Playing in Church.

[Owen]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

We are using a black magic atem mini - it’s a little 4 input video mixer that will stream directly. 
into it we’ve got some camera they bought that can pan and zoom and two pocket mini cameras that my work loaned. The 4th input is the words /pot from a PC with some of it set as a colour to be keyed out. 
the audio is fed in directly from the desk.
 

the nice thing about the atem mini is it will take hdmi in - so a lot of nicer digital cameras will be able to be used as cameras. 
 

Professionally I’ve helped out with video on a few live events in the past @owen I would be sceptical of a WiFi network being reliable enough for live broadcast/streamed video without lagging or glitches
 

We are just having the building networked properly so the wifi should be rock-solid within our 4 walls. What it does outside is WAY beyond my control! I had thought of the whole nicer cameras/HDMI option but that would mean buying nicer cameras which would add to the expense. This is a toe in the water excercise and if it turns out to be not for us then the kit can be shifted fairly easily and a solid % of the £ recouped. If we do get excited about doing it then we can re-tool further down the line. Also, people can learn the software at home and become operators with minimal training. I really was thinking about the "user-friendlyness" aspect of it. If we have to borrow cameras to do it then that would be yet another thing to set up for us on the day - and that is reliant on nicer camerss loaners actually being there. This seems to answer where we are for now. I am slowly learning that not everyone wants to get as tech-y as I do. This has been a long road!

[Richard R]

4 hours ago, owen said:

This has been a long road!

Amen to that!
We have so far purchased nothing of significance.  The laptop running OBS belonged to the youth worker who left in May, the software is free, the phones for cameras are my kids' old ones. I bought a used USB audio interface from here to go between the desk and the PC, and just got another MIDI controller for £30 so I can have mine back. Plus some cables and stuff the total outlay is probably £130 to date. The Mifi box was unused from someone else too.  So cheap and effective. But we do have key-person dependencies on me to operate the OBS and another person who controls the YT stream.

 

[Baxlin]

^^^^^^^ Please don’t tell our Church treasurer that, we have spent a little more.......

[Richard R]

We intend to, but I wanted a POC first.

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

We intend to, but I wanted a POC first.

Person of colour ??? 

[stewblack]

Piece of cauliflower?? 

[oldslapper]

Pope of course 

Edited November 18, 2020 by oldslapper

[Richard R]

4 hours ago, oldslapper said:

Pope of course 

Not in the Baptists 🙂

"Proof of Concept".  But I shall forever now read it as "Piece of Cauliflower", which will make future project plans much more entertaining. Thanks @stewblack 👍

[stewblack]

55 minutes ago, Richard R said:

Not in the Baptists 🙂

"Proof of Concept".  But I shall forever now read it as "Piece of Cauliflower", which will make future project plans much more entertaining. Thanks @stewblack 👍

Happy to raise a smile. Don't know about your concept of God but mine most definitely has a sense of humour. 

[Baxlin]

14 hours ago, Richard R said:

We intend to, but I wanted a POC first.

It’ll be a long wait....

[Sardonicus]

When I started this thread way back on 2nd Jan 2020, I never expected it to run for so long, the update is that I still haven’t played a note yet due to constant lockdown etc, the singer/guitarist recently stood down so it looks like I’ll be playing 6 string and singing now 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Owen]

5 minutes ago, Big Rich said:

When I started this thread way back on 2nd Jan 2020, I never expected it to run for so long, the update is that I still haven’t played a note yet due to constant lockdown etc, the singer/guitarist recently stood down so it looks like I’ll be playing 6 string and singing now 🤷🏻‍♂️

It goes from bad to worse

[Rich]

And not a single piece of cauliflower in sight.  

[xgsjx]

I’ve played a couple of times to record songs for a month or so’s worth of services.

A bunch of us have been doing online meets to write some worship songs too.  That’s been fun. 

[SteveXFR]

Im not a man of religion so I don't go to church but I have been to some gigs in a converted church. There's something rather atmospheric about crushingly heavy death metal performed in a medieval church. Gothic architecture just works so well with heavy music. It was acoustically very good as well. 

[Richard R]

Since the last update we have spent a bit more on streaming gear, the Piece of Cauliflower having proved successful. However it was successful for 2 camerasz adding a third complete crippled the system.

The problem we found was that the PC could handle two phone cameras plus HDMI capture OK, but adding another source just crippled it. Wifi was tolerable for 2, but unusable for three.

The biggest outlay was  a PC capable of handling 4 video inputs, so that was a £1300 outlay on a gaming PC with a graphics card. The rest, in no particular order: Updating the HDMI capture card from  £10 chinese thing to  £100 reliable Taiwanese one. 2x Logitech StreamCam USB cameras to replace phones. 1xUSB 2 over ethernet extender to allow 15m runs to the cameras. Quality USB C to USB 3.1 adapters for the cameras. 1x Mackie Onyx interface purchased used on BC marketplace. New cost about £140.

Having got this lot running perfectly for the Christmas Eve services with live band, video, three cameras etc, we haven't had a band in since. ☹ However we have been streaming the services live every Sunday but with recorded songs. Seems to be working OK 👌 

[bass_dinger]

17 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Im not a man of religion so I don't go to church but I have been to some gigs in a converted church. There's something rather atmospheric about crushingly heavy death metal performed in a medieval church. Gothic architecture just works so well with heavy music. It was acoustically very good as well. 

Ah - solid-wall reverb, in a 100 foot tall room.  It's like singing in the world's biggest bathroom, but it can be difficult to control.  However, it makes for some huge sounds!  

The building that were are in, is an irregular hexagon with no parallel walls.  Either the architect was very aware of standing sound waves and acoustics, or he wanted to build something different.  Whatever, it certainly works as a meeting space. 

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Ah - solid-wall reverb, in a 100 foot tall room.  It's like singing in the world's biggest bathroom, but it can be difficult to control.  However, it makes for some huge sounds!  

The building that were are in, is an irregular hexagon with no parallel walls.  Either the architect was very aware of standing sound waves and acoustics, or he wanted to build something different.  Whatever, it certainly works as a meeting space. 

Or he had drunk builders?

[jimbobothy]

... our church was recording live worship every couple of weeks, but it was decided to halt that with the new variant/lockdown. Hopefully we'll get back to it asap God willing.

[Richard R]

We are carefully spaced out, except for the tech desk where we installed polycarbonate screens between the three people working next to each other.

Really looking forward to making a loud and worshipful racket again though!

[Kevsy71]

On 14/02/2021 at 18:42, SteveXFR said:

Im not a man of religion so I don't go to church but I have been to some gigs in a converted church. There's something rather atmospheric about crushingly heavy death metal performed in a medieval church. Gothic architecture just works so well with heavy music. It was acoustically very good as well. 

I'm guessing you've heard Sunn O))'s Dømkirke - immense sound on the record, but must have been incredible to hear it live. Our church like many others has lots of glass instead of stone, soft coverings on seats  rather than wooden pews etc., so not in the same league acoustically - however it does resonate at A, which has resulted in some bass shocks to those sitting near the back!

[Baxlin]

4 hours ago, Richard R said:

We are carefully spaced out, except for the tech desk where we installed polycarbonate screens between the three people working next to each other.

Really looking forward to making a loud and worshipful racket again though!

That’s how we are, with a stripped back band, positioned well apart, just one vocalist, the rest of us masked up.  All the other usual precautions are taken.  It’s great to be playing live, of course, but as Richard said, we’re all wanting to lead a live congregation in worship again!

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, Kevsy71 said:

I'm guessing you've heard Sunn O))'s Dømkirke - immense sound on the record, but must have been incredible to hear it live. Our church like many others has lots of glass instead of stone, soft coverings on seats  rather than wooden pews etc., so not in the same league acoustically - however it does resonate at A, which has resulted in some bass shocks to those sitting near the back!

Sunn O))) are one of the bands I saw in an old church. It was incredibly atmospheric, the architecture complimented the music really well. 

[TrevorR]

Church did it's first in-person service in a couple of months this Sunday. However, with both of us having underlying medical conditions and a child with some special needs we're all still shielding for now (roll on our vaccinations - hopefully not long now). So we did another one of those "record it on your iPhone and glue it together" videos as a special for this week's service.

 

Our indie-rock version of Chris Tomlin's "Set Free (Joy, Joy)" but with a Valentine's twist at the end. The song starts dead on at 5 minutes in. The sound of my Pro Series Wal bass comes through really nicely on the mix. So glad that our pastors and worship team appreciate the role that bass can play in a mix and driving a song and aren't scared of it!!! Hope you like it.

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by TrevorR

[bass_dinger]

On 15/02/2021 at 14:45, Richard R said:

Really looking forward to making a loud and worshipful racket again though!

After two months of not playing in church, the band have been asked back for 7th March.  Two days later I was offered a vaccine (at-risk group, rather than over 70!).   Add to that a forthcoming bass lesson, and some fun listening to new music, and it feels like all systems are go!

Congregation are not due back for a long while, however.