Unsplash.com; Frankie Lopez
Live productions, whether simple or complex, have many moving parts. At one end of the spectrum, you might have a single camera, a few mics, and music playback. Introduce a live band, theatrical style lighting and multiple cameras, and you can see how it becomes vital for sound engineers, lighting operators, directors, stage managers, and camera operators to communicate in real time. With improved communication, camera operators can have their shots ready for the director to “take,” lighting operators can hear the transitions as called from the director, and stage hands can respond quickly with a new mic if a battery dies or a wireless mic cuts out.
To get the most out your AVL technology, you need to be able to communicate with the system operators in a way that they can quickly understand and respond.
Smooth-running productions are those with seamless transitions and seamless transitions only happen with reliable communication.
So, it’s easy to see how a professional system can improve the communications and transitions for your church’s productions, but you be maybe wondering why this article’s title also mentions safety.
Safety concerns
As the production quality of your weekend services improves and your holiday events become more technical and sophisticated, you may find your church doing stage and set changes in the middle of your productions. Any time you have people moving around on stage or back stage, reliable communications becomes more than a convenience; it’s a necessity for the safety of all involved.
For example, the Sight & Sound Theatres auditorium in Branson, Mo., has nearly 20,000 square feet of stage surrounding the 2,000-member audience on three sides. Their elaborate productions, all centered around popular Bible stories, use moving, four-story-tall set pieces and live animals. From a safety standpoint, it is absolutely essential that the communications system, wired or wireless, be rock solid for those working with and around the animals and moving sets.
Riedel Bolero Wireless Beltpack
In the case of Sight & Sound Theatres, production staff have chosen a wireless comms solution that allows them to have a total of 56 beltpacks that can cover the equipment room, a large area under the stage, the catwalks, the animal holding area, and the dressing rooms, with 50 beltpacks being able to operate simultaneously on the stage. With so much going on, safety is paramount, and reliable communications go a long way in ensuring the safety of both people and animals.
Smooth-running productions are those with seamless transitions and seamless transitions only happen with reliable communication.
A new or upgraded “comms” system will improve your productions and, in turn, expand your reach both with the quality of your on-site services and perhaps your streaming services to those who can’t make it to church every week. Once you decide to invest in an intercom solution, how do you choose from all of the technology options available today? How can you be sure that the solution you adopt will provide you with communications tools that are easy to use and that will grow as your needs grow?
Assessing needs
It all starts with understanding what’s available and then looking at your facility and deciding what features will help you meet your goals. Intercom systems range from fairly simple beltpack partyline systems, where you have one or two channels and everyone can hear everything that’s going on, to matrix systems that can create many channels and even private ones where you can talk to a specific person or group of people without bothering or confusing all the others.
Then, there’s the option of wired or wireless beltpacks. Maybe the folks in the parking lot use radios, and you’d like to interface them into the intercom system. And let’s not forget about the volunteers that most churches rely on. Comms systems need to be as easy to use as their cell phones.
There are many, many options and plenty of marketing jargon out there to further confuse matters. But, like any other major purchase, you’ll want to find a manufacturer or integrator whom you like and trust, and be honest with them about what you want for today and for five years from now. Then they can help to build you a system that will meet those needs.
Image courtesy of Riedel.
New cameras, projectors, and lighting have a very profound and immediate effect on your live productions. But to get the most out of those new technologies, you need to be able to tell their operators what you want in a way that they can understand and respond to. A good camera operator might even reply with suggestions as to how to make the shot better. Only an intercom system that provides good audio clarity, ease of use, and the scalability to grow with you is capable of enabling the communications, cooperation, and safety that will ensure your productions are a success.
Find intercom information and options at https://www.riedel.net/.
