Puyallup, Washington’s Foursquare Church, which recently received a massive technology upgrade purchased through Seattle’s GC Pro location.
Puyallup, Washington Foursquare Church Upgrades to Reach Overseas Military Posts
Whether in a battle zone like Iraq or Afghanistan or in the relative comfort of Germany or Japan, being stationed at a faraway military post is a hardship for any member of the U.S. military. Being cut off from their spiritual communities adds another layer of isolation for those many members of the Puyallup, Washington Foursquare Church congregation who are based at one of three military installations in the Seattle area and who have been posted to overseas duty stations.
Over the past year, this church has purchased a wide range of technology products designed to help members-in-uniform stay in connected using just a few mouse clicks. Purchased through Seattle’s Guitar Center Professional Division (GC Pro), the new equipment includes Digidesign Profile and D-Show digital audio mixing consoles; a full Digidesign Pro Tools HD 3 recording system, JVC high-definition video cameras, Sennheiser wireless microphone systems, DPA and AKG wired microphones, and Dynacord and Meyer installed and portable loudspeaker systems.
“GC Pro took us from standard-definition technology into the next step of high-definition,” says Brent Todd, technical director and staff pastor at Puyallup Foursquare Church. “This is what we need to keep our message out there and to bring it to new places and people.” Todd was pleased with the broad array of technology and product solutions that GC Pro offers, such as the Barco Encore video switching system that manages the church’s new HD video network.
“GC Pro Account Manager, Steve Palermo and his assistant Justin Friesen took us from audio and video to true multimedia and helped us spread our message and help keep our members in the military connected no matter where they in the world they are,” Todd adds. “In fact, thanks to our ability to reach out anywhere in the world, we actually have new members of the church who were introduced to us by other members stationed in Iraq.”
Focal Press, a division of Elsevier, Introduces Sound, Lighting and Video: A Resource for Worship by Brad Herring
Brad Herring is the managing editor of Worship Arts & Technology Magazine. Brad is on the Editorial Advisory Team at Technologies for Worship Magazine (TFWM), and he has worked professionally as a sound designer, lighting designer, stage manager and producer, and has taught at such national conferences as NAB, LDI and InfoComm.
"Finally! Thank you, Brad Herring and Focal Press, for bringing us a terrific overview of Technical Production for Houses of Worship. Your experience, skill, and artistry are evident throughout. I especially appreciate your attitude of humility and step-by-step suggestions for dealing with ‘choir complaints.’ This immediately is required reading for my production volunteers."
- John Weygandt, scenic and lighting designer, Willow Creek Community Church
"I like the conversational, friendly tone. It makes the material seem accessible to the reader. It's as if the author is seated next to the reader at the mixing console and is pointing out things to watch for."
- Bruce Bartlett, audio engineer and author of Practical Recording Techniques
"I really like Brad’s heart for the local church. I think he approaches the subject in a genuine and honest manner that is encouraging."
-Mike Sessler, ChurchTech Arts.
"I’m very excited about having this book available for my church, and for churches where I assist in ministry."
- David Scott, worship leader and Associate director of Georgia Festival Chorus
Sound, Lighting and Video: A Resource for Worship is a manual for technical production in a house of worship. According to Focal Press, there is no other existing book that covers lighting, sound, video and projection systems for this rapidly growing market.
Written by an experienced professional and consultant, this book illustrates how to successfully run the major components that can make a church presentation be the best it can be, and attract and connect with more people. Packed with information that will not only show how to use the technology, Sound, Lighting and Video: A Resource for Worship guides readers through the solutions to their most challenging questions in houses of Worship.
Waves Announces Rental Plan for Selected Plug-in Bundles
Waves Audio, a leading provider of digital signal processing software and hardware solutions, introduces the Waves Rental Plan, a new, easy way to access selected Waves bundles on a short-term basis. The company offers access to award-winning processors for studios, artists, engineers and producers on a short-term, reduced-cost basis. For tracking, mixing, mastering, restoration or live, whatever the sound field, leading audio professionals expect and require the very best signal processing available, and now with the new Waves Rental Plan, artists, engineers and producers can rent the exact Waves bundles they need to give their projects the extra edge.
For more than 15 years, Waves has been involved in digital audio revolution, creating processors that have changed the way people make music. Used in over 10,000 recording studios by more than 100,000 users worldwide, the Waves sound can be heard in major recordings, mixing, mastering, broadcast, live sound, surround sound, motion pictures and on popular video games, as well as on hit records selling well over 100,000,000 units for professional audio signal processing.
With the Waves Rental Plan, users can now rent selected Waves bundles for the week, for the month, or for however long their project takes. Customers can visit the Waves online store or contact their local dealer to rent Waves bundles immediately. Dealers must log into the Waves VSSD, select “Rentals” and choose the appropriate bundle.
Expert in Church Sound, Video & Lighting Systems Joins K2 Audio
K2 Audio, LLC, design consultants in audio, visual, theatrical lighting and acoustic systems with world-wide projects and clients, has just expanded their reach in announcing the hire of Curt Taipale of Taipale Media Systems, Inc. As Senior Consultant, Mr. Taipale will join Ray Rayburn, and the entire team of K2 Audio, in providing technical and customer service excellence to those clients representing houses of worship.
Today, many houses of worship credit the consulting efforts of Mr. Taipale in establishing technical excellence for their congregation and his reputation in the industry is well known. But this wasn’t always the case. “Thirty years ago, I was one of only a handful of individuals crying out for better quality sound, video and lighting systems in the church. The prevailing attitude at the time was, ‘we’re just a church, we don’t need that kind of professional expertise’. And while I still encounter that kind of humility on occasion, today the pursuit of a quality sound system has become more accepted and even expected in houses of worship”, remarks Mr. Taipale. In addition to his consulting services, Mr. Taipale is well known in the house of worship community as an educator, author, sound engineer and founder of the popular email-based discussion group known as churchsoundcheck.com. In joining consulting forces with K2 Audio, Mr. Taipale shares: “I’ve found a team of like-minded, seasoned pros who share my passion and integrity in meeting their client’s needs. I feel blessed to come alongside them and I know my customers will feel the same.”
Mr. Taipale joins K2’s own resident house-of-worship specialist, Ray Rayburn, and a devoted team of technical experts and innovators. Mr. Rayburn authors the Technologies for Worship Magazine bi-weekly audio newsletter and is a well-known lecturer on the topic of church sound. “I’ve known Curt for many years and have a huge amount of respect for him and for his heartfelt devotion and contributions to the church. I am thrilled with the opportunity to work together. For me, it’s truly a dream team in bringing high-quality sound and lighting systems to houses of worship.”
With over 100 years of collective staff experience, K2 Audio provides full-spectrum consulting services in the fields of audio, video, theatrical lighting and acoustics. Rich Zwiebel, K2’s president, was instrumental in the development of MediaMatrix and CobraNet, two of the most widely used technologies in sound systems installed around the world. K2’s, co-owner and CEO, Deb Britton, was the recipient of the 2009 InfoComm Women in AV award.
NEW PRODUCTS
01.
Midas launches Offline Editor for PRO6
Midas has released an Offline Editor software suite for the PRO6 and the XL8 digital systems. The exclusively Mac-based application will soon be available as a free download from www.midasconsoles.com, and allows a console showfile to be created on a compatible Mac computer.
An operational version of the console GUI (graphical user interface) will be displayed on the Mac, identical to the screen views on the console itself. The resulting showfile is saved to the Mac’s hard drive, and can be manipulated, copied, emailed etc as a normal file and loaded into a Midas PRO6 or XL8 via removable USB drive, preparing the console for immediate operation. Shows created for PRO6 consoles will run on XL8 systems, and vice versa, subject to system capacity limitations.
The Offline Editor can also be used for operators to familiarize themselves with the features and functionality of the console, prior to operation.
“We’re delighted with the early feedback we’ve had from our customers, regarding the Offline Editors’ ease of use, and the way it replicates the consoles’ user interface,” says Midas and Klark Teknik brand development manager Richard Ferriday. “We anticipate this free software will introduce the Midas approach to digital mixing to all those engineers who haven’t yet had a chance to get their hands on the hardware, as well as making it easy to pre-configure a console before a show.”
Corevalus Introduces the SamePage MIX Personal Monitor Mix Solution
The new SamePage MIX from Corevalus Systems is a full-featured Personal Monitor Mix solution that integrates seamlessly with their existing SamePage PLAN and PLAY worship planning and music management platforms. SamePage MIX is the first Personal Monitor Mixing system that offers an intuitive, customizable touch screen interface. It is an expandable system that allows growth in both channel count and system architecture as needed.
Company sources say, SamePage is the world’s first fully integrated digital music management system. The SamePage Music System allows worship leaders freedom from filing, copying, transposing, or the hassles of replacing lost, damaged, misplaced music. Users can log on and set the playlist from home. With SamePage, all aspects of worship are fully integrated and compatibility with MediaShout presentation software allows worship leaders additional freedom and spontaneity during worship. Now with SamePage Mix they have more control of the sanctuary technology.
ViewCast’s New Low-Cost Streaming Media Appliance to Support H.264 Streaming to the Adobe Flash
ViewCast Corporation, a developer of industry-leading solutions for the transformation, management and delivery of digital media over IP and mobile networks, unveils the Niagara 2120, a low-cost, easy-to-use streaming media appliance that supports H.264 streaming via the Adobe Flash platform. The compact and portable Niagara 2120 provides professional-quality performance and reliability for organizations in corporate, government, education, worship and athletic settings seeking a plug-and-play platform for streaming video content across enterprise networks or over the Internet.
According Viewcast and Adobe, the ViewCast solutions based on the Adobe Flash Platform enable the delivery of rich, real-time media experiences to an ever-growing audience of consumers that rely on Adobe Flash technology for high quality video over the Web. The Niagara 2120 is the latest example of ViewCast’s continued technological innovation and commitment to providing high-performance video streaming solutions based on Adobe Flash technologies.
The Niagara 2120 is optimized for simplified set-up and operation, featuring a built-in Web interface to enable streamlined management from anywhere on the network. The compact, self-contained unit is ideal for location streaming applications and also fits easily into any production control room. Users simply set the desired streaming parameters via the intuitive Web interface, then initiate one or more streams simultaneously from the front panel “Stream” button.
The Niagara 2120 enables organizations of all sizes, and those with limited budgets, to stream live and on-demand sports, educational and training content, corporate events and more to an expansive Web-based audience, which in turn creates marketing and sponsorship opportunities that can increase revenue streams.
With support for H.264 streaming to the Adobe Flash Platform, customers are afforded high-performance streaming capabilities across a broad range of bandwidths to elevate the quality and impact of their Internet video programming.
The Niagara 2120 comes standard with ViewCast SimulStream technology, which enables a single video source to generate several video streams simultaneously – in multiple resolutions and bit rates - with each stream configured differently for laptops, cell phones, or mobile devices. ViewCast’s Niagara SCX streaming media management software is also included with the Niagara 2120, enabling centralized set-up, monitoring and control over multiple systems positioned anywhere on the network – all from a single desktop.
Like all Niagara appliances, the Niagara 2120 features image scaling, cropping, de-interlacing, inverse telecine and closed caption rendering capabilities. The Niagara 2120 provides flexible connectivity options including component, Y/C (S-Video), and composite video inputs, as well as balanced and unbalanced stereo audio.
"Finally! Thank you, Brad Herring and Focal Press, for bringing us a terrific overview of Technical Production for Houses of Worship. Your experience, skill, and artistry are evident throughout. I especially appreciate your attitude of humility and step-by-step suggestions for dealing with ‘choir complaints.’ This immediately is required reading for my production volunteers."
For more than 15 years, Waves has been involved in digital audio revolution, creating processors that have changed the way people make music. Used in over 10,000 recording studios by more than 100,000 users worldwide, the Waves sound can be heard in major recordings, mixing, mastering, broadcast, live sound, surround sound, motion pictures and on popular video games, as well as on hit records selling well over 100,000,000 units for professional audio signal processing.
Today, many houses of worship credit the consulting efforts of Mr. Taipale in establishing technical excellence for their congregation and his reputation in the industry is well known. But this wasn’t always the case. “Thirty years ago, I was one of only a handful of individuals crying out for better quality sound, video and lighting systems in the church. The prevailing attitude at the time was, ‘we’re just a church, we don’t need that kind of professional expertise’. And while I still encounter that kind of humility on occasion, today the pursuit of a quality sound system has become more accepted and even expected in houses of worship”, remarks Mr. Taipale. In addition to his consulting services, Mr. Taipale is well known in the house of worship community as an educator, author, sound engineer and founder of the popular email-based discussion group known as churchsoundcheck.com. In joining consulting forces with K2 Audio, Mr. Taipale shares: “I’ve found a team of like-minded, seasoned pros who share my passion and integrity in meeting their client’s needs. I feel blessed to come alongside them and I know my customers will feel the same.”
