The demand for content from the lead pastor of a church is at an all-time high. Church attendees and members want to hear their pastor share encouragement and hope from God’s Word since they are constantly discouraged and beaten down by the world around them. So, when church technical leaders get the request to set up the lead pastor with an affordable, great looking/sounding setup, we get excited. But when we hear, “The gear has to be operated by one person and be very easy to use for a non-technical person,” we get a little nervous. There are multiple solutions for great video and audio podcasting setups. This same equipment, however, is not easy for many non-technical people to operate.
John Mark Caton, the lead pastor of Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, recording from his home-office podcast space.
When our pastor hits “stop record,” the system saves the file and our team automatically gets notified that a new file is added to the synced DropBox folder.
Developing the Podcast Setup
Our team began a process to assemble a high-quality but easy-to-use system where our lead pastor had very little to do other than turn the power on and hit a record button. It was more complicated than we thought, but we learned a lot by creating a system that met our needs and budget. Like any other project, you must understand what is needed and where it will be used. This meant that step one was going to our pastor’s home office, where the new system would be installed.
The home office was a modestly furnished space with some challenges. Some test recordings showed that the tile floor caused the room to be loud with many reflections. A west-facing window with afternoon sun also caused adverse lighting conditions, making it difficult to get a consistent video look. After some thought, it was decided that adding a rug underneath the desk area and a simple, easy-to-install and remove blackout curtain over the window would fix these problems.
I was proud of our team for developing these solutions, especially with the curtain. The power of creative problem-solving cannot be underestimated. Let me explain. We were able to find affordable solutions from a home improvement store. Rugs were found with plenty of options and in good supply. Using a simple dowel rod and some black, opaque fabric at the church, we constructed an excellent blackout curtain that could be installed when recording and kept in the closet when not. The next round of test recordings showed that the team’s ingenuity worked and left nearly all the budget to spend on A/V equipment.
Selecting the Podcast Microphone(s)
Next on the list was the most crucial piece of gear: the microphone. In today’s podcasting world, audiences have no sympathy for poor audio. Picking out a good podcasting microphone is paramount. In evaluating mics, we looked for a mic with excellent noise rejection, that focuses on picking up sound directly in front of the mic, thus minimizing background noise and room ambiance. We also made sure the mic has features to eliminate plosives, which are usually the “p” and “b” sounds. If course, an external pop filter in front of the mic can also help with plosives. We also wanted a mic with a smooth frequency response that captures the voice naturally. Finally, a mic that could handle high SPL’s (sound pressure levels) to capture loud vocals without distortion when the presenter gets energetic or passionate during the recording—since our pastor often has this type of delivery.
Audiences have no sympathy for poor audio. Picking out a good podcasting microphone is paramount.
The tried-and-true Shure SM7B was our mic of choice. We have extensive experience with it and have successfully used it for years in other applications. We also had readily available desk stands to use with this mic to ensure stability and balance. Our pastor’s voice sounded smooth and natural in our recordings, making it the best choice for our system.
The Podcast the Lighting Setup
Since our pastor’s system required video, we knew proper lighting was crucial for achieving high-quality footage. Several factors are essential to consider when choosing good lighting for video. We didn’t want our pastor to look like he was being spotlighted or blinded, so we opted for lighting with diffusers to soften the light. A small form factor was also a requirement since we didn’t want a bunch of stands taking up valuable real estate on the office floor or making the space look like a video studio. Another factor we identified was that lighting needed to be versatile. Having dimmable fixtures with variable color temperatures gave us the flexibility to dial in the look we wanted. Finally, once the lighting was set, it needed to be simple and intuitive to turn off and on so that settings wouldn’t be changed.
We didn’t want our pastor to look like he was being spotlighted or blinded, so we opted for lighting with diffusers to soften the light.
Lume Cube’s Edge Light 2.0 Bi-Color LED Desk Lamp matched our requirements for key lights. Having lights that clamped to the desk gave us great flexibility to go along with the variable color temperature, dimming, and diffusion capabilities. We also liked the ease of using a USB port to power the light. We chose Lume Cube’s Light Panel Mini clamped to the bookshelf above and behind the desk for backlight. Like the Desk Lamp, the Mini is versatile with dimmable, multi-color temperature, and diffusion features. It’s also simple to turn off and on without changing settings. Finally, we chose Emit Ever RGB LED light strips for accent lighting. Unlike other LED tape, Emit Ever’s strips do not cause your video to flicker. The icing on the cake about this lighting setup is that it was very affordable, leaving most of our budget money for the next part of the podcasting system.
The Podcast Video Camera and Lenses
Many options exist when it comes to choosing a video camera for podcasting. This is why I support demo’ing and testing a variety of equipment to get your desired look. For some, a high-quality external webcam is fine. Others may choose a simple camcorder. If your budget allows it, a DSLR-style camera is a popular look many YouTubers and serious podcasters use.
There are several reasons why the DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera is the choice of many content creators. First, having an interchangeable lens allows you to choose the best lens for the focal length (distance between the camera and the subject). Also, DSLR sensors produce sharp, high-resolution video with good low-light performance. Manual controls on the camera give precise control over the image to dial in the desired look. DSLRs also have multiple F-stops (the measurement of the aperture and how much light is let into the camera), allowing the ability to create a cinematic shallow depth of field that blurs the background but keeps the subject in focus. And finally, DSLRs can be compatible with high-quality external microphones, which, as previously stated, is necessary for capturing podcast-quality audio.
Our team chose the Panasonic Lumix S5 IIX DSLR with a Sigma 24-70mm lens. We had the privilege of demo’ing this camera before we bought it. This camera not only had all the features we were looking for in terms of being video-friendly and cinematic, but it also allowed us to add the Panasonic DMW-XLR1 XLR Microphone Adapter to connect with our microphone of choice.
In larger studio setups using rugs, lamps, and wood accents bring a sense of warmth and authenticity to the podcast.
Bringing it All Together
Now we come to the part that causes the most headaches for church technical leaders: How do I take this gear and make it easy for my pastor to use it without technical staff being present, and how do we promptly send the video and audio clips to our media team? Once again, our team rose to the challenge and devised a way to set up our pastor for success.
Our team recently got a great tip from our friends at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas regarding how they saved money and got great results from an outside-the-box solution for video recording. The tip involved using an entry-level Mac Mini running Softron’s Movie Recorder Express software integrated with an automatically synced DropBox folder on the hard drive. Using this set up we get the 2160p at 29.97fps recordings we were looking for. But we still had to make it easy for our non-technical pastor to use. This is where the Elgato StreamDeck came to the rescue.
With the StreamDeck, we could set up scripts to execute upon the push of a button. This simplified our recording and delivery process greatly. We did have to show our pastor how to open the MovieRecorder Express software. No big deal. He did like the window in the software that automatically displayed a video monitor from the camera. The next step was the recording process. We programmed the StreamDeck to make it easy. Hit “record” on the StreamDeck to record and hit “stop record” to stop the recording, and save the file. Then, our team automatically gets notified when a new file is added to the synced DropBox folder. An editor downloads the file, adds branding and minor touchups to the video file, and then it’s ready to upload and post. Easy!
Once we got the audio, camera, and lighting all pre-set and showed our pastor how to power it on, we were off and running with an excellent solution for our one-man-operated podcasting palace.
Closing Thoughts
Our biggest takeaway from this project was the payoff for researching and testing out-of-the-box solutions to meet our budgetary and automation needs. Please don’t ignore this vital aspect of what we learned as you create your pastor’s podcasting solution. Use your creativity, ingenuity, and advice from trusted friends to create a solution that meets your system’s requirements. Your pastor will thank you, and you’ll be delighted with the results as your congregation is encouraged and strengthened with Godly teaching and wisdom.
