains the responsibility of all of us to determine what is safe and right for our particular buildings, environments, and locales. This premise is paramount as you take into account your own specific context, needs, and limitations in the pursuit of your own version of production greatness.

So holding the mantle high of being a production control freak with a mild obsessive/compulsive characteristic here and there–I’ve always appreciated the finer points of how to clearly communicate production information. Prior to an event–I can prattle on about all the cues and details as much as anyone but in just a moment’s time most of my crew will be glazed over wondering about what really goes into a hot dog or something. On the other hand, I COULD choose to completely nail the thing and figure out how best to articulate only the pertinent info through nothing more than a stageplot and a runsheet. I choose the latter.

Over the years I’ve found that the less information I allow myself to give to someone–the more I can get to what is most important… Sometimes too much information just amounts to confusion–less info can lead to clarity–especially regarding logistical production info.

Check out the following runsheet for Easter weekend: (click for larger version)

This runsheet layout is common for us–it has just enough production info for the crew to know what’s happening but not so much that the pastors, musicians, and other stage talent glaze up when they give it a glance. Worst case scenario if we magically didn’t have any rehearsal time, everyone could glean enough info from this runsheet to actually pull off the event to an acceptable degree. Understandably, some areas may require some more work (such as training our scrim crew on the actual mechanics of the scrim system) but it doesn’t need to be reflected in the runsheet.

All of this is fairly self-explanatory but a few things to note regarding the various designations of CG-VIDEO, CG-Sidebar, CG-Title and CG-Slide. All of this comes from the same CG (computer graphics or character generator) computer but it helps designate what the actual display or playback element is: straight video, lower 1/3 title bar, sidebar-style slide or a full-screen slide. A perfect example of how the CG Op and Video Director can stay in sync–all without uttering a word.

Had been creating this type of layout using FileMaker Pro for the last 15 years or so but since discovering Planning Center a few years ago–it’s been a great way to keep the personnel and event information organized while serving our staff and volunteers to a much higher degree. If you haven’t checked them out–do yourself a favor and click here. The cool thing about this product is it allows you to make custom templates for anything you need to print–this layout was made to emulate the look of my original FileMaker Pro files.

Here are the two stageplots we’re using for this weekend: (click for larger versions)

These plots are all created in Illustrator and utilize the same premise as the runsheet–only the most pertinent info is included. Here’s the real beauty–more often than not, there is no added explanation from me to anyone else regarding the stage layout–everything the production crew and musicians need is on here. Admittedly, this layout is fairly intense but that’s mainly due to the complexity of the current stage set.

I could go on and on discussing the finer points of all of this but to accurately put into practice the less is more mantra–I will stand down. Andrew out!

So what to do with all the wireless ear packs, guitar packs and wireless mics while they’re not in use? Being fairly selective on which items I am obsessive-compulsive over–I held this challenge at bay successfully until one day I walked in and saw everything laid out for a rehearsal… The crew keeps things quite neat and tidy but there had to be a better, ahem…cooler, way to do it that could keep us organized and protect the massive investment we’ve made in this wireless equipment.

Had thought of this contraption and laid it out for the wizard Chico. My primary goal was to create space for every person to have whatever they needed for a rehearsal and/or event all in one place that was clearly labeled and safe from rolling onto the floor or something. Chico did his customary workup on how to make things cooler than I had drawn up (i.e. can you say LED’s, baby?) and here’s how it turned out:

The cabinet is built quite basic–just made it fit in the wall-space we had available–used masonite to make all the partitions and some thin-wall foam to protect the surfaces so all the equipment had some shock protection. Chico used some LED’s and spread them around throughout the compartments–a vendor suggested some that were designed to backlight advertisement signage. This helped tremendously to keep things visible in the low-light conditions backstage.

The compartments were completed with a strip of plastic across the front of each row so you could write on them with a wet or dry erase marker or run a piece of artist’s tape across it (as pictured) so everything is easy to label.

One last thing was creating a small channel in the top and bottom of the front lip so that a set of doors could be put in place and locked if need be. Something we don’t need to use all the time but a good way to secure things whenever the need arises.

In addition to this being a great way for us to put all of this in one place, it’s a convenient place for the band & singers to wire up and get prepped before hitting the stage. With the amount we’ve all invested in our wireless systems, it’s no doubt a priority to keep the gear secure and safe. Hopefully this can serve as a small example of a way to keep some level of control of this vitally important gear while serving the needs of our musicians to a higher degree.

Prior to Seeds Conference, we compiled a list of production gear currently in use in our 3 auditoriums. This is by no means some type of comprehensive list that you must obtain to be worthy–not at all. Just happens to be what we are using at the moment–and the gear does change and morph a bit from time to time depending on the specific need and/or set change.

Is this the best of the best? Not necessarily…but there is a lot of incredible equipment here that we are privileged to use; But all of it, the cool and the not-so-cool, serves the needs of COTM nicely.

Being a total nerd inside despite my amazingly rugged exterior…..I’ve always enjoyed looking over the gear lists of different bands, venue, churches, etc. as it can sometimes articulate the flavor of what’s going on. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to find the right piece of gear to help our staff do what we do best–check it out. Click here to download.

Here is the down-low on how we achieved the scrim-panel move for the opening nights of our Seeds Conference. We kept it mostly low-tech (emphasis on mostly…) with technology we already knew how to operate and sort out. The impetus for keeping things simple was pretty much culled from self-preservation as we knew the one time we didn’t really desire major technological issues was the opening of our first Seeds session. Go figure.

These 6 sharkstooth scrim panels were custom fabricated out of some larger pieces we had used a few years ago–a local company was able to make this happen for us but scrim material is available in almost any kind of custom size at Rose Brand.

The object of this element was to project 6 different images on 6 different scrim panels that could raise/lower as needed. Due to the heavily populated stage area overhead–working out the mechanics of the manual raising and lowering process proved to be the biggest challenge. Although not completely groundbreaking, here’s a brief breakdown on how we made it work out for our needs.

To give us a starting point for both the raise/lower mechanism and a place to tie off the actual scrim panels we mounted (6) horizontal runs of uni-strut on the ceiling hanging exactly where we wanted them to hang. Using pulleys in some strategic positions, we used nylon parachute cord that ran from our six “custom” (ahem–homemade) winches mounted on the catwalk, up to the ceiling, over to each scrim area, and then down to the scrim itself. Here’s a few photos to illustrate:

As for these winches, it’s essentially a wooden box with a reel in the middle that would wind up the parachute cord without too much or too little friction. Didn’t want it to be a huge struggle to wind up while raising and didn’t want it to have the tendency to free-wheel when lowering. Powdered graphite came to the rescue to keep the reel lubricated within the wooden box and between the nylon cord and the pulleys, the friction point was fairly easy for our stage crew to deal with. You can see that we installed a stop of sorts so when the scrim was set to the desired height, you could pull out the metal peg for the handle to rest against with no continued rotation. This made it an easy maneuver to operate: the crew could move the scrim up or down, pop the stop into place and walk away secure that everything was locked down and stable.

The scrim itself was equipped with grommets spaced 1’ apart all across the top edge and down each side. The grommets at the top were used to tie each panel to the uni-strut and all the side grommets were affixed with a snap-link. The snap-link allowed us to run that continuous piece of nylon from the winch upstairs all the way down through the snap-links where it was tied off. At the bottom, we put a piece of 1” conduit through a sewn pole pocket in the bottom of each panel–this gave us a little bit of rigidity without adding too much weight.

For projecting–we used six Barco R-12 projectors–we’ve used these quite a few times and the 12,000 lumens have always delivered a decent punch while still being pretty easy to setup and operate–finding six that had similar hours on the bulbs was a bit of a challenge but projecting onto scrim vs. screens gave a little bit of latitude in how they were all matched. We flew these on three different trusses positioned around the room that were all about 60’ out from the scrims–based on the actual scrim, this was +/- about 5’. Our video engineer spent some time dialing in the edge-blending on board each projector to soften the projected hard edge of the image area–this created a nice drop-off to the edge of all the projected areas.

Getting the content to the projectors was a bit more complex as we had to send six different video feeds with different content on each but still remaining in sync with each other–having used Catalyst media servers for quite some time it was a natural choice.

With the Catalyst, each server has only one physical output or two if you don’t mind sacrificing your reference monitor. In order to keep the reference monitor intact, we used a couple of Matrox TripleHead-2-Go’s. This device can take one video input and create three video outputs–these are not actually three separate signals but separate sections of one display that is three times the normal width. For example, if the input signal has a resolution of 1024x768 then the output signal will be 3072x768; Output 1 would use horizontal pixels 1 thru 1024, output 2 would use 1025 thru 2048 and output 3 would use 2049 thru 3072. With the Catalyst’s ability to create internal video “mixes” (windows in the program that act as separate video outs), and the TripleHead units, we were able to meet our playback needs with only two media servers.

A bit of clarification on the Catalyst–a Catalyst media server is a Mac Pro computer utilizing Catalyst software–although this software is complex, the computer setup is still relatively basic. The signal path for each media server (routed to three projectors each) is as follows:

• Output 1 was a simple DVI reference monitor and output 2 was our signal to the projectors–this output first hit a TripleHead where it became three VGA outputs, then each VGA went to its own analog video DA (1 VGA in x 2 VGA out). The TripleHeads must see an EDID signal to function properly so output 1 on each DA went to a VGA monitor and the DA output 2 was converted from VGA to 5-wire RGBHV that was sent on to the projectors.

It made sense to set the Catalyst rigs up near the GrandMA in lighting world since that was what would be controlling them and design-wise it kept everything in the same sandbox. This did add a bit of complexity to the lighting control area–check out these pics:

When it was all said and done–we had put in enough pre-production effort to wrangle in most of the obvious problems that reared their head–the technology was kind to us and our crew did a magnificent job of dealing with the winches. The result was exactly what Whit and the creative team had in mind.

For the full version of seeing the scrims in action, check out Night 1 and Night 2 general sessions from the conference.

ATTENTION: Although some level of nerd-speak is to follow, there are applicable thoughts to those outside the world of tech. I promise to be gentle.

So, in part one of this topic, I gave some info on where the live mixes at COTM seem to live volume-wise–allow me to go ahead and blow your mind just a bit. Track with me… If you have been privy to a mix in our main auditorium, you may swear that there is NO WAY it’s only 97-ish dB–it’s a big mix that is very much in your face but at the same time, it’s quite smooth and easy on the palette (sounds like a nice beverage actually). There’s nothing screeching out at you trying to drill a hole in your forehead like a lightning bolt–but herein lies the secret…

Many moons ago, I started to spec touring rigs that were considerably larger than what I could’ve gotten away with. This was done mainly to make sure we were covered from an audio perspective for any venue that may show up on an itinerary–many shows had to have gear prepped and out the door before the end of the tour had even been booked. But here’s what I began to notice–the times that I used way more audio gear than was really necessary for the venue du jour, the better it sounded. I had considerably more presence and tone in the mix while able to significantly decrease the mid and high range information… The result was a much bigger-sounding mix with smoother high end that wasn’t nearly as invasive–it made it much easier to listen to and much more friendly on the dB side. Since I was using more low-end presence, it was injecting more energy and coupling into the actual building which when translated to a human body, creates the illusion or sensation of increased volume.

So over the years I’ve worked a bit of this into conventional audio rigs and mixes wherever applicable. This is what we’ve done at COTM–the low-end isn’t just killing you from a volume perspective, but the presence that it builds is something you can feel–thick enough to cut with a knife. Vocals sit better in the mix, music feels better and our dB meter stays quite happy since we’re making better use of the 95-100 db that comprises our mix product. Yes, this is the same 95-100 dB that others may use that at times can feel completely loud and overwhelming. This is accurately demonstrated by the following SMAART screen grab of a previous worship service:

If you’re not completely familiar with seeing a frequency analysis–it’s pretty easy at first glance. The graph represents the frequencies that comprise normally “hear-able” (yes, my own word) audio. From 18Hz on the far left to 18,000Hz on the far right–or extreme low-end on the far left sliding all the way up to extreme high end on the right. Using this explanation you can see that the low end of the spectrum is greatly exaggerated in the mix while the high end is diminished. This is exactly what the feel is like in the room and is indicative to the type of mix I’ve been describing–seeing it visually sometimes helps make sense of it…

Although this type of thick mix resonates nicely in our space and really seems to define our musical sound–it’s really obvious when you listen to the DPA headset we use on Pastor George. He has a massive voice anyway but I really wanted our audio system to accurately reflect his unique vocal characteristics after being amplified. This style of mixing completely lends itself to an increased presence in a vocal which translates to a very commanding and authoritative sound. Quite fitting for an old west gospel gun-fighter–I mean, for our Pastor.

As I noted in the previous blog–I am still on an endless quest to find new and better ways to pursue a great mix but approaching my mixes from this vantage point seems to provide a good foundation to our current musical and audio presentation.

Here’s part 1 of a 2-part audio nerd-speak diatribe–don’t be afraid, this won’t hurt…

I love mixing audio–love listening to a good mix–also love hearing a record created by people who play at the top of their game. For obvious reasons, my favorite recordings are usually live albums as they demonstrate a snapshot of something that happened during a specific moment in time. There is an adrenaline rush when you hear a mix that takes you to a different place–imagine the rush of being at the audio helm of such a moment…

All things considered, the punch-list that determines a good mix is purely subjective to each listener which can make the audio job at a church somewhat of a challenge. What sounds awesome and pure and amazing to one can sound equally horrific, loud and terrible to another with varying degrees of success or failure to others. But such is the job…

The mix at COTM has changed dramatically over the years–currently, we operate with a concert-style format utilizing a full complement of arena-sized line array boxes giving us the ability to have a massively dynamic audio mix. But where much is given, much is required–it’s pretty simple to crank it up and blow out a mix but it’s another thing altogether to tame the beast and create a rich and smooth mix that accentuates the awesomeness from the stage–listed below are a couple of the tools I’ve used to help me analyze our audio product from week to week…

My main tool to make sure things are in check is by using some software from Rational Acoustics, Smaart V.7. This is used for real-time sound system measurement and analysis and has become one of the most valuable tools I have to make sure the room and the audio system is performing to the desired result. The screen shot below shows a fairly typical measurement taken during the music set this past weekend. The graph represents a cross-section of the audio frequency spectrum from 20Hz to 18,000Hz. The GREEN line is what is “heard” by a tuned and fairly flat reference microphone (Earthworks M50). The BLUE line is the output of the console and the RED line is an average between the two.

In a perfect world, the GREEN reference mic and the BLUE board reference would match up perfectly but given the dynamic and constantly changing variables of a live room (temperature variance, humidity changes due to people, the reference mic hearing more clapping and crowd response), you tend to see a few variances where the BLUE and GREEN don’t match up. Overall, if something doesn’t feel quite right, I will refer to this setup to give me a quick visual analysis of what the room is doing (i.e.: how it’s reacting to what I’m putting into it). With over 59 power amps and 125,000 watts, being able to react quickly to any observed change in the audio rig can help us greatly in not only adjusting a mix on the fly but avoiding massive technical or equipment problems.

As for maintaining a certain decibel level in the room–I don’t necessarily mix to a meter so I don’t get too bent out of shape over crossing the sacred line of a certain dB but we have found a happy spot that seems to keep everyone cool–plenty of uumph for the ones who want to rock but not enough to make others run for the lobby. We tend to hover in the area between 95-100 dBA for most of the music while the speaking portions tends to be closer to 68-74 dBA. The shot below is another example of Smaart–note the dB meter in the top right-hand corner. I’ve got this set to a two-minute A-weighted average so I’ve always got a good contextual reference for where the mix has been…

This next shot is of from a secondary program that logs the dB reference from our Galaxy Audio CM-150 SPL meter. This is a great tool since it has software that records a log that we keep filed away in case there is ever a need to reference it. It’s a great way to keep a handle on the dB’s during a mix and to look at the dB activity and correlation of the mix as a whole.

Large or small venue–these same tools can really come in handy. Although nothing takes over for a golden set of ears, tapping into products like these can really lend a hand in giving an engineer another resource to help keep a mix in line.

After spending 20 years as a professional Audio Engineer listening to, mixing, and analyzing different musical content, my hope is that I never violate the trust to ably navigate the positive and negative characteristics of sound. You know, coupling the boring things like humidity, air pressure, acoustics, and technical variance with the much cooler stuff like epic musical moments and amazing musicianship. Figuring out how to meld the audio with the other production and creative elements is what continues to give me the impetus to pursue a great mix.

Stay tuned for part 2 on how I make the most of the dB’s I have at my disposal–It may just change your approach on the subject…

Since the audio on our Celebrate With Family service video uploads turned out pretty nice and the fact that we get queried often about it–let’s give our audio recording path a brief run-down, “nerd-speak” style. Enjoy!

By the way–if you have any interest in the house PA, check out this previous blog post for an in-depth look… Now here’s the down-low for the recording side:

AUDIENCE MICS
A pair of RODE NT1 mics hang from the center of the catwalk in a stereo pair positioned 90º off axis aimed towards the back of the room. This puts them almost exactly center of the room allowing them to pick up a fairly nice audience feel with a decent amount of rejection for what is coming out of the PA. Each of these mics hits one side of a Midas XL42 mic preamp where I’ve got a smidge of EQ and high-pass filtering going on. Hitting the Midas pre’s really does wonders for these mics as these completely make the difference in how the whole mix comes together…

ROOM MICS
This is a matched set of AKG 414’s in the back of the room that are positioned on the camera deck (we call it the lanai) directly in front of and slightly below the audio mix platform. These are set to pretty much duplicate what I hear while mixing; they are set to a cardioid pattern and aimed L/R towards the PA just a wee bit off-axis.

BOARD MIX
Stereo mix straight out of the primary Midas Heritage 3000. No magic potion here other than Midas awesomeness…

From here, the stereo board mix and the two audience mics hit their own individual inputs on a DBX 4800 where they are combined to a single pair of outputs–there is a small time correction done here that delays the board mix to match the audience mics. This newly combined output is now what becomes our “board mix” and is sent to all of the other parts of the facility including CCTV feeds, lobbies, overflow rooms, CD duplication, DVD recorders (for archive and backups) and is used for all of our radio show and podcast content. This is a really effective way to make sure that everywhere this mix goes receives a nice dose of ambience and audience levels which translates MUCH more dynamically and true than a typical dry board mix.

For our video capture, the board mix (now with the combined audience mics) is sent digitally from the 4800 directly to a Mac Pro running Final Cut. The room mics are converted to digital as well and hit Final Cut on two additional channels. So all of our video content has audio that is comprised of only these four inputs. Once an event is completed and any minor video editing is completed–an OMF is sent over for audio leveling and mastering in Pro Tools. The basic use of this step is so I can maximize the volume output of the overall mix prior to hitting the web and it gives me a chance to adjust the levels of all the segments–bringing the speaking segments up to match the music a bit more, limiting the mix as a whole, a bit of overall equalization and polish, etc. I also correct the time delay discrepancy between the board mix and the room mics (the audio information arrives LATER to the room mics and to Final Cut than the board mix so it requires a bit of time adjustment). This mastered stereo mix is sent back over to Final Cut where it’s combined with the video file and exported and uploaded.

So it’s a pretty basic setup–no multi-track recording or mumbo-jumbo going on here–just a simple capture setup that gives us a realistic version of what our room sounds like.

What makes this work so well is the quality of the house mix–plain and simple. We do get quizzed now and again about how we capture such a real sounding house mix and it really comes down to how it’s mixed when we’re in the event. Bottom line: if I blow it, that’s what we get and I have to live with it–so since that is unacceptable to me on about a billion different levels, I strive to make every mix stellar (mind you–this is a lofty goal for me somedays).

Here is the obligatory full disclosure: How I get a good board mix is derived a great deal from self-preservation… Yep, self-preservation for yours truly. Spending plenty of years on the road getting beat up nightly by the quality (or lack thereof) of my board mixes for whatever band du jour I was traveling with–I started trying to make my mixes a bit more representative of what I KNEW these rooms and bands sounded like. But you can’t really explain that to a rock band after the fact without coming across like a weenie… So I started adding the little extras like audience and room mics into the board mix on the sly but it really started making my mixes sound MUCH more dynamic and REAL. And you would be completely surprised at how few people caught on to why these mixes started sounding so much better all of a sudden…

We’ve spent the last few years exercising these principles to improve the mix captures at COTM with great results. As with anything audio or design related–everything is subjective and has to be adapted to each specific situation and scenario but for us this has been a fairly uncomplicated way to get a realistic representation of what’s happening for our live events.

Given that we were trying a bit of a different approach for this year’s Celebrate With Family service–here’s a closer look at the audio and sound design that was implemented.

Having maintained my love/hate relationship for quite some time regarding the use of Pro Tools for backing tracks–I will admit that they do have a place and can bring a lot to the table, but it’s sometimes a challenge to keep the live music and tracks proportionate to one another without letting the obvious perfection of the tracks takeover the mix. For this year we tried to keep things as live as possible–utilizing as many instruments and microphones as possible to pull it together. This line of thinking was carried further by how a few of the more esoteric numbers were musically built from the get-go. With me being an audio engineer that still loves to mix over just about anything else–this was a good place to start.

The band had gone to the studio and recorded most of the songs onto Pro Tools several weeks ahead of time giving them the opportunity to hone down the arrangements and get specific roadmaps built for each tune. Having things fleshed out ahead of time made it much easier for them to rehearse and as they started adding live parts, they just took out whatever Pro Tools track was being covered live. We actually ended up with most of the tracks going away but it served as an invaluable resource to help them get everything sorted out in advance. Although quite unnerving to me as the audio engineer (and due to our extremely tight production schedule), I didn’t have any kind of soundcheck or band rehearsal until a couple of days before the first dress rehearsal–but the band showed up ready to bring it. This serves as a testament to the awesome prep work these guys brought to the table and will be a process we duplicate in the future.

Having these remaining Pro Tools tracks in place not only helped me beef up some parts here and there but allowed us to tie together the flow of most of the major segments. Since I’m not just handling the house mix but managing the overall production at the same time–it’s a help to have the control of the Pro Tools cue-points in my lair so I can make sure we are a go with all of the other production elements before a track rolls. Occasionally, that extra second or two before cueing a track is all it takes to add a much needed breath to a stage move or a little more weight to a blackout.

The stage audio incorporated a fairly large and diverse package (read complicated) making it gratifying that everything worked according to plan. Here’s a copy of this year’s master audio input (download the full-quality PDF here) list for our analog consoles–HOLD it, did I say analog?? Can it be??!! Allow me to insert a brief yet shameless MIDAS plug: It may be a shock to some that we’ve stuck with analog but yes they are incredible to use, sound unbelievable and above all, they just LOVE to be mixed on… We do have to get a bit creative from time to time to get everything laid out sensibly but the sonic advantage is well worth the effort. Mixing without a mouse or trackball–say it isn’t so!!

As far as the audio onstage goes–there was quite a bit going on at once so getting organized on who and what went where was of key importance. The stage and audio crew did an outstanding job keeping the dense layout as clean and simple as possible–here’s a copy of the master band layout and a couple of pics that show the “controlled chaos” we had going on:

From an audio point of view, this was extremely gratifying to work on–check out the videos to hear how it came together. If interested, I go a little more in-depth into how we capture the audio for video in this blog post.

It’s been a good week recuperating from another hectic Christmas production season and nice to reflect a bit on the whirlwind.

From a production standpoint, this year’s Celebrate With Family was one of the more rewarding and professional events we’ve pulled together. Every team member from creative, production, and performance did their part to bring 100% to the table. Throughout my past years of touring, you start to recognize a common feeling near the end of a production–most of the time it’s a feeling of disgust and horror if you EVER think you’ll have to see it again, but then there are those other times, when you’ve really knocked it out of the park, that you’re genuinely sad it’s over–this was one of those events.

On the lighting side, the creative elements came together in a “controlled chaos” type of way and our LD Daniel did an amazing job pulling together some of the fantastic looks utilizing plenty of Barco MiTrix LED panels, quite a pile of pawn shop and vintage chandeliers, loads of Martin and conventional fixtures, and whatever else he could drag out from under the kitchen sink.

Capturing this for video ended up being quite a challenge since the creative vision called for some pretty low light levels onstage–this made for some amazing visuals but really kept our video crew on their toes to bring these same looks to life on screen.

We continued this “controlled chaos” vibe into the stage design utilizing a more elaborate riser layout than normal and a truly organic approach for the music and audio. Plenty of musicians, singers, actors, and dancers combined with a considerable amount of open mics and stage “clutter” scattered around helped us achieve a warm look and feel to the final product.

Check out the following photos to see a couple of these great looks–there are more photos and goodies on the Christmas 2010 Stage page in Resources and be sure to check out the videos to watch the event in its entirety.

Although everyone manages to stay quite busy this time of year, it seemed a good time to introduce a few new entries on our Resource page. We’ve added a Production section so we can display some examples of our previous production sets and layouts that are referenced throughout these site.

At the moment we’ve put a few shots of our Christmas shows from the last few years as well as a stage plot for each. We’ll continue to add more production elements and I assure you that we’ll post the good and the bad… You can trust that there are some real gems to display when the time is right! Hopefully all these examples can be a valuable reference as you plan for upcoming set changes and events.

Can’t believe this worked out–but the universe has aligned itself in just the right way and we were able to carve out some time to make the tracks available for our rendition of Relient K’s “12 Days of Christmas” from our 2009 Celebrate With Family Christmas service.

In the download, there are 6 audio (.wav) files and the chord chart PDF. The audio breakdown is as follows:

• Click track with an audible count-off
• Bass line
• Choir
• Lead Background Vocals
• Background Vocals & Gang Vocals
• Sound FX (the “pop” heard near the end)

CLICK HERE to download.

All of these were bounced individually and at the same length so you can easily import them into either a Pro Tools or Logic session file and be good to go. You can even use in GarageBand also–you just won’t have many options on outputs to multiple channels, etc; Just make sure the beginning of all the tracks are time-aligned to each other. I usually pre-mix these tracks a bit inside Pro Tools so you may find a bit of volume automation written in here and there–this can can easily be removed if it’s not your cup of tea–I promise not to be offended.

Hope these files help make all your Christmas dreams come true. Or at least maybe your Christmas dreams will rock a little more than normal!

Since I’ve been in band gear mode lately–here’s a look at a way we’ve been able to accomplish a vintage Rhodes look in a couple of our other auditoriums…

This may be old hat for some and even seem like cheating to others but who said there were any rules when it comes to slaying the musical beast? This is something I had flirted with in a couple of minor ways over the years with some different bands but this time was able to carry it a bit farther.

The quest for finding a decent vintage Rhodes is sometime a bit of a challenge not to mention dealing with the necessary “upkeep” to keep them happy once you do find one. So when our youth guys wanted some Rhodes love and were very much done with the “X-stand keyboard look” they had been saddled with–building some fake Rhodes shells seemed like good timing. This can be a real help in two ways: 1) Keeps the expense outlay to a minimum as compared to finding and paying for a vintage Rhodes (or one of their new ones for that matter) and 2) Lets you continue to use an existing keyboard that is familiar to the player and has a stable audio output (this can be hit or miss on a vintage model).

As a reference–here are a couple of photos of the vintage unit we use in our main auditorium. This one has had an obvious rough life but it supplies us with enough character to make Michael McDonald proud. Rest assured we have been through this thing several times to stabilize and clean the audio connections–additionally, it enjoys nice road-trips to the shop routinely to keep it maintained–check out these pics:

Using this authentic Rhodes as a grid–I laid out a plan on my trusty marker board so Chico could fabricate the rock–COTM style. A few years ago, I had run across this great web site from some fellows up in New Jersey (Vintage Vibe) that has a diverse inventory of hardware for all kinds of vintage gear–so we took advantage of some necessary parts to round out these custom Rhodes boxes and they turned out great… Here’s a few shots of these “fakes”:

Other than their cosmetic need to be beat up a bit (trust me it will happen over time)–these look like the real deal. As for the keyboards inside them–we made the fakes fit the keyboards we were already using in these rooms. As you can see below–they look like they were meant to be there all along.

Something cool to note (and a great example of how the little things matter) is how Chico made some color copies taken from a photo of the input/output panel on the real Rhodes and used them to finish out this same panel area on the fakes…

So here is the original panel again:

And these are the fake panels (go ahead and admit it–these rock.):

Since the fakes don’t have any speakers in the speaker cabinet portion–this is where we decided we could hide the gaggle of wall-warts, cabling, DI’s and such that seem to take over most key rigs these days:

Magnetic cabinet catches were used to hold the fabric speaker grills on to the cabinet so that the audio or backline guys can easily get into them to deal with cabling and power issues or just to stand back and marvel at the awesomeness (OK–so they probably don’t really do that, but it would be cool if they did…).

Hopefully this might spark an idea on how you can do something similar that applies to your specific situation. I’m quite proud of these rigs as they look great AND more importantly, didn’t cause a drain on our staff or finances to make them happen.

Where would we be without our B-3? Or perhaps our fake B-3 shell? At risk of beginning to look like a cheat and a liar–just remember, Seeds is full disclosure… Here’s a look at a fake B-3 shell we made and used for quite a while on our mainstage until our music director, Marcos, was able to unearth a beautiful real unit.

For this fake shell, Chico was able to pattern it identically to a real rental we were using at the time–it’s a simple unit in appearance and function but very much like the fake Rhodes shells we have built, it works great, looks good and serves us well.

Here are a few photos of the real deal we are using now:

And some assorted photos of the faker:

The top is hinged to open much like a real B-3 so you can gain access to all of the space behind and under the keyboard shelves so all of the associated power, cabling, and DI connections can stay hidden nicely.

Hopefully this can serve as another way to use a bit of creative thinking to improve your look and feel onstage without spending the coin on the real thing.

I leave you with a shot of musical-wizard Marcos using the faker at a recent Women’s Retreat–it looked great and served the stage design very well…

Continuing on our foray of all that’s cool in the COTM world of guitar–here is the obligatory continuation of what happens after the world of the pedalboard… Woe to all who pass this point who are not prepped for nerd-speak…

We are currently using wired setups on our guitar rigs although we will switch to wireless on occasion as needed but for both reliability and improved audio, I will always opt for a wired rig. So from the pedalboard output, we convert from unbalanced 1/4” connection to an XLR cable. This allows us to utilize the balanced XLR line and pass the guitar signals to the amp via the audio snakes and patchbay… We have a very stable yet extensive audio patch system so “buzzes” and “gremlins” are not that prevalent but you can never be too careful…

From the patchbay, the signal gets routed to the farthest corner of our backstage area via some understage conduits. This is where we house four rolling isolation-boxes–each with its own dedicated power circuit (as you can see in the photo, our Stage Manager has discovered they also make a great out-of-the-way place to store all of our stage stools and tables). We do have several Radial interfaces that we use as needed as well–these Studio Guitar Interfaces do a nice job to keep the signal hot and clean for the 150’+ run to the amps. Although with these particular pedalboards, the guitar dudes have used some pretty high end gear and we haven’t had to utilize the buffers…

Here’s a couple of shots of how simple it is for the iso-box housings to be rolled out of the way:

Regarding the actual iso-boxes: Back in the touring days, I used to make good use of our large-frame console lids and utilize them as makeshift guitar deadening boxes that could be buried in the backstage hallway of some unsuspecting arena… The boxes pictured here are just a simple version of this same idea. We applied several layers of bed liner to the outsides of these boxes to deaden the resonance of the wood and fastened several layers of packing quilts to the interiors (leaving air gaps between each layer). These work great, are lightweight to deal with, and didn’t take a lot of time or coin to put together.

Next are the true winners of the beauty contest–the amps and Leslie that we are using at the moment. These do get switched around from time to time depending on what’s going on or what amp is getting serviced, etc., but this is the current lineup.

One thing to note is Chico (the magic man strikes again) installed a kill switch to each dedicated backline amp circuit–this made it possible for a stagehand, musician, or engineer to be able to quickly kill the power to any of the rigs without moving an isolation box.

On this first Dr. Z (MAZ 18 Jr.), the front mic at the moment is a Shure KSM32 and an Audio-Technica 4050 on the back–this has proven to be a nice combination of mics. I haven’t traditionally used something like a 4050 on the back of a guitar rig but I’ve never really been one to abide with too many rules in this area. Rather, I’d prefer to go with the flow of what seems to enhance the amp sound while still giving me the proper “flavour” I’m looking for out front without having to EQ the thing to death.

On the next Dr. Z (Stang Ray), the front is mic’d with one of my good friends, an AKG 414 and the back is a Shure Beta-56. Yes, I do understand the 56 is a bit unorthodox but you should hear what a good engineer I know can do with an SM-58 on a kick drum! This combination just seems to bring out the natural crunch of the front and the gentle warmth coming off the back–the performance has been solid.

And our go-to guitar 3 rig is just straight up awesomeness. A VOX AC-30 with a tried and true Shure SM-57 on the front and…wait for it…wait for it…wait for it…another 57 on the back! Yes! Shoot me or scoff, whatev. I don’t care as this combination sounds really slick for this particular amp and makes for a great all-around guitar sound.

For the #4 spot, we depart from guitar heaven and threw in the B-3 Leslie–this Leslie is one of the new speakers they’ve started building with all the funky mumbo-jumbo added for good measure–I don’t really know much about all the electronics on board this one but I will say this–it’s amazingly loud and sounds just rich, warm, and stud–exactly what you’d expect from our old wooden cabinet. I can go with just about anything to mic a Leslie cabinet–a pair of 58’s, 535’s, 414’s, even 81’s. I’ve had good luck with many of these over the years but for now, two more of the Audio-Technica 4050’s do a nice job. Instead of mic’ing the low end drum like a traditional Leslie–this one has a direct out that is hitting a Radial DI–since we don’t use a ton of low-end off of this–the DI works out great (you can see it winking at you a wee bit near the base of the mic stand in this photo).

There you have it, that’s it for the nerd-speak for awhile… As far as the real genius of the guitar tones and whatnot–that’s for the Muso’s to lay out but as far as the production and audio end of getting the guitar goods out to the people in the seats–we’ve been able to put a great system in place that allows us to “tame the beast” as bit as well as getting the artistry out front where it belongs…

In my estimation, there is no right and wrong way to capture a proper guitar tone as almost anything can get the job done to some degree. My thoughts on the subject do tend to ebb and flow as the music, players, or context changes but hopefully this demonstrates that you can tackle this from many different angles–all achieving a totally acceptable result. For those about to rock, I salute you.

With the preaching style of our Pastor and the style in which we light the stage, it seems to look best when some of the band clutter “disappears” prior to the message, so I was needing to come up with a simple way to clear our stage performance area prior to moving into a preaching segment. It came down to the challenge of transporting the guitar pedalboards smoothly and efficiently without sending stagehands out to carry them off or something–this has always seemed to be a clunky solution to me–also, to make it a decent challenge, I wanted to keep them hooked up at all times so my staging solution wouldn’t preclude the creative guys from having the band come back out at the end of a service or something…

As I’ve mentioned before, pretty much anything I can draw, my man Chico can build, so I sketched out a simple layout for a pedalboard dolly that would look as if it was floating and could easily glide on and off stage with very little effort. This is a top view of the dolly with and without the pedalboard…

He built these with the casters recessed enough to keep the dolly ground clearance low enough to “push” any cables out of the way rather than rolling over them as that could become quite a problem during a scene change… Here are some pics of the underside:

Then I had Jesse, one of our wizard Audio Engineers, build up a nice pigtail for the signal and power so a stagehand could easily disconnect the loom from the entire contraption quickly if need be, but if just rolling from one position to another, these vital connections would stay connected via locking connectors. From getting burned many times over the years, I didn’t want to take any chances on something “accidentally” getting unplugged during a move or transition… This photo shows the whole thing ready to rock:

I was a bit concerned that the boards may “drift” a bit when the guys are changing pedal presets or riding the volume pedals but we’ve had no issues as of yet and these have been in use for about 8 months or so. The guitar players love them and it certainly hasn’t held them back from slaying us with guitar glory as shown in these two shots:

I’m sure there are a zillion different ways to accomplish this same thing on many different levels but if you happen to be on a never-ending quest to make things more functional yet cooler at the same time–maybe this will give you some good ideas…

This is always an interesting topic to tackle because there are merits to both sides of the story. Most musicians don’t love the vibe of the drummer sitting in an iso-booth and audio engineers detest the house mix being at the mercy of live drums–but it’s a worthy cause nonetheless, and deserves proper thought and discussion. This is by no means a recommendation for what you, your auditorium, and your band should adopt outright–merely my thoughts and experiences from our travails and where we’ve currently landed at…

Our original stage was built with a fully enclosed drum room complete with carpet, sound absorption panels, and a dedicated air system. It was truly an audio engineer’s dream but not very usable from a creative or lighting standpoint. Even though we have a large auditorium, once the drums were brought out of this controlled environment, numerous negatives were brought to the table.

Fast-forward a bit to a few years ago when we started changing the musical style with more focus being put on the drums, guitars, lighting, and design. Although it would’ve sounded awesome to isolate the drums again back in their dedicated room, it still wouldn’t have worked from a creative or design standpoint, let alone the vibe and energy it would rob from the band. We knew that just shielding the drums wasn’t going to do it–the sound was still obliterating the front rows and adding a mushy sound to the audio mix since you heard a lot of the drum sound emanating from the stage rather than the PA.

So we started building our own “drum room” out of regular plexiglass drum shields available on the market. We would combine a few sets of these together so they would go all the around the kit (leaving a small gap for an entrance and fresh air). By the way–don’t ignore the “awesomeness” of the stage set in this first pic…more on that at another time.

Eventually, I had a local custom plastics manufacturer build us various clear “lids” that would lay onto our contraption instead of the “insulated” panels included in most of these systems.

Over the years, we went through several renditions of this type of setup and dealing with the lighting and design eyesore it created. As we progressed, I ended up having a local plastic company custom fabricate a virtually seamless box. It was in several sections that all attached with clear fittings and it had no 90º seams–all the corners were rounded corners so you never really saw a hard edge. This idea worked pretty cool and it was definitely the best solution we had used to date–the flat pieces were so wide and without seams that to a great extent, it disappeared on video.

I should take a moment here to mention a few notes about drums mics… I have used about every conceivable combination of microphones and techniques out there but being a drummer myself for many years, I have become extremely picky about this subject… For the most part, I quit using overhead drum mics for live applications years ago–I just got tired of not hearing enough cymbals and clarity of the kit in the mix. This has really given me more control over each specific cymbal on the kit just the way you would deal with the kick, snare, hat, and toms… As for the cymbals themselves, I usually mic them from underneath (unless the bleed from another drum or something is too much)–right now, something like the Shure SM98 seems to work quite nicely… Dumping overhead mics is about the only way you can get away with a drum shield–having close mics on everything allows you, for the most part, to “ignore” the zillion percent increase in reflections within a plastic box…

So all that was great–band sounds awesome, drums are controlled, everything was perfect EXCEPT…it still looked like an aquarium onstage, the band hated it, the drummers loathed it, and our lighting designer had pictures of it on his dartboard. I don’t know where it became my fault, but I think somehow I became the “COTM drum shield guy” although in most of my previous experiences, I had never really liked or even used shields unless I was with a band doing a TV appearance or an awards show or something–but I must admit that it did sound amazing to have that kind of drum containment in our auditorium.

At the conclusion of our auditorium remodel and overhaul about a year ago, we were analyzing everything and really wanting to make good decisions on our band sounds and setup and it came up just how hard a time the band and drummers were having with the aquarium–the sound inside the various contraptions was just out of control (a whole drum kit surrounded by 5 sides of highly reflective surfaces–ugggg). Even though I had never been married to a drum shield I was still pretty much a jerk when I first heard the band discussing the possibilities of ditching it. I mean, this was my mix at stake–the whole world might stop spinning or something… Um, yeah, whatever man. When I realized how negative it was for the guys onstage, it was apparent that I needed to relax and keep an open mind and remember the years of awesome concerts I had mixed over the years with no plexiglass in sight… So we ventured out into the nakedness of going “au naturel” on the drums and just throwing them out there. Since the new PA had considerably more presence, body, and low-end–it seemed like it would work.

So can you hear the drums acoustically coming from the stage? Certainly. Is it out of control? Not as much as you might think–although for awhile I don’t know if I would’ve wanted the seat right down front on the drum side of the stage… So we have gradually worked on several different things–paying a lot more attention to how the drums sound and are tuned without microphones (so it still sounds good for the adjacent seating) and the volume the drummers play at (not just killing it every time we play). And most recently, we started using extremely thin cymbals–specifically the Bliss line made by Dream–which have been a huge step forward and it wasn’t very expensive. This has been a huge, huge factor in minimizing the “white noise” elements of the crash-rides used in a lot of the current worship songs. We are also experimenting with smaller and lighter drumsticks and are currently trying out Vic Firth 55A sticks. If you’re interested in knowing more about our drum heads, size of cymbals, etc., drop an email to our Band Director, Marcos Cruz.

The overall result has been incredible–we also added a short piece of drum glass on the side of the kit closest to the seats to help shield the snare volume a bit and it works like a charm. The acoustic volume has changed enough that you really only hear the drums from the PA and it really sounds fantastic, earthy, and live.

These types of changes prove that all of these ideas had merit and worked fine. There is nothing inherently wrong with using a drum shield or drum isolation room, but for us right now and in the creative flow we are working in at the moment–this works best. Only by everyone working together and being willing to experiment a bit were we able to discover a solution that made sense, served both the musicians and the production staff, but most importantly, serves the people in our seats.

According to Wikipedia, “control freak” is defined as “a derogatory term for a person who attempts to dictate how everything around them is done. It can also refer to someone with a limited number of things that they want done a specific way.”

In production circles, being labeled a control freak doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation–most production teams require someone who must maintain the control of each situation that arises and similarly exude that control to provide the direction. I contend that in the production business, those who are not control freaks at some level and have not become successful at controlling situations are the same ones who do not play consistently at the top of their game.

So in the spirit of full disclosure, I have a confession… I am a control freak. I’ll state it again–I am a control freak… but I don’t care. I spent many years on the road watching people, bands, and management operating out of control (and with no control in sight, mind you). No one at the helm, no one to take control of the situation, no one to make the hard decision or at worst, even throw out a guess as to what direction to head in. These experiences have proven to be the largest elements of learning in my professional life. All of the negatives that arose from these particular situations only proved that someone, anyone, had to take control–and over time, this control freak mindset was birthed.

So using this as a basis in managing our production crew, I attempt to make qualified decisions as to how we operate within our constraints while still serving the church in the most excellent manner available to us.

Most people might assume that the most important thing to making our team a success is how much experience each person brings to the table or how much cool gear we know how to operate, etc, but herein lies the secret… In my humble opinion, the best way to be successful in production and team management is simple: MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS. That’s it–a very simple strategy that allows everyone on the team to work to their maximum potential. Freeing them up from the doldrums of unnecessary interruptions and concerns allows them to direct all of their focus towards the goal (that sounds like I copied it from a self-help book but that was all me).

Maintaining the focus is largely based around time management. Once a creative plan is in place, our time is largely controlled by the “literal”–logistics, timeframes, deadlines, rehearsals, schedules, load-in times, etc. Is there still time enough to “do it” or was all the time taken up on the planning and talking points and now you’re behind the 8-ball with not quite enough time to pull it off? Don’t get me wrong–spending time developing a plan, set, or design is huge but does everyone have to be a part of this? Can the team be split up with some people planning while others remain focused on the “doing”? I devote a great deal of energy in planning out the time our crew will be spending doing each event or project. The result is that I maintain the control of what is to be done now and what can be accomplished at another time.

A key element of this is making sure others outside of our team understand how we function. The production office is the hub–everything hits me first, then I can disseminate information as needed and at my discretion according to whatever else we are involved in. If the crew is getting barraged with calls or interruptions from other departments that need something done, built, repaired, or dealt with, the tendency would be for the production crew to make it happen. That’s just how they roll–they want to serve and help solve issues. BUT it doesn’t mean that their current project load has to be dropped or put on hold. Actually, our deadlines really don’t permit that very often, so we strive as a crew to make sure that the control stays in my court. I spend the time necessary to work through the unplanned projects that inevitably come up and determine when, how, and if they will come into play.

Oftentimes, it might just be that someone didn’t know who to call and I can simply assist in getting the right person or company hooked up on the phone with them. No big deal–problem solved, the other department is happy and satisfied and my team kept their eyes on the ball. I will also slide this gem in here–managing a production of any size is largely based on what contacts you have at your disposal AND how slick you are at pulling the right people in on a project. For teams built on logistics and multi-tasking environments, there has to be a point person who possesses the skill set to solve the issue at hand OR has the knowledge of who to call to get it done.

The result of all this is that even with all the services, events, rebuilds, adapting, and maintenance that the production team is responsible for week in and week out, we manage to stay on top of things. Peter Drucker says in his book, The Effective Executive, “A well-managed plant, I soon learned, is a quiet place… Similarly a well-managed organization is a ‘dull’ organization. The ‘dramatic’ things in such an organization are basic decisions that make the future, rather than heroics in mopping up yesterday.” I can’t have my team running all over the place playing “catch-up” bouncing between their must-do projects to the “emergencies” that have popped up. We’ve got big projects that require our attention first and foremost with very little time to maneuver in between. If I effectively manage the distractions, everybody can stay on task and get it done right.

Admittedly, maintaining the focus is tough–it’s something I have to constantly be mindful of… and constantly work at–but it’s worth it. The well-being of my crew demands it, the people who make up COTM deserve it, and in my opinion, it’s just the right way to do it.

Thoughts? Hit the Comments button below.

We get asked about the gear we use for our productions and service events and this seems an appropriate time to discuss how much equipment that we actually rent or lease. I presented this idea soon after I started working at COTM not knowing exactly what their reaction would be, but it was agreed that this presented a possible solution that allowed us to branch out and try some different things without the church being on the hook for a huge cash outlay.

As I noted in a previous blog, my experience prior to taking this position was through many years of touring where renting was commonplace and in most situations, the only way to get the job done. It seems to make the most practical sense from the fiscal and cash-flow side of a church. Whether you are a small operation or a big one, the same financial responsibility and stewardship is a common denominator–we all still have to spend money in a practical manner that can work within a budget.

Over time, we have discovered what items it made sense to own vs. rent. By renting for awhile, you are able to try out different gear in your particular setting–the piece of gear you thought would change your life may not be as cool as you thought once you immerse it into your current setup.

LIGHTING
For our moving lights, with the exception of a handful of fixtures, we rent everything. We’ve used several different vendors over the years depending on what we needed and who had the inventory at the time but as of our most recent set change we were able to consolidate our lighting rental down to one local vendor, Integrity Lighting. These guys not only have a huge inventory of lighting but have a large selection of LED products that have come in really handy in our various lighting and scenic designs. Using a local vendor is a major plus as well in that they can provide assistance with skilled maintenance for the equipment and added labor when our gear and design needs change.

In the conventional lighting world, we own and maintain a fairly large inventory of conventional instruments including Source4 pars, Strand SL lekos (ranging from 10º to 50º), an assortment of 1K and 2K Fresnels, and the normal array of dimmers, cabling, and utility items you would expect.

VIDEO
We made a decision several years ago to upgrade our camera package as our current cameras had served the ministry well but had reached the end of their lifespan. I reached out to a longtime touring associate, Evan French with Big Picture Productions, for a solution. We pulled in one of their 3-camera fly-pack systems using Hitachi Standard-Definition cameras with an EchoLab switcher and the typical but simple complement of outboard gear to get us going. We still tapped into our existing projectors and screens as they were a built-in part of the stage at that time.

Over time, we figured out the best way to implement this monthly rental and are still renting a video package from BPP consisting of (5) Hitachi SD cameras and a new Barco FSN-150 switcher. One of the reasons we have been able to stick with Standard Definition cameras is that during the recent remodel of our main auditorium, we made the jump to Barco I-6 LED walls instead of projection. Once we saw the incredible difference in the display quality, our SD cameras looked amazing. We do use one of our own P-2 HD cameras as a wide-shot, so it gives us a 6-camera shoot that serves our needs quite well. If interested, you can check out this link which goes a little more in depth of some the Barco gear we use.

By establishing a long-term monthly rental situation on these high dollar items, it allowed us to build up a fantastic control room with all the bells and whistles but we did it a little bit at a time over a couple of years, so again, this didn’t create a massive cash outlay that would cause any kind of a financial drain for the church.

AUDIO
It’s safe to say that the audio equipment gets the heaviest usage at all of our facilities. This is one of those areas where owning vs. renting will in almost all cases prove to be more cost-effective to purchase rather than rent. It is very sensible to rent and hang a speaker system to help give you an idea of what you may want to purchase. Same with an audio console–if you’re thinking of a purchase or upgrade, rent something first and give it a test drive.

I already had a lot of experience using most large PA systems, so we didn’t necessarily have to rent something for our main auditorium prior to a purchase but in our secondary auditorium (built as the original auditorium on this campus), I rented a new small line-array that I had never used–this allowed me several months of trial and error based on our specific usage and need before we settled on what exactly we were going to purchase.

You can rent almost anything that’s out there, not just the main items like the lighting, video and audio I’ve mentioned above but you can rent stage sets, band risers, backdrops, curtains, carpeting, chandeliers, pipe and draping, wireless mics, ear monitor systems (great way to gear up for a large holiday event) etc, etc. The list is almost endless as to what vendors will rent to you and most of it comes with delivery and setup assistance included. It is rare that we’ve done an event in which there is not some level of rental involved–it has become something that we can budget for easily and it’s a huge plus that we are not left with a massive storage situation when the project is concluded.

We’ve had several queries lately as to what type of LED products we’ve been using so it made sense to give an update of our ongoing foray into this crazy world of Light-Emitting Diodes. We’ll discuss more specifics of our current lighting and set design in a later post but here’s the LED info for what is shown in this photo:

The crux of our permanent video install is the BARCO I-6 XP LED product. These are configured on either side of the stage in true 16:9 ratio–we made it easy to calculate and made these appx 16’w x 9’h. There was a great deal of engineering put into the mechanics of how these are mounted since each wall weighs roughly two tons and at the same time, much care was given as to how they would be kept accessible for maintenance and repair. This photo is taken from the backside of the stage right LED wall.

The I-6 was something we rented for a special event prior to our auditorium remodel and it was such a vast improvement over the standard screen and projection fare that we literally built our remodel production budget around it. These panels have a 6mm pixel resolution giving it very intense contrast and color reproduction. They’ve been great so far and will be something we’ll look forward to using for quite some time.

The ground row of LED walls forming a short wall across the back of the stage is another Barco product, the BARCO S-LITE 10XP. These are more of an outdoor LED product but we’ve had them in and out of here quite a few times over the last 3 or 4 years and they seem to like being in the air conditioning. These don’t have quite the resolution of the I-6’s but work REALLY well for B-roll footage, jumpbacks, and graphics. The major thing about the S-lite is the weight–they are extremely heavy so we try and utilize ground-stacking whenever possible. One example of how we implemented them as both a rigged and a ground-stacked element is shown here. To say that it was challenging to figure out the load balance hanging from our grid is an understatement…

The final element of this set’s LED is what we hung above the band to assist with tying the lyrics in a bit more to the actual stage set. This is the BARCO O-LITE 510. These have a 10mm pixel resolution so it was a perfect solution to display lyrics on as the edges of the lettering would still appear smooth–this has a bit of an issue on some other products that have lower resolutions. We are using an auxiliary bus on our switcher to route lyrics only to these O-Lites so any lyric our CG operator puts on the main video walls will be mirrored on these and it has really been a nice addition. The following rehearsal photo is a bit rough but you can see the O-Lite wall suspended above the stud guitarist in the white shirt…

There is another product that we fell in love with during our previous Easter services: the WINVISION-8. We used these to add a center video image with a similar resolution to the existing I-6 walls but something that would still hang easily in our venue. We did a few tricks with the Winvision for these events but we’ll leave that for another entry coming soon! The Winvision just rocked–check out these photos:

We made a conscious decision a while back to embrace these and other LED products and incorporate them into our designs as the impact and clarity available is second to none. It has forced us to think outside of the box to continue to come up with creative ways to not only implement them creatively but how to use them as an enhancement to the event rather than the focus.

Stay tuned for more “nerd-speak” (proper credit given to Dave Rat for coining that phrase)!

My previous life as a touring guy did not prepare me to serve as the Production Manager and Audio Director of a large church. Yep, you are correct, I quit traveling and took the same job I had been making fun of for years… Still can’t believe how uninformed I had been–unbeknownst to me before I accepted this position at Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK was that they were the largest church in the region with a campus sitting on more than 300 acres of property and had a weekly attendance of about 10,000 people. The church had managed to stay quite current with its service content so someone with my production background felt immediately at ease. I still feel like I’m part of an awesome production machine and honestly, I had no idea that I didn’t have to travel everyday to do what I love. Being an integral part of communicating a positive message with impact feels like the right thing to do and the right place to be–some of the work I’m most proud of (and the most challenging) has been done here.

This church has recently completed the largest phase of a massive campus-wide renovation project. The decision to preserve both our physical plant and secondary spaces was not an easy one when it came to the main auditorium–it meant that the auditorium would have to be gutted and redesigned while maintaining the current floor slope, exterior walls, and roof design all the while keeping the attached building spaces open so church activities could continue uninterrupted in all adjacent spaces. This gave us the “box” for the new auditorium design and gave us a starting point as to what could be reused and what would be reworked. In the end, every production area was either torn out and rebuilt or completely overhauled to accommodate the level of production we were in need of.

When this auditorium was built, it was relevant for where the church was at the time but it didn’t allow the production much room to grow or change for the future. This remodel would need to not only be comprehensive but allow for future changes and adaptations farther down the line. Now don’t get me wrong–we were having some really great events over the last few years but there were several big-ticket production systems that were on their last legs and massive problems were on the horizon.

We had made the decision a few years ago to go without any large-scale church consulting firm. These companies can be great for some situations but with the level of experience found within COTM’s own production staff–it became apparent that we could save the money on consultants and put it into the gear. We reached out to COTM’s long-time associate Brant Doell and Strategic Connections (formerly One Source Building Technologies) to assist in integrating our new design into this existing building and to help strategize on how best to make all of this come together on this rather short 18-week timeline. Brant and the Strategic Connections team were assisted throughout the install by our own paid technical staff–this not only helped COTM realize a significant savings on labor but it gave us a great working knowledge of how this very complicated system was put together and decreased our learning curve when it came time to make it all work.

VIDEO

The decision to go with two large 16’x9’ Barco I-6 walls instead of projectors was made pretty simple once we experienced them in the old auditorium. We had rented them for an Easter production and knew immediately we could never go back to conventional projection. Our video supplier Evan French and his company Big Picture Productions hammered out a deal and this became our new building block for the video side of the renovation.

COTM has had a fairly extensive background in television and movie production, some may have heard of The Gospel Bill Show–Willie George (i.e.: Gospel Bill) is the Founder and Pastor of COTM, so we were already used to video being a major part of our events. We had been renting our camera package from Big Picture for quite some time with the thought of going to a High Definition platform in the future but after seeing the massive change in the video quality just from the LED screens we opted to stay with our conventional Hitachi cameras instead of making the jump to all HD heads. I know this is not “cool” by some, but we have no broadcast other then Vimeo uploads and archiving, so the investment required for HD cameras just didn’t make any sense although we did install the necessary groundwork to accommodate HD cameras in the future if needed.

Along with the LED walls and the camera rental, Big Picture provided us with a new Barco FSN-150 switcher. This was one of the few switcher products we found that had the onboard effects we wanted and would keep our latency to a minimum. We added a nice supplement of video front-end devices that gave us an all HD signal path in the control room, HD feeds to all closed circuit televisions and fiber-optic feeds to the LED walls.

We rounded this out by adding our complement of existing Mac Pro towers to the mix, maintaining ProPresenter as our computer graphics platform and Final Cut for all live service captures.

Overall, the video looks absolutely fantastic, is easy to operate and has been able to accommodate everything we have thrown at it. Our live captures look good and every seat in the house has a great view.

AUDIO

Given the focus that COTM has always placed on great sound reinforcement, there was no choice but to go with a line array–but making that happen and staying within budget was the challenge. It became obvious that Harman International had the goods to make this a reality.

The final speaker system is comprised of (38) JBL Vertec 4088 modules flown in (4) arrays with (16) JBL ASB6128V subs, (10) flown and (6) under-stage; Front-fills are (7) JBL AC28/95’s housed behind the finish work around the perimeter of the stage.

Amplifiers are (49) Crown MA5000i amps and (10) CT 2000 and CT 3000 amps. All control and routing is handled with (8) BSS Soundweb London’s and (2) DBX 4800’s.

All of our wireless systems had to be reworked in light of the 700MHz issues and to salvage any useable systems we currently owned. Wireless is a challenge here as our geographical location puts us in a frequency hotbed and most of church events utilize about 50 wireless channels between microphones and in-ear monitors–not to mention all the wireless com belt-packs and 2-way radios floating around. Needless to say, our Intermodulation Analysis software from Professional Wireless Systems gets quite a workout… Everything has worked great utilizing all Shure products for microphones and a combination of both Shure and Sennheiser products for all in-ear systems.

The existing conduit lines under the original slab had become waterlogged and were compromised over the years–and it didn’t necessarily fill me with confidence to splice onto the existing copper to reach the new patch-bay location. So we made the decision to replace all of our existing snake lines with a Whirlwind SPC83P 3-way splitter system which utilized all new IJIS cable runs along with some CAT6 runs for any future audio, video or lighting growth we might encounter. This snake system is coupled to several Whirlwind Patchmasters located backstage so all input and output patching remains flexible but extremely simple to deal with.

The FOH position is made up of (2) MIDAS Heritage 3000 consoles. Yeah, I know this is where everyone groans and says “Why not digital?”. Well, we already had an H3000 in pristine condition–and adding an additional H3000 back in my touring days was always an easy deal–so it seemed to be an easy solution for this application. One of the wizards at Strategic Connections made me a cross-connect cable to link the console electronics and Whirlwind built a harness to link up the outputs–done deal. I will say this, it really feels good to have this many analog inputs that sound this great–I am never buried in layers or submenus and to be honest, it feels like I can still be an audio engineer instead of a computer genius when “in the moment”. Every “A” console has it own list of pros and cons–but for this particular situation, sticking with this version of Midas “awesomeness” serves us great. The outboard gear list is fairly simple: a complement of Klark-Teknik Square-Ones for compressors and gates, several effect units from Eventide, TC Electronic and Lexicon and a few DBX and UA tube preamps.

The coolest thing about this particular audio rig is that Jim Brawley did the EASE modeling for this room AND took a week out of his very busy schedule to traverse to Tulsa and really dial in all of the PA components. I knew of Mr. Brawley by reputation only and was blown away that Strategic Connections worked it out to incorporate him in to the mix. Aside from being a gentlemen, I felt he did his homework by watching some of our services on Vimeo allowing him to become familiar with both my mixing style and our high-energy service content.

The audio package is outstanding–everything sounds perfect and sweet–it gives back exactly what I put into it–transparent, in your face, adaptable…All the adjectives you would want to use to describe it are applicable. In short–being the audio engineer in this room is the best seat in the house.

LIGHTING

A few years ago I was able to convince my good friend Daniel Connell to leave the comfort and predictability of his tour bus bunk and move out here to serve as our Lighting Designer. Due to the many lighting changes we had implemented after his arrival on staff, the lighting system didn’t require a complete overhaul.

We currently maintain a large inventory of Vari-lite, Martin and conventional fixtures, control by GrandMA and Pathport, ETC dimming throughout and all necessary infrastructure you would expect in a system of this size but the majority of our moving light package is rented based on each specific design. This gives Daniel the creative freedom to swap out gear and switch things around as needed. “Gearing-up” for larger events and designs or scaling things down when needed has proven to be great option for us.

Since much of our stage lighting was already sorted, we devoted some time to coming up with a better data distribution plan. The original auditorium had incorporated only two DMX universes and we had been getting by thus far by using extra lines from FOH to stage and occasionally renting a GrandMA NSP for larger events. As part of this project we were able to integrate a network of Pathport nodes throughout the room. This provided data to our built-in lighting elements such as dimmer racks and architectural LED’s using a combination of Pathport DMX Manager Plus 4-point nodes and Pathport UNO nodes. To accommodate the frequent redesign of our components onstage, we went with the Pathport Touring Edition nodes for a more flexible solution. The seamless integration of the MA Lighting GrandMA control console and these Pathport nodes allows a total of eight universes to be distributed anywhere in the room.

Although most of the lighting changes were centered around infrastructure, the most obvious change was a complete overhaul of the house lighting. Prior to the remodel, the houselights were comprised of numerous 8’ fluorescent fixtures. Several years ago the church had begun to integrate a few various dimmable lighting fixtures here and there to try and create a warmer atmosphere but it did not allow for the proper coverage to light the room evenly. After going through several types of fixtures trying to find the proper “warmth” for the room, the ETC Source 4 Par ended up providing a quality of light that was warmer and more friendly than any of the architectural fixtures we had tested. The final result in the house is a warm atmosphere with extremely even coverage that greatly accents the color palette of the room.

The design also allowed us to focus on how to consolidate the dimming, power distribution and data which helped make our moving light integration and motor control a much simpler process. To be forward-thinking on what the future holds within our lighting system, we devoted considerable thought to cable management, cable drops, and floor access panels. Not only do our light and set designs look current and stay relevant, the lighting control areas throughout stay neat and organized. Although it involves a great deal of cabling and gear, everything has a home.

The final result of the lighting system is a room that is extremely comfortable and warm for the audience, a stage that is flexible and accommodating for our lighting designs while maintaining a sophisticated control system that has lightened the load considerably for our technical staff.

STAGE, RIGGING, & BACKSTAGE

Hands down, the most labor intensive part of this remodel was the stage–between the demolition and removal of the old stage altogether, the backstage wall, and removing the overhead facade that housed a small lighting grid and outdated video projection and screens. The build-back gave us a massive flat stage with plenty of backstage space. I was desiring enough room backstage to be able to build and dress band risers and backline gear quickly and we got it with room to grow. The architectural team from Selser Schaefer Architects led by Hank Spieker really nailed it with this space. They married a creative plan of repurposing old rooms and hallways in a non-conventional manner with the practical production needs we were desperate for. We now have a stage level loading dock with a 10’ wide overhead door opening into our backstage space–directly above this on the 2nd floor is another 10’ door that opens to the scene shop. This allows us to use the same loading dock with a forklift or jib crane to transfer equipment and materials to the shop. There is another 10’ door that opens from the shop onto the stage so that large pieces can be lowered directly onto the upstage area. The support structure for the stage allows for 15,000 lbs/sq foot which gives us the ability to use large equipment on stage such as scissor-lifts, boom-lifts, cars, elephants and just about anything the creative team can come up with.

With such a large stage space, we needed to be able to handle a large overhead lighting and video rig not to mention the weight of the audio system so we designed a rigging grid that used I-beams spaced every 5’ from upstage to downstage separated by the main support beams running front to back every 25’. The engineers put their pencils to it and allowed us a dynamic load limit of 3000 lbs per beam per 25’ bay which supplies us with an extremely agile rigging solution for almost anything we would need to hang.

By opening up our space, it has breathed new life into our creative and design process (not to mention how good it feels to not build set pieces out in the hallway). Also, I think our Facilities team is happier not repairing doorways, sheetrock, carpet and tile since we’re no longer using the front door to load and unload trucks.

SYSTEM CONTROL
To tie everything together and provide some type of system control, we went with a full-blown AMX system. From one of several touch-screens, we have the ability to control the power procedures on all major systems as well as control for all pertinent facets of the main video and closed-circuit television system. It also provides on and off continuity to the houselights for either cleaning, rehearsals or events, and gives us instant control of the audio to the lobby and common areas. Going this route for system control gives us a nice advantage as we continue to renovate other parts of the facility which will incorporate more control and flexibility into the system. Oh yeah…it’s also kind of nice to monitor the A/V system components from home.

IN CLOSING
As we’ve been using this room for several months now, we haven’t really had to change anything of consequence. This comes as quite a surprise to some of us since you always seem to hear of the myriad of punch-lists, follow-up details, and nightmare stories after a project of this scope. The lack of problems only serves as a perfect example of what can be done with the proper amount of planning married with communication between the install teams, contractors, designers, architects and house staff. Everyone I had the privilege to work with on this remodel had an outstanding work ethic with every company and individual bringing nothing but the best to the table.

From the viewpoint of a church production guy, I am humbled at the opportunity to serve this church and community with such a tremendous auditorium and look forward to what the future holds.

Like some of us here at COTM, I’ve received quite a few queries as to how many people we have on staff in the Production Department and what they do… Since all of my previous experience comes from what I’ve gleaned out on the road being a member of a road crew or managing a tour, it made sense at COTM to build up our team in a similar manner.

On a road crew, most of the teams remain fairly departmentalized primarily from an organizational standpoint. Although I’ve emulated a road crew from a practical standpoint where each member of our team has a specific role, it is commonplace for us to forget our specific jobs and work on the same facet of a project so we can accomplish a task more efficiently. This not only creates and maintains a feeling of teamwork but helps build general production knowledge in areas that may not be in one’s daily purview. I’ve never been a fan of the someone saying “That’s not my job, man”, so around here it’s definitely all for one whenever the need arises…

Keeping that in mind, here is a breakdown and description of our production crew:

YOURS TRULY//Production Manager & Audio Director

I expend most of my energy planning and implementing how all of our production areas ministry-wide have to come together to accomplish the final result laid out by the creative team and church leadership. This includes long-range planning, logistics, budgets, scheduling, assisting on scenic and staging designs, and an occasional nap.

On the audio side–I head up our audio team and make sure that we are staffed on all events, keep our auditory direction focused and in check, mix all of our main service events, and mix some Pro Tools stuff here and there as needed.

DANIEL CONNELL//Lighting Designer

Daniel designs all of the lighting for everything we do on campus and oversees the lighting crew as they program and staff all of our events. It’s a daunting job as we not only have our main auditorium but several auxiliary auditoriums that have sizable systems with equally high equipment and design needs. I’ve worked and been close friends with Daniel going on close to 10 years now and his knowledge of the craft is impressive. He not only knows what to do to make things fit into the creative vision of what we’ve been given but how to get it there quickly and professionally. As the leader of a production team, you always want a person who not only can deliver the goods but manages to have quality problem-solving solutions on the way–Daniel is that guy. Oh, and he has a cool Jeep.

CHICO TORREZ//Operations Manager & Set Carpenter

Chico has done everything–from all facets of video to audio to working on oil rigs, lighting, some random Bigfoot sightings, you name it–this guy has done it. Chico manages all of our backstage areas and our stage crew and he can build or fabricate just about anything. If I draw it on a napkin or a marker board or even in the dirt–Chico will figure out a way to build it and make it look like a million bucks when all I gave him was $10.

TOM DOERNER//Live Video Director

Tom is an enigma–while I don’t think there is a place in the 48 states in which he has not eaten (and remembers a story about it), he oversees our video department and directs the video for all of our live services. Our weekly video teams are predominantly volunteers, so he spends a great deal of time keeping our teams trained and up to speed.

ANDREW SWAN//Video Engineer

With the recent addition of some large LED video walls, Andrew has his weekly work cut out for him. In addition to the video engineering of all our live services and grilling the best meat in the midwest, he maintains all of our video equipment. To say that video is finicky would be an understatement but he manages to keep all of these complicated systems in fine working order.

JESSE BURR//Audio Systems Engineer

In addition to being a terrific Audio Engineer, Pro Tools guy, and wireless frequency nerd, he implements the audio plan I come up with for each event and keeps a watchful eye on all of our audio components on campus. There are several large PA systems and many secondary systems scattered all over–he must have an awesome cheat sheet hidden around here somewhere…

KENDALL SELF//Audio Engineer

Kendall’s primary job is to manage the production for our Children’s Education department. They have numerous complex and busy events in multiple rooms that occur simultaneously so it’s great to have a pro who can mix audio superbly but can also keep all rooms staffed and running. Kendall has a real heart for the younger generation so he stays in sync quite well for their production needs. Maybe it’s because he has 4 or 9 kids–I’ve lost count.

TODD YANDELL//Computer & Programming Genius

Yes, that is his title–at least it’s what I call him. Todd writes Mac software (you gotta like that) as his day-job and helps us sort out many of our more complicated computer/video integration issues in the wee hours of the night. As I mentioned already–video is finicky but Todd helps us keep the gremlins at bay. He’s also pretty good at writing programs that can run our switcher mainframe from his iPad 10 minutes before a service as a “backup”. My head hurts.

So in addition to these key positions, we have several part-time guys that round us out and are scheduled according to our event and activity load. These guys comprise the remainder of our lighting, audio, and stage crew–hands down, our part-time guys rock, are dedicated to the task at hand and above all, are teachable. We couldn’t get it done without them.

As for our volunteer participation–we have a large contingency of volunteers that we staff in almost all of our departments, such as spotlight operators (as needed), camera operators, live video switchers, live video computer graphics, stage crew, runners, carpentry, audio mix engineers, and lighting board ops. We are blessed to have many industry pros that volunteer for us quite a bit allowing us to maintain a high level of excellence and consistency throughout all of our productions.

Overall, we’ve developed a production team that works well in our specific situation but we have continued to adapt as need be according to the pace and changing variables we encounter. Being able to change midstream has been a hard thing to do sometimes, but as we serve one another, we strive to embrace these changes and keep our focus on maintaining an adaptable attitude.

We undertook another comprehensive stage set and design changeover recently and it brought up a few good memories and a bit of good humor as to why we actually do this production thing.

My job as a Production Manager is largely based on balancing many circumstances and situations (many of them quite negative) and using knowledge, assertiveness, delegation, organization, and a great crew that I respect tremendously to turn it into something that enhances the message that is to be imparted to our congregation.

Sounds cool, but where the rubber really meets the road is that we have 48 hours to tear out and stow the old set and lighting setup, load-in, rig and build the new set, dial in different LED video elements, sort out a completely new lighting rig and fixtures, and deal with a new band layout–and I suppose we need some rehearsal in there somewhere so the band and crew can get everything in sync together before the first weekend service.

Oftentimes when we put together these designs and work out all of the logistics and planning beforehand, it still comes up to be nothing more than a house of cards…….UNTIL we get it completed–then everything is in its proper place and it’s all locked down, tied up, smoothed out, and cleaned up. At this point it becomes the backbone of our system–one that you can trust even in the most crazy situation.

BUT–how and why did we get there between the tight turnaround time, the balancing act of keeping our other campus events (i.e., clients) happy, staying under budget, keeping overtime in check, hoping to keep my crew healthy and safe (not to mention happy), dealing with the bits of gear that somehow shows up broken, making the set piece work that looked great on paper but won’t fit through the loading dock door, etc, etc, etc…

Over time, I will delve into these questions of “how’d we do that” and the even more intense “why’d we do that?”, but for now it can be demonstrated quite nicely through a small portion of a conversation I had with our Lighting Designer, Daniel Connell. He and I come from the same grid of working for many years on the road and getting to use our talent now in a church setting. I became associated with Daniel while Tour Managing and handling Production for a major Christian act some years back–and we have become great friends through years of traveling together and now with him working on our production team here at COTM–he is a class act who is not happy until the job is done right–which to me, means he fits in perfectly.

So we were resting on our laurels for a few brief moments admiring how our latest stage incarnation was coming together and he recounted a sentiment something like this, “You know what’s still cool after all these years? None of this was here 24 hours ago… We still take nothing and make it into something.” It made me reflect for a moment about the adrenaline rush that we still get to this day when a plan or idea starts to take tangible shape and you know that it will succeed. Somewhere in this part of the process, the teeter-totter passes the fulcrum of “card-house” to “solid rock”.

Watching the team start to catch on to the vision as the excitement increases is something I will never take for granted–this is where I thrive, it is what I was born to do and is what I was called to be a part of.

As for how we did it? How’s this for simple: we took tons of gear and coupled it with a definitive creative vision.

As to the why–equally as simple: God gave us the talent to sort out how this creative vision can pass from the virtual to the literal. All we did was run with it.

In handling production duties for COTM and most of the bands I’ve worked with, the attentiveness to details has proven time and time again to set myself and my production teams apart.

In years past, I have been hired for a tour or project solely on the fact that I was more focused on the details than someone else…now don’t get me wrong–there are plenty of great Production Managers and Technical Directors out there but sometimes one small overlooked detail or item is all it takes for an event to have a hiccup, or in some cases, a failure big enough to affect an audience or congregation negatively. As far as I’m concerned, any time that our production gets in the way of the message coming from the stage, rather than enhancing it–we have failed. More often than not, paying extra attention to the numerous details that surround a production of any size just pays off in the long run…

You may wonder what I’m referring to exactly? One of the biggest ways our production team can blow it is not sorting out how to navigate the many transitions during a service–songs, videos, bumpers, offering, message, invitation segments, prop moves, microphones in the right person’s hand, ear-packs operational, etc. When are we going to a lighting or video blackout? Where is the bumper music coming from–the CG playback computer in the control room or a CD player at the audio booth? How and when are the band and singers exiting the stage? Is it the same time that Pastor is entering? What about the potential traffic jam of the band exiting and Pastor George entering and then what happens if he isn’t set before the 45 second message opener ends?

If I assume or take it for granted that they all will figure it out (after all–it’s common sense right?…wrong answer!) that will be exactly how the problems will occur and the lights and video coming up on an empty podium is something that not only looks bad and causes an awkward moment for the audience but could potentially set our Pastor up to lose by breaking his concentration at a pivotal transition point.

Details have become a key to the production success of the majority of our events and when we do have an “off” night, it’s usually not a massive failure but rather a detail or combination of several details that were overlooked or assumed.