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Gear Update: PreSonus StudioLive

September 2, 2009 in Audio/Video with 1 Comment

presonus-studiolive

We have wanted to make the leap to a digital board at church for a long time, but we haven’t found a board that had everything we needed and was easy to use.  I think we have finally found one that meets our needs and is inexpensive.   This is definitely on our wish list right now.  The PreSonus StudioLive is a 16 channel, digital mixer with Firewire recording capabilities.  It would be perfect for smaller churches who want to have a nice live mixer, but also have the ability to do multi-track recording of their services.

For praise bands, this is awesome.  You can record your practice onto a computer through the firewire interface, then go back to the board and mix the sound just like you want it using your actual practice.  You can save your setup so that on Sunday morning, it’s as simple as hitting load to dial in your sound.  If you have ever wanted to do a live worship CD, then this is a great way to easily record the band. The board offers all the great benefits of a digital board, including EQ, compressors, limiters, and gating on all channels.  PreSonus has a blog for the StudioLive with great instructional videos that really highlight some of the advanced features.  If you need more than 16 channels, they offer the ability to join up to four mixers together.  This means that you can physically bolt the boards together and have the board function as a 32, 48, or even 64 channel mixer.

The best thing about this board is price.  You can find the board for purchase for under $2000 at Sweetwater or Northern Sound and Light.  I get excited when I see a product with high-end features for a price that puts it in reach of new & smaller churches.  The best way to understand how it works is to get on the blog or check out the many videos on YouTube about the StudioLive.  Now if only someone would get excited enough about this board to buy two for our church :-)

Streaming Video for Churches

April 24, 2009 in Audio/Video, Technology with 4 Comments

I’m continually amazed at how the internet is shaping technology.   I spent a couple of hours experimenting with streaming live video from church.  It was incredibly easy to setup and even more importantly, it was free.  We are looking at hosting a seminar at Cornerstone here in Virginia and broadcasting it live over the internet to two churches in Michigan that are wanting to join in.  Our first run-through was very positive, so I think we will proceed with our plans.

I hooked up an old mini-dv camcorder to my macbook pro through firewire, and then tried out both Mogulus and Ustream.tv.   Both services are relatively simple to configure and start your broadcast.  The only annoying thing about both services is that they are ad-supported.  Mogulus offers a pro version for around $350 a month that removes the ads, but that is out of our reach for a small seminar like we are planning.

watershed_logoI read recently about Watershed, which is a service of Ustream, and I think it will work perfectly.  Basically, for lower usages, you pay $1 per hour per viewer.  You can brand everything with your own logo, embed the player in your own website, and all ads are removed.  You can read more about using watershed with churches at ChurchCrunch.

A few lessons I learned:

  • If you want to go without ads and make it look more professional, then be willing to pay.  Mogulus offers a pro account, and Ustream has the Watershed service
  • If you want to broadcast your worship service, make sure you have the correct licensing. You’ll probably want to start with WorshipCast and CCLI
  • If you are using a mac, then check out CamTwist.  It’s an amazing free program that lets you overlay text, graphics, and even show your desktop, movies, and slideshows.  I also have a copy of BoinxTV, and I might end up using that.
  • If you are using a PC, then definitely check out Procaster – It’s a great front-end for Mogulus that is super easy to use.  You can quickly switch between the video and your screen.
  • Run your sound through a soundboard if possible if you are mixing multiple sources.  Be sure to set the sound volume on the streaming setup so that it’s not too loud or too soft.
  • And the biggest lesson … It doesn’t require a huge budget to broadcast.  If you don’t mind having ads, then it is easy and free to setup a live streaming channel for your church.

Worship Presentation Round-Up

April 2, 2009 in Audio/Video, Technology with 7 Comments

Competition is good in the software business.  It forces companies to continually innovate and improve their software.   If they wait too long, somebody will swoop in with more features and try to lure their customers away.   I feel like that is what is happening right now in the worship presentation industry.  I have been a huge fan of Easyworship 2007 for several years now.  I have blogged about it several times and I still recommend it to most churches who are wanting to get started with a video projection system.  Even though Easyworship is working on a new version that will be mac compatible, it has still gone about 18 months without any major changes.

ProPresenter for the mac is gaining customers who want power and ease of use.   For anybody who wants to use Apple hardware, this is the software that is revolutionizing the church video world.   And now, it looks like Windows users might have a worthy competitor.   Mediashout has released version 4 and it looks very cool.  Mediashout has always intrigued me because of the power and features it offers.  However, the learning curve has always been steep.   With version 4, the program adds even more features, and it looks like the user interface has been completely overhauled.

mediashout-box

Here are some big features that grab my attention:

  • the ability to switch backgrounds on the fly without affecting the words on the screen.   It’s a whole new world for VJ’s.
  • the ability to display a stripped down version of the graphic display on a third monitor on stage.  Instead of dual-screen, this baby has tri-screen capability.
  • the ability to powerfully import powerpoint files.  It can even grab the image backgrounds to use in Mediashout

If you are a church looking to buy software right now, I would seriously consider Mediashout.  I have used it in the past and this new version looks awesome.  I still like Easyworship for it’s ease of use, but if they don’t get a new version out soon, I’m afraid the other companies will pass them by.

Check out the info from Mediashout’s website

Creating Photo Slideshows

March 30, 2009 in Audio/Video, Technology with 0 Comments

One of the easiest ways for churches to get more involved with video is by creating photo slideshows.  You can just take your pictures straight from your digital camera and use them to make a video.   It is easy, effective, and quick.   I have used the free Microsoft Photostory which does a good job of panning and zooming through your pictures, but it doesn’t do anything fancy, and the results are less than spectacular.   On my mac, I like to use iPhoto ’09 to do photo slideshows.  You have several options, and the new “shatter” theme is awesome.  You can show photo captions, but you can’t really add text slides in the final slideshow.

Animoto Logo

That brings me to the new kid on the block, Animoto.com.   I’ve blogged about it before, but it has gotten even better than before.   You simply upload your photos to their website, add text, choose music, and hit create. That’s it. It’s not complicated or hard, and you’ll be amazed at the end result.  You can upload your own music, or choose from their library of great songs.  Animoto actually analyzes your photos and creates a video to match them to the music.  Animoto then provides you with the finished video file, embed codes, and several ways to share the final video, so you can easily incorporate the video into your website or show in your church.

Videos under 30 seconds are free, but you’ll have to pay $3 per video, or $30 per year for unlimited use.  I’ll even help you get started with Animoto. If you sign up for the one-year pass, you can get $5 off by using the referral code DPQIVMCW.

Here is a recent video that my wife created for our local community-wide Bible school.  I’ve done enough video-editing to know how hard it would be to create a video like this.  You could use videos like this to promote upcoming events or show highlights from past events.  We’ve even thought about making announcement videos for church using it.  What are some ways you have used Animoto?

Installing a Church Audio System

March 23, 2009 in Audio/Video, Technology with 0 Comments

Over the past year, I have been able to work with some talented audio contractors and consultants.   If you are local to southwest Virginia, let me introduce you to some of the companies that helped Cornerstone design and implement the sound system we are currently using.

Jim Sharp at TechGnome Productions in North Carolina provided some great help in the early stages of our building renovation.  He gave us some great ideas and even provided some training for our sound techs.   Jim knows his stuff and does quality work.  His company is used to handling projects start to finish, including all design and installation.  Because of budget constraints, we wanted to have more involvement in purchasing and installing equipment.  We ended up using some of his ideas, and I appreciate his willingness to help us out.

We ended up purchasing our equipment from several companies.  Northern Sound and Light gave us some great deals on most of the equipment, and Scott Oliver from Pro Audio Solutions helped us with the rest.  Several of the guys in the church handled the installation of all the audio and video equipment and wiring.  It wasn’t much fun crawling around the attic, but we ended up saving about half of the quoted cost by doing the work ourselves.  Once we got everything installed, we met Chris Gennette from iJamUSA. He was able to build a great sound desk and then he helped us tune and setup the system.  Chris is a great guy located in Hillsville, Virginia.  He was super easy to work with and I look forward to working with him in the future.

I also have to give a shout out to my friends over at Gravel Road Entertainment.  I’ve talked with them in the past and look forward to getting their input on some future projects.

Whenever dealing with consultants and contractors, make sure you know up front how much input you can have in the project.  Some companies welcome the involvement and some companies would rather handle the job from start to finish.  You will need to find the right match for your church depending on the level of expertise in your church.  By doing most of the work ourselves, we saved half of the quoted price and we ended up with better equipment.   I would recommend any of these companies if you are considering upgrading your sound system.

Here are a few pics of our how our system turned out.  Remember we are in a small intimate worship environment.  We have seating for around 200 people.   It sounds great and we finally can control the sound in the room.  Notice the curtains behind the stage which helped.  Our mains and monitors are from QSC, and the sub is from Danley Labs.   This setup works great in this room and can easily provide enough sound for 400+ people.

Illuminate

February 13, 2009 in Audio/Video with 0 Comments

FrontWe started a new series at Cornerstone this past week called illuminate.  We are doing a book study of 1 John for the next six weeks.  We will be talking about what it means to “walk in the light”   Coming up with a theme for a sermon series is important.  I have noticed that our sermons with strong titles get downloaded much more frequently.  Good graphics and videos tie the messages together and create a desire to come back each week to hear more.  It simply helps connect the truth of God’s Word to your congregation.   When you pick something out of culture or a metaphor that people can relate to, it helps them to remember what you teach and preach.

It’s also following the example of Jesus.  When He shared with farmers, He used parables and examples from agriculture.  When Jesus talked to fisherman, He used their language.   The language of our culture today is multimedia.  So when you can use a strong image as a basis for teaching, it makes a difference.  But I typically find myself in the position where I don’t have the time to create the graphics.   Now I know larger churches have staff dedicated for this, but let’s be honest.  In most churches, this responsibility falls on the pastor or an individual with strong graphic design skills.   I love working in photoshop, but I can’t justify the time that is required to create new graphic sets.   That’s why I am glad that many churches have a kingdom mindset when it comes to sharing graphical resources.

David Crowder Band - illuminate

In planning for 1 John, I wanted to go with either a counterfeit theme or a light theme.  So I started looking through some sites that have free graphical resources.   Lifechurch.tv, Newsping, and Vine Resources all have excellent material to choose from.  I found the series illuminate on Newspring’s site.  It immediately reminded me of David Crowder’s CD, and the light bulb is a strong symbol of light.  I loaded up photoshop, made a few adjustments and changes and came up with graphics for print and videos to use in church, all in a matter of minutes.   Now I can focus my time on studying God’s Word and preparing the message, both of which are far more important tasks in my role as pastor.  Don’t feel like everything you do has to be original when it comes to graphics.   Your job is to be effective, not original. Don’t lose sight of the fact that every image and video you use should bring attention to God’s truth.   Start with the truth, and then illustrate it using every possible way.

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