If you want to read the entire series from the start, please follow these links:
In the Beginning
Taking the first step
In the Beginning
Taking the first step
Most churches that I've come in contact with almost always have some sort of audio system already in place. Some work, some don't. Some will make you run screaming and some are simply amazing. One of the things you will need to do is to go through whatever equipment you currently have and create a schematic (road map of sorts) of how everything is currently connected if you don't have one. Another good idea is to take as many pictures of how things are inner-connected. If everything is located in a rack, get close-ups of all the connections in the back (see picture), as well as how everything is setup in the front. Unless you're one of the "simply amazing" audio systems, you'll more than likely need an upgrade.
A churches sound system is extremely important in getting its message across. If you currently only have a small setup for just the church and are looking to expand into a radio broadcast, you'll need quite a bit of equipment to make that happen. Likewise, expanding into video broadcasting, whether it be something simple like creating a DVD of the service for Archive and Shut-ins, or something more complex like cable or streaming broadcasts as well as handling a radio broadcast feed at the same time. No matter what, your audio better sound perfect in the church, in the cry room, on the radio, on the DVD and on the live stream.
So let's move on to the video side of things. As with the audio, do you have a video system in place? If you don't, we'll get to you a bit later. But if you do, how old are the cameras and video mixer? Are the cameras fixed or PTZ? Are you looking to make the jump to HD? How are video, power and control feeds currently run? Are any of the cables any good? You'll need to know all this (and a whole lot more) as well as create a schematic on the current setup if it doesn't exist.
A churches sound system is extremely important in getting its message across. If you currently only have a small setup for just the church and are looking to expand into a radio broadcast, you'll need quite a bit of equipment to make that happen. Likewise, expanding into video broadcasting, whether it be something simple like creating a DVD of the service for Archive and Shut-ins, or something more complex like cable or streaming broadcasts as well as handling a radio broadcast feed at the same time. No matter what, your audio better sound perfect in the church, in the cry room, on the radio, on the DVD and on the live stream.
So let's move on to the video side of things. As with the audio, do you have a video system in place? If you don't, we'll get to you a bit later. But if you do, how old are the cameras and video mixer? Are the cameras fixed or PTZ? Are you looking to make the jump to HD? How are video, power and control feeds currently run? Are any of the cables any good? You'll need to know all this (and a whole lot more) as well as create a schematic on the current setup if it doesn't exist.
"But why bother with all that? If I'm upgrading or replacing everything, who cares?" Oh you'll care when something you didn't expect pops up and creates a few problems. Maybe you can keep the old control lines, speaker wires, amps and whatever else. They might still be just fine. If that's the case, you'll want to know how it was connected, wired and where its going. Sure, if you're truly gutting the entire system and scrapping the whole thing, then you won't care what was there before. But that is seldom the case. In some cases, we've used the old video cables as pull lines for the new ones. So don't just rip everything out. Also, keeping accurate records is extremely important for future changes. You won't be there forever to tell people how you ran that cable or why you chose this or that way to do something. Write it down so future techs don't have to go through all the crap you're having to go through right now.
To make my point, in our quest to run the HD-SDI video, power and RS-422 control cables to the new camera locations at St. Peters, we had no choice but to run under the Alter floor. We couldn't come in from the back of the Alter, that was 12" of granite, 10" of block and then cement plaster. Nor could we come in from the basement under the Alter because no one knew what we might hit hidden in the concrete or inside the Alter sub-floor due to lack of records. Add to that, that the structure under the Alter sub-floor was well over 10" of concrete. You also don't want to run all that cable exposed along the edge of the carpet, "hidden" above some wood trim or whatever. That's what I already had with the old system and I didn't want to have such an unprofessional appearance. So, into the Alter sub-floor is where we had to go.
Now it would have been nice to have construction prints on how the Alter had been built so we could just point out where the conduits had to go and run them. But that wasn't the case because no one thought it was important to keep records when they built it. We wound up having to pull back all the carpet, drill test holes throughout the Alter to see where the beams and joists where located. Which btw, we found out that part of the Alter was solid concrete. Then after figuring out a game plan, cut out sections of the Alter sub-floor (which was tongue and groove hardwood), drill all the 2-1/4" holes through countless joists for the conduit runs and then button the whole thing back up. It sure would have been a whole lot easier if there had been floor plans available to us or someone with foresight that would have thought to add cable runs for future use. I can tell you that there are now both drawings and extra cable runs.
Now it would have been nice to have construction prints on how the Alter had been built so we could just point out where the conduits had to go and run them. But that wasn't the case because no one thought it was important to keep records when they built it. We wound up having to pull back all the carpet, drill test holes throughout the Alter to see where the beams and joists where located. Which btw, we found out that part of the Alter was solid concrete. Then after figuring out a game plan, cut out sections of the Alter sub-floor (which was tongue and groove hardwood), drill all the 2-1/4" holes through countless joists for the conduit runs and then button the whole thing back up. It sure would have been a whole lot easier if there had been floor plans available to us or someone with foresight that would have thought to add cable runs for future use. I can tell you that there are now both drawings and extra cable runs.