My Saturday Night

Originally uploaded by idatasys

Paul Wibur performing and Pat Boone is up later. I know that you wish
you could be having this much fun.

–
Rick Russell

This Sunday I will say goodbye to the first lighting console that I ever programmed on.  We have not had too much trouble with the Avolites Pearl console other then floppy drives going out.  So why make the change?  We have just made a switch in the way that we program.  When I started working with the lights it was very manual and not much programming.  Over the time that we have gone to the other extreme.  Today we program cue to cue for all three services.  Avo has a theater stack mode, but it is not the most user friendly to work with and I started looking for something different.  I spent much time reviewing products and got as many recommendations as I could.  All roads seemed to lead to one place, Jands Vista products.

There is lots to love about the Vista product line.  You can start with a PC or Mac based solution with just 128 DMX channels or have a large console with 8 or more DMX universes.  We decided that it was a full range solution that we could standardize on campus wide. It also gives us the ability to make changes from our workstations.  We had a way to program the Avo on the computer, but it is very slow process.  Vista is almost as fast to program on your computer as it is on the console.

So we bit the bullet and purchased a Vista T2 for the worship center and a Vista S1 for both the new gym and the LYF center.  Now our lighting operators should be comfortable in all the rooms with lighting on campus.  All should be in on Monday and ready to go for next Sunday.  Just remember, is it Jands Vista and not Microsoft Windows Vista.  Friends don’t let friends use Windows let alone Windows Vista.

I have been reminded over the past few weeks of why so much attention must be put into designing things and processes.  I don’t know where I heard it or who said it but it took me a while to understand the following statement “a properly designed road shouldn’t need traffic signs”.  If you drive, have you ever seen a sign that was only needed because the road was not designed right or because of it’s surroundings was forced to be built in a way that required some form of instruction?

Some years back when I was in high school and college, I had the opportunity to work in a millwork shop.  When we would build a cabinet door, we would usually install a door pull handle.  Many times the door was easily opened without the handle, but by adding it anyone opening the door nows how it will open and which side to pull on.  Same types of things applied to my IT positions.  Lots of coders and interface designers try to write software and design interfaces that don’t require a user manual.  Now as a producer that works with volunteers, I am constantly refining my processes and equipment to help the end user succeed.  Something as simple as the order of the channels on a sound console can make a big difference is the success of the audio engineer.

If you are the designer and the end user then you have a fairly easy task.  It never ceases to amaze me how something that I think makes perfect sense can be a challenge to some one else.  So what is the key to good designs and processes?  Observation and revision.  My Grandfather told me about serving in the Pacific in World War II and the developments in anti-aircraft shells.  A new shell was developed that could detect if an aircraft was in it proximity and it would explode.  This is great stuff and eliminated the need for altitude fuses.  The problem was if the shell didn’t find a plane it would not explode in the air and on its way down if a ship was in the area it would explode.  The designers didn’t think of this issue and only after observing it in action, did they decide to make a modification so that it would explode at a set altitude if no planes were detected in it’s proximity. 

Take the time to review your designs and processes in action with an open mind and make the necessary updates so that your users will succeed.

    

We had a great weekend with the new loaned and rented lights. Hereis what I learned:

1. Color fading light can have a great impact on worship.

2. I liked the operation and use of the Nexera lights, but wonder if they are bright enough for my uses. I think the next step I’d like to try out a SeaChanger.

3. Really liked using the color split LEDs. Again they were limited for what I was using them for. LEDs have lots of potential, but need a little more lumens for my liking. If we had netural colored walls they would be more effective.

We had lots of comments on the lighting and that means we need about 8 to 10 more color fading lights.

This afternoon I spent some time hanging lights we are trying out. I’m looking for some architectural lighting options as well as some added color changers. I’m somewhat new to lighting systems and design, and I have really enjoyed learning what I have so far. The one thing that I have learned the hard way is the value of color mixing fixtures. I spend much of my programming time building transition cues to compensate for lights that don’t color mix. The fixtures that I’m testing this weekend are the Wyborn Nexera and the Chroma-Q Color Split.

So far I have basically got all of the fixtures patched and the Color Splits hung. I have only done some basic programming and have not fully tested the lights, but as of right now here are a few of my observations:

Wybron Nexera:

• Bigger fixture than I thought
• Fairly quiet
• Uses a power supply and 4 pin scroller cable
• Seems to mix colors well
• Can’t seem to get a deep blue color as of yet

Chroma-Q Color Split:

• PowerCon connectors and can be linked
• 9 modes of operation, I’m using mode 8 which is dual mode with intensity and red, green, blue and amber.
• Seem to have a very narrow beam. Would be very interested to see the option 20 and 30 degree accessories.

We will see how they work this weekend and I will post an update here.

Surprisingly this was the second hardest week I have had in this job and I really can’t tell you why. But God is good and services today were busy but encouraging. It is so easy in this job to get wrapped up in the technology and the issues and loose focus on what it is really about. I did a lot of work on technology this week, but none of that was very interesting or fulfilling. The trials of this week really help to bring focus to what I really enjoy: investing in people and being creative with in the limits that are in place.

We did make some technology changes this week:

Audio:

• Added a dual 18″ sub. Our 15″ drivers are still being re-coned. I was surprised on how hard this sub could kick. It was not enough for the big room, but it was better than nothing.
• We upgraded from revision one Avioms to the newer version two systems. Wow what an improvement in sound quality.

Lighting:

• Refocused all of the stage lighting for the minor stage reset that we did.
• Finally got the lamp for the OS 600 light.

Last night at rehearsal I was behind the console mixing for the Edge band and heard a bad sound. I spent some time working on the the drums after Mario setup his kit, replacing the church’s set.  I just could not get the kick to sound right at all and then I remembered that John said that a sub might be blown.  I took a walk to the stage left side of the building to hear a subwoofer barking out what sounded like a kick mallet hitting a broken drum head.  The cone on the left side of the cabinet was shredded.  I grab some tools and pulled the driver.  Planned on calling the repair shop in the morning.  When I got the speaker back to the booth I noticed that this speaker had been re-coned in 2000.  I guess that it was just time.

I had a great plan when I got home last night and thought that it might be good to check all of the other sub speakers.  Sometimes it is just better to not know.  At the end of the day we found that six or our eight sub drivers were blown.  This is just some of the fun when you are maintaining a 14 year old sound system.  I have mixed feelings about this issue.  On the one hand, it is frustrating to fix blown speakers and not work on making improvements to the services.  On the other hand I have never been happy with with our subs and I have a little encouragement knowing that I have never heard all of the drivers kicking at once.  Some of the drivers appear to have been down for sometime.  So, there could be some light at the end of the weak sub tunnel.

Nya is taking the six speakers in for repair.  We will not have them for this week and will have to rent some subs, but they will return for the following Sunday.  I have to install and tune the rented 18 inch subs tomorrow.

This is a big Sunday for the tech ministry at Sugar Creek. We are going digital. The Digico is installed and this will be the first Sunday running it for the services.  All is tested and ready to go and John is charged with making sure all works correctly. Over the next few weeks we will train the volunteers on the job. I think that they will be back running the shows soon as they become comfortable.  We have had two rehearsal with the digital system and both were successful and the musician said they can hear a difference in the monitors.  We have not even installed the version 2 Avioms yet. More to come on that next week.

We have a new (at least new since I have been producing) CG operator for the Edge service…welcome Janet.  The Digico took up a lot of time this week, but I did get to add some curtian slashes behind the drums.  I’m really looking forward to hearing the difference in sound quality over the next few weeks as well as how the A1 take to the new system.

I was not a fan of school when I was a kid or a young adult.  Don’t know if it was just not enough of a challenge, but even college could not hold my attention.  It was only a matter of time before learning became a passion of mine.  One of the biggest reasons we made the move to Sugar Land was the opportunity to continue learning.  I’m convinced the continued pursuit is an important part of a fulfilling adulthood.  The ironic thing is that I’m so busy these days I have to make time.  I just got After Effect recently and I thought that it was time for me to check it out.

We have just started using countdowns to start all of our services.  I have always thought of them as being just for the attendees, but I was mistaken.  After using one for the Easter services we realized that it solved most of the issues we had with getting the services started in a timely manner.  Well, that lead to my first After Effect project, a countdown.  With a little bit of research and time I have built my first countdown…(sorry for the big download)

The graphics above match our current sermon series and I thought it would be good to have a countdown that matched.  In starting the project, I went to my usual starting point, Google.  Found some good tips on using the numbers effects and the time code functions which I guess is the recommended way.  Then I saw a little snippet of an expression and being a programmer that can recognize javascript when I see it, I knew I was heading in the right direction.  With one little piece of code I had the countdown working, then I just needed to add the graphics.  Here is the code for the countdown text layer:


// Countdown time in seconds
countdownTime = 300;

// Get the seconds remaining
seconds = linear(Math.floor(time) , 0, countdownTime, 300, 0 );

// Get the minutes
minutes = Math.floor(seconds / 60)
// Calculate the seconds
secondsRemaining = Math.floor(seconds % 60);

// Add a zero if it the number is a single digit
if(secondsRemaining < 10)
{
secondsRemaining = "0" + secondsRemaining;
}

// Return the code formated time remaining
minutes + ":" + secondsRemaining


Here are the easy steps to using the above code:

1. Create a composition with a length 1 second longer than the countdown timer.
2. Add a text layer and expose its properties.
3. For the sourceText properity option or alt click on the stopwatch and enter the code above.
4. Set the countdownSeconds to the number of seconds you want in the countdown.

That is it, the rest is just standard After Effects stuff.  This was a fun project to start with and I look forward to doing more with motion graphics.

Today was the day that we removed the older of the two Soundcraft Vienna consoles and replaced it with the Digico CS-D5.  Over all, the change over went very smoothly.  Last night John and Vincent pulled the Madi cables for the connection from the stage racks.  They ended up needing to be pulled in the iron. The console is in it’s final home and the stage racks are wired up and communicating. Tomorrow, Bryan is going to bring in the snake and we will get them all connected between the stage boxes and the stage racks. After that it is just finishing up the final patching and rehearsals start Tuesday afternoon.  So far we are right on schedule.  Pictures of todays work are on my flickr account.