Production Musings

Sharing a few “Thanks”

// February 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Thoughts

Soooo, apparently I have a mail slot in the green room I didn’t know about!  Colin happened upon it today at the worship team auditions and noticed that it had 3 envelopes inside.  I have no idea how long these have been there!  They were thank you cards to the technical production teams….and I thought this would be a great way to share them with the team!  I love serving with these folks each week and the words written in each card truly are an accurate depiction of where their hearts are!

BRCC Lighting Team:  I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for all that you do for our Drama Team.  You guys put the icing on the cake and make it easy for us to do what we do on Sunday mornings.  I don’t know if you guys ever get thanked for the work you do but I hope you know that it does not go unnoticed.   So, thanks again and we/I really appreciate what you do. THANKS ALOT!
:: unsigned

Sound Team: I just wanted to take a minute and let you know how much I appreciate your part in the services at BRCC. You guys are there throughout the week, early Sunday morning, and any other time needed. I don’t hear any complaints or disgruntles. You just simply and quietly and consistently do a great job. I know when I’m sitting at a service enjoying the music that a huge part of that is because of you. I also know that is because of you. I also know that you don’t do it for any glory of your own, but out of appreciation for what God has done and is doing for you (each of you) personally. Just know that even though you are behind the scenes that you are not unnoticed. It’s an honor to serve with you guys. Thanks,
:: Brian

Sound Team: I just wanted to say “Thanks” for all the great work you do. It can’t be easy working with so many different people each week and getting the sound right. And then always being so alert if anything was to happen. Just want to let you know that you do a fabulous job! Thanks,
:: Bruce

Thank you! We love what we do….we genuinely do!

Simple Audio Visuals to Communicate

// February 5th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Video

I suppose “simple” is a relative word depending on variables such as knowledge, skill, experience, available time, etc.  I wanted to demonstrate a few media elements my good friend and house-mate, Colin Harman, put together to help setup or support our teaching team recently or within the past few months. I would link to his blog….but I’m trying to encourage him to get his new one up and running.

Fear ::  This media element was created to set up some of the fears that people may have about God.  I did some perusing on several message boards online that where folks were expressing their fears about God and also jotted down a few that we sometimes hear around here from people who have recently accepted Christ.  I gave this list to Colin and he did the rest!  He’s quite the typophile.  Typeface used: Din Pro.  He spent a little bit of time writing the music himself and 106 AE layers later…this is what we had:

Galatians 6 ::  This one is probably my favorite.  One day we were house sitting for a good friend of ours, Gary Rodgers.  We both made a mental note that if ever we needed a great voice for a voice over, he was a guy we should call.  So, along came this project.  I called Gary and made the ask.  A few days later he showed up.  I used Sound Device’s USBPre as an interface and the Electro Voice RE-20 microphone inclosed in some extra Clearsonic baffle panels we had left over from a drum shield.  I finished the recording and again transferred my work to Colin where he put the most effort into the project.  Here are his specs:  Typeface: Lubalin Graph  ::  406 layers. Music: Hammock – “Passing Away”. All of our music is either original or used with permission from the artist. We’ve found that if we contact the artist via email and explain what we’re making and how we’re using it, in most cases they’ll grant permission to use their music. Since we both dig obscure ambient music, it’s works out well! Here ya go:

Sweet Stop Motion

// February 4th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Thoughts

Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved by small amounts between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames are played as a continuous sequence.

I came across this video recently that highlights a great little tune by Oren Lavie called “Her Morning Elegance.” The video was directed by Yuval and Merav Nathan as well as Oren Lavie. From all I’ve read, it was shot with a still photograph camera placed above the bed over a 2 day period. The video is made up of over 3,000 still images. In my mind, stop motion has been a kind of novelty way of making a video but in this case it’s just beautifully done! Here’s one I find myself watching over and over!

The Question I Didn’t Think Of

// February 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Audio, Thoughts

Last week a friend from another local church asked me for advice for splitting several of their audio signals and asked for my thoughts on the best way to go about this.  After a few more questions, I suggested using a transformer isolated splitter and used the old analogy of splitting a water hose.  If you and I want to wash our cars at the same time but only have one water hose, we could add a simple “Y” split in the hose.  After all, it’s cheap, quick, and easy!  The problem, however, arises when you take the nozzle of one side of the split and begin washing your car.  All goes well for a while, that is, until I take the other nozzle and begin washing mine.  Now we have a water pressure problem!

The same thing happens with audio when we use a simple “Y” splitter.  A transformer isolator solves this problem by isolating both side of the split signal.  Now a FOH tech can adjust his gain structure without affecting the signal going to, say, an audio/video recording tech, monitor tech, etc.

In my friends case, they wanted to split the signal coming to the FOH console to the console and also to their Aviom system.  We settled on the Whirlwind MLTSP1x2 splitter for the job.

A few days pass.

I get a call.  “Drew, it doesn’t seem to be working right.  The band can’t hear the signal.”  Now, they have a wonderful FOH guy named Derrick who spends a great deal of time and energy supporting the band and teaching team at their church.  So, after hanging out with Derrick and looking at the problem this past Saturday afternoon, we both agreed that the splitter was connected correctly (and I’ll add that it was done beautifully).  And then I noticed the problem, and the the error I had made.  They were using the Aviom AN-16/I.

It’s designed for Line Level inputs.  We were sending it Mic level inputs.  Totally different input sensitivities!  What would be nice to have in this case, if the funds were available, would be the Aviom AN-16/I-M Input Module that’s made to receive both Line Level and Mic Level inputs.

So, my friends, be careful before giving advice. In my case, it came down to one question I didn’t ask, “What are we splitting into?” Really, it’s a pretty small issue. I mean it comes down to a difference of only, a volt or so, but that small difference has huge implications when it comes to technical support!