AUMC AV Blog

So instead of going to sleep tonight (like I should), I am going to post here the layout of our new sound booth. Don't worry, most of this was typed out for a post at ChurchMedia.net (an amazing site, BTW), I just have to change a few things so it will flow here.

Anywho, on with the important (IE: fun) things. First the overlook, then I will explain:



(And when I say "Not Drawn to Scale", I really mean that! Click on the "photos" tab above for recent shots of the booth (remember to go to Page 2). They will give you a more accurate feel of the space.)

OK, here is the explanation. We decided to leave the "main rack" in the corner, and pull it out if we need to get to the back of it. This will allow the most space in the sound booth; it will also cordon off the back of the rack so that it would be hard to accidently bump something back there. I am not worried too much about the video guy needing room; we will buy stools for the booth, and there is plenty of space to sit/stand/move around (we were moving around it all day today and had no problems).

The audio mixing board will be in the booth, centered on the window. To the left there will be the lighting board. It won't be used much, but it is there. (On a side note: Good news! We will be able to control house lights from inside the booth... yea! Great job getting that done, guys! I think that this is a small thing that can make a huge impact when used well.)

To the right of the audio mixing board will be a short rack with audio stuff in it. This is so that the audio guy can have quick access to things he needs. To the right of that will be a short rack with video stuff, including the scaler/switcher. Above the video rack, we will hang the computer monitor(s) on the wall. This will be a great placement for the video guy, and it will give us more counter space.

We designed the space not only for the "now" but also thinking into the future. We know that there are some changes that we would like to make to make the system optimal, and while I hate not being able to make the system optimal now, I understand that it is not practical to make those things happen. So, the idea is to one day in the future renovate the sound booth to build it out into the sanctuary, basically adding another counter 5 feet in front of the counter that is there now. At that time we would move the audio mixer and other audio stuff to the new counter, freeing up lots of space on the back counter.

Once we free up all of that counter space, we could do something else: cut out the end of the counter and put the main rack where the "short video rack" is in the sketch up there. This would make even more room in the sound booth.

However, if we did that, we would run into a problem. The original plan was to run the wires under the booth and up the back wall to get to the rack (there is an access panel to get under the booth, so it is very easy to get under there). But if we move the rack to where the counter is now, then the cables would be strung the wrong way, we would have to re-punch all of the cables to the patch bay, and that is not something that I want to do.

The compromise is to build a "trench" along the back wall (it is the red line in the sketch above). It will be small (several inches tall, several inches deep), and because we are doing it now, it will be carpeted over, it will have a nice cover that is supported so if someone steps on it it won't break, and it will be easier to run cables instead of crawling under the booth every time we change something. Again, this isn't "optimal", but it opens lots of doors without closing any.

So that is the plan as it stands. I am confident that we have made the best overall decisions while limiting our loses. I am looking forward to getting in and actually installing some of these things in the space.

Matthew

I updated the photos!

I cleared out the album that had 100-odd photos that I hadn't updated since May. Out of 450+ photos of the new building taken since February, I picked over 160 to be in the current album. Many of the photos on the first page of the album you may recognize, but when you get to the second page, past May, those are all NEVER SEEN BEFORE photos!

Wow, saying that almost makes this all exciting.

Anywho, head on over to the photo site (link if you can't find the "photo" button on the top of this page) and see the latest photos of the church!

Matthew

Well today was another day of working on the new site, installing the new sound system. Today we installed the "trench", cut holes in the floor, untangled all of the cables that had been run before, and ran the cables from where they come out under the sound booth over and up into the trench, ready for installation into the main rack.

I don't have time to do it right now, but I have a few posts I want to write out. One is explaining the layout of the new system, IE: where everything will sit in the sound booth this will explain the "trench" mentioned above). I also need to clean up the photo album, and add the latest photos (I haven't uploaded any in a while).

Oh, and I want to welcome the third official reader of this blog: Welcome, James Nance. James is the guy who is installing our new system, so be nice to him!

Matthew

Here is part 2 of the AUMC's Satan Interview series. Enjoy!



Matthew

So today was my first "work day" at the new building. All we did was run a few cables through the conduit, but it was still lots of fun.

What was even more important was that we made a lot of decisions today. We finalized the layout of the sound booth, so now we know where everything will go. I don't want to repeat myself, so if you want to know about the new layout, head on over to this post where I described it all.

Anywho, thanks for reading. Just the thought that there MIGHT be someone reading this makes my ego flutter.

Matthew

So I was working on Satan Interview #3 today, and I saw this frame and just had to share it:



Oh, and here is another one:



Matthew

Last week I teased this a little bit, but this week we finally showed it: The video that we did of Pastor Kory Knott interviewing "Satan" (played by Joe Stobaugh). We had a lot of fun doing it, and it got a great response from the church when we played it this morning.

Anywho, I uploaded it to YouTube, so here is Satan Interview Week 1:



Matthew

PS: Just to wet your whistle a little, there are two more weeks to go!
PSS: If anyone knows how to get good quality YouTube video

Tonight we had a special service called "Soul Cafe". The theme for tonight was "Jazz", so it was basically an hour long jazz worship session. It was a load of fun for everyone! We had some great musicians playing, lots of great music, and everyone was worshiping God.

Anywho, I had a lot of fun. This reminds me why I enjoy Church Media so much. Sure I was running around last minute like a head with my chicken cut off, but it was all worth it. The praise, the glory lifted to God was amazing.

But what really got my adrenaline pumping was that it was different. Sure, Sunday church is fun, but it has become mundane and predictable. When I am having to run around and fix all of the small problems at the last minute, that is my forte. When I was in college, taking lots of Radio, TV, and Film classes, my favorite times were always when we were in the TV studio doing live production. The "it has to get done now or we fail" really gets my blood pumping.

For example, tonight we sang the song The Summons. When I had the last minute check-over-the-PPT-file-with-Joe, he pointed out that I didn't have the lyrics to the song, so I would have to add them (from this morning's PPT, a simple copy/paste). But leave it to me, I forgot. So, we are going through the service and Joe introduces the song... and I realize that I don't have the lyrics. So, while they start playing their jazz intro, I look on the hard drive for this morning's file... it isn't there. Not in the trash, not in the normal folder, I have no idea where it went. So I grabbed my USB thumbdrive and thew it onto the computer, opened the PPT file from the morning, found the song (at the end of the file, of course), and copied and pasted the lyrics into the currently running PPT file, all in about 20 seconds. And I got the lyrics on the screen only about three words late. If I never told anyone about me forgetting to copy the lyrics over, then no one would have noticed that I had just saved the song from total disaster (or at minimum a lot of confusion).

I was able to do that (and other such feats of awesomeness) because I have been doing the sound booth for well over four years at AUMC (and a year at another church), and I have lots of practice and experience fixing problems on the go. And I have to say, being able to save the day makes me proud. I try not to be prideful, but I do have pride in the work that I do.

I also want to point out that none of this is my doing. Joe Stobaugh is always telling me what a great job I do, and how much I do for the church, and I always want to reply: "I'm not the one that deserves credit for this, it is God!" See, I totally believe that God used circumstance and coincidence to bring me to AUMC and thus for getting me into the Church Media business. Today I can't imagine not doing Church Media, whereas five years ago I had never given it a thought. It is by God's grace and guidance that he has brought me here and has groomed me into being the amazing sound guy that I am. (This is why I can call myself "an amazing sound guy" and not be prideful, because it is not by my doing that I am amazing.)

So when you see me do hard work and pull something extraordinary off, know that I do have pride in what I do, but I also fully understand that it is by God's grace and love that I am able to do the extraordinary. Don't give me credit, give it to God (although, a "thanks" to me now and then won't hurt).

Matthew

I don't want to let the cat out of the bag too soon, but here is a screen shot of a project that will be shown this weekend at church (click for larger view):



Matthew

One of the main topics in the meetings that I have been in is "When we move into the new building, what will our worship schedule be?" We knew we wanted at least one contemporary service, but we also wanted a service with a strong chancel choir. The other question was: "Do we switch to those services now, or wait for the new building?"

Well, the decisions have been made, and they were announced via e-mail this week. Here is the e-mail that I got from Joe, our "Minister of Music, Worship, and the Arts":

Greetings friends!

I hope this email finds you well! It is with great pleasure that I write you this evening announcing our new plan for the Sunday worship schedule at AUMC. Beginning Sunday, October 5th, the following will be the AUMC Worship Schedule:

8:45: The music at this service will be led by Joe, Anastasia, and various soloists. We will ask for some folks to help lead the congregational singing from time to time but the chancel choir will not be the primary worship leaders in this service. My hope is that in three years the primary choir for this service will be a youth choir.

10:00 The music at this service will be led by Joe, Anastasia, and various soloists until we move to the new building. Once we move to the new campus this service will be led primarily by Nathan Bryant and the evensong band.

11:15: The music at this service will be led by the chancel choir.

5:30: evensong (which begins Sunday, September 21st)

Occasionally all of the musical groups will sing at the various services but the primary leadership will fall as listed above.

Of course, there is no perfect decision that fits everyone's needs/desires but this schedule has been arrived at via prayer and months (literally) of discussion around the ideas of the identity of the various services, our ability to provide the highest quality worship leadership that we can, the mission of the church, and the future of the church as a whole.

If this schedule provides significant challenges to you, I would invite you to talk to me about it and we can find ways for you to participate other than in the mediums listed.

It is truly an honor and a privilege to serve as the minister of music, worship, and the arts at AUMC and I am so thankful that God has seen it fit to put us together at this point in our journey's! You are a blessing! May we all realize that we are blessed because God is going to bless others through us!

Have a wonderful weekend!

In Christ,

Joe

So, to say it again, the early service is cutting out their choir (they may keep a few people to add voice). The middle service will stand as it is for now, but in the new building will become the contemporary service, and the late service will continue to grow it's chancel choir. I think that this is the best of all worlds. Every plan that we talked about had pros and cons, and this plan had the most pros with the least cons.

I hope that come October 5th, everyone will agree that the new worship schedule will work out best for everyone.

Matthew

(I should note I wrote this over the weekend, so this information is about 5 days old.)

OK, so I teased you guys in my last post, so here is the REAL update about what is going on in the AUMC A/V world:

A few weeks ago the sound system's installation started. Granted, in the last two weeks only the speakers and some lights have been hung, but work has started! Sadly, I have a "real" job now, so my involvement in the project has become minimal (to my dismay). Oh well, life will go on.

A few pictures before we go on. The current sanctuary (from roughly the perspective of the sound booth):



The speakers (this is the right side array):



The lights (from the perspective of the pulpit):



And the sound booth (from the perspective of the door... not that the door can see things...):



Moving on...

We have been having meetings galore, which is great (I am new to meetings, so I still enjoy them). We had a meeting with the worship team about when we will be moving into the new building, and how that transition will work. We had a meeting about planning the worship services... but I had to miss that meeting (*sob*). I will be having a few more meetings in the next week to solidify some things. These meetings are not only are a wealth of information, they show me that things are starting to get interesting. I can say that our furthest projected move-in date is mid December. We hope to be in sooner than that, but that is our "we won't push past this unless something major comes up" date.

In about three weeks I will start forming the new tech team. I am throwing around ideas in my head, but I am thinking about having an open meeting for anyone who is interested. It would be at the new building after a Sunday service, and pizza should get lots of people there. I hope that we will have a nice sized group of people that are willing to become a part of our new tech team.

Over all, the ball has started rolling. Things are getting interesting, and in just a few months we should be in our new building.

Matthew