Current Issue

May 2012

Print Article     Email Article

  Page 1 of 3   >>

by Mark Johnson

Production Review: Yamaha Commercial PM5D Training Seminars

My church, Hilltop Community Church, in Richmond, Calif., has been building a new sanctuary right next to the old sanctuary, and in November of 2008 we were able to move in to the new facility. With the new building came some new audio, video and lighting gear. One piece in particular that the audio team was very excited about was a Yamaha PM5D-RH mixing console. This was our foray in the world of digital consoles. After going back and forth between different brands and models we finally settled on the PM5D. I also felt the RH (Recallable Head Amps) would be a necessary option.

Of course, timing rarely works in your favor and we got the console in and the system up and running just as we were starting rehearsals for two Christmas productions (One kids’ production and our annual production), and our dedication service (no pressure here!). Our integrator, Bill Platt of Platt Design Group from Sierra Madre, Calif., informed us that Yamaha offered training for the PM5D, and all we needed to do was to get ourselves down to the Yamaha facility in Buena Park. We could have used the training, but between all the rehearsals and the actual productions themselves, there was no time. So between trying things out on the console with the manual at the ready, and a few phone calls to Platt, we were able to see our way through.

All the while, during many of the operations I did I would say to my audio teammates, "I know there's a more efficient way to do this, but I just don't know what it is…. "

After we got through the Christmas productions we started establishing our routine, but we still had questions on how to best do certain functions. We started regular sessions following along the PM5D instruction DVD and that helped. However, during a meeting with the marketing department at Yamaha Commercial under the auspices of Church Production Magazine, I mentioned that my church had recently taken delivery of a PM5D and asked when the next training would be. This time, the timing was good and, in fact, would work well if I was to do a review of the training in conjunction with Trevor Boyer's article on technical education in this issue (see page XXX).

The PM5D training is offered in two one-day sessions. The first day is operational, which includes a general overview of the mixer, getting the mix and then information on studio manager, computer software that enables control of all aspects of PM5D as well as providing the ability to remotely configure the console. The second day is designed to be more advanced, and includes scene management and expanding the system.

The educational facility at Yamaha is a large room—there were seven PM5D-RH models (including the instructor's tricked out console that had a video output connected to a projector so we could follow along as they demonstrated the various functions).

Each of the other consoles had four or five chairs behind it, and was set up with a Fostex digital multitrack machine for playback patched in the mixer with a pair of small monitor speakers mounted on the "doghouse" (a wooden structure built behind the console to house and protect the input and output cables and connectors). Everything was in specially designed roadcases to make for easy transport and to protect the gear when they take the training in the road. Each console in the class was essentially its own independent system.

  Page 1 of 3   next page >>

Mark Johnson is an independent technical trainer/writer based in Crockett, Calif., and former editor of Sound & Video Contractor and Church Production magazines. He can be reached at mjohnson6286@sbcglobal.net.