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Just like the past 2 years, we will be releasing a CD of the Sundae Sing choir concert. However this year we are doing things a bit differently. Last year we had to take out a song from the concert for the recording because of bleed through of Mark Bates' voice into other microphones. In order to not have to do that again and to get a better recording of everything, we are recording the songs ahead of time. The concert will go back to being just a concert.

To do that, we have turned the worship center, choir room, and hallways into a recording studio. This way, we can isolate each of the instruments from each other, thus ensuring no bleed thru into other mics. This will get us a much improved recording. To view the pictures, click here.

The only instrument that I could not get away from the choir mics, was the piano. Because of how Pastor Doug and Sherry T. work together, they needed to be "close" to each other. This allows Doug to "feel" her energy along with the choir's.

We had one rehearsal night to set levels and then we recorded the songs with the full band the following night. The next week we recorded two songs that are just choir and piano. We will end up having to re-record the band songs in a couple weeks because of equipment malfunction.

Since last summer I have been a part of a network of employed, full-time church tech directors. We communicate with each other through Twitter, a Google group, and occassionally have regional get-togethers (I went to St. Louis in January for one).

Today, the creators of that network, unvelied a free network for all church tech volunteers. Here's the pitch:

The Church Technical Artists Network (CTAN) exists to equip those serving on technical ministry teams by fostering relationships amongst its members, facilitating peer learning, and encouraging synergy through the sharing of ideas.

Membership is FREE and open to all people serving in technical ministry whether paid or volunteer.

I highly recommend joining (if you have time ;). I think you will get a lot out of it.

Click here to go to the website to sign up.

So how many times can I relaunch this thing? ;)

Here are some updates for everyone:

Lights:
I will be doing a refresh of the focus before Easter. The drum & baptistry areas need some work. Other than that, the lighting system is running well. I am also working on some documentation of the system whenever I have some free time (the original install company never did this).

Easy Worship:
We've had some random problems and other issues, mainly with the moving backgrounds. I will be looking into a different program later this year (Pro Presenter). It is regarded as the best worship software, but so far it has been Mac only. They are supposed to be coming out with a Windows version this summer. I will definitely keep you updated if I will be pursuing it.

Video:
The new streaming software is working very nicely. It's a lot easier and offers better quality. For those of you who haven't heard, after talking with Pastor Doug & Wally, we are no longer recording on VHS unless it's a one time thing (baby dedication, Kid's Musical, Good Friday, etc). No one is using them and if someone does want one, I can easily copy one from a DVD.

Audio:
In a few weeks, we will begin transitioning to rechargable batteries. There has been some big improvements in the technology and another tech director did some pretty interesting tests. I contacted Shure and they even recommend 3 of them. The initial investment will cost us, but we will begin recouping that cost sometime next year.

That's about it right now. Look forward to more of these

Well, OK it is a bit early. But not too early to be planning the Christmas outreach, Another Journey. We are in full swing of planning everything. Soon you will be receiving an e-mail with dates for rehearsals to put together the tech team for this. As always this year is bigger and better. :)

Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy with:

We have a new version of Easy Worship. The biggest difference is the user interface. Everything is generally in the same spot; it just looks a lot better. There are some other improvements that we hope to use soon.

The intercom is broken for the video people. It is being repaired right now and should be back within 7-10 days.

Two weeks ago, I had someone from Barbizon come in and perform a "check-up" on our lighting system. It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Now that I know what to do, I have some maintenance to perform on the dimmers. It was also confirmed that our moving lights, the Roboscans, are junk. So from here on out, we will be renting different ones for the Christmas outreach and for the kid's musical.

The digital board seems to be working great! I have received several comments about how good it sounds. We'll be using more of it's capabilities as we start rehearsals for the Christmas outreach.

On the office side, I've kept busy with all the regular day-to-day issues of having more than 25 computers on a network. Thankfully, I have Roger & Matt to back me up.

I think that's about it right now. I will try to update more often.

Also, attached is the report that I will submit for the October business meeting. I will now be submitting these reports on a regular basis. October Report.doc