Holy Moly....moving into a new building ain't easy

[worshiptrench]

Our punch-list is just nuts for moving into our new 2,000 seat facility on Jan 7 or 13. Pray for us. Every decision seems to have a myriad of corresponding decisions. Like making a jigsaw puzzle without the box cover.

Video/Lights:
We have decided on ProPresenter and PVP on Mac platforms. There are some text placement issues I have with it, but our tech guys say that is what they want...so be it. JVC HD cams. All switching with a Ross Synergy 100.
A Jands Vista S-3 light console with paintcan color changers and 8 movers.

Audio:
Yamaha M7-CL with Avioms for band and front Worship Leaders (I know, Travis, lay off..ha!). Radian wedges for vocalists, bridge team (every other week "choir").
EAW mains and subs.


Graphics Design
I have a new graphics designer coming in next week. If he has illusions of easing in, he's nuts. We are designing all interior signage to be printed on our large format printer. Center screen content in conjunction with video guys. His coming to NorthWood is going to be akin to jumping off the lander and onto Normandy beach head with a water gun.

Cristian, my media/tech director, said he loves the weight of the pressure. I told him, "Good because it is going to feel like an elephant is moshing on your head for the next 8 weeks." We keep everyone posted of all the "FUN" challenges and headaches. Appreciate the prayers.

[Stevie Nature]

I hear you, brother. We're almost in our new building, and it's been pretty rough. Of course, we're a small church so I don't have as much on my plate as you do.

[twc_admin]

Jordan,
I can relate on a smaller scale - our new auditorium is only 1/2 the size - 1,000 seats. We just got our new M7-CL in this week, and we're planning on setting it up in the "current" room to start using and training now.

We're about 3 months away, I think. They flew our arrays this past weekend. We're getting CLOSE.

Sounds exciting over there - I'd love to visit sometime ... let's do a worship night!

[dtpuga]

You know trench... I wouldn't feel the need to comment if you hadn't called me out. You have to let the sleeping dog lie sometimes. HaHa.

I respect your Aviom choice. Even understand it as I look at mixing 8-10 monitor mixes FROM Front of House on day one. I will say that I have no regrets though. But we won't re-list our reasons again.

New building sounds great! Show some pics.

-Travis

[twc_admin]

I second that emotion - let's see some pics.

[worshiptrench]

Okay there is scaffolding everywhere in the worship center proper as they do all ceiling wiring and put acoustical clouds end. They should be down by the end of next week. I'll shoot some updated pics then.

Hey travis, you don't have any old aviom units you want to sell do you?

[Adam Ogden]

I know the feeling too...

We are converting our 1250 seat Auditorium into a 3000 seat venue....all while maintaining 5 services every weekend! It's stressful, and you are right, evry decision you make, has a ripple effect that extends far beyond what you might imagine. Just think of all of the extra and new people you will reach when it's all said and done.

Maybe this could be a good place for all of us to snap some progress pictures, and post them? Something relevant to Technology/Production.

Here's to the finish line!!

[stephen_can_man]

When we moved into our new facility 10 months ago we had a terrible time with ProPresenter. Before I came on board as the worship leader, they had no technical director and they had mistakenly purchased imacs instead of mini-macs. Big mistake! We do panoramic graphics across three screens and the graphics cards are all 256meg. Get 512's because the lag is terrible! The upgrade version of ProPresenter fixed a lot of bugs, but, make sure you have a good network setup and fast graphics cards or it will be slow. Follow the recommendations of Renewed Vision to a T!

[Adam Ogden]

Hmmm....for the sake of being technically accurate...

Mini-Macs are a Automated Lighting Fixture made my Martin Professional....you wanted Mac Mini's.... Past that, I didn't think Mac Mini's would work with Pro Presenter, because they are not able to utilize dual video outputs, which you need for the Program Screen and Operator Screen. We use an iMac as a Video Server to drive our 13x22 center screen on our stage....it works perfectly....generally speaking, you rarely EVER should use a computer with "minimum system components"....upgrading the video card, RAM, and whatnot seems to be a no-brainer.

I'm not sure what issues you have had with an iMac....but it may be specific to your use....we use a combination of iMacs and Mac Books in the various rooms on campus to run the program...they all work great.

[stephen_can_man]

You are right, the configuration is specific to our setup. As it stands, we have 4 imacs, and all of the graphics cards are too slow. We have one imac dedicated to our center screen, and two slave imacs that are used with the dedicated imac to create graphics that span across all three screens. We have another imac that we use for text and just use the title feature on our switcher/scaler. The imac is okay for our master computer and title computer, but, it would have been better for us to use 2 mac minis as our slaves.
The reason we don't like the imacs is that the graphics cards are not upgradeable and we are running video files that eat up a 256meg card for breakfast. We should have bought imacs with better graphics cards from the beginning, and now that funds are tight from fixing other mistakes we are pressed for a solution. This was a problem that I inherited a year ago, and then passed it along to our tech director.
My only point really was to get the exact specs that Renewed Vision recommends, cutting corners can really create problems. Get the 512 graphics card from the start!

[worshiptrench]

We are actually buying the pre-packaged macs from Renewed Visions already bundled. Surely they have those well matched. Surely?

[twc_admin]

I think you'll be safe. One thing is for sure - their support is top-notch!

[worshiptrench]

Updates:

1. The audio visual installer forget to bid the two tripods needed for two of the cameras (this was a change order from an original one camera). Woops there goes another $8,000. Note to self, don't assume anything.

2. The audio design company forgot to plot a camera position so there is no conduit there even though a break out box is there....go figure. So now we are having to double pack a conduit and run two mutli-core type Y and E and H through it. A tight fit but doable with a run of cable behind some of the theater seats. Not the end of the world but just stupid. Note to self, don't assume anything.

3. Frames for projector rooms with projection glass (acoustical purpose to quieten projectors) are mis-matched. Frames are larger than they stock projector glass for. Choices...pay a zillion for custom cut projection glass, rip out the frames and resize setting us back more time, or say forget it and go glassless for now since the projectors are way backstage and shouldn't generate much noise. We choose option three, thank you. Note to self, don't assume anything.

Here is a pic...
http://www.worshiptrench.com/?p=237

They say January. Yikes!

[dtpuga]

trench,
On the conduit-less video runs have you considered Cat 5E? You can run just about anything over Cat 5 now and the cost of the RX & TX at each end usually are more feasible financially than long runs of high end video cable. That is our plan in our children's theater whenever we implement imag.

-Travis

[stephen_can_man]

The floor pockets in our sanctuary were placed about 70 feet from the back walls right in the middle of three separate chair locations. The worst part is, if we use those locations we cut off nearly 30% of the congregation from viewing the stage at all. Stupid and annoying.

[worshiptheKing]

We just broke ground on a new facility and I have assumed point on the sound/projection system. It is the first phase of our project, only seats 2-300 and will eventually become the youth/family life center. I know enough about sound to be dangerous, hoping to learn more nuts and bolts thru this process. I am almost overwhelmed with all the considerations. Anyone have time to give me a rundown of the BASICS I need to look out for.

I am looking at a 32 channel system, 4 monitor mixes. One guy has said to fly 2 clusters one on each side, another said 3, one in center (I don't think we need 3). Hoping for wireless vocal mics (recomendations?) There is a lot more to consider than I thought.

[worshiptrench]

The basics are hire a great Acoustic/Video Design firm. We love acoustic dimensions but I don't know what size room they go down to.

As to the video conduit, we have to use multicore with the HD cam's we are getting with Y Multicore and E, and H for foldback monitoring and thru the cam comm system.

The details in a 2,000 seat room with a/v/l systems and all the lobby monitors are profound. Even the "where do we hang this plasma in the Glocal Cafe' " has about 100 other puzzle pieces attached to it.

[twc_admin]

Guys, we can sure appreciate all you are going through. I think perhaps our biggest letdown was the realization that we wouldn't have room for rear projection after all, due to a screwup on the size of the steel trussing that wasn't fabricated to specs, thus throwing everything off, including a couple of feet of ceiling height. urgggh.

[worshiptrench]

just get a chainsaw and hack it out.

[dtpuga]

I want to backtrack to Stephen and his ProPresenter/ProVideoPlayer problems. First of all, what software are you using? You mention ProPresenter, but ProVideo player is the software designed for true video mixing and with network nodes. Second, if you are having issues with a 256MB video card I think it is NOT the VRAM. We use 4 Intel iMacs every week with 128MB video cards and have no problems. Look into your video codecs. We use a lot of footage from Highway video for instance and the format they ship in is NOT Quicktime friendly. (Pro & PVP are Quicktime based.) Their website recommends Sorenson 3 among other codecs. This summer we compressed the same video file with about 20 different codecs and found that Sorenson 3 is hands down the best one for Quicktime presentation. S3 will give you high video quality with super quick playback and virually seemless crossfading. IF you do a little research you will find that the mp4 and h264 codecs are very processor intensive, not video card intensive and that is what makes your presentations hiccup, lag, freeze and all that other fun stuff. Unfortunately, S3 files are a bit larger than the usual mp4 and h264 files but that is part of the speed and lag issues.

If you have Final Cut Studio or Quicktime Pro installed you have the S3 codec available on your Mac. Software like Compressor works GREAT for batch processing, if you don't have it, look into the free MpegStreamclip.

Hope this helps,
-Travis

[worshiptrench]

The speakers are flown and they look like they'll go to 11 (spinal tap).

Thanks to Travis, Fred and the boys and NorthPoint crew we chose PVP and ProPresenter. PVP running off a screaming Mac that weighs 200 lbs. We are experimenting with our field cam settings to get best playback on custom shot movies. Propresenter is running off an Imac. Very nice program. We did our initial tech training with our techies as we are moving from powerpoint. They are very impressed. After we wiped off the drool from the keyboard, somebody else would jump on and take a spin....

With that said, the most challenging aspects of the new room will be:
1- getting our singers to engage visually with the 270 degree room instead of singing straight ahead like they do now. We have already started working on that.

2-getting our techs used to the new equipment and firing propresenter and PVP from the control suite instead of in the booth like they now do. We're also have to raise up cam caller/switcher position which we don't have right now (moving from1 to 3+ cams). Our lighting will be more complex but we have chris johns to run it and train others. We are hiring in a pro for audio as well.

Catwalk system is very nice as we won't have to clear stage to fly stuff as we do now.

I'll throw some updated pics on the trench very soon.

[worshiptrench]

Hey, when they design your sound booth, always make sure they don't run cabinets up to the edge of the console shelf "cuz we thought you might want to store stuff under there." No I want my stinking knees to go under there when i sit!

Never assume anything. I am walking the building 4-5 times a day now.

[stephen_can_man]

Ours was just the opposite. They built the counter so high that my wife has to use a stool to run audio!

[twc_admin]

Jordan - too bad you aren't on iChat ... Travis and I were on iChat video walking around the new building here showing it off to some folks ... ie. Alex (BetterThanBlank) got the tour.

We're looking forward to living in our new facility, starting Jan 7 ... nearly two full months before we have our first worship services there .... so Travis, Chris, and I will likely be spending LOTS of time walking downstairs from the office complex over to the main auditorium and other environments to "check on" the contractors who are finishing up all the Audio/Video/Lighting stuff!

[worshiptrench]

Today I get a phone call saying they aren't sure they can match the wall color exactly to the drape. What drape I ask? The one going around the giant center screen. NOOOOOOO!

I had explicitly said I wanted a "fall into black" look as seen here:
http://www.acousticdimensions.com/projects/worship/watermark.htm

This is even a project done by our acoustic designer. This better get done right. The last thing I want is a giant taupe curtain.

We are getting CLOSER to Jan 27 move in and tons to do. We promise to put up newest pics on worshiptrench soon. We'll also do a daily entry on all the chaos (which you might want to save to avoid any potholes as you move into your new facilities in the future).

[twc_admin]

Jordan,

That is SO STINKIN' FUNNY ... our walls are a beige, faux stucco finish ... and sadly, our front curtain (it covers the BACK of the stage, but I call it the front curtain because there are side curtains and a black "BACK CURTAIN" further back stage that will enable us to use the backstage area as live stage when necessary) .. anyway ... the front curtain is beige ... matching the walls ...

It's one of those decisions that you pick which battles you need to fight. There have been quite a few battles between the tech dept and the "decorating dept" ... for sure! All in love and respect, but Travis and I both wanted a black curtain for lighting purposes, but we'll just be happy to have an incredible new building.