As Houses of Worship continue to capture their services on video, media storage plays an increasingly large role in a successful broadcast ministry. Please take the time to answer this five question survey about your media storage – the survey won’t take long to do, and it gives you input into upcoming editorial at Technologies for Worship.
Audio specialist Sennheiser, which continues to file comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in light of the pending spectrum auction now scheduled to take place in early 2016, recently filed aPetition For Reconsideration with the FCC on its Incentive Auction Ruling. The company also encourages microphone owners and customers to write to the FCC in support of the Petition for Reconsideration before the initial reply deadline of November 12th, 2014, and is offering to help with any filing or procedural requirements.
Sennheiser’s recently filed Petition For Reconsideration argues two primary points:
“The FCC has an enormously difficult task to repurpose spectrum from traditional over-the-air TV broadcast to mobile broadband services — this is a matter of content distribution,” says Joe Ciaudelli, Spectrum Affairs, Sennheiser. “However, spectrum is crucial for content creation as well. It is essential that productions have access to reliable prime spectrum for their most critical wireless links. Also, responsible mic owners invested in new equipment just a few years ago to comply with the Commission’s mandate to vacate the 700 MHz band. They should not be subjected to another premature obsolescence of their gear without some compensation. In our petition we detail options for addressing these important issues.”
Last April, Sennheiser launched a website to keep its customers informed on developments concerning the future of wireless microphones and the UHF spectrum. The website [http://sennheiser.com/
In early 2016, the FCC plans to hold an ‘incentive auction” with the intent of transferring spectrum currently allocated for over-the-air (OTA) TV service to mobile broadband. The auction offers TV broadcasters the opportunity to relinquish or share their spectrum license in exchange for a portion of the proceeds generated by the auction. The broadcasters that operate on channels in the 600 MHz range that choose to stay on the air will be moved to a different TV channel during the subsequent repacking process, scheduled to be completed 39 months after the new channel assignments are determined.
For more information, please visit http://sennheiser.com/spectrum or contact Joe Ciaudelli directly at spectrum@sennheiserusa.com.
Digital signal processing has already brought untold flexibility to a wealth of install applications. But with full-scale networking likely to become the default, could it be that an even more exciting era is just around the corner?
Alongside the advent of more powerful networking solutions, the emergence of digital signal processing (DSP) that is capable of being implemented quickly and (relatively) easily for all manner of fixed install applications has arguably been the defining pro-audio story of the decade. From Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) for video-conferencing to site-wide routing and distribution, high-capability DSPs have heralded a minor revolution in the built environment.
In an industry that has always paid extremely close attention to the bottom line, it’s unsurprising to discover that lower-cost solutions have done much to initiate the New DSP Dawn. Not only are DSP chips “running at considerably higher MIPS (millions of instructions per second) rates than they were ten years ago, today’s faster chips enable designs that use fewer components – meaning lower costs and increased reliability,” observes Dane Butcher, founder and CEO of Seattle, US-based DSP pioneer Symetrix.
Software developments have also helped to slash DSP costs, with advanced memory management features and higher clock speeds paving the way for designs that, notes Butcher, “use only a single DSP chip to exceed the processing power of designs that used to require four chips.”
Highly effective automixing, loudspeaker management and zone mixing/paging are among the other common applications of these new-generation DSPs. But although their superiority to conventional processing solutions is now unquestioned, the sheer quantity of current DSPs can easily leave the integrator – let alone the end-user – with something of a quandary. So what are the factors that need to be borne in mind when selecting a DSP that is truly capable of delivering the processing power you need?
This will be the second PLASA Focus event to take place in the Sunshine State, happening on Tuesday, February 17 and Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel.
Companies already signed up to exhibit at the show include; Columbus McKinnon, Group One, A.C.T. Lighting, CHAUVET Professional, ETC, Lycian Stage Lighting, Candela Controls, Stage Equipment & Lighting, PixelFLEX, USHIO, TMB, Elation Professional, GLP, Creative Stage Lighting, Barbizon, Bulbtronics, 0EnergyLIGHTING, Harrington Hoist, MainStage Theatrical Supply, Techni-Lux, The Light Source, Ultratec Special Effects, Wenger and JR Clancy, Aeson Event Technologies, Apollo Design Technology and AVID Labs. With many other applications currently being processed, companies interested in exhibiting are advised to move quickly to secure their spots.
Running alongside the show is the highly acclaimed PLASA Professional Development Program which offers two days of free educational seminars and workshops. The program features world-class speakers and is an opportunity for visitors to further develop their industry knowledge, take part in discussions, and have their questions answered.
Planned sessions include Tony Hansen presenting “The Evil Duck – LEDs Today,” Scott Chmielewski on “Mastering the Art of Video” and CHAUVET Professional’s Jim Hutchison presenting “LED Color: The Physiological Experience.”
PLASA members, regional dealers, regional production companies and series exhibitors enjoy substantially discounted space at all PLASA Focus events. Each event targets a unique regional audience that does not travel longer distances to national industry events; in addition, PLASA Focus limits the amount of space that exhibitors can take and provides a unique hard-wall booth package—including material handling, power, lighting, carpet, and furniture—so that each exhibitor enjoys a level playing field and a hassle-free, affordable exhibiting experience.
Free visitor registration is open now at www.plasafocus.com/orlando
November 21 & 22, 2014
Los Angeles, California
Churchmix Live is a 2-day mix training event built for church volunteers and staff. Paul Dexter, a Grammy and Dove award nominated mix engineer walks you through the tips and tricks it takes to create high quality, consistent mixes in your church. On Friday morning, we have a new Pastor and Leadership seminar where we discuss what it takes to create a solid vision which can be then carried out through the technical teams on the weekends.
BONUS: Your Pastors and Worship leaders are invited to attend these Friday sessions at no charge with your paid registration.
Learn more at www.churchmixlive.com
Bring attention to everything from your regular services, to guest speaker talks, to special events with our user friendly, gently used camera kits. Perfect for the budget-conscious House of Worship …
Located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Elk Rivers, the community of Elk River, Minnesota has been called the “City of Energy,” a reference to its long history of harnessing the power of its two mighty waterways. This tradition makes Elk River a fitting home for River of Life Church, a house of worship that radiates positive energy as evidenced by its many outreach programs and dynamic worship services.
The environment inside the roughly 6,000-square-foot house of worship matches the vibrant character of its services, thanks in no small measure to a high impact lighting design created by Excel AV Group (Maple Grove, MN) that uses the Rogue R2 Spot moving head and COLORdash Par-Quad 18 LED par-style fixture from CHAUVET Professional to engage worshippers. This was the second phase of a long range project; an earlier phase also utilized CHAUVET Professional variable white LED fixtures for dimmable congregation illumination.
With a history dating back to 1949—when worship services were held on the porch of the original Naples Beach Hotel— Trinity-by-the-Cove Episcopal Church is a small, beautifully maintained and picturesque house of worship originally designed by Palm Beach architect Howard Major. The church recently completed a significant renovation that includes a substantial upgrade of the sound reinforcement system in the sanctuary. And at the heart of that new system is Aspen Series signal processing drawn from the catalog of Rio Rancho, NM-based Lectrosonics.
Chicago, IL-based Kirkegaard Associates (“KA”), which provides consulting services in architectural acoustics, noise control, and audio-video systems, was contracted to evaluate and, ultimately provide recommendations for AV and acoustic improvement at the church. Jonathan Darling, Senior Consultant at KA, served as both the AV system designer and project manager. John Fenstermaker, Director of Music at Trinity-by-the-Cove, worked closely with Darling on the upgraded sound system, and Chris Burney of Naples, FL-based Scientific Sound handled the installation. Darling discussed the various considerations that ultimately resulted in the selection of the Lectrosonics Aspen SPN1612 audio processor.
Just a short drive from the Mexican border and southeast of the city of McAllen, Valley International Christian Center (VICC) recently opened a new, almost 70,000 square foot sanctuary. This state-of-the-art church is the largest house of worship in the Rio Grande Valley and, in 2013, was recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in America by Outreach Magazine. Music plays a vital role in VICC’s worship services and, to ensure a high level of speech intelligibility and excellent music reproduction characteristics, church officials recently gave the green light to the deployment of a new sound reinforcement system drawn from the catalog of Valencia, Spain-based D.A.S. Audio.
Simon Estrada Jr. serves as VICC’s campus sound engineer and the church’s Praise and Worship leader. He also operates a sound services company under the name Supernatural Designz of Brownsville, TX. Being intimately involved in both sound reinforcement and the musical requirements of the church, Estrada was well suited to guide church management through the sound system selection process in addition to overseeing its deployment. Ultimately, Estrada installed a system consisting of D.A.S. Aero 12A line array enclosures and LX-218CA subwoofers from the company’s Aero Series 2 product line, along with Road 12A floor monitors and Artec 508A point source loudspeakers. He discussed the nature of the project.
Today is the LAST DAY you can catch CHAUVET’s Hands-On-Training (HOT) at WFX, Dallas, TX.Check out the details below, and we will see you there.
10:15am – 11:30 am, Room D227
LED Stage Lighting for Churches
taught by Greg Persinger
An accomplished writer as well as designer, Greg Persinger has published articles on lighting in virtually every major church publication. In this seminar, he details how any church can add impact to its services and make them more engaging (while reducing costs) through the strategic use of LED stage lighting.
2:30pm to 3:30pm, Room D227
Multi-Functional Lights for Multi-Use Church Spaces
taught by Jim Hutchison and Ford Sellers
CHAUVET Professional’s FORD SELLERS (Senior Product Manager) and Jim Hutchison (Customer Engagement and Education Manager) talk about Multi-Use Spaces for Houses of Worship and how to get more use out of each lighting fixture!
