Do you remember what you were doing in the evening of 15 April 2019? I was out for dinner for my husband’s birthday when we heard that Notre-Dame in Paris was on fire. It was an emotional evening for the city’s residents and all of the world to watch the flames engulf the roof and topple the wooden spire. But Paris and the world were able to rejoice again with the grand reopening of the cathedral on 7 December 2024 – our report on this momentous occasion is on page 30. It’s always lovely to welcome new contributors to the magazine and in this issue we say hello to Samantha Potter,
she also delivers training to churches across the US and records her own podcast. In her first column on page 8, she considers that investing in new equipment isn’t always the right decision and that often it’s better to make sure you’re using your existing setup to its full potential. It’s an opinion that Casey Hawkins mirrors in his column on page 4 –more equipment means more people to operate, which can often put even more pressure on teams that are already stretched to the limit.
I hope you enjoy the issue.
Richard Lawn General manager rlawn@worshipavl.com
Nick Smith Digital media manager nsmith@worshipavl.com
Sue Gould Advertising director sgould@worshipavl.com
Chris Yardley Video editor cyardley@worshipavl.com
Casey Hawkins considers cross-training and the importance of having flexibility in your volunteer team to cover shortfalls in staffing when they happen
HAVE YOU EVER FELT THE NEED for more staff or volunteers in your media ministry? Most likely, you have. I recently felt that need in a major way less than a year ago.
In December 2023, my boss, who had held that position for about 25 years, retired. As a result, I inherited a lot of his responsibilities. One of which is to manage some of our staff and all our volunteers. To give you a picture, we have 10 people on staff in the broadcast ministry and about 30 volunteers across five services on three campuses. Most of you are probably gasping at that number, but everything is relative. We have a large operation, and it requires a lot of people to support. But we can feel shorthanded just as easily as a three-person crew can. After a few months of newly managing this aspect of our ministry, I realised we needed to step back and look at what we have and what we need as far as staffing goes, and that led to a major restructuring of our positions and people.
We have always had two directors:
director, and my boss served as the broadcast director for years –now I had both responsibilities. But I had an IMAG technical director volunteer. The only reason why is because we inherited him from another service that was discontinued several years ago, so we had given him that role to provide him a place to serve. While that worked for years, now it was a waste of personnel. I removed the position by merging the IMAG director and IMAG TD role back into just an IMAG director role. One person would punch and call IMAG now. I sent the IMAG TD over to our new Spanish service to direct over there, giving that director some help in that service. I promoted our robotic camera operator to the newly redesigned IMAG director role. Then I moved a camera volunteer to robotics operator. I redesigned our livestream monitor position to include being the broadcast director. I also promoted a graphics volunteer from serving only one service to serving both in our main campus, freeing up a staff member
years in broadcast television working for multiple television stations in both Texas and Oklahoma. He has worked as a broadcast technician for a major telecoms company, managing national and international television broadcast signals over a switched fibre-optic network. He also owned and operated an independent video production firm in Tulsa, OK for 10 years before returning to Tyler and Green Acres Baptist Church’s broadcast ministry in 2016.
personnel, conducting headcounts of each service, and facilitating some stage management. Now, I was able to step back and supervise and fill in where needed. I am the flex person that we needed for a long time. I am in charge of all video operations across all campuses
is not optimal when problems arise. Historically, I just had to let problems go because I was not free to work on them because I was directing. It was totally dysfunctional, but it was normal, so it was easy to feel somewhat comfortable with it.
Is your brain hurting yet? It is a lot to take in but, basically, with some simple restructuring and relocating people and cutting some unneeded positions here and there, I was able to create a much more efficient operation without adding any people. Here is what was gained from this restructuring:
I can now take a Sunday off when needed. My IMAG director can assume my responsibilities and vice-versa
My Spanish service director can take a Sunday off when needed. Her TD can assume her responsibilities and vice-versa.
Our graphics person can take a Sunday off, and the old graphics person now turned stage manager can assume that responsibility as a volunteer, or I can assume hers.
Our livestream monitor/ broadcast director person can take a Sunday off, and a volunteer can assume that responsibility – or I can.
We can be extremely shorthanded, and I can fill
Casey Hawkins
Teaching volunteers different skills mean they can use any camera on a Sunday
camera positions or even shade cameras as needed.
● I can cover the entire campus to respond to any video emergencies during the services. These vary from a classroom that has a TV display not working, or a projector out or even a major video backbone issue causing major issues for our large services or problems with our live feeds: all of those things our leadership has a low tolerance for.
Before, neither I nor the Spanish director could take a Sunday off without a harsh, uncomfortable shuffle of personnel that left everyone feeling out of place. In fact, I could not take a Sunday off at all before. There was just not enough cross-training to allow it. And that takes me to the main key phrase here: cross-training. All the shifting I did with the positions above was a natural move for everyone. All those people had exhibited skillsets that made them a natural candidate for their new roles. Having people that can cover for others at the drop of a hat is so important for the success of this ministry. We have even shifted camera volunteers around over the past year, so that they learned other camera positions. For many years, volunteers were kept serving on the
same camera, making filling empty positions a lot more difficult. Now, all our camera volunteers are used to all cameras and will shift around regularly without hesitation.
With all that restructuring, one might think that we never have any staffing issues anymore. Well, sorry to say, no. A system driven either partially or completely by volunteers (depending on your situation) will always have staffing issues because you either don’t have enough volunteers, or you have too many and you lose some
because you can’t keep them all engaged often enough. It is a constant battle. I have found that the key to maximising your crew is to routinely examine your needs versus your people supply and provide people with roles that make the most sense and provide the most flexibility for all involved. I learned when I ran a video production company years ago: the easiest way to make more money is to spend and waste less. Making more money is great too, and very vital for future success. But our natural
tendency seems to be to want more. More money, more people, more equipment. But the fact is, the more money you have the more you will spend, generating more equipment to maintain and repair/replace and more positions to staff with volunteers and paid personnel, and the cycle goes on and on.
A regular review of needs and people while keeping your staff and volunteers engaged and cross-trained is vital for success in our area of ministry.
MAKES THE WONDER HOW
GABC is a large campus with a large team of volunteers – but that doesn’t mean there won’t be staffing issues
Splitter/combiners for mics and IEMs
RF SPLITTERS ARE ONE OF THE most frequently used accessories when it comes to wireless mics and IEMs. We will explore their many uses in this article.
It may be confusing at first as they appear to split a signal into a pair of outputs but they can equally combine a pair of outputs to a single line that can then be connected onto other gear. However, they can be used in either direction, no modifications needed. Think of them in the way you think of “Y-cords” but remember they maintain their 50Ω impedance while providing better than 20dB of isolation.
should be noted that typically only one side out can pass DC should you need to supply bias to an active antenna. Let’s look at some of the ways we can use them. The illustrations all show a simple whip antenna but they apply to paddles and circular polarised antennas equally.
Splitting an output to two antennas
This is handy when you want to split the output of a transmitter (such as an IEM) to antennas in two different rooms (Figure 1). Remember that
So first let’s understand the difference between “T splitters” which actually are “Y cords” and splitter/combiners. BNC T splitters have been around for a long time and were generally fine to use with VHF TV sets because of the much lower frequencies they operate. But they do not maintain impedance or phase, nor do they provide any isolation between whatever you connect to them. Do not use these with your wireless mics and IEMs that operate above 200MHz. Modern splitter/combiners typically use a passive Wilkenson circuit that maintains the impedance and phase of your signals while providing isolation from the other inputs of the gear that is hooked up to them. By far the most common type is 2x1 but they can be 8x1 or bigger; however, signal loss comes into play quickly above 2x1. Typically, these units are marked one in and two out. It
the signal is being split in half and 50% of the power is sent to each antenna. So there is a 3dB loss plus another 1dB or so for insertion loss. You will also have to figure in the loss through the length of your coax wires. When splitting the output of a transmitter, do not exceed 20% of the power input rating of the splitter.
Combining a pair of antennas to a single input
In Figure 2, we can place a pair of antennas in two different rooms and then send to a single receiver (or a distro).
A tap for measurement
When scanning for an existing system, it is usually more relevant to use one of the actual antennas that are feeding your distro. In this manner, you are getting the
actual signal that is feeding the receivers. Any other signals that don’t actually present themselves to your receivers can almost always be ignored (Figure 3).
It should be noted that summing combiners will likely result in increased intermodulation distortion so the practical use of this diminishes with the total
Combining combiners
Combiners can be summed by using the combine function of a splitter by connecting the outputs of the combiners into the “two” inputs and the sum will appear at the single connector as shown in Figure 4.
number of channels you sum. Again, since we are summing transmitters, remember do not exceed levels more than 20% of the power handling spec of your splitter for best performance.
www.rfvenue.com
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
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Learning how to get the most out of your equipment is often the best approach
Money isn’t going to fix that
Samantha Potter, Allen & Heath’s commercial audio manager, considers the importance of making sure you’re not buying equipment that you don’t need
SO OFTEN WE HEAR OR READ messages from self-proclaimed experts in the house of worship space about what to buy, what to deploy and so on. It’s easy to be scrolling through your favourite social media site and to either be overwhelmed by technical information that feels impossible to fact check, or to feel like you’re being sold a solution only to discover it wasn’t the answer to your problems. Particularly for those of us working in houses of worship, it is seemingly either feast or famine: it’s time to upgrade and someone’s given a huge donation, or we’re scraping by trying to get 10-year-old pieces
of equipment through one more season.
Whenever I meet with HOW technical staff or leadership, I try to be blunt that a few dollars can go a long way, but you really need to invest it in the right way.
Technology… for the most part
I love technology. It’s a been a big part of my life, and a tremendous part of my career. You may even be shocked to hear that I don’t always recommend a new sound console.
Don’t get me wrong, I have some pretty strong opinions on the topic,
but I try my hardest to push through with whatever sound console they have because, for the most part, it can do everything they need. Especially when you consider what digital consoles offer these days; their complexity and feature set are rarely entirely utilised and there’s so much room for improvement by learning the basics.
Technology is like that, though. There’s so much new stuff and so many opportunities. Even when you consider slide presenter software, I could find you a solution that’s US$500. But I can also find you a solution that’s cheaper and gets the job done all the same to the people in the pews. And that’s who we really need to think about when we are considering investing money into something. Who does this help? Is it serving the same people we (the HOW) have committed to serving?
I would challenge you to consider technology as it is fundamentally defined: a tool to help us complete a task more easily, or in less time or in greater quality/precision. Don’t misunderstand me, the fancier/pricier technology often offers you other benefits. There are plenty of gadgets and gizmos and really cool toys – they’re just often underutilised or wildly inappropriate for the problem at hand.
You get what you pay for
Wireless microphones are another hot topic when spending time comes around, and it’s often a big perpetrator when we have “interesting” issues. In this case, likely more than any other, you get what you pay for. I’m singling out wireless microphones because we’re bombarded with messages and videos saying wireless mics are the answer to everything. Now, they’re an incredible answer to a specific set of questions (is there a theme coming into focus here?) but, as this subheading suggests, the cheaper the product, the more issues you’re going to run into. Most situations don’t even call for wireless microphones of any flavour. If your liturgist and preacher exclusively preach from a podium, why would having them be wire-free help at all? It would only introduce more variables and more places of possible failure. Your drummer does not need the ability to move anywhere in the room cord-free. If your wireless microphone cuts in and out and is unreliable, it’s time to upgrade. Whether it “sounds good” or not is a bit relative and could just be a symptom of a larger problem.
A general rule of thumb is that every channel (input or
microphone or feed) of wireless capability you want, will be several hundred dollars. If you find a device that is four channels for $150, it would be best to look through some reviews or ask around if anyone has used that brand.
Where you should invest
Training is far and away the best way to get the most “bang for your buck” on the equipment you already have. With YouTube and other video platforms being so accessible these days, it’s easy to find the exact
piece of information you need, in a simple visual format. Even just glancing at the piece of equipment nobody on staff knows how to use to find a brand and model name can offer what you need. Whenever I do a consultation with someone (virtually or otherwise), one of the first requests I have is a photo of the equipment – close enough so that I can get a name and model from it. By this point in my career, I’ve catalogued a lot of info in my brain, but otherwise I can simply look up the manual, its product page(s) on the manufacturer’s website and thumb through to find out the pertinent information. If I know nothing about it, I’ll watch a beginner video on a video platform of choice and get a feel for its general use.
But, let’s say that the piece of equipment you’re looking to use better isn’t available (for some reason) on the internet – now what? Well, that’s where we can really start spending the money. Finding a tech consultant, or someone who offers online classes or resources, is well worth the investment. If anyone is worth their salt and truly understands the HOW market, they’ll be more than happy to have a conversation with you before you
choose MAVEN
make any purchases. Talk to them about your specific case.
Earlier I mentioned one of the first things I request from clients or houses of worship was photos of equipment. In that very same breath, I ask for an illustration of what their church does and what they feel like they’re missing out on. It’s incredibly easy to throw money and hope the problem fixes itself – I could tell you how to spend $100,000 in the blink of an eye, but is it appropriate and will it actually fix your problem? That’s what we need to determine.
Try not to get taken in by marketing lingo that has been specifically crafted to try to grab as much money out of you as possible.
There are no blind easy fixes – only context and answers. Sometimes easier said than done, I know. Let me say this – if their website or ad is trying to tell you that you’re simply missing one “file” or one “template” or one “thing”, they are not giving you a solution, they’re taking your money.
Education is never the wrong answer – even if it’s not your job to know the technology you use, it’s our responsibility to understand the basic premise of all the technology we need to complete our mission.
The role of intercom systems in enhancing worship experiences
Brian Grahn, southwest regional sales manager at Clear-Com, explores how intercom systems are becoming an integral part of the worship experience
Communication essentials at every level
A dedicated intercom system can sometimes be seen as a luxury. However, as the number of people supporting worship production grows, so does the complexity of coordinating each role. For smaller teams managing tasks like streaming, graphics, lighting and
Managing multi-camera video direction for streaming
As production complexity increases, some teams find they need to step up from basic partyline systems to dedicated, multichannel intercoms. Others may need to move beyond text messaging and walkie-talkies to enable full-duplex communication,
audio, a single-channel partyline system is often the first step in boosting real-time communication. Analogue systems are designed for rugged environments and offer an accessible entry point. Meanwhile, virtual intercom options are opening up flexible, cost-effective solutions for smaller teams. They allow teams to use devices like smartphones, tablets and computers as communication hubs without investing in dedicated hardware. This flexibility is especially helpful as worship teams adapt to the evolving demands of hybrid services.
where people can talk and listen simultaneously. In these cases, digital partyline systems offer expanded communication channels over an IP network, making it easier to manage both the service itself and the pre-event setup.
The ability to connect with audioover-IP protocols, such as Dante, allows intercom systems to interface directly with an existing audio network. This feature can add efficiency, allowing, for example, technicians to access the main programme mix from within the intercom system or enabling direct talkback with the music director. By integrating audio cues, or even guide and click tracks from playback
machines, the production team can stay perfectly in sync with the flow of worship.
Differentiating livestream from inperson experiences
Livestreaming has become an integral part of worship, no longer just a mirror of the in-person service but a tailored experience for remote community. This shift often means additional camera angles, graphics and even live hosts are needed to provide context and connection. Such complexities typically require different production workflows for in-person versus online audiences. Directors may need to handle invenue displays and graphics while another team member manages the livestream’s unique elements, such as lower-thirds for speakers and reaction shots of the in-person congregation.
and online audiences.
Collaborating across multiple campuses
As worship organisations grow, multisite coordination becomes a reality, often linked solely by the intercom system. A digital matrix system can bridge the gap between campuses, connecting different locations over a wide-area network or the internet. This connectivity ensures that a church’s message remains unified and dynamic, regardless of where its members are gathered.
Intercom systems are the foundation of a cohesive, professional production
Having separate, dedicated intercom channels helps teams keep these two workflows distinct yet coordinated. With digital intercom options, teams can create
Strengthening the worship community through technology
Intercom systems are no longer just an operational tool; they’re integral to the worship experience. Whether coordinating a single campus or multiple sites, these systems are the foundation of a cohesive, professional production that engages the congregation. By investing in purpose-driven communication tools, worship organisations not only enhance production quality but also foster an environment where technical artists can deliver impactful, unified services that resonate with every member, in-person or online.
www.clearcom.com
Having dedicated intercom channels helps teams stay coordinated
Brian Grahn
40 years and counting
A personalised approach is helping Adlib cement its reputation in the HOW installation market
FOUNDED IN 1984, ADLIB SUPPORTS the live events industry, theatres, performance spaces, houses of worship and schools in the UK and Europe. The company’s rental, sales and integration departments provide professional sound, lighting, video and mechanical engineering systems to a wide range of clients. Adlib has over 220 members of staff, including a dedicated HOW department that works across its three locations in Liverpool, London and Glasgow and delivers projects in a wide variety of worship spaces. This includes audio or livestreaming solutions in traditional venues such as Prescot Parish Church, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral or Al-Rahma Mosque in Liverpool, as well as AV installations in more modern places of worship, such as Citizen Church in Cardiff or Dundonald Church in London.
“We’re experienced and approachable, and have an internal team that can look after all aspects of your project, from design, procurement, logistics, installation and follow-on service,” says Joe Sunley-Smith, account manager at Adlib. “We take time to explain why we are making specific recommendations and how to get the best result from your systems. We also have a support network, with locations across the UK, so if you run into trouble, we’re just a phone call or visit away.
“Installations in places of worship are often complex,” continues SunleySmith. “There are heritage aspects to consider, whether the AV systems are being used for speech or music, and there’s almost always a desire for the equipment to blend in more than in any other type of venue. We work hard to make sure that staff and volunteers understand the decisions that we’re making and, where possible, we’ll conduct training onsite or invite worship teams over to our premises.”
The Adlib team delivered one such event recently when the company hosted a House of Worship Training Day at its Liverpool HQ. The day centred around event technology demos and seminars, with sessions covering the
basics of mixing, livestreaming, in-ear monitoring, digital media and project budgeting. One of the attendees, a trustee and part of a church leadership team, commented: “I think the degree of expertise here today has been second to none, and their way of communicating that to us has been really valuable. I think any church would benefit from having the support, knowledge and training, as well as the equipment. Your gear is important but, unless you know how to use it, then it’s a waste of time and money.”
For the Hillsong Conference 2024 at ExCeL London, Adlib delivered technical production services, managing audio, lighting, video and rigging across multiple breakout rooms and the main
hall. The three-day event combined seminars, communal worship and live music performances, requiring versatile technical solutions throughout the venue. The lighting design featured over 175 fixtures, controlled by an MA Lighting grandMA2 light.
For the audio system, Adlib worked closely with Hillsong’s experienced team, led by technical production director Phil Aitken. The main room featured an L-Acoustics L2 system at its heart, with an extensive selection of Shure and Sennheiser handheld microphones for both spoken word and musical performances, supported by a 16-channel Sennheiser IEM monitoring system.
The video production centred around an upstage wall using ROE Visual Vanish V8T LED panels (10m x 3m), flanked by two AV Stumpfl IMAG screens (6m x 3m). The broadcast setup integrated two Panasonic UC4000 broadcast cameras with Canon UHD Digisuper 90 lenses and three Panasonic AW-UE160 4K PTZ cameras. Throughout the conference, Hillsong’s volunteers operated all of the supplied equipment, with the Adlib crew playing a crucial role, closely standing by to provide support in case of any technical difficulties.
www.adlib.co.uk
Prescot Parish Church
Adlib provided technical services for the Hillsong Conference 2024
Application engineer Andy McCulley at the recent HOW training day in Liverpool
The ROE Visual Vanish V8T LED wall at the Hillsong Conference
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The future of livestreaming
Matt Smith, general manager at Resi, outlines the support the company provided for the Lausanne Congress in South Korea and where he believes the livestreaming market is heading
BEGINNING IN 1974, REVEREND
Billy Graham assembled the First Lausanne Congress, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Graham was an American evangelist and civil rights activist born in 1918 whose global travels led him to believe that there was a disconnection among Christian leaders. The first gathering in Switzerland was called by a committee headed by
critical, our team sent additional equipment for redundancy,” said Smith. The server-grade encoders sent supported multiple video input types, dual channels of audio, multiple compression standards, up to 16 channels of audio and a redundant power supply built in.
“Our encoders are paired with our own software so the only hardware
our first opportunity to participate in the Lausanne Congress and I believe it was the first time the congress was livestreamed outside of the people who were able to attend in-person,” shares Matt Smith, general manager at Resi. “It set the record as being the largest gathering of multidenominational church leaders in the world. We were really honoured to donate our services. We pride ourselves on providing the highest-quality and most resilient stream – our company name stems from the first part of the word resilient.”
Once the company had shipped the hardware to Incheon, Resi
“From the point where we first became involved, we were able to get everything ready in 45 days, including shipping. With a lot of support from the Lausanne Congress, we were able to coordinate all the AV components for the livestream in a relatively short period of time.”
Outside of the congress’s own AV equipment, the only hardware Resi needed to ship to Korea was four server-grade encoders, two of which were used for the livestreams and the additional two were for backup. “At Resi, we ensure there is resiliency built into everything we do – for an event this
community, all the way up to events like the Lausanne Congress with thousands of remote participants.” These leaps and bounds in livestreaming technology and the usability of the systems are topics Smith envisages will continue in the years to come. “We’re likely to see improvements in the audio and video fidelity, moving to 4K and beyond, and looking at how the technology can extend church services outside of the four walls of the event. How can we take the experience of going to a service and extend every piece of that service out to the remote audience?
was being delivered properly.
“We provided 24/7 professional services, with people working eighthour shifts to make sure the event delivery was flawless,” adds Smith.
“The success of this event demonstrates the incredible potential of livestreaming technology to bridge geographical gaps and bring people together in meaningful ways,” continues Smith. “It was so important for this congress to be able to reach people that would not have been able to travel to the event. It also speaks of the scalability of our platform that we can support small local churches that want to reach their
The pandemic brought the need for churches to connect remotely clearly into focus – whether it’s people who are unable to attend in-person or people who want to experience church for the first time but may not be quite ready to walk through the door yet.”
Smith sees the momentum of churches wanting to either start or improve their streaming journey continuing to build. He believes that livestreaming platforms need to be simple to use but also flexible to meet the needs of smaller churches, larger churches and bigger events such as the Lausanne Congress. “These advances in technology are happening really quickly,” he adds. “What we’re seeing from the market is the desire to go from
Matt Smith
Resi’s server-grade encoder
simple viewership – having people watch the livestreams – to actual engagement in those livestreams. In other words, how can people participate as if they’re actually there in-person? I think we’ll see that engagement become a focus over the next five years or so.”
Smith also believes that the
making life easier for churches so they can focus on building discipleship.
“Empowering churches to focus on expanding their outreach is key,” concludes Smith. “Resi’s three founders were having issues trying to deliver reliable streams from their primary church to secondary
approach to AI in livestreaming is handled. “We want to provide tools that improve workflow and make workflow easier, but they need to maintain the authenticity of what the church is trying to achieve. Simplifying workflow is a great opportunity where AI can be leveraged – it’s not about creating content from scratch, it’s about
the advances we’re seeing in technology nowadays, livestreaming is becoming more accessible and easier to use for everyone and that’s crucial for any house of worship that wants to broaden its reach into the community.”
www.lausanne.org
www.resi.io
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perhaps wouldn’t attend at other times of the year. Plus, it’s the perfect opportunity to put together a special celebration that for many churches can be months in the planning. For the Church of the Nativity in North Baltimore, the Christmas Eve service is its biggest and most popular occasion of the year. Given the demand for space, the church has held the event away from its main sanctuary at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Lutherville since 2005. “We started in a smaller building at the fairground but quickly outgrew this venue and a few years later moved into what is called the Cow Palace,” explains Pablo Sainz, director of production at Church of the Nativity. “We’ve been there every year since, except during Covid. The building has three sections consisting of over 14,400m2. The entrance holds our Prelude and photo op area for guests, and the south end is where our volunteer ministers eat and socialise and also holds our kids programme called Jingle Jam. The north end is the biggest area and this becomes our temporary sanctuary where we have our Mass.”
While the church is able to use some of its own equipment, an
event of this size also requires additional projectors, screens, lighting fixtures, rigging, audio consoles and speakers hired from local vendors. For the 2024 service, the HOW used 19 cameras, including several Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast G2, two Studio Camera 4K Pro G2, two Micro Studio Camera 4K, two URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 and six Pocket Cinema Camera 6K G2.
“We run fibre cables to connect all parts of the building to our temporary production booth that we build in the northwest corner of the building. This is where we have our ATEM Constellation 8K, VideoHub 40x40 camera converters and ATEM SDI Extreme ISOs. Our executive producer,
producer, director, graphics, LED operator, PTZ operator and shader all have stations in this booth.”
The Church of the Nativity is a modern, contemporary Catholic HOW featuring a live band for its 2,500 in-person weekly attendees with an additional 2,500 devices watching the online Mass every weekend. Its new sanctuary holds 1,400 worshippers, while the adjacent older sanctuary houses the church’s Theatre for Kids programming during Mass, student programmes, conferences, events and worship nights and has the space for 450 people. The church is already familiar with Blackmagic Design, with three URSA Broadcast
main sanctuary and the Theatre for Kids booth in the older sanctuary are also fitted with a selection of ATEM switchers, control panels and broadcast panels.
The Christmas Eve service is aimed at everyone: children, families and adults. “We welcomed over 10,000 people to our two Masses this year. It is a place where everyone in the community and surrounding areas can come to be together for Christmas Eve. We even had people that typically watch our services online travel all the way from Florida to volunteer and attend in-person.
“It was a great success. This year, we did have to adapt slightly because there was another event in two sections of the Cow Palace and we couldn’t get access until 22 December, leaving us only 24 hours until our first full rehearsal to get everything set up and ready to go. We were able to complete the services successfully and it was a team effort by everyone, including our volunteers. It was a great show of collaboration from our parish.”
www.blackmagicdesign.com www.churchnativity.com
The temporary production booth
A balanced solution
APi Communications has specified an Audac KYRA speaker setup for
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH IS located on the southern end of Town Bridge in the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth, known for its beautiful harbour. Construction began in 1834, with the church consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester in 1836. In 1885, houses adjacent to the building were demolished and a large transept was built, the Lady Chapel was extended and the whole interior turned round by 90° to relocate the altar to the southern end of the building. Today, the Anglican church holds spoken and sung Eucharist services on Sundays and mid-week.
“Holy Trinity contacted us because their sound system was completely unfit for purpose, with the congregation unable to hear much of the spoken word,” explains Stephen Neath, sales director at APi Communications, an Exeterbased specialist in AV solutions for houses of worship. “When the church updated its heating, all the cable ducts for the column speakers that happened to be next to the heating pipes were filled in, plus some of the cabling was cut, so the church had already taken down some of its speakers. They’d tried to fix the problem themselves, but the speakers they’d added weren’t
quite in the right place and this increased the problems they were experiencing.”
APi Communications had already won the tender for St John’s Greenhill, another church in Weymouth and a much larger AV installation including speakers, screens and projectors currently awaiting diocese approval.
Members of Holy Trinity spoke to their neighbour church and, as a result, gained the confidence to put their trust in the integrator.
“The interior of the church is one big wide, open space,” continues Neath.
“It’s a reverberant church because there’s nothing to stop the sound constantly bouncing around. So, this determined our choice of speaker. Ideally, we would’ve put the speakers back on the same columns, which would’ve allowed us to get them closer to the congregation, but we soon realised this wasn’t possible. We also considered a line array solution but again this wasn’t feasible – because the roof is so high, a line array wouldn’t have suited the aesthetics of the space. Line arrays are more geared towards the full range with a band setup and the services at Holy Trinity are more traditional. In addition, a line array would’ve created too much distance between the speakers and
the seating, which would’ve been to the detriment of speech intelligibility. Frankly, there’s no point coming to church if you can’t hear what’s being said, particularly in this day and age where you can find any church service online.”
sides, one of which serves the righthand side of the church which has been converted into a café area. Two KYRA6 units have been fitted at the front and face backwards towards the chancel, while a further two KYRA6s have been installed at the back of the church for delay. “We originally planned on running new cabling to the speakers at the back, but during our engineering meeting before the project, we realised that if we swapped to a different amplifier, we could use the existing cabling, which was already painted in and therefore would keep the disruption to the church to a minimum. The speakers
With these factors in mind, Neath specified an Audac KYRA speaker and a Mipro microphone setup from the manufacturers’ UK distributor, CUK. APi Communications has been purchasing equipment from CUK for several years now, particularly Audac speakers for the integrator’s HOW projects. “The aesthetics of the Audac speakers lend themselves nicely to churches, and they sound really good as well, especially for speech, which was the main consideration for Holy Trinity,” describes Neath. “When I visited the church, I did a demonstration for them with a similar, portable version of the speakers we were proposing for them, and they were really impressed. It meant that they could hear what the sound would be like after the installation. I even plugged their microphone into the speaker and read from the lectern to show them the quality of sound they would get with the KYRAs.”
Neath specified four Audac KYRA12 column speakers – two for the main central seating area and two for the
at the front of the nave are fixed to a custom-made wood frame that exactly matches the existing wood in the church. Our engineers spent a lot of time making sure the wood was the same colour – you wouldn’t know that it wasn’t part of the original construction of the church. We take great care in making sure the impact on the building is as minimal as possible.”
Neath also updated the church’s induction loop system, specifying an Ampetronic C7-1N, along with supplying an FBT Archon 208S subwoofer that has been laid on its side on a wooden platform in the chancel, so it doesn’t vibrate the tiles underneath. Two DAP Audio DSP amplifiers and an Adastra slave amp powering the 100V line speakers at the back of the church have also been added to the wall-mounted rack in a room off the side of the chancel.
Two KYRA6s face backwards towards the chancel
“The church wanted the café area to be a separate space for events such as quizzes. Because of the amount of reverb – APi’s engineers measured this at 3.5s – we wanted a way to turn the other speakers off, so they were not adding to the echo. We’ve fitted an Allen & Heath AHM-32 which provides the church with custom layouts where they can select the café area and the routing to the other speakers is turned off at the push of a single button. The AHM-32 also provides independent level control of the different areas, so if they want to turn the chancel down or off for example, they can do that from the iPad. If someone wanted to control the sound on the previous setup, they had to walk
past the vicar during the service into the rack room. Now, with the iPad control, the sound can be altered by someone sitting out in the congregation – in a space as reverberant as this, it can make all the difference.”
APi Communications has supplied two Mipro ACT-5800 series handhelds, two bodypacks with lapel microphones and an Audac Bluetooth receiver.
“The mics are digital so you don’t need a licence for them. With Ofcom changing the frequency bands, at least we know that the digital mics will carry on working as long as the mics themselves are working.
“The church is really happy with the end result,” continues
Neath. “It’s still a reverberant space because of the size and the height of the room, but the speech is perfectly clear throughout the sanctuary. A lot of the commissioning time was taken up making sure that all the levels were balanced properly, but the nice thing about the KYRAs is that we know they will do the job well – they give us a wide horizontal coverage but the vertical coverage is really small and it’s firing straight at the
“I’ve just had an email from a parishioner saying how fabulous the new sound system is,” concludes one of the church wardens. “For the first time in 30 years, I can hear every word of the service. We’ve had so many positive comments from the congregation. Everyone who met Stephen and his team was impressed by their expertise and efficiency, as well as their friendly and professional approach.”
APi specified a Mipro microphone setup
Two Audac KYRA12 column speakers
A faithful approach
setup for its Bangalore sanctuary
STARTING OUT AS A SMALL church consisting of around 150 worshippers, Hope in Jesus church in Bangalore has opened the doors of its new premises with a celebration involving some of India’s most soughtafter Christian musicians. When the church moved to 24/7 continuous worship, its reputation grew across the city – and across India – and the need for a bigger meeting place became apparent. The new facility, which can hold up to 1,000 people, is a converted warehouse with a metal roof, which proved to be extremely challenging in terms of acoustics. “Somehow we had to take the space and turn it into a church,” recalls Joe Mathew, MEAI product specialist for Czech Republic speaker and amplifier manufacturer Alpha Acoustics. The company is active in the Middle Eastern and Indian markets with factories in Poland and China.
Joe has been with the manufacturer since the first Alpha Acoustics boxes arrived in India in 2019. He moved from India to Dubai to represent the company in the region but has been in the church sound industry for over three decades. Based in India, Alpha Acoustics’ Stephen Mathew and Ashish Manuel were the main systems engineers on the Hope in Jesus project who, along with their team and the company’s systems integrator Unisonic Systems, designed and commissioned the audio and lighting solution.
Once Stephen and his team had consulted with the church and received the CADs for the space, he
proposed a system using one of Alpha Acoustics’ flagship boxes. Supplied by its distributor in India, TSG Audio Innovations, the audio setup includes
“The setup provides Hope in Jesus with all the SPL requirements they need for their band,” explains Manuel. “The low, mid and high frequencies
L-R arrays of four Alpha Acoustics Kross 7 speakers are complemented by four Kompact 12A monitors on the stage
3-way models each side fitted to purpose-built metal brackets and six Kross SUB21 21-subwoofers in a cardioid configuration placed on the floor. The audio setup is complemented by four Kompact 12A 12-inch coaxial active stage monitors on the front of the stage, two DAMP 4.1500HD and three DAMP 2.2800HD amplifiers with built-in DSP and FIR filters for processing, a FIR48 4-in/8-out loudspeaker management processor with DSP and FIR filters, a Behringer Wing 48 digital mixer and stagebox, along with Shure Beta 58 and sE Electroncs V7 microphones.
and the angle at which the speakers have been set means that sound is dispersed evenly across the entire room. This is the first time we’ve used these speakers in a house of worship – we needed a speaker that would provide more power given the size of the space. Combined with the acoustic panels that have been fitted on the walls and ceiling by Ark Square, the space sounds amazing.”
In terms of lighting, Stephen has installed six Klarity Lighting KLALP1910 19x10W RGBW/RGBA units, five KLA-LM210A 200W COB surface lights, four KLA-DS350 600W moving
heads, eight wall washes and four 5,600K LED PARs.
“One of Alpha Acoustics’ aims is to bring pristine audio to houses of worship,” explains Joe. “We always spend time with each church to figure out what their wishes are and we custom design all our solutions.”
Renowned Indian musician Sheldon Bangera performed at the grand opening. “The Kompact 12A stage monitors blew my mind – the clarity and definition made the worship experience really beautiful.” Members of the church’s worship team have also been full of admiration for the new audio and lighting equipment.
“The Alpha Acoustics system delivers some really punchy lows. The 21-inch subs definitely make a difference when we’re performing our high-energy songs,” comments worship leader Emmanuel KB.
“The stage lighting from Klarity has created a beautiful ambience,” adds worship leader Thanga Selvan. “The design is versatile to suit the various moods of the songs and I’ve been highly impressed with the clarity of audio across the room.”
Pastor Anish Mano Stephen is also full of praise for the new system. “The sound from Alpha Acoustics is so uniform and clear from front to back, that the message is communicated clearly. The team worked relentlessly to complete the job in time and their work ethic is commendable.”
www.alphacoustics.com
www.hopeinjesusbangalore.com
www.tsgaudioinnovation.com
Elevating the worship experience
AT SUN VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH
PANTHER is creating this experience from front to back, left to right, that’s so immersive. It’s changing the worship culture.
–– Matt Kotthoff, SVCC Production and Integration Lead Director
With seven campuses and a streaming channel, Sun Valley Community Church, based in Gilbert, Arizona, reaches more than 70,000 congregants weekly. When SVCC wanted to support expanded programming with state-of-the-art sound technology at its main campus, the church turned to a Meyer Sound system consisting of PANTHER large-format linear array loudspeakers paired with 2100-LFC lowfrequency control elements.
Versatile solutions for every house of worship
Houses of worship of every scale rely on Meyer Sound to support their vision with the highest-quality sound systems available. Meyer Sound offers versatile solutions that suit any application, from discreet wall-mount loudspeakers to portable systems to line arrays. They’re simple to operate, deliver consistent coverage, and can be expanded as your needs grow. Choose the company relied on by the world’s greatest artists and most prestigious concert venues: Meyer Sound.
Don’t just hear it. Hear it right.
Visit meyersound.com/news/svcc to learn how Meyer Sound helped SVCC amplify its message with premium sound.
The result? An immersive, intimate sonic experience that extends from the front row to the balcony. Speech is delivered with incomparable clarity. Music is dynamic and enveloping. Most importantly, even with thousands of people in the room, each congregant feels like the pastor is speaking directly to them.
Sponsored by
Bringing BAPS to life
The impressive story of BAPS Hindu Mandir has been brought to life with AV
ABU DHABI HAS BECOME A flagbearer for multifaith worship in recent years, exemplified by such marvels as the Abrahamic Family House on Saadiyat Island, which beautifully melds the worship of Christianity, Judaism and Islam into a single shared experience. More recently, Hindus have benefitted from their own place of worship on the outskirts of the city, and the sheer effort that has gone into its creation cannot be overlooked.
As the first traditional stone temple in the UAE, BAPS Hindu Mandir is a very special site for local Hindus, even garnering the attention of the Indian prime minister upon its grand opening in 2024.
On 5 April 1997, Pramukh Swami Maharaj – the then guru and Pramukh (president) of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha – prayed amid the sand dunes of the Sharjah desert that a mandir be built in Abu Dhabi that would bring together people of different faiths, cultures and countries. Some 27 years later, his vision of harmony was fulfilled by Mahant Swami Maharaj – the current guru – as he inaugurated the BAPS Hindu Mandir in the UAE capital last year.
Swaminarayan (1781–1830) in the late 18th century and established in 1907 by Shastriji Maharaj (1865–1951). Today, the BAPS global network is composed of more than 1,300 mandirs and 5,025 centres spread throughout the world. Made entirely from pink sandstone that originates from Rajasthan and white marble from Italy, around 5,000 artisans worked on the construction of the temple over the course of five years. Built on land donated by the then Crown
Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, as well as the Minister of Tolerance, Sheikh bin Mubarak Al Nahyan. The venue has attracted over two million visitors from across the world to date.
“The temple is made of seven spires. It not only hosts seven deities from different parts of India, but it also symbolically represents the seven emirates of the UAE,” describes BAPS Hindu Mandir director Pranav Desai. “It’s our way
to say thank you to the leadership of this country, who generously donated the land to build this first Hindu temple.”
Given the great amount of effort that has gone into the project, BAPS is keen to bring the story of the temple’s construction to visitors, opting to create a complete 360°
Pranav Desai, director of
projection mapped space that serves as stop number one along the Hindu Mandir tour. Running daily inside the space is “The Fairy Tale” immersive show, which has
L–R: Vue AV’s Adrian Goulder with Christie’s Mahesh Singh
BAPS Hindu Mandir
Complete range of projectors
Built-in warping and blending
Projector monitoring and control
Image processing
Show control and content management
Extended warranties and support
PROJECTS
been brought to life through video projection and a cutting-edge surround sound experience.
“When visitors come and see this temple, they are in awe of the architecture and want to know more about the story and its history,” furthers Desai. “That’s the reason for creating this beautiful immersive show. It educates visitors in detail about how this temple was actually constructed while also giving them a larger-than-life experience. When they move into the temple itself, they fully understand what they are witnessing.”
To bring the space to life, Christie was brought into the conversation due to BAPS’s deployment of the manufacturer’s projectors in similar locations within India. “Christie played a collaborative consultant role in this project,” explains Christie Middle East regional
effective and efficient solution for the mandir’s immersive show.”
As a result of Christie’s involvement, local distributor Vue AV also quickly became embedded in the project to help execute the vision on the ground, later offering its assistance with other associated AV requirements. Led by technical director Adrian Goulder, the Vue AV team also worked closely with Christie on both the projector design and implementation.
which gives deeper blacks and whiter whites. These were all very important factors to keep in consideration while designing an
product demonstrations and system design sessions were conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the vision and objectives for the mandir which formed the basis for our design team to work upon that resulted in an impressive immersive solution that we now see.”
The in-the-round visuals that power the immersive show are delivered by a configuration of eight Christie 4K22-HS 22,500-lumens projectors hung from ceiling truss above visitors’ heads covering the four walls, with a further 12 DWU15-HS 15,200-lumen projectors for the floor.
“The design was very carefully drafted to attain optimal brightness, contrast ratio, pixel size and pixel density across the Singh. “We carefully selected these models due to a few key attributes. Firstly, we wanted to provide really bright visuals, and these projectors all have Christie BoldColor+ technology inbuilt which results in increased colour fidelity. It was also essential to ensure seamless blending between units because we are using multiple projectors in blended arrays. Using Christie Twist projection mapping software allowed us to easily blend the projectors with minimum involvement from engineers onsite. Finally, the contrast ratio was critical, and these projectors also use Christie RealBlack technology,
“What we’ve created here is a complete immersive 360° experience with a whole mixture of audio and video projection,” explains Goulder. “The Christie projectors combined are delivering around 300 lumens of light onto all surfaces and over 60 million pixels in total. To power all of that we are using Aurora for video distribution and live monitoring of the system via the IP base manager, and behind that we’ve got Pixera pushing all those pixels and keeping everything in sync.”
The Pixera setups sees five Pixera. one QUAD media servers handling the main playout duties, alongside Pixera.one Director for content upload and management and Pixera Control core, a software module enabling control of the system from an Apple iPad. Forty Aurora VPX-TC1-LT 1Gpbs AV-over-IP transceivers distributes video signals throughout the space.
“On the audio side we have Sennheiser microphones and Klipsch 8-inch Professional Series speakers and 15-inch subwoofers for playback,” adds Goulder.
“There are multiple individual parts coming together, with everything linked and programmed to form a single solution from the user perspective.”
Christie high-brightness projectors cover both the walls and ceiling
The Fairy Tale immersive show
Hung from the ceiling truss on custom-made mounting brackets designed by Goulder, spatial audio is delivered from 16 KI-102-SMA-II cabinets and four KI-115-SMA-II single 15-inch subwoofers.
The se are fed from eight Klipsch KDA-1,000W DSP amplifiers via Audinate Dante Virtual Soundcards running inside Pixera.
Goulder continues: “But one thing that really blew us away was the team here at BAPS. It’s very rare that you see an in-house content team at a place such as this, and what they have to work with here is not your standard native resolution. All the walls are separate, the floor is separate, it requires a lot of understanding. So, it was a real pleasure to work with the team there to help there bring that dream to life.
Christmas season as well, added to the challenge.”
Inside the room, using Pixera, the user has complete control holistically over the entire system, IP address allocations, projects, audio control, lighting control –everything has gone in and met the spec and it just works. It’s a solid, reliable product.”
The immersive space has become a prime attraction for visitors since kicking off “The Fairy Tale” immersive show in
late September 2024. The show is the result of over three months of creative concepts, scripting, visualisations, animations and meticulous design by the inhouse BAPS team of swamis and volunteers.
“It’s a ticketed event that the temple manager brings people in for,” notes Goulder. “The show controller has an iPad with basic commands for stop, start and volume control, etc. The show runs every single day from of 8am–9pm, and sometimes longer,
so a big concern is reliability. In a space like this, if you have one particular projector down or even just a pixel off, it’s very obvious.”
That’s not to say the process up until this point has been entirely smooth sailing.
“Due to timescales, everything came to fruition pretty quickly, in about six weeks,” Goulder furthers. “The design phase, of course, was a lot longer than that. Supporting the various AV teams on site with the installation and getting everything shipped in towards the
“Our experience working on this immersive show with Vue AV and Christie has been amazing, right from conception to delivery,” says Desai. “During the inauguration, they were physically present to make sure that everything ran smoothly. During day-to-day operations, whenever we have any issues, if we raise a request, within a couple of hours they will have connected remotely and help guide us through the issue. It is so easy to operate that our operational staff, our volunteers, can easily run the show, but we know that we have the backend support of this team at any point of time, if anything is required.”
“The final result is very impressive,” concludes Singh. “And everyone that I have met so far has been awestruck. This is not only due to the technology but also the incredible storytelling. A lot of credit goes to the creators themselves; they have created a brilliant story that effectively showcases the cultural and interfaith unanimity.”
www.christiedigital.com
www.mandir.ae
www.vueav.com
The temple complex from above
Connecting to the future
St James’ Church Singapore has enlisted the help of Illuminate Productions to plan for a future of connectivity across the entire building
TRANSFORMING FROM THE Church of the True Light in 1977, St James’ is one of 27 churches under the Anglican Diocese of Singapore. Following demolition
to facilitate the evolving services and functions of an expanding church membership. Slowly finding itself at home in its new space, the worship technology team would start to slowly
bespoke requirements. Enlightened by Illumination Productions, St James’ is set to reap the benefits of its expertise well into the future.
“We began looking at the
2023,” explains Calvin Gan, head of production at St James’ Church. “We were experiencing some major system faults that were affecting our services – some of the speakers were emitting high-pitch sounds and the mixers were starting to freeze. But because of the pandemic, we also wanted to start planning for the future. A member of the congregation recommended Illuminate Productions, so we got in touch with them and asked for their help. As we are part of the Diocese of Singapore, we were able to talk to other parishes where Illuminate had upgraded their systems and gain the confidence we needed to put our trust in them.”
The church is made up of a main sanctuary which seats around 550 worshippers and holds Englishspeaking services, with Chinesespeaking services taking place in a separate 300-seat space. Each weekend, the HOW conducts two Chinese and three English services which both feature a five-piece band with vocalists and blend liturgy and
The main sanctuary holds 550 worshippers
contemporary songs. The building also features the Auditorium, which is used for youth services, and a smaller, more traditional chapel. A plaza space, childcare, a small café area and some office space are located on the first floor.
“During our initial site visits, we discussed St James’ expectations and plans for the future,” describes Timothy Huang, operations director at Illuminate Productions. “There were multiple aims to the project. First, the audio system was in need of an upgrade. The positioning of the spotlights in front of the speakers meant that both sound and lighting were being blocked. We were also asked to design a more permanent livestreaming setup as the church had previously been setting up its cameras every weekend. Finally, St James’ wanted to investigate using an AVoIP solution to connect all the different rooms in the building.”
The church wished to have a smaller footprint for the equipment in the ceiling so tasked Illuminate with designing a system that would not only take up less space but would resolve the problem of obstructions between the spotlights and speakers. The integrator specified an L-R system of two d&b audiotechnik Vi10P 3-way point source speakers
In the main hall, two d&b audiotechnik Vi10P and two 10S speakers per side are complemented by two Vi subwoofers hung in the centre
Six 44S speakers have been fitted onstage in the main sanctuary
and two 10S 2-way cabinets for out fill, with two Vi subwoofers located in the centre. To compensate for the curved ceiling, Illuminate has installed a line of six 44S 2-way speakers for delays, with a further six 44S for front fill onstage. The speakers are powered by one 40D 4-channel and two 5D 4-channel amplifiers.
“The sound from the V-Series cabinets covers the entire audience –they’re very directional and they have a minimal visual impact,” states Huang. “They might look small but they produce a more powerful sound
compared to the church’s previous system, plus the ceiling space is less cluttered than before.”
Two Shure UA874 active directional antennas and distributor were deployed to resolve RF dropout and intermodulation distortion. Previously, Shure QLX-D microphones were using their local antennas, so the integrator has deployed two Shure UA874 active directional antennas and power distribution system to resolve RF dropout and intermodulation distortion.
Illuminate has also provided two Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3 shotgun microphones. Three Furman CN3600 have been deployed to power on the entire system, covering FOH control and the sound and video systems. “There were antenna fins everywhere,” adds Huang. “Now, the Furman turns everything on and off sequentially and we’ve fitted RF fins to help pick up all the RF and distribute to the mics.”
To provide a permanent livestreaming setup, Illuminate has installed two white Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS and two white CR-N300 4K UHD PTZ cameras, along with an RC-IP100 remote camera controller. “We’re still using the ATEM switcher that we had before, but the difficulty was
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PROJECTS
that we had to set up mirrorless cameras every weekend and train the volunteers on how to set up things like manual exposure,” explains Gan. “Now, when you turn on the Furman, all the cameras come on and everything is set on an auto level, and we can have one volunteer operating four cameras
two Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3
shotgun microphones, while 10 Aputure Light Storm LS 60x fixtures have been added to the lighting bar. All three spaces have also been supplied with a GoPro HERO12 Black camera that’s been fitted to the drums. “We have the same Canon system now in all three halls,
rather than having to roster several cameramen every weekend. Each room is now connected to its own YouTube channel so all the services can be streamed at the same time. The Canon equipment has really helped us improve the quality of the livestream and streamline our volunteer operations.”
For lighting, St James’ requested a simple setup with set on/off levels so Illuminate selected 16 Aputure Storm LS 60x 60W LEDs that are operated on an iPad rather than through a lighting console. In the second sanctuary which holds the Chinese-speaking services, the focus was again on providing a permanent camera setup and dealing with RF issues. Illuminate specified three black Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS PTZ cameras, along with a Shure UA874 active directional antenna and UA844+SWB wideband UHF antenna splitter and power distribution system. “In the past we would hear the Chinese congregation and the youth ministry all running at the same time,” adds Gan. “We were also having issues with the preacher’s mic dropping out so it was crucial that we sorted out the RF problems we were experiencing.”
The Auditorium is the third space to receive a Canon upgrade. Illuminate specified two black Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS and two CR-N300 4K UHD PTZ cameras, an RC-IP100 remote camera controller and
Illuminate has installed Netgear AV switches into all the rooms, so the church is ready to be fully connected. When budget allows, Huang and his team will return to St James’ to run the fibres and get everything networked. “There are some spaces that still require a manual solution if you want to send a feed to a different location, but everything is in place for us to be able to eventually send signals to and from all the rooms,” says Gan. “Having the same line switchers in each room has primed us for the future. Then we will be able to house more people for our larger services and events.”
had put in a protection screen all the way across the front of the stage on a huge scaffolding so they could access the air-conditioning panels, so we were totally reliant on our measurements to ensure we were fitting the speakers in the right position. We were also able to install the cameras in the second sanctuary so when the main sanctuary closed and English-speaking services moved to the smaller hall, some worshippers were able to watch the livestream from home.”
so in the future it will be easy for us to network everything together and control all the cameras,” explains Gan.
As part of the installation, Illuminate was able to relocate parts of the PA system from the main sanctuary into the Auditorium and the chapel, where the speakers have replaced even older and ageing sound systems. “The boxes were still working so we were able to redeploy them to another location,” explains Huang. “The church is still using its Allen & Heath console, plus some ME-1 personal monitor mixers and stageboxes have all been retained.” Projection, screens and digital signage have also been updated across the site.
The worship team wanted to introduce click queues and tracks, so St James’ asked Illuminate to investigate the possibility of introducing AVoIP solutions such as Dante to provide greater connectivity across the building. “When we have our bigger services during Holy Week or when both the English and Chinese congregations come together, the main hall doesn’t have the capacity to hold everyone, so we use the other halls for overflow and we need to send the audio and video feeds from the main hall into the other rooms,” adds Gan. “Before we had different mixers in each hall, so this was another element that we wanted to standardise across the building.”
As is so often the case with church installations, time is the integrator’s largest problem. The church was scheduled to close for an upgrade to the air-conditioning, so the decision was made to carry out the AVL installation during this time. “Because of the tight timeframe, we had to fly the speakers in,” adds Huang. “As each hall closed for the air-conditioning work, we had to liaise with the contractors and ensure the AVL equipment was installed before each room was scheduled to reopen. This was particularly tough in the main auditorium as the contractors
The installation has been a resounding success, and one that Illuminate is hoping is the start of a great relationship with the church.
“It’s been so rewarding to see them be able to elevate the quality of their productions,” concludes Huang.
“Conversations are also ongoing with regards to fitting additional equipment in the large plaza area on level one so the church can utilise the space for more fundraising events, Christmas markets and baptisms.”
“Illuminate Productions went the extra mile for us,” adds Gan. “They stayed with us for sound checks and carried out training to make sure we were confident
with the new system. There were specific nuances when we were setting up the drums which they spent extra time helping us with. It’s also brought the two English and Chinese congregations together, with discussions on how they can collaborate more in the future. The volunteers are pleased that operations are simpler and smoother now and we’re all really excited about the future and what we can achieve with the new setup.”
www.dbaudio.com www.illuminate.sg www.sjc.org.sg
A Canon 4K PTZ camera in the Auditorium
Illuminate specified three black Canon CR-N500 4K UHD 1-inch CMOS PTZ cameras in the second sanctuary
The Auditorium is used for youth services
• Class-leading, extremely wide 60 MHz UHF tuning bandwidth for maximum versatility
• Unique multifunction button on the handheld and body-pack transmitters can be used to switch to a backup frequency should interference be encountered
• Automatically adjusts squelch setting to maximize range while minimizing interference
• Optional network transmitter charging docks
•
• Frequency scan and IR sync for ease of setup Handheld transmitter offers industry-standard thread mount for use with six interchangeable A-T microphone capsules, as well as other compatible capsules
Grand renovation
Notre-Dame de Paris has reopened its doors after the devastating fire in 2019
IT’S ONE OF THOSE EVENTS where you might remember where you were – on 15 April 2019, images of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris started to fill our phones and social media as quickly as the fire that was spreading through the roof and upper walls of the cathedral, destroying the iconic wooden spire. Thankfully, some works of art and religious relics were saved, although others were damaged by smoke. The cathedral’s altar, two pipe organs and three 13th-century rose windows suffered little damage, but the incident contaminated the site and nearby buildings with toxic dust and lead. In an emotional speech two days later, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the cathedral would be built “more beautiful that before” within five years. Thanks to millions of donations and the craftsmanship of hundreds of artisans, that ambition was realised at the end of 2024 when a grand opening ceremony took place on 7 December with prominent dignitaries, heads of state and the world’s media in attendance.
Taking the reins of such a momentous occasion was Groupe Novelty, a specialist integrator as well as technical solutions provider for the event and rental staging market. The group rebranded in late 2024 and consists of a variety of brands, including Novelty, Magnum, Magnum Power, Dushow, Dushow TV, Alabama Média, De Préférence and On Stage, all of which played a major role in the reopening ceremony. Having
supplied equipment in the past for a number of video mapping events at the cathedral along with a permanent audio installation inside the building in 2000, the Groupe Novelty companies were tasked with meeting
All images courtesy of Hugues de Beauschesne
ACT-848 / ACT-747
UHF Digital / Analog Wideband Wireless System
72 MHz wide bandwidth allows more interference-free operation.
Industry’s only full-color VFD display for bright, clear viewing in day/night.
7 preset groups with 224 pre-saved channels.
Optional Dante digital network interface.
New transmitters can be powered by two AA alkaline or a Li-ion battery and conveniently recharged via type-C.
PROJECTS
the technical needs for sound distribution, video mapping, cabling, staging, power, trussing, multiscreen broadcasting in the marquee set up on the forecourt, as well as deploying trailer-mounted screens and sound along the River Seine for spectators.
“I was first contacted about the project in April last year when we started putting together ideas for the mapping and working with a scenographer from Publicis Live who were in charge of the whole event,” explains Gérald Bouché, operational sales director at Novelty and project lead for all Groupe Novelty subsidiaries involved in the event. “By October, our plans had become far more elaborate with more people involved. Our initial projection ideas didn’t really change much but everything else about the event took on a new level of production and additional ideas were brought to the table.”
The video mapping was split into three sections during the evening, with the sequences for each part of the event created by three different content providers. Four towers were erected in the area immediately in front of the main entrance. The two rear columns contained nine Panasonic TP-RQ35K 3-Chip DLP 4K projectors each, with the two forward columns holding a further six projectors each.
As guests arrived for the evening, they were welcomed into a 55m x 25m marquee located near the main entrance. Inside the tent, Novelty provided an L-Acoustics setup comprising Kiva II, X8, Syva and Syva Low speakers, supplemented by SB15m and SB18 subwoofers and LA-Rak II AVB touring racks. Eight 75-inch Panasonic screens were also erected in the tent. However, plans for speeches by President Macron and other VIPs to take place inside the marquee were altered
when strong winds and rain were forecast, with a large proportion of the evening’s events moved inside the cathedral. “We’d already installed a stage, seating and all the AV equipment inside the marquee two days before the event,” explains Bouche. “But in the end the marquee only really served as a welcome point for the main guests to meet with Macron and then head into the cathedral.”
For sound inside the cathedral, the event utilised the control room and the broadcast system that has been permanently installed in the cathedral, with Groupe Novelty providing an additional four L-Acoustics Syva and Syva Low speakers, an LA4X amplified controller, along with 17 55-inch Panasonic screens for the 1,600 guests to follow the speeches. As the result of the weather forecast, the decision was also made to prerecord some of the live events that were due to take place outside the main entrance of the cathedral –including DJ and music producer
Michael Canitrot and Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji – the day before the grand reopening. For the exterior elements of the evening, Novelty provided X12 and Kara II speakers, along with two LA-Rak II AVB racks.
“The weather also meant that we had to recalibrate the projectors every day – because the two back towers were located about 90m from the façade, even a millimetre difference would mean that the images could overlap or there could be a gap.”
Another challenge that Groupe Novelty needed to consider was the restrictions placed on the site following the fire. Hundreds of tonnes of lead from the cathedral’s roof melted during the fire, releasing toxic particles that settled in the cathedral and vicinity immediately outside.
“Because of the security protocols surrounding the lead, there were areas around the building that were still restricted,” continues Bouché.
“We had to have two teams – one that would work inside the controlled area and one that worked outside. One team needed specialist training and had to wear protective clothing, and it meant we couldn’t move equipment or cabling through the controlled area as the two teams had to remain apart at all times.”
Powering such an enormous event also proved problematic, but a solution was found by placing the generators on a barge on the River Seine. “We didn’t have the room outside,” adds Bouché. “All the space at the front of the cathedral was taken up by the television crews, so all the electricity we needed for the event
was produced from this barge. We had no choice – there’s a limited distance where you can run your power from, so the river provided the ideal solution.”
Lighting for the event was supplied by Dushow TV. For the exterior of the building, Dushow TV specified over 240 Chauvet, Robe, SGM Light and Elation fixtures, with effects provided by eight Viper 2.6 fog machines from Look Solutions and eight Martin AF-1 effects fans. Inside the marquee, Dushow TV installed more than 200 units from Martin, Elation and Robe, along with a further eight Viper 2.6 fog machines and eight AF-1 effects fans. Inside the cathedral, a further 200 Astera, Martin, Robe and ARRI fixtures were supplied. Lighting for each area was controlled by its own MA Lighting grandma3 full-size. An event of this magnitude requires careful planning and collaboration between all stakeholders, culminating in three weeks of assembly, two days of operation, one week to dismantle everything, around 24 lorries full of AV equipment and more than 100 people involved. “It was truly a team effort – Alabama Média for video production and media servers, De Préférence for the sound consoles and microphones, Magnum for power distribution, Magnum Power for the generators, Dushow TV for lighting and On Stage for the towers supporting the video projectors and lighting,” concludes Bouché. “It was a huge success and we had no complications. We had to make sure there were no problems as the whole world was watching!” www.groupe-novelty.com
The power generators were located on a barge on the River Seine
The projection mapping utilised 30 Panasonic TP-RQ35K projectors placed on four towers
Live performances in front of the cathedral – including Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji – were prerecorded because of the inclement weather
LARA is a very different animal... Sounds great and the bands love it!
Rod Rodriguez CEO of RDZ Productions
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Common issues with wireless microphones
Karl Winkler, executive vice president of product design and distribution at Lectrosonics, looks at the seven most common problems with wireless mic systems and how to solve them
OVER THE MANY YEARS I’VE been in this business, I’ve asked some of my colleagues – those with more experience in wireless microphones than I have – for their take on the most common problems we all find in our line of work. The issues that came back were wide and varied, but there were also some common elements. This information became the basis of a tradeshow panel discussion, followed by several online training sessions during the past few years. If you are involved with using wireless microphones at your church, or are helping a worship facility with their use of these sometimes frustrating but important tools, you, too, are likely to come across these issues at some point.
1. Lack of frequency band planning
Live events often involve multiple different types of wireless communication devices, all in one place at one time. Ideally, these would all be in different parts of the RF spectrum. If not, these devices can interfere with each other even when they may not be on the exact same frequency. Every receiver has a filter bandwidth, usually ranging from a few hundred kHz up to 20MHz wide or more. The better systems have narrower, stronger filters, allowing more channels to be used closer together in one place at one time. In fact, if you’ve ever wondered “what makes the more expensive wireless systems better?”, this is part of the answer.
A good general rule of thumb to keep all this organised is to have your intercoms, IEMs and wireless mics all in separate frequency bands or at least regions of the band. A secondary rule to this is that your “money channels” (think pastor’s mic, worship leader’s mic, etc.) should be in the cleanest part of the UHF spectrum, while comms and other less-critical RF systems can be in the VHF band between 174–216MHz, or the 1.9GHz band, for instance. Many people ask me about products in the 2.4GHz band, since this is a
worldwide available, unlicensed band. But therein lies the problem – it is a worldwide, unlicensed band and so Wi-Fi routers and other consumer digital communications devices have signals there. This is likely to cause unpredictable interference. At the very least, the 2.4GHz band is generally reliable for only a small number of channels, generally less than 10.
2. Poor receiver antenna placement
It may seem obvious to avoid enclosing your receiver antennas inside a metal rack cabinet, but you might be surprised how often I have run across this when hearing about “terrible range and tons of dropouts”. Even though RF energy is invisible, we should think of it in similar terms to the way light behaves. A flashlight inside an enclosed cabinet doesn’t provide us much light. And, just like light, RF can be blocked by certain materials. Because of this, it is generally best to mount your receiver antennas above head height, usually at about 3m off the stage or dais. This way, there will be fewer people and similar-sized objects that will block the transmissions from the stage. You are looking for “line of sight” between transmitters and receiver antennas.
Then, if using directional antennas, think not only about what is “on axis” to the front of these antennas,
but also what might be strategically placed “off axis” (in the null) of the antenna. In other words, don’t just point your antennas at the stage –also think about positioning them so that unwanted sources of RF (TV towers a few miles away, for instance) are in the less-sensitive rear lobe of the antennas. If you have any questions about the polar pattern(s) of your antennas, look up the spec sheets or call the manufacturers.
3. Bad transmitter or IEM pack placement, or both
Having a bodypack transmitter physically close to and close in frequency to a bodyworn IEM receiver will reduce the range of the IEM system. Since some of these things can’t be helped (physical proximity, in certain cases), it is wise to separate the frequencies by as much as possible to the receivers. The same goes for IEM transmit antennas –these should be separated physically from your receiver antennas. Bodypack transmitters are a special case, because they are placed on something (a body) that tends to absorb RF. The smaller the transmitter, the more “buried” it will tend to be. If possible, do not put a transmitter into a place where it will be covered by body parts or metallic materials, including some costume fabrics. One trick for improving bodypack performance is to insulate the antenna with plastic tubing
material or anything (transparent to RF) that will keep it away from skin. Damp undergarments are a concern, too.
4. Bad RF gain structure
“More is not better” when it comes to RF. Receivers are quite sensitive and want to see a certain range of levels from their transmitters. Too much RF can ruin things for all the channels, where not enough RF might affect a single channel (out of range, transmitter buried, etc.). The rule of thumb for RF gain in the receiver antenna system is unity gain between the antennas and the receivers. Since antennas can have gain and cables can have loss, simple maths is used for this formula: antenna gain + RF amplifier gain – cable loss – splitter loss (if using passive splitters) = gain/loss at the receiver antenna inputs. You want that number to be zero or even a small amount of loss – up to –6dB. Some loss is preferable to too much gain. There are tables on the internet showing coaxial cable loss figures and it is good to have this information at your fingertips when designing/renovating/correcting a wireless mic system. Then, make a simple block diagram showing all the components in the system (from the antennas to the receivers) and put the gains and losses in so you know what you are dealing with.
5. Lack of frequency coordination
Most manufacturers offer software packages, usually for free, for the purpose of selecting frequencies for their wireless systems. There is also third-party software for this purpose, although the best ones are expensive. The goal of any such software is to calculate the frequencies in a manner that eliminates potential intermodulation interference. Intermods are “phantom” frequencies generated inside the equipment (transmitters, RF amps, receivers) when more than one RF signal mixes together and gets re-transmitted. These phantom
Wireless mic and IEM channels are frequency coordinated and set into two different areas of the available bandwidth
Insufficient gain can cause problems with noise in the audio
signals can reduce your range, cause dropouts or, in lower-quality systems, bring about massive “hits” causing loud signals in the system output. The potential for creation of these IM frequencies is easily calculated with the software but can be arduous to try to do by hand. Just keep in mind that the software, like any software, is not magic and experience counts.
6. Bad audio gain structure
With any analogue wireless system based on FM (Frequency Modulation) transmission, bad audio gain structure can cause a reduction in range. Generally, you want to have a “fat” signal going into the transmitter, so that there is a decent signal-to-noise ratio between your audio and the RF channel noise. I recommend running your receiver outputs at line level and
lavalier or headset microphones, moisture damage mostly from sweat, loose antenna connectors, broken/worn transmitter antennas and damaged or loose BNC coax cables on receiver antennas. All of these are things you have control over and should include into your maintenance budget.
Make a note of first-charged dates and replace after 3–4 years of continual use
Finally, as we all move more in the direction of rechargeable batteries for our wireless mics and IEMs, it is critical to have a battery maintenance policy and process in place. These batteries typically perform better than alkalines and are far more cost-effective in the long term. However, if we don’t keep track of when they were first used and how many times they’ve been charged, they may let us down. Finally, use good-quality (more expensive) battery chargers so that the batteries are not ruined early. Good chargers should have various modes for slow charging, and for restoring the batteries every so often.
That’s it! I imagine that you have other items on your personal list but I hope that this list is helpful towards you achieving better results with wireless microphones
The mic preamp is in the transmitter, so why add another one in the signal
7. Lack of proper maintenance The most common problems I
Church livestreaming on a tight budget: a case study
Media Mentoring’s Graeme Spencer looks at the challenges livestreaming can bring and how to overcome them with the right strategies
FINDING
A BALANCE BETWEEN A tight budget and the requirement for high-quality broadcasts can be challenging in church livestreaming. Recently, my company had the opportunity to produce a livestream of an Advent service at a traditional cathedral for a new client.
The client had previously livestreamed this annual service but was unhappy with the quality of the results. They sought to enhance their production quality while still adhering to a limited budget. I enjoy undertaking projects like this as they allow for creative solutions that transcend financial constraints and push us beyond our comfort zones. I am sure many of you can relate to this situation, as it often holds true with church livestreaming.
Setting the stage: understanding the client’s needs
The cathedral invited our client to use its venue for the event. However, as guests, they had limited ability to change the cathedral’s setup, which presented challenges when they wanted to livestream the Advent service. We needed to create an engaging online experience that
honoured their relationship with the cathedral while meeting our client’s expectations.
This required detailed discussions with both parties and two planning visits to the site. We prioritised clear communication, explaining every aspect of our plan to ensure the cathedral approved each element. As a result, when we arrived to set up our church livestreaming production, there were no issues since they were fully aware of our intentions. This step is often overlooked during the planning stages, but it is crucial for ensuring everyone is aligned and contributing to the production’s success.
The service was complex, featuring several local speakers, congregational hymns led by a cantor and accompanying organ, and a live link to a church in Bethlehem. Given this intricate setup, a standard church livestreaming solution would not suffice, so our meticulous planning had to consider this when creating a solution.
Big takeaway 1: test everything in advance
One of our initial steps was to set up and test everything the day before the event. This allowed us to identify and troubleshoot potential issues
in advance. However, surprises can and do happen, even with thorough testing. Testing is essential for church livestreaming, as it helps pinpoint and resolve potential problems before they disrupt the broadcast. It also allows you to always have a plan in place for addressing any unexpected issues that may arise.
The Bethlehem live link challenge
On the day of the event, the team arrived at the Bethlehem church and discovered that the internet connection had been disabled. The complicated political situation in the region added to their challenges. As a result, the local technical team had to find a new solution quickly. They managed to establish a new connection with only 15 minutes to spare.
However, this left no time for a re-test. Consequently, the livestreaming from Bethlehem started off unstable and only became steady 10 minutes into the broadcast.
The key takeaway is that because we had tested everything in advance, we could focus on resolving this issue when it arose (despite it not being the only challenge we faced),
as the overall production remained on track.
Big takeaway 2: in church livestreaming, plan for failure and have backups
The Bethlehem link, however, wasn’t our only issue. As we went live, our primary camera developed a fault, which also handled audio embedding into our vMix setup, creating a double issue. However, we had implemented a backup audio circuit that we switched to seamlessly. Additionally, because of careful preplanning regarding camera placement, our other cameras could compensate for the lost shot, minimising the impact on our church livestreaming production. Although this problem was unforeseen, our planning allowed us to continue the production with minimal disruptions and, indeed, few viewers would have noticed any issues.
Big takeaway 3: prioritise the quality of your audio
We ensured our setup was ready to test audio during one of the cathedral’s services. We already knew that the cathedral had a very basic sound system that did not meet all our needs. As a result, we added extra microphones, including audience response microphones, to improve the audio quality for our church livestream. Still, we needed to see how all this would affect the venue audio too.
Spencer visited the cathedral during the planning stages
The setup included three PTZ cameras, one unmanned broadcast camera and the Bethlehem feed
This is why a full test beforehand was essential. This effort paid off, producing fantastic sound for the livestream without impacting the venue audio. Testing audio in actual conditions is crucial for identifying and resolving sound issues. If there’s one aspect to prioritise in church livestreaming, it’s the audio. Viewers are likely to stop watching if the audio quality is poor long before they abandon a broadcast due to subpar picture quality.
Big takeaway 4: pre-build and pre-organise
We completed most of our technical configurations before arriving onsite and setting up our church livestreaming equipment. This preparation saved us time and allowed us to focus on unexpected challenges. The technical setup included three PTZ cameras, one unmanned broadcast camera and the Bethlehem feed, all managed through vMix. Prebuilding and organising equipment and workflows are essential for efficient church livestreaming.
Extra microphones were supplied to improve the audio for the livestream
additional large screens we rented to display the Bethlehem feed to the cathedral congregation. This allowed the in-person audience to feel “connected” to those attending in Bethlehem.
Graphics for engagement in church livestreaming
We also ensured we had video feeds for the in-house screens and two
Auxiliary outputs in vMix managed these feeds, ensuring a seamless visual experience for the cathedral congregation. Through vMix, we incorporated lower thirds, location details, hymn information and other relevant information for the online audience. This enabled viewers to stay informed about what was happening and who was speaking,
even if they did not have access to the order of service.
Big takeaway 5: in church livestreaming, ensure redundancy just in case
We streamed simultaneously to both Facebook and YouTube. Before the event, we tested the cathedral’s internet capabilities and believed they would be sufficient for our needs. As a precaution, I recommend having double the required bandwidth available. For example, if you need to send two streams at 6Mbps each, ensure your upload speed exceeds 24Mbps.
However, since we did not control the internet circuits in the cathedral and were unsure about any other traffic that might share the bandwidth, we had a LiveU unit on standby as a backup in case the primary connection failed. Additionally, we could utilise a streaming service as an extra backup if necessary. This level of redundancy was crucial to providing the client with a reliable livestreaming experience. It ensured that the service was broadcast smoothly and enjoyed without disruption.
Conclusion
To get great church livestreaming, you need to prioritise people over equipment. When it comes to church livestreaming on a tight budget, the most important takeaway is the value of having the right team in place. Our team’s expertise and commitment were key to the event’s success as we navigated challenges, built in redundancy and developed alternative solutions. This showed that effective outcomes can be achieved with the right approach and preparation, even with budget constraints.
www.cloakproductions.com www.wordout.co.uk
Got Sauce?
The lighting team: challenge for a new year
John Black considers the approaches to take to maintain team engagement and show how each member is valued
flow out of ways I am serving others in my own context at the time of writing, perhaps these reflections will encourage or challenge you as well as you work with your team – whether paid staff, adult volunteers or other. As a team leader, technical director or lighting director, it’s important to remind ourselves of what is truly important – we lead people. I – we –can’t do what we do alone.
Teamwork is key to successful ministry Image courtesy of KLANG:technologies and Seven Rivers Church
So, I want to share with you some goals that I try to keep in mind at the start of a new year as I lead my team.
End goal: technical excellence
The goal for technical excellence focuses on the “what”, “why” and, ultimately, the “how”. It’s something
that I strive for in everything that I do, and it is an expectation that I have for myself and my team. If the lighting that we design and produce is not striving for excellence, then it has the real potential to become a distraction and hinderance for worshippers in the venue, working against the goals and purpose of the service altogether.
Technical excellence is not a perfect service, dependent on an
individual person or a particular piece of equipment that you have and can point to. Rather, it is the culmination of many small decisions and actions executed well. It’s equipment performing as it was designed to operate. It’s cable runs that are neat and tidy, without posing any safety risks or being aesthetically unpleasant. It’s the training sessions for team members. It’s design choices
committed to excellence in all tasks and in all parts of the lighting process, but I must also encourage my team to commit to and value excellence with this perspective. Technical excellence is the end goal – not perfection. To get there is to be intentional about all the little details that contribute towards the service. In pursuing this end goal, I try to keep in mind the following “building bricks” that build that sturdy wall.
Valuing the individual and the team
Aside from two salaried technicians on my team, I work exclusively with volunteer tech teams comprised of high-school students. Many of them
get involved in lighting production because of the spectacle and wonder of working with moving lights, operating control consoles and putting on a really great visual event. But the majority don’t realise the amount of work that happens behind the scenes in the preparation, which can often be less glamorous, long and tiring. It is important to me that each team member feels valued as an individual, and that they understand how they fit into the lighting team as well as the greater production team. This goal focuses on the “who” and “how”. Adults and teenagers, whether paid or volunteer, will all take on a sense of ownership and pride in their work when they know the value of the work and time they are spending. When the days get long or work becomes monotonous, the feeling of being valued and a part of something greater than themselves is vitally important. There are many ways that individuals can be shown that they are valued. Expressing gratitude is a great, simple way to begin. I try to verbally thank each team member individually at the end of every work shift. Simple acts of service can also be meaningful. At the end of long, all-day shifts, I will let the team leave and clean up/ shut down the systems for them. Intentionally spending time with individual members to converse and relate on a personal level also shows a level of care and value. I will intentionally engage individuals who arrive early or during breaks in conversation, as well as repeatedly ask if there is anything that I can do (or change) to support them better.
to their perspectives and opinions as individuals, then their sense of value is increased as well as their “buy-in” to the team collectively and its work.
Another way that I value the team is to spend time intentionally growing the team culture. Teams perform well when they function well, and much of that comes down to team relationships. If there isn’t room for relationships to develop and to have a bit of fun, the team suffers. I try to make sure that I plan a “team activity” once a month. As I see my team members almost every day of the
and reinforcing skills that may have already been learned to keep them up-to-date and maintain good habits.
I tend to use two different methods of training to equip my crews. The first, and what I’ve found to be most effective, method is what I call “on-the-job mentoring”. As my team is comprised of highschool students, each year I have members graduate and I also take on new members. To speed up the training process, I always suggest members work in pairs, with one experienced member paired with a newer member.
basic programming, such as fixture patching, recording cues or new palettes that have been added to the default show file. Another day will be a maintenance day, where the crew learns and performs basic equipment maintenance and cleaning. In this way, the crew helps to keep the equipment and facilities in good shape and operating correctly, being good stewards of the resources that we have. The other days try to focus on either teaching a new skill or, when getting in new equipment, unpacking it, setting it up and teaching the team how to operate it.
In my experience, when my team members feel valued, they will continue to be involved and, as a result, continually increase their skills and productivity. Conversely, when team members do not feel valued, their commitment, work ethic and ownership suffer, which can spread to other team members and have a negative impact on everyone else.
At the team level, one of the most effective ways that I show the team is valued is to involve the crew in decision-making. This includes involving them in the design process for a service, scheduling assignments and even in considerations for equipment purchases. When the team feels that I am looking out for them and that I am concerned for not only their well-being but that I’m open
week, I plan the activity day during a regular workday and just remove the “work”. Its sole purpose is the team – to bring them together around food, games or another activity for the goal of connecting and building relationships. When gathering feedback from team members when they leave about their experience, the most common response that I receive is about the community created and how that made the work enjoyable and the experience rewarding.
Equipping intentionally
The next goal that I have for my tech team is to equip them with the technical and non-technical skills that they need to be able to successfully complete the jobs and tasks needed. This goal focuses on the “what” and “how”. Equipping team members is a continual process that doesn’t just focus on learning new skills, but reviewing
Through working on actual events, the new crew members learn skills and processes – such as focusing fixtures, console programming and stage wiring – that the crew uses on a daily basis, while contributing and seeing the fruit of their labour immediately. The second method of skills training that I use is focused inservice days. I try to schedule three to four in-service days a month with the entire team. The frequency will depend on how many team members you have, how often you gather, etc. I see my team almost every day of the week, so it’s possible to hold in-service sessions more frequently. The goal, however, is that these days are regular and intentionally planned. At least one of the days will focus on reviewing and practising skills that I feel need to be reviewed. For example, as the light board operators rotate frequently, the team as a whole may need an update on some
A challenge
At the end of the day, houses of worship don’t exist for the purpose of putting on weekly “events” –r ather, they are focused on the people who come. The technical team is no different. That’s why I placed the goal of valuing the individuals and the team ahead of the goal to equip intentionally. As a technical leader, it is all too easy to focus only on the technology and production, but when the balance between these two goals is just right, then excellence becomes possible. For me, each year seems to increase the number of responsibilities and events that my team and I have on our plates. It can become easy to let “people” slide to the wayside in order to accomplish all that is required. My challenge for myself – and for you –is to maintain that balance and to see technical excellence in worship venues across the world.
Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance days
Off the grid
Fledging amplifier manufacturer Greenwaves is taking a new approach to sustainability
language, power can sometimes feel like a dirty word. Decades of research into electrical efficiency has created such marvels for the audio industry as Class-D amplification, which has been instrumental in helping to lower power requirements.
But there’s no getting around the fact that loudspeakers need a healthy dose of electricity to do their job. And given the noise component, it’s often preferable that large outdoor events are somewhat off the beaten path and kept away from civilisation. With little physical infrastructure in place, the mighty diesel generator ends up ruling the roost.
Rather than squeezing out every last electron via ultra-efficient amplifier technology, perhaps there is another approach. What if attention was turned to the other end of the chain? That’s been the overriding mentality behind UK-based grassroots company Greenwaves, which over the last year has matured its lineup of solar-powered amplifiers to the point where it’s ready to take its message of “saving the planet, one show at a time” around the world.
“Our mission is to reduce the carbon footprint of outdoor events and the live sound industry as a whole,” explains Greenwaves technical director, Andy Haynes. “Our amplifiers and solar-powered GreenBank units offer a clean
with RF and microwave amplifier manufacturer Aber Electronics over the course of two years, the Greenwaves portfolio has grown to include several powerfocused innovations to make good on its promise, including audio amplifiers, charging solutions and power banks. Its initial product, the GW2X2K, is a 2x2,000W batterypowered amplifier capable of running for up to eight hours at full volume on a single charge. “All of our tests actually prove that eight hours is conservative; 10 is more representative,” says Haynes. “And it’s more like 15 hours when running vocals and mid-tops only without bass.”
When power does run out, the device can be recharged using mains or solar via one of the company’s portable power banks such as the GreenBank MK1, which is capable of delivering 2,500W peak power and can run a GW2X2K amplifier for a further eight hours. The GreenBank is a portable rechargeable power bank in a rugged Pelican case and features various mains output sockets to deliver 230VAC to whatever the user wants to power.
The GW2X2K battery-powered amplifier is joined by a 1x4,000W product, with a 1x500W on the way soon. “Our upcoming singlechannel 1x500W RMS into 3Ω mono version is a lower-powered amplifier for use in pop-up events or fixed
Greenwaves’ first product to debut was the GW2X2K 2x2,000W amplifier
installations,” explains Greenwaves head of engineering, Matthew Evans PhD. “It is still solar rechargeable using our charging solutions and is much more portable for a small solution that still packs a decent punch. We are also investigating the possibility of making this IP6x-rated, so it is waterproof to expand the possible applications.”
1U and 2U rackmount solar chargers extend the ecosystem further by providing a modular and scalable charging solution for bigger setups, capable of powering one or two amps in a single rack. Used in combination, the products can lower the requirements for generators that have become a frequent sight at outdoor events.
“Currently, a 30kW audio system would require at least a
30kW/30kVA generator, usually more for a bit of headroom and to run everything else,” says Evans. “This is so it can service the peaks in the audio waveforms. With our Greenwaves system, a similar 30kW audio rig only requires a 3kW/3kVA generator, which is a size requirement reduction of up to 90%.”
The idea for solar-powered amplifier technology originated from Professor Stuart Walker at the University of Essex, with whom Evans has a close working relationship. “It quickly turned into a combined project between ourselves,” Evans recalls.
“The process to develop this product lineup started approximately two years ago, but we have worked together on a few
A protype of the 1x500W amp
different versions of audio products before this, stretching back approximately five years,” furthers Walker.
The team quickly realised that being able to recharge the amplifiers by solar would also be an attractive proposition, undertaking development of solar charging solutions. “Using our solutions, if you are running on diesel or petrol generators, then you need a much smaller rig,” explains Greenwaves operations manager Richard Lister. “Alternatively, you can run directly from solar which ensures a nice eco-friendly, off-grid audio solution. The GreenBank power bank product lineup stemmed from the need for customers to be entirely off-grid – their laptops, mixing desks, in-ear monitoring and radio mics can all be run off the GreenBank, or it can be used as a backup power reserve for the amplifiers to extend runtime.”
Of course, this development process was not a quick journey, and not without its headaches. “The challenges during the development process were significant due to the nature of the technology, and there are important safety considerations when working with batteries due to their high power density,” explains Evans. “We tried a couple of different approaches to the battery power management aspect of the system and settled on what is now a patentpending efficient technology, but that took approximately 12 months to develop in its entirety. We also developed a secondary method of achieving the same result, but this costs more to implement.
“The audio aspect of the system was also a significant engineering challenge,” he continues. “We have an enhanced electronically balanced audio input circuit as well as loudspeaker protection circuitry, which all needed development time
from scratch. Audio amplifier circuitry is traditionally sensitive to rapid changes in the power supply, which causes issues when connecting a nearly unlimited peak power delivery source – a high-energy battery –hence the requirement for the patentpending protection circuitry.”
Since debuting the brand, audio developer Reclaim Audio has been a vocal backer of the sustainable technology and the impact it could have on outdoor events. “While many live events talk about their sustainable credentials, one of the uncomfortable truths is that they require a lot of power to run them,” says Bishopsound/Reclaim Audio founder, Andrew Bishop. “I feel the
Greenwaves amplifier is the perfect product to help deliver on those sustainable aims without impacting what performers or audiences experience. The overall cost of delivering an event is also reduced, making Greenwaves a solution that will benefit everyone involved in a live event.”
With most of the hard development work now done, and having tested their burgeoning amplifier lineup successfully at numerous events, the small team’s ambitions are quickly growing. “We see these products going global, and have already had interest from companies in Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Jamaica and even Bermuda,” furthers Haynes. “We
have a key contact in the Middle East already who knows a lot of the right people for us to speak to, and that is an avenue we are actively pursuing. The solar recharging aspect is ideal for the Middle East market, parts of Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean due to the number of daylight hours every day, as well as the strength of the sunlight. This would mean recharging times would often be greatly reduced compared to the UK.”
Houses of worship is another target market for the new amplifiers. For locations with unreliable mains power, the amplifiers could be of particular interest. For fixed installations, the products take away the worry of what happens if there’s a power cut. “It’s something we’ve had in mind for the last year and was one of the reasons for developing the smaller portable 500W single-channel unit,” explains Evans. “We envisage this portable version being used for popup events and travelling evangelists, for example. We have already had interest from places in Africa for exactly this reason.”
While the team’s initial offering is now largely completed, there is no intention of slowing down development efforts moving forward. “We have multiple products in the pipeline too, including upgraded versions of each of our existing amplifiers to deliver a greater user experience and added features,” concludes Evans. “We are also developing wind power to complement the solar charging solutions which will still allow for charging overnight once the sun goes down, or even just supplement the solar supply.”
www.greenwaves.pro
The GreenBank MK1 rechargable power bank
Comparison of light sources: LED, laser and discharge lamp
, senior research and development engineer, light technology, at the Adam Hall Group, looks at how the properties of light sources differ and for which lights
combinations used, the quality of light can be very high.
A very wide colour gamut that covers nearly all bases is also possible depending on the LEDs selected. RGBAL multicolour LED arrays, for example, ensure a large colour space (gamut), while the highest colourrendering qualities for warm white can be achieved using white light LED arrays. Depending on the LED system, colour stability can also be guaranteed across several devices with one calibration. If we need to increase the brightness, we simply join several LEDs together. But here’s the catch with this type of fixture: beam lights are intended to emit a very narrow beam of light. To achieve a good projection or narrow light beam, it’s beneficial if the light source is as compact as possible, which means emitting light as point-like as possible. The higher the light output of the LED system, the larger the array, which makes it more difficult to create a narrow point of light.
The discharge lamp: the projection talent
An example of a lamp with a very small light source and high radiance
BEFORE THE TIME OF LEDs, there were halogen lamps and discharge lamps. Making the choice between them was quite easy. Static conventional lights used halogen lamps for a colour temperature of 3,200K, so for warm white or artificial light. Discharge lamps were used for a colour temperature of around 6,500K, namely for cold white or daylight. Of course, light conversion films could also be applied, but with a significant loss in light. With a few exceptions, halogen lamps were not suitable for moving lights due to the high proportion of heat they generated. Energy-saving regulatory requirements then put an end to the halogen lamp. LEDs, special discharge lamps and laser phosphor light sources are the only options still allowed to be installed today. In this article, I’d like to clarify why discharge lamps are still being used alongside LEDs and why
technologically sophisticated laser phosphor lamps are being used.
The LED: the all-rounder
LEDs have some unbeatable advantages over discharge lamps: they are immediately bright upon activation and provide the desired quality of light. Plus, they are also very easy to dim thanks to pulse-width modulation. An LED lamp can also be switched off instantly. LEDs have a very long service life of around 25,000 hours, which is just about the same as the lifespan of a fixture used under normal conditions. They are not likely to suddenly fail; LEDs usually just become dimmer over time. The LED can be cooled with a heat pipe leading away from the LED board. An efficient cooling system can be set up using heat conduction systems such as heat pipes. Depending on the LED type or
Cameo’s ORON H2
The discharge lamp for the OTOS
is the UHP lamp. Its discharge bulb is extremely small and has a very high operating pressure. That is why it is called the UHP lamp, which stands for ultra-high-pressure, but is often also referred to as ultrahigh-performance. The discharge bulb is usually already optimally aligned in a reflector. This type of lamp was developed specifically for video projectors, where very good projection properties and high brightness with a small point of light are also crucial. A discharge lamp requires a burn-in time of several minutes until all chemical processes are in a stable state and the brightness and colour spectrum are therefore stable.
Discharge lamps are dim-resistant and must be dimmed mechanically in the lower setting range at the latest, otherwise the arc will break. As a discharge lamp, the UHP lamp also contains mercury. If the lamp bursts, which is not uncommon at the end of its service life, this environmentally hazardous heavy metal can leak. For this reason, a lamp like this should always be handled with care and only disposed of as hazardous waste. The service life is approximately 2,500 hours until total failure. As such, it should be possible to replace the light source. A high ignition voltage is also required to ignite a discharge lamp. This places a huge load on the system. That’s why it is also advisable to keep the lamp running for about two hours without switching it off.
In terms of energy, the discharge lamp always operates at maximum capacity, even if it is dimmed all the way down. The LED has a clear advantage here, as it consumes less energy when dimmed. The light source itself must be cooled with air, and the light fixture must not be contaminated by the flow of air at the same time. The discharge lamp should be cooled down gently during deactivation. You should avoid switching it off immediately (instant off). A discharge lamp’s colour spectrum has very strong blue and green colours, but weak red hues. The discharge lamp has a hard time producing warm white colour and has to be compensated with CTO filters with a corresponding loss of light. The colour rendering index is also not very high. High CRI filters, which are capable of adding a few CRI points but lead to a loss of brightness, are often used here too. The gamut (colour space) available to a discharge lamp is relatively small and is usually in the sRGB range.
The laser phosphor source: for “peak” values
An alternative for the UHP lamp is a laser phosphor engine. It was also developed primarily for use in video projectors. However, the laser phosphor engine’s design and technical complexity are considerably higher. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the phosphor laser engine.
A: LED blue light laser array’s coherent light
B: Semi-transparent mirror for blue light
C: Rotating phosphor plate
D: Reflective layer of barium sulphate
E: Light output of incoherent light
An LED blue light laser array (marked with letter A in the diagram) emits coherent blue light towards a rotating phosphor plate (letter C), which is positioned opposite the LED blue light laser array. On its way there, the coherent light passes through a semitransparent, coated mirror glass. Due to the 45° arrangement of the glass, some of the radiation is deflected onto a reflective layer (letter D), but we’ll delve into this in greater detail later. The phosphor layer is excited by the blue laser light and emits or reflects back incoherent light colours, such as green, yellow and red. The glass arranged at 45° is now responsible for redirecting the incoherent light reflected by the phosphor layer to the light output (letter E) leading out of the laser phosphor module. Now let’s get back to the laser light deflected by 90°, which strikes a reflective layer of barium sulphate. Barium sulphate’s high efficiency and diffuse reflection
make it ideally suited for this task. The reflected blue light is now added to the phosphor plate’s incoherent light when it passes straight through the semi-transparent glass (letter E). If you look at the direction of the beam of the coherent light, you can tell that the selected arrangement means that no coherent light can leave the module, but only incoherent light due to the diffuse reflection.
Conclusion
As an all-rounder, the LED is the ideal light source for almost all types of lights. LEDs are replacing discharge lamps based solely on their good dimmability, colour gamut and colour rendering or colour consistency over their service life, not least due to their
This results in a very small and intense point light source, which is ideal for projected images or small beam angles for lights. The advantage is that you can dim the laser array just like you would an LED. Manufacturing this module, however, is very cost-intensive. Furthermore, the light is perceived as very bright due to the extreme blue peak. The colour gamut is also limited, as is the colour-rendering quality. The cooling, service life, and the On and Off switching behaviour are similar to that of the LED.
vibrations. Only when very narrow beam angles are required can the discharge lamp score points. A beam lamp with extremely narrow beam behaviour is used for beam shows in which the light beam becomes a visible object. The colour gamut and colour rendering no longer play a role here, a clean line as a beam is what matters. If you want to create even more striking light beams in the sky or in a space, you can use the laser phosphor engine.
Figure 1
The ORON H2’s 260W phosphor laser engine, unscrewed
Shure unveils first digital wideband IEM system
THE AXIENT Digital PSM offers high-performance RF and spectral efficiency that caters to the rapidly evolving wireless landscape. This system is Shure’s first Wireless Multichannel Audio System (WMAS) enabled product line, empowering audio professionals to adapt to a wide variety of environments. With a forward-looking design, the Axient Digital PSM is said to represent a long-term investment for tours, venues and other applications, enhancing flexibility and scalability.
With a next-generation digital radio and headphone amplifier design, Shure says performers will enjoy the highest audio quality with no compromises to signal reliability and less than 2.9ms latency. The system features a multichannel wideband mode that significantly increases spectral efficiency, up to 28 channels per 6MHz in the US and 40 channels per 8MHz in Europe. With multichannel wideband mode, users can free up radios for improved RF performance or channel count scalability. Narrowband
provides access to more RF output power per channel and maintains spectral efficiency at 17 channels per 6MHz.
Spatial Diversity employs two transmit diversity antennas, each sending an identical signal on the same frequency, providing RF engineers with a new, easier option for supporting separate zones and optimising coverage for stadiums, indoor venues and broadcast studios.
When Spatial Diversity transmitters engage with True Digital Diversity bodypack receivers, the Axient Digital PSM combines four discrete signal paths per channel to deliver advanced
multipath interference and
Futhermore, the Axient Digital PSM transmitters and digital input formats, including AES3, Dante and AES67, which enables easily connect to modern consoles. Standard AES256 encryption is available for secure transmission. The Axient Digital PSM is supported by Shure’s Wireless Workbench and ShowLink ecosystem, which means that for the first time, monitor engineers can enjoy remote management of every bodypack receiver onstage, with visibility to key parameters and
the ability to make adjustments if necessary.
Intended for recording of both vocals and instruments, the SM4 is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone housing a dual-diaphragm capsule and a patent-pending RF shielding system. According to the American manufacturer, it allows artists to create professional-quality recordings regardless of their setup, environment or experience level. The SM4 is intended to streamline the recording experience and features multiple layers of plosive protection and integrated components. The dual-diaphragm capsule reduces popping noises and comes with reduced proximity effect. With patent-pending Interference Shielding Technology, users don’t have to worry about unwanted RF interference noise from wireless devices commonly found in recording environments, such as smartphones,
and
routers.
PRODUCTS
The
same but smaller
THE MD 421 Kompakt from Sennheiser has been designed to deliver the same performance as the company’s classic MD 421 and MD 421-II microphones, but in a much more compact and multipurpose package. Featuring a cardioid pickup pattern and a completely redesigned mounting clip, the MD 421 Kompakt delivers the same legendary sound and ability to handle high sound pressure levels as its predecessors and retains the largediaphragm capsule of the bigger MD 421-II. However, with bass roll-off functionality being taken over by mixing desks and DAWs, Sennheiser has omitted the bass roll-off switch to create a much more compact microphone body. It boasts a frequency response of
30Hz–17kHz to faithfully reproduce both high and low frequencies, with a bass tube ensuring an accurate and extended low-end response. The MD 421 Kompakt also provides effective feedback rejection, and is able to handle exceptionally high sound pressure levels in the most demanding environments.
microphone. The wireless system’s integrated handheld option offers users more than 15 hours of runtime. Included in the package is a multifunctional charging bar that stores and charges the key components of the system and doubles as a handheld or desktop mic. The charging bar holds a 2-channel mini-receiver with an OLED touch display, two pre-paired clip-on microphones that automatically connect to the receiver, a 3.5mm jack coiled cable for camera use, a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, magnetic clips for attaching the mics
ITS SMALLEST, simplest and sleekest wireless microphone to date, the Wireless Micro from RØDE is a pocket-sized microphone system tailor-made for smartphone creators. Available in black or white and with versions for either USB-C or Lightning devices, the slimline receiver connects directly to a phone with no need for cables for a compact and tidy recording setup. Meanwhile, the splashproof Wireless Micro transmitter weighs just 12g and features two ultra-compact, ultra-lightweight transmitters and its integrated clips and magnetic attachments make it easy to mount while remaining discreet. Its built-in microphones are housed in acoustic chambers with a patent-pending design, purposebuilt to capture clear and intelligible audio while mitigating wind noise. Meanwhile, RØDE’s Intelligent GainAssist technology automatically controls audio levels to deliver balanced sound and mitigates the risk of accidentally ruining a take with clipped or quiet recordings. RØDE says this feature means creators can record upload-ready audio right away, no matter how much of a background they have in audio. A pocket-sized charging
The Profile Wireless features three functions that have been designed to provide users with audio, even in difficult conditions. Firstly, each clip-on microphone has 16GB memory for internal recording. Secondly, when the creator activates Backup Recording Mode, internal recording will be automatically turned on if the wireless signal gets too weak.
Lastly, a Safety Channel Mode outputs and records backup audio at a lower volume to help protect against clipping. The range is up to 245m in line of sight and up to 150m line of sight when taking body blocking into account.
production console that aims to combine video switching, production and recording capabilities with a complete professional audio studio. Designed to be an all-in-one mixer for content creators, video podcasters, livestreamers and broadcasters, the RØDECaster Video from Australian manufacturer RØDE pairs a high-performance octa-core CPU with a nextgeneration video engine. Four HDMI and two USB-C inputs allow for
www.sennheiser.com
RØDE Series IV wireless microphones such as the Wireless PRO, eless ME and Wireless GO II, and its APHEX audio processing includes an EQ, compressor, noise gate, high-pass filter and de-esser, as well as RØDE’s Aural Exciter, Big Bottom and Compellor effects. Its automatic green or blue screen aims to effortlessly replace backgrounds and use
including USB webcams, while two Neutrik combo jacks are built in to capture audio from XLR microphones, instruments and other audio equipment. The unit features dual internal wireless receivers for connecting
RØDECaster Video also boasts an intelligent audio-based autoswitching feature to keep things simple for solo creators and for shows without producers.
www.rode.com
MD 421 Kompakt
Profile Wireless
Wireless Micro
Sound to the max
APG, A brand of Arbane Groupe, has released its Uniline Max line array system, designed for largescale events and concerts. The system features the UM210 double 10-inch line array speaker and the UM121 single 21-inch subwoofer.
or a constant curvature system with limited throw but significant coupling angles.
The UM121 subwoofer features a bass-reflex configuration at the rear with a profiled port to optimise roundness in the lower
system that supports both tension and compression configurations, the system has been designed for use in any stage environment.
The Uniline Max comes with the patent-pending Sigma waveguide, which reportedly ensures optimal coupling between speakers and maintains precise sound quality across diverse environments. Sigma enables integrators to design a speaker setup in any shape, without sacrificing acoustic performance across a wide range of coupling angles between speakers. It also allows the design of long-throw line source speaker setups with low coupling angles
dedicated accessories enabling its use below or alongside UM210 speakers.
Arbane Groupe has also launched its Audio Modular user Interface (AMI), a single and scalable control software spanning across the entire Arbane Groupe range of products (APG and Active Audio). Available for PC, Mac and tablet users, AMI’s multi-platform interface features a digital console-style layout, is optimised for touchscreen control and is also compliant with ergonomic standards.
www.arbane-groupe.com
Ceiling speakers up to the task
THE DECO series from DAS Audio is a family of ceiling loudspeakers that blend into their environment thanks to a mechanical design incorporating a grille that covers the entire system.
The DECO-5, DECO-6, DECO-6TB and DECO-8 models feature a frameless grille that extends just 3mm from the ceiling, and all but the DECO-5 boast a 1-inch ferrofluid-cooled soft dome tweeter. The DECO-5, DECO-6 and DECO-8 units are designed for low impedance and are equipped with 5.25-, 6.25- and 8-inch drivers respectively. In addition, the DECO-6TB is a wide-range, passive, 2-way system featuring a 6.25-inch low-frequency woofer and is equipped with a 15W 100V in-line transformer with multi-pass selector for both high and low impedance.
The DECO-40-T, DECO-65-T and DECO-80-T boast steel enclosures and a durable polypropylene front, and are equipped with a 4-way Phoenix connector for parallel connectivity. All three operate at 8W nominal impedance or in a 100V line system, with tap settings of 10W, 20W and 30W accessible at the front on the DECO-40-T, and 15W, 30W and 60W on the 65-T and 80-T. The DECO-40-T has an RMS
Asymmetrical coverage in smaller spaces
BOSE PROFESSIONAL’S EdgeMax EM90-LP and EM180-LP in-ceiling directional loudspeakers are now available worldwide. The LP models have been designed to provide asymmetrical coverage to smaller rooms and more challenging spaces and work together with the original EdgeMax loudspeakers to provide performance across projects where specifications and installation conditions vary.
The EdgeMax LP loudspeakers have a 4-inch backcan depth, 60% shallower than the original models, making them suitable for rooms with above-ceiling limitations and tighter clearances.
power handling of 50W, peak power of 200W and maximum peak SPL of 112dB. Meanwhile, the 65-T has an RMS power handling of 60W, a peak power of 240W and a maximum peak SPL of 118dB, while the 80-T has an RMS power handling of 125W, a peak power of 500W and a maximum peak SPL of 121dB. In addition, the DECO-80-TS is a highperformance ceiling subwoofer that provides omnidirectional coverage with a frequency range of 50–190Hz. It is also equipped with a 4-way Phoenix connector and operates at 8W nominal impedance or in a 100V line system. It has an RMS power handling of 200W and a peak of 800W, and a maximum peak SPL of 115dB. All four can be transformed into a pendant speaker if ceiling mounting is not optimal.
Finally, the DECO-40-T-LP has tap settings of 10W, 20W and 30W, RMS power handling of 50W and peak power of 200W, and a maximum peak SPL of 110dB. The company says its recessed backcan depth of 99mm and auto-locking tabs allow straightforward installation in ceilings with minimal clearance.
www.dasaudio.com
The LP models also feature an 80° vertical coverage angle that is ideal for spaces with lower ceilings.
The LPs have been designed to bring the same benefits as the original EdgeMax loudspeakers, which cater for larger, busy rooms with higher SPL needs. Just like the original EdgeMax models, the LPs feature dual-drivers and PhaseGuide technology to project focused sound asymmetrically into a room, delivering directionality and voice intelligibility, all while allowing placement in discreet, out-of-the-way locations.
www.boseprofessional.com
UM121
Music ANNY where, ANNY time
AVAILABLE IN four colours, the battery-powered ANNY 8 is a bluetooth PA speaker from LD Systems and is the more compact sibling to the ANNY 10. Designed for a quick and portable setup in a variety of environments, the ANNY 8 is a 2-way PA system with an 8-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter. It has an integrated 5-channel mixer with two combo inputs for microphones and line instruments, an integrated wireless microphone, a stereo input (mini jack or RCA) and Bluetooth 5.0 for flexible playback of music and other content.
It boasts LD Systems’ latestgeneration DynX DSP, which the company says delivers powerful sound even at maximum volume. In addition to five application
Touring with GTX
A COMPANION to the GTX 10 compact 2-way line array module and the larger 3-way GTX 12, the TTR 16K touring amplification rack from TT+ Audio can house up to three XPS 16K 4-channel DSP amplifiers, integrating AC power distribution, signal routing and network connectivity (including a Dante option). Each XPS 16K 4-channel DSP amplifier delivers a full system worth of DSP (including advanced, proprietary algorithms) and 4x4,000W Class-D continuous power at 2.7Ω, 40-bit floating point processing at 96kHz and 32-bit internal routing. A single XPS 16K amplifier powers every four GTX 10 modules. A single TTR 16K touring rack can power a complete 6+6 GTX 10 system with four GTS 29 double 19-inch subwoofers. The racks also feature rugged S-COM
and P-COM multipole connectors for signal and power, network switches for Dante audio transport, AC power inputs and outputs, network control and an easy-toaccess XLR and AES/EBU patch-bay for rapid routing. The rack design
presets, effects such as reverb and delay are also available and can be switched on and off using a footswitch input. The ANNY 8 also provides a holder for a tablet or
between devices.
Meanwhile, the GTS 19G is a hypervented 19-inch subwoofer for low-frequency extension in touring and install applications. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor use,
Power to the max
DESCRIBED AS the most powerful amplifier in its IPX series, Lab Gruppen’s IPX 4800 has been designed to drive larger, more power-hungry subwoofers in larger venues. Suitable for permanent installations, portable AV systems or live PA setups, the compact 4,800W 2-channel amplifier comes with a DSP engine equipped with up to 40 real-time, multislope parametric EQs along with adjustable gain, input and output
delay – and both high- and low-pass filters adjustable to any frequency. The DSP also provides extensive protection for loudspeaker systems thanks to the software-controlled Speaker Protect Limiter. Users can access all setup parameters for input mixing, DSP features and limiter settings on the front panel, using two navigation buttons, a rotary encoder and the backlit display. Individual channel mute buttons are also available, and up
smartphone, as well as a USB-C port for charging, and it can be continuously operated for up to 11 hours when set to ECO mode and 3.5 hours with controls fully turned up. Its Li-Ion battery can be quickly switched out for longer sessions.
The ANNY 8 also features 35mm flange to enable the speaker to be mounted on a stand, while its True Wireless Stereo (TWS) feature enables true stereo streaming when two ANNY 8s are used together.
www.ld-systems.com
to 50 user-defined presets may be stored onboard.
Meanwhile, the E 20:2 2,000W and E 40:2 4,000W 2-channel amplifiers form part of the manufacturer’s E Series and feature Lab Gruppen’s IDEEA (IntelliDrive Energy Efficient Amplifier) technology. Based around a patented Class-D variant output stage, IDEEA produces high power levels with very low distortion while drawing minimal mains current. Rail Sense Limiter (RSL) is also exclusive
it is designed for ground-stacked applications and is recommended for sound systems built around the XPS 16K DSP power platform. Up to eight GTS 19G modules can be connected to a single P-COM 8 connector and controlled via RDNet management software, and the GTS 19G enclosure features three waterproof P-COM 8 pole bayonet connectors on the back panel. Claiming an unconventional motor structure that delivers lowfrequency reproduction using a high-excursion piston, the Italian company says its 19-inch cone and 4-layer inside/outside voice coil is capable of delivering 140dB max SPL, and it can be used vertically, horizontally or in cardioid/endfire configurations.
www.ttaudio.com
to the E Series and reduces signal clipping to ensure high-quality audio output. User configurable for Hi-Z (70V) or Lo-Z, RSL senses rail voltages and optimises each output for instantaneous load conditions. RSL settings also facilitate asymmetric loading of the channels to optimise performance and efficiency. Total available output power can be allocated among the channels as required by the application. This makes it possible, for example, to drive a small sub on one channel and a number of 70V ceiling loudspeakers on the second channel.
www.labgruppen.com
A head of the game
AIMING TO enhance longrange communication across a range of events, the Solidcom SE wireless intercom from Hollyland is a lightweight, full-duplex system providing reliable communication at ranges up to 350m. It can support up to eight headsets, while its frequency hopping technology automatically avoids radio interference for more stable communications in crowded, radionoisy environments. It comes with advanced Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) technology which helps dispel water and wind noise resistance and supports a signal-to-noise ratio of 71dB. Detachable batteries promote minimal downtime. Headsets can be charged using Hollyland’s standard battery charging stations, and also support USB-C charging.
roaming technology to addresses the common on-set challenge of
production, camera and lighting, with added role and number customisation for enhanced on-set
The Solidcom C1 Pro – Roaming Hub is compatible with the Solidcom C1 and C1 Pro headsets. It offers two industry-standard mounting -inch and 3⁄8 -inch, which enable the attachment of a wide variety of accessories, such as tripods and light stands. On more complex productions, communication is frequently hindered by signal obstructions and the need for constant reconnection as crew members move and reposition, which can have a major impact on a team’s overall ability to
communicate effectively and adhere to a production schedule. When the wireless headset of the Solidcom C1 Pro – Roaming Hub enters the boundary area of the coverage of two hubs, the system will automatically identify and switch to the hub device with a stronger signal and disconnect from the original hub device. The switching process is said to be swift, the user’s communication connection will not be affected and the voice quality will always remain clear and stable. Even if the user moves quickly in a complex environment, the communication will not be interrupted due to signal loss. www.hollyland.com
Specifically designed for largescale productions, the Solidcom C1 Pro – Roaming Hub incorporates new
environments. In addition, the effective range of a single hub has increased from the previous max line of sight of 350m to 500m, bolstering reliability and flexibility on large sets. It also supports up to six communication groups, making it suitable for streamlined coordination across various departments like
Solidcom C1 Pro – Roaming Hub
Solidcom SE
PRODUCTS
AHM high with 1.5 firmware
AIMING TO streamline workflows for systems integrators and engineers, Allen & Heath’s V1.5 firmware expands the feature set of the company’s AHM series of matrix processors to include EQ ganging, all-pass filters, NTP support and user permissions. The EQ ganging feature allows users to gang together any parametric EQ to enable relative, absolute or mirrored changes on the fly. A bypass option has also been added to quickly punch a single PEQ band in or out, and the Q bandwidth is tighter for demanding applications. Meanwhile, enhanced PA processing
tools make it easier to fine-tune any sound system; each speaker processing band now benefits from an all-pass filter, switchable between 1st and 2nd order, and stereo output zones can now be configured with a mono sub. Crossover frequencies can also be linked or unlinked per band for ultimate filter flexibility and control.
AHM 1.5 also includes Network Time Protocol (NTP) support, a granular System Manager permissions feature that allows for up to 10 password-protected user profiles and the ability to patch zone
The XPoint mixer rotary function for IP1 and IP6 transforms a single rotary control into a full room mixer, providing end users with intuitive,
Better support, better performance
ENABLING USERS to design, configure, control, monitor and apply signal processing to its L Class compatible loudspeaker systems, QSC has launched a major v2.1 update to its SysNav (System Navigator) software. The release introduces a range of features, including an inventory function to create and save systems offline, as well as connect virtual loudspeakers and arrays to physical devices. It adds system design functionality to enable array and loudspeaker inventories and DSP settings to be created, saved, recalled and applied to physical devices, as well as user-adjustable EQ and filters; these include a
HOME
6-band parametric EQ and high-pass filters for use with QSC and generic active subwoofers. V2.1 makes improvements and refinements to the SysNav AIM (Array Installation
hangs 10
TAKING THE number of HOME apps into double figures, Lawo’s HOME Downstream Keyer is a video app that the German broadcast specialist says is closer to what a vision mixer provides than to what operators expect from a
downstream keying function of the past. Providing comprehensive keying and mixing capabilities to meet production needs and enable additional channel branding, HOME Downstream Keyer allows operators to simultaneously and
Modeling) prediction tool and updates firmware for the LA108 and LA112 active line array loudspeakers. The update also provides support for the LS118 active subwoofer,
which QSC has announced delivers additional performance above and beyond its published preliminary specification. The company says it now boasts a 4,000W power amplifier that produces a clean and undistorted 138dB of peak SPL. Further refinements include the ability to generate a cardioid radiation pattern using two or more units, providing up to 15dB of rejection behind the subwoofers’ arrangement, and an onboard DSP that provides optimal cardioid performance for back-to-back, side-by-side and stacked deployments.
www.qsc.com
independently transition up to three key layers over an A/B background mix. It comes with eight ST 2110-20 receivers and two ST 2110-20 transmitters. Each of the three keyers can perform Luma, Linear or Self keying to provide the desired processing for high-end broadcast graphics designed with transparency and drop shadows. As part of the HOME Apps suite, HOME Downstream Keyer can be deployed in both SDR and HDR workflows. It supports SMPTE ST 2110 (including JPEG XS), NDI and SRT, with Dante AV transport available in a future release. Like all HOME Apps, HOME Downstream Keyer can be licensed perpetually or on an ad-hoc basis.
The Lawo Virtual Sound Card (VSC) for macOS 14 (Sonoma) is a virtual audio device that enables integration of Apple desktops and
laptops into Ravenna/AES67 AoIP networks. Providing both a free and an enhanced licensed version, Lawo VSC runs as a background service and converts local audio into Ravenna/AES67 streams. The licensed VSC version offers support for up to 128 audio devices, 128 senders and receivers, and sample rates up to 96kHz. It also includes features like PTP synchronisation, multicast and unicast streaming, and adherence to SMPTE ST 2110 and ST 2022-7 standards for redundancy. The free version offers basic functionality with one virtual audio device and two channels. Lawo VSC integrates with Lawo HOME, providing centralised management and discovery of devices via mDNS and SAP.
www.lawo.com
function and new display options for IP1, IP6 and IP8 are also included.
Brace yourself for a recording double
BOASTING THE ability to undertake recording tasks commonly associated with larger devices, the FR-AV2 from Tascam is a compact 32-bit float field recorder and timecode generator with mixer.
The handheld device features dual ADCs with 32-bit float point record capability and supports sample rates up to 192kHz, reportedly a unique feature for recorders of this size. With its dual analogueto-digital converter technology, Tascam says it is impossible to clip the recording; when editing audio recorded in 32-bit float, quiet passages can be brought up in level while louder parts can be scaled down without introducing additional noise.
cameras and audio, and can synchronise and receive timecode from other timecode gear, including JamSync. Bluetooth wireless timecode synchronisation using AK-BT2 and Atomos UltraSync BLUE products is also available.
The FR-AV2 has dual XLR/TRS inputs with an EIN (Equivalent
The FR-AV2 also supports wireless Bluetooth audio monitoring to give users the ability to check microphone placement, monitor incoming signal levels and alert them to unwanted background noises in real time. The FR-AV2 can also generate timecode to enable videographers to synchronise
Input Noise) of –127dBu, and with two dual XLR/TRS combo jacks it can accommodate most types of external gear. The FR-AV2 can function both as a standalone recorder or as a USB audio interface, it can be connected to iOS devices, Mac or PC computers, and it can be used as a 2-in/2-out USB audio interface via the USB-C port.
Neutrik heads onstage
EXTENDING ITS
“gig-ready” robust stageboxes, Neutrik has added the NA-4I4OAES72 4-channel AES72-4E model. Complementing the manufacturer’s series of NA2 I-O DLINE devices, it shares the same signature ruggedised, miniature form factor. AES72-4E defines a standard and wiring scheme for the assigning and transmitting of four channels of analogue or AES3 digital audio signals, DMX control signals or various other COMS signals, via a single RJ45 connected quad twisted pair Cat cable, providing for lower complexity connectivity networks with reduced cable, connector, installation and termination costs and requirements.
Meanwhile, Tascam’s Studio Bridge is a standalone 24-track audio recorder with a 24-channel USB audio interface that acts as a bridge between analogue and digital domains. Users can record directly to the product itself, which supports Punch In/Out and uses SDXC cards up to 512GB as storage media, or record to a DAW using the device as a 24-in/24-out interface. The Studio Bridge can be used on a desktop or rack-mounted for integration with analogue vintage consoles and outboard gear. It handles 24-bit audio at 44.1kHz and 48kHz, and simplifies mix summing by allowing recorded tracks to be output from an analogue console and summed with outboard gear before being recorded back into the DAW or recorder itself. Summing is also possible from tape or tracks recorded using the Studio Bridge. As a USB MIDI interface, the Studio Bridge can synchronise with
MIDI instruments and devices such as drum machines and sequencers. It features dual footswitch control for customisable functions, and a Mac and Windows control panel, including a meter bridge for visually monitoring signals and adjusting parameters.
Finally, Tascam’s free v2.0 firmware update for its Portacapture X8 and Portacapture X6 portable audio recorders introduces the Pocketstudio app. Designed especially for musicians, the Pocketstudio app delivers the familiarity of the Portastudio-style interface and a host of features like overdub and mixdown. Tascam says it empowers users to mix all existing tracks to a 2-channel stereo file, import, then continue overdubbing to take four or six tracks and turn them into many more.
www.tascam.com
The rubber-encased unit has been specifically designed
Each input features ground lift and polarity inversion switches –preventing ground loops and correcting possible polarity flips within the signal path; and the NA-4I4O-AES72 will pass phantom power when used with shielded STP-type Cat cables. With input signals present at the corresponding XLR outputs, the NA-4I4O-AES72 also provides for the splitting of these signals for monitoring. Self-locking etherCON ports on both rear and front fascia respectively provide for transmission of the AES72-4E assigned input signals and the feedthrough of other AES72-4E signals to loop these to other devices, such as mixing
connectivity. It is designed for a variety of broadcast applications, including multiple STL (Studio-toTransmitter Link) connections and remote contributions, allowing users to start with eight bidirectional stereo channels and expand up to 64 channels in the same 1U 19-inch rack unit. Its front panel features a full-colour, high-resolution display used to show general status of the unit as well as the configuration of the network interfaces and software versions, while the rear has five
AES67/Dante. It boasts two AC power supplies and features local audio inputs and outputs that can connect with other audio devices using AES67/Dante.
It can also be installed as an application on a commercial server, or operate in a virtualised environment and controlled through a web interface. In order to achieve unified control with other AEQ audio codecs, it can also be controlled from AEQ’s ControlPhoenix software, while an API is available to integrate
Altair expands the IPcom ecosystem
FOLLOWING THE conception of the IPcom intercoms system in 2022, Altair has enhanced its ecosystem with the addition of the AirP4ck wireless beltpack. Incorporating cue lights denoting send and receive communications for duplex operation, the 4-channel IPBW-304 operates in the 1.9GHz licence-free frequency band. Digitally encrypted for secure communications, the beltpack also features a built-in speaker and talkback mic for desktop use. Remote GPIO functionality promotes digital management of parameters including battery live and coverage. Operating
within a range of 50–350m around base antennas, the removeable battery can operate for up to 12 hours.
The IPD-3 AirP4ck wireless base antenna ensures digitally encrypted secure communications for up to eight beltpacks, and to a maximum of 40 beltpack users with multiple antennas. The PoE remote-powered antenna requires an RJ45 cable for connectivity and external antenna ports reinforce the coverage.
it with third-party applications. Apart from the recommended OPUS algorithm and the uncompressed PCM format, it incorporates the G711 and G722 algorithms to communicate with VoIP devices. For special uses, C and apt-X encoding algorithms are available.
Meanwhile, AEQ’s audio codecs enable the Smart RTP communications protocol to simplify connectivity, and they support SIP and other commonly used encoding algorithms, including those in the N/ACIP EBU Tech3326 recommendation.
Yamaha stands tall with König & Meyer
YAMAHA HAS collaborated with stand manufacturer König & Meyer to produce a range of bracket and stand hardware which is fully compatible with Yamaha equipment. The first
Operating over a LAN with a managed PoE switch, the IPcom system does not require a dedicated
Heavy-duty player for liveoperated applications
COREPLAY SOLO is an easyto-operate, single-channel, 4K@60Hz media player from Analog Way designed for live-operated
applications. With a user interface featuring interactive programme and preview panels, playlists and professional playback controls, the
digital audio, 24-bits/48kHz can be streamed over IP, under the proprietary Altair protocol. Capable of hosting up to 128 users and 128 groups, the IPcom network can be shared with other systems. Accessories include an AC/DC adaptor, A100 headsets and antennas including cable extensions and dividers.
www.altairaudio.com
system operates what the company describes as a Program – Preview –Take concept. This allows operators to prepare and fine-tune the media on the preview without disrupting playback on the programme feed, making the system safe to operate live and enabling operators to make changes to the show even during an event. The CorePlay Solo natively supports a variety of different codecs as well as non-standard resolutions. Additionally, while the CorePlay Solo can drive the display directly, it also acts as a complementary product to Analog Way presentation switchers.
www.analogway.com
two products from the collaboration, the 19400 and 19410, will be stands that are compatible with the manufacturer’s monitor speakers and analogue mixers.
The 19400 is an adapter that mounts a small mixer or monitor speaker on a microphone stand. This solution is aimed at musicians who want a mixer at their fingertips or to set up a simple loudspeaker system. It is fully compatible with the MG series analogue mixers, the mixer section of STAGEPAS BT series portable PA systems and MSP3A powered monitor speakers.
The 19410 allows equipment to be installed on a desk or other surface using a clamp. The stand allows the position and angle of the speakers to be adjusted and it is compatible with the MSP3A powered monitor and MS101-4 compact speaker for multipurpose applications. It has been designed to enable freedom in installations and for locations where working space is limited.
www.k-m.de/en
www.yamaha.com/2/proaudio
19410
Plugging into the network
AJA HAS extended its Diskover Media Edition plugin network for PixitMedia’s Ngenea data orchestration solution and Spectra Logic’s RioBroker, a media management and archiving platform, alongside a v2.3 software update. The latest developments are said to give AJA Diskover Media Edition users more flexibility to work with a broader range of toolsets and data catalogues with greater efficiency, allowing them to make more informed decisions about the data that lives on their local, remote and cloud storage.
A plugin from AJA and PixitMedia provides direct access to the data orchestrator in the Ngenea Data Acceleration Platform within the Diskover Media Edition UI. The integration enables users to view data across their storage in Diskover Media Edition and then transfer it to the appropriate destinations using Ngenea, a secure solution for transporting data to/from globally distributed cloud, object and tape storage, and traditional networkattached storage (NAS), without leaving the Diskover Media Edition UI.
The RioBroker plugin ensures customers can view, access and make more informed decisions about the content in their archives (object, tape and cloud). It also helps drive media retention policies to retain and preserve content on appropriate storage classes, balancing cost and
speed of access. Organisations can now make these decisions without going through the time-consuming process of restoring these files to disk and scanning them. With the integration, AJA Diskover Media Edition mines the RioBroker archive database for file metadata and
presents it to the user, providing extensive insight into what lies within their modern-day archives. Meanwhile, the manufacturer has also announced a preview of Virtual KONA, a software-defined, virtualised video capture/playback solution that is being developed in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Virtual KONA integrates the AJA NTV2 Software Development Kit (SDK), which is used by developers to build highquality workflow solutions with AJA video I/O cards, together with AWS Cloud Digital Interface (CDI). AWS CDI is a network technology for transporting high-quality, uncompressed video inside the cloud with high reliability and latency as low as 8ms. Combined, the technologies break down the barriers between on-premises and cloud for media production, allowing third-party developers to build solutions across both environments for a range of applications spanning broadcast through livestreaming, post and beyond.
www.aja.com
Diskover Media Edition v2.3
PRODUCTS
Blackmagic introduces 17K cinema camera
BLACKMAGIC’S URSA Cine
17K 65 is a digital film camera that includes a new large-format 65mm format RGBW 17520x8040 sensor. The larger sensor builds on the technology of the URSA Mini Pro 12K with larger photo-sites leading to 16 stops of dynamic range. The RGBW architecture reportedly provides
been designed for use in highend production. The camera has multiple mounting options, while the fold-out monitor has a 5-inch HDR touchscreen on one side and an external colour status LCD on the other.
Another addition to the Australian manufacturer’s lineup is the PYXIS
Slim pickings
SHOWCASING AN ultra-slim 1.9mm pitch, the Rem Mira from Chauvet Professional is a modular indoor videowall system with a thin profile that not only simplifies direct wall mounting, but also offers easy front installation and servicing of its universal magnetic LED modules. With high-performance LED drivers delivering a 3,840Hz refresh rate for camera-friendly operation in highdemand applications, the company says that combining NovaStar A10s
monitor designed for the Blackmagic
Beyond functioning monitor, it allows
light that can be seen at a distance, and there are three customisable buttons for quick access to zebra, focus assist and false colour. The manufacturer says that these custom buttons can be located by feel, even when using the monitor from the front.
Furthermore, ATEM
PYXIS Monitor works with the URSA Cine. When recording, the monitor has a bright tally
Lastly, an update for ATEM Switchers has added support for Visca-over-IP camera control on all ATEM Constellation models. With software 9.6.2, customers can now control up to 100 PTZ cameras via their network using the IP address of the camera. This also adds audio output mapping for all Constellation HD models, as well as new multiview and SuperSource features for HD and 4K models. It also provides support for 30fps and 60fps formats in all HD, UltraHD and 8K standards for ATEM Constellation 8K. Previously available on the 4K and 8K models, the 9.6.2 update adds the ability to
Vizrt has a Vizion
VIZRT HAS expanded its TriCaster range with the TriCaster Vizion and TriCaster Mini S. The TriCaster Vizion is the new flagship TriCaster that offers the latest in IP connectivity, configurable SDI I/O supplied by Matrox devices, switching, audio mixing and state-of-the-art graphics. It features TriCaster Graphics powered by Viz Flowics as standard, as well as AI-powered automation of time-consuming tasks. The TriCaster Vizion comes with a variety of licensing options and with a choice of two different hardware platforms supported by HP, so teams in networks or enterprises can decide
what suits them best. Support is built into both the perpetual and subscription licensing options.
The TriCaster Mini S is an entry-level, software-only solution for content creators and smaller productions, making professional-grade production capabilities “more accessible than ever”. It possesses robust IP connectivity, 4Kp60 streaming and integrated TriCaster Graphics powered by Viz Flowics as standard. Features include live video switching, virtual sets, special effects, audio mixing, recording, social media publishing and web streaming. Using a simple software download, users have the
video outputs. This means customers can connect a range of audio sources and send them to various embedded audio outputs so they can be recorded on a HyperDeck. If the HyperDeck is set to multichannel audio recording, then they will have all the source audio needed for an audio engineer to completely remix the audio in postproduction.
www.blackmagicdesign.com
and 0.5m x 0.5m sizes, the Rem Mira is designed to work with the COEX VMP platform and MX-series processors/senders. Its magnetic LED modules make replacement and servicing simple, while linking hardware is integrated into frames to make building bigger screens much faster. The ultra-slim design allows for cabinets to be mounted very close to walls to reduce side profile.
www.chauvetprofessional.com
choice of any approved hardware or to use their own.
In brief, the manufacturer has also announced that two of its cloud-ready video production switchers – the
are now available in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace.
www.vizrt.com
TriCaster Vectar and TriCaster Now –
PYXIS Monitor
URSA Cine 17K 65
Epson’s EB-PQ Series targets large spaces
DESIGNED TO enhance the viewing experience in large spaces, Epson’s EB-PQ series of high-brightness 4K projectors comprises five models –the EB-PQ2008B, EB-PQ2010B, EB-PQ2213B, EB-PQ2216B and EB-PQ2220B – and offers an enhancement to the existing EB-PU WUXGA range. The models house two technologies designed to improve visual output. 4K Crystal Motion technology is said to offer “stunning” image quality, while 3LCD technology
by adjusting the needed column or row point by point, using a projected maximum 33x33 matrix. Settings in the Multi-Projection menu enable users to set up multiple projectors that work together to display a single unified image. The series also features a new simple blending function as part of its geometry correction abilities that is suited for complex projections on curved surfaces.
Each projector in the EB-PQ series is supplied as “body only”, without a
The models range from 8,000–20,000 lumens output, with the EB-PQ2220B and EB-PQ2010B said to be the world’s smallest and lightest 20,000and 10,000-lumen 4K projectors, respectively. The EB-PQ2220B weighs 29.2kg, while the EB-PQ2010B weighs 18.8kg.
The EB-PQ series features a new freeze-capture function that can save a projected screen test pattern and use it for future displays. With a more precise point correction function, projected images can be fine-tuned
communication (NFC) and an optional and attachable ELPEC01 camera to streamline multi-projector setups. They also support Epson’s cloud-based EPMC solution.
Lastly, the EB-PQ2213B, EB-PQ2216B and EB-PQ2220B feature a hermetically sealed IP5X key optical engine and laser light source. According to the manufacturer, they are the most dust-resistant of all currently available Epson products.
www.epson.com
Four on the floor
WITH FOUR fresh-to-market products, Italian lighting expert Claypaky has been busy. The Ultimo Hybrid combines an IP66 rating and extended lamp life in a compact, lightweight fixture. Powered by a 550W short-arc lamp, it delivers a 19,000-lumen output and a lifespan of up to 4,000 hours, while its motorised linear zoom delivers precise coverage in both projection modes from tightly focused beams to evenly collimated spots. Despite its compact size, the fixture boasts a 160mm front lens, an advanced four-focal plane shutter system, a complete colour mixing system and a rich package of gobos and effects.
Quik on the uptake
COMBINING EASE
accurate performance and rapid setup, the QuikSpot is a flexible battery-powered LED lighting fixture by Astera designed to meet the demands of fast-paced environments in big events and media productions.
The QuikSpot is an IP65-rated, zoomable, single-source spotlight that aims to bridge the gap between lighting applications and maximise ROI.
Weighing just 3.5kg, the QuikSpot is Astera’s brightest luminaire under 60W and produces up to 3,000 lux at 3m (13°). A new OutputGain feature allows users to choose between maximum output and deep colour saturates, or higher CRI with perfect skin tones. Meanwhile, its QuikTurn zoom mechanism offers a 13–60° zoom range and achieves wider beam angles free from colour shifting and multiple shadows. The beam can be further shaped via elliptical rotatable filters and the SafetyLinkready barndoors.
Another advantage is in its front diameter, as all existing AX5 front attachments such as filters, domes and snoots will also fit the QuikSpot. But unlike the AX5, the QuikSpot uses Astera’s proprietary Titan LED
The Ultimo Hybrid also features Claypaky’s proprietary Absolute Position Innovation, a system that remembers the fixture’s exact position in real time without requiring a reset, even after power interruptions. The company has also introduced the Tambora Rays, a blend of volumetric effects and single pixel mapping with 9x3 rows of high-power RGBWW LEDs. With pixel-to-pixel
Engine colour-mixing system with OutputGain, providing rich, deep colours alongside in-camera advantages and a sleek aesthetic. The QuikSpot offers both wired and wireless operation, with a maximum battery run time of 4.5 hours at full power with OutputGain activated, and up to 20 hours in energy-saving mode. When used wirelessly, the QuikSpot’s inbuilt batteries can be charged directly in the case and through electrical contacts. Meanwhile, rigging options include a removable yoke, TrackPin
light in a compact size, while the Mini-B Sparky Aqua is an IP66-rated fixture featuring high-output RGBW SMD LEDs arranged in 10 individually controllable concentric circles.
www.claypaky.it
Tambora Rays
Ultimo Hybrid
The voice for more choice
AIMING TO
more control over their workflows, ChamSys has unveiled three new products specifically engineered to give users more choices. The MagicQ Compact Wing is a compact expansion wing that provides physical access to more faders and more playbacks, opening up more creative opportunities. Styled to match the MQ50/70 Compact Consoles, the portable MagicQ Compact Wing offers 10 fader and 10 executor playbacks, all of which feature a large full-colour display with legends located directly above each one. All 10 playback faders feature Flash, Go and Select (via its touch display), while the 10 space-saving Executor playbacks employ a Select and Execute button for each one. Suitable for live events, ChamSys says this adaptable product can also be used in any application where additional playbacks are wanted for extended control.
Four at 30
GLP IS celebrating 30 years in lighting with the launch of four products. With one eye on festival use, GLP says the IP65-rated Mad Maxx is the first real LED fat beam light, boasting a 750mm beam diameter that can be used as a SkyBeam as well as a fat bam onstage. Compared to alternative 3kW or 7kW Xenon fixtures, the Mad Maxx is compact and doesn’t need high ampere power infrastructure; with only 2,500W, the fixture can easily be connected to the normal power distribution network.
The Fusion EXO Hybrid 40 is the latest member of GLP’s Exo Series and is a beam-spot LED fixture with a 380W white light LED, a 135mm front lens and a zoom
the GeNetix TouchScene series. Designed for the installation market, the GeNetix TouchScene and the GeNetix TouchScene MINI are wallmounted touchpanel displays that enable remote scene activations at the press of a button. With cues provided through a ChamSys control system, the TouchScene family provide precise remote control of the system across various levels of operation. The larger TouchScene features an 8-inch display, while the Touch MINI has a 4-inch screen. Both integrate with MagicQ, QuickQ and GeNetix Nodes for cue activation, and both have customisable UI layout designs when connected to MagicQ Quick Q Systems. The TouchScene display can be customised for flexibility, can show faders instead of buttons or a combination of both.
www.chamsyslighting.com
In two places at once with Titan
DELIVERING THE flexibility of programming looks on the fly, without having to keep going back and forth from the stage to the console, Avolites’ Titan remote app has been given a significant upgrade. Working alongside Avolites lighting consoles running Titan software, the upgrade delivers a raft of additional functionality and means that any Avolites lighting console can be remote-controlled over Wi-Fi from any Android or iOS mobile device. The update enables users to connect to a console and select and control fixtures, as well as change or modify fixture attributes, such as pan/tilt. It also provides the functionality to update, create
and apply palettes, record and play cues, issue command-style fixture selection and intensity control, quickly Sketch Legends and view DMX address patches. Boasting optimised screen layouts and the ability to discover the console manually using its IP address, multiple remote devices can be connected to the console allowing an operator to continue working on it while another user programmes or updates palettes via the remote. Avolites says this is particularly useful when the front of house view is obscured or a significant distance away from the lighting rig or stage.
www.avolites.com
them perfectly tailored for a variety of applications. Meanwhile, the S500 Profile HO (High Output) version provides 66% more output compared to the impression S350 with its efficient 7,000K, 40,000-lumen LED engine. Finally, the JDC Burst 1 is an outdoor LED tiltable strobe and wash light with a powerful white strobe line, two RGBW LED plates for clean white punch and 12 4-RGBW segments. Similar in size to the JDC1, the JDC Burst 1 contains 1,090 RGBW LEDs (550W), 144 white LEDs (1,120W), selectable white points (6,500K and 5,600K), 16-bit dimming and fast 190° tilt.
www.glp.de
Mad Maxx
MagicQ Compact Wing
Beams of sunlight
ELATION HAS added to its Sōl Blinder series with the Sōl II and Sōl IV. Both are equipped with the same RGBLAW LED engine and accept the same front lens accessories as the Sōl I Blinder. With ultra-bright 2- and 4-cell configurations, the Sōl II and Sōl IV feature RGB+Lime+Amber+White LED engines with 93+ CRI and an IP65 rating. The Sōl II’s two 350W LED engines radiate a combined 30,750 lumens of output, while the Sōl IV comes with four 350W engines delivering 59,830 lumens. They can be used as standalone
Silent Light
BALANCING SILENT operation with
units or integrated into larger lighting designs.
The Sōl II is two fixtures in one modular unit, offering greater flexibility for creative configurations and designs. Its housing allows connection on all sides, reportedly making it easier to build expansive lighting arrays, custom shapes and versatile effects panels. The Sōl IV, with its grid of four fixtures, can be interconnected in “endless configurations” with additional Sōl IV units, as well as the Sōl I and Sōl II models, giving designers the freedom to create expansive arrays, intricate
Silent measures 13dBa at full intensity and with background noise removed; for context sound pressure levels less than 20dBa are considered inaudible. Convection-cooled to eliminate distracting sounds, the luminaire brings 18,400 lumens as well as a 5.5–60° zoom range, and boasts a patented colour mixing system using 12 flags. The company says these colour sets deliver brighter, more consistent pastels as well as deeper saturation, and can be controlled via combined or individual flag control modes. The unit includes a host of gobos on two rotating gobo wheels, full curtain framing along with the Trifusion system for diffusion control from sharp projections to heavy washes and control of the angular position of animations via a continuously variable rotating animation wheel.
The lighting manufacturer has also introduced its latest automated lighting solution, the Zeo. This multifunctional moving light can serve as a blinder, strobe, wash, beam or effect light.
events, the Zeo’s look is defined by its centre LED monolith surrounded by four RGBW LEDs and a patented
The square face design is partnered
wherever it’s needed with the Zeo’s full pan/tilt functionality. From narrow 13° beams to wide 55° washes, the Zeo provides a variety of looks to the stage. As a blinder, the Zeo exceeds 30,000
programmers working at any level. Users can easily execute strobe macros, plus inclusive macros with built-in colour or flex macros with customisable colours. For additional versatility, each cell can be individually
shapes and dynamic effects. Both models come equipped with fully variable 16-bit colour temperature adjustment (1,800–8,500K), dim-to-
ADJ’s expanding catalogue
LIGHTING MANUFACTURER
ADJ has expanded several existing product lines, as well as released new additions to its catalogue. The Ultra Beam Bar 12CW features 12 20W 6,200K (cool white) LEDs which each output a distinct beam of light with a concise 5° beam angle. Smooth dimming
active décor and materials to glow vividly. The fixture has a wide beam angle of 120°, allowing a single unit to cover a wide area of a stage or crowd space. It also offers 0–100% dimming, variable speed strobing and an adjustable refresh rate. Other new additions include the 40 HEX Panel IP LED wash panel fixture
control allows each LED pixel to be controlled separately, either via DMX or using the fixture’s 13 built-in chase programmes. A “pixel flip” mode is also included, which inverts chase patterns to run in the same direction regardless of the orientation of the unit.
The Hydro Flex L19 and Hydro
with 40 20W RGBAL+UV colour mixing LEDs, the Encore DBX IP65rated full colour twin cell audience blinder/strobe, the Vintage X and Vintage Bar which have been designed to provide a focal point within a lighting rig and the PC415X power distribution centre.
www.adj.com
Sōl II and Sōl IV
Ultra Beam Bar 12CW
UV Par 100IP
Halcyon Silent
Zeo
Trust in the system
A2B Media provides AVL production, integration and support to houses of worship in central Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region
A2B SOUND WAS FOUNDED BY Alex Beitzel in 2009 to provide high-quality audio, video and lighting production and integrated solutions. Initially focusing primarily on audio for houses of worship, Beitzel decided to rebrand as A2B Media in 2020 to better encapsulate the variety of support the company offers for all audio, video, lighting, broadcast and AVL control systems in HOWs. The majority of the integrator’s projects are found in the northeast area of the United States, although increasingly Beitzel and his team are travelling all over the east coast, along with a few projects in the Midwest, and have recently been involved in a production event in Tucson, Arizona.
“We provide services for both integration as well as production, so we’re working on permanent installations and one-off events,” explains Beitzel. “We don’t believe in cookie-cutter solutions – each event or venue is unique, and
the system needs to be perfectly tailored to that application – so we always create a custom design for every project we work on. We also pride ourselves on providing a high return on investment and installing solutions that will serve the client for years to come.”
Even though churches come in all shapes and sizes, Beitzel believes that the aim is always the same –to provide a bespoke, long-lasting AVL solution that looks and sounds great. With churches on tighter budgets, the A2B Media owner will always recommend that the project is broken into phases over a period of time to allow the right solution to be specified for the space, rather than opting for a lower-quality solution over a shorter period of time.
Along with the company’s rebranding in 2020, the pandemic also found Beitzel and his team heading in a slightly different
direction. “The pandemic didn’t necessarily change the core of what we do, but it emphasised the need to be flexible in your model and marketing strategies. Customer needs temporarily shifted, and we had a wave of broadcast/streaming systems in 2020, but things have settled back down now to more of an even balance of audio, video, lighting and broadcast installations. There’s still a more widespread focus on streaming/broadcast but, now, the majority of our projects and perspectives are in alignment with pre-2020.”
And it’s this focus on video and lighting, not just audio, that Beitzel has seen as an emerging trend in recent years. “The number of customers we now have requesting both video and lighting solutions has grown significantly recently, and it looks set to carry on increasing,” he adds. “The other trend we’ve seen is the desire of almost all
our church clients to create a more immersive experience for its worshippers, which I’m definitely in favour of. We’re able to do this by using all the tools available (audio, video, lighting, broadcast) to really allow people to enter into worship without being distracted by anything happening in the room. The integration of all these elements working perfectly together has been one of our biggest focuses when it comes to the system designs that we’re implementing.”
However, creating solutions that are also straightforward for volunteers to operate is equally as important for Beitzel. “One thing that makes us stand out is that when we leave, we make sure that the volunteer team is confident with the system that has been installed,” he explains. “We’ve worked with a variety of clients where previous integrators completed the installation and walked out the door with a very elementary and short training. As a result, we have increased our focus on volunteers feeling comfortable at the end of the project so that the quality of the service remains high, even after the A2B Media team members have left the site.”
It seems to be a winning formula for Beitzel and his team. “Word of mouth is 95% of our marketing so it’s fantastic knowing that people trust you and they’re happy recommending you to someone else. We’re fairly active on social media but, outside of that, word of mouth is absolutely the most effective tool. People don’t Google systems integrators –they ask around and look for recommendations. And when people recommend you, it means they like what you did. We’ve had a fantastic year, which is amazing –being really busy is a great problem to have!”
www.a2bpro.media
Alex Beitzel
A2B Media installed a Danley and DAS Audio setup at The Meeting House in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
