Post date: Apr 21, 2013 10:07:31 PM
St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Ballard (Seattle neighborhood after 1907) celebrated its 100th Anniversary today. Nancy Tyler spent a lot of good energy displaying the history of the congregation (and Ballard) recorded in the link above.
Partly as preparation I removed the bandstand that had been constructed in the corner of the room (in Bennett Hall) that we use for worship. It has been several years since it was used, and was not particularly beautiful. Basically it entailed removing several score wallboard screws, sheets of plywood, and scraps of lumber (up to 4x6, pressure treated) that had been covered with carpet.
Removing this platform uncovered piles of microphone cables, sets of loudspeakers, boxes for sound equipment, an electronic piano, and miscellaneous audio gear. It also entailed moving three very heavy amplifiers. Of course this meant reconfiguring the sound system so it would work with the amplifiers in their new location. Since another objective is to sell the two 16-channel audio mixers and unused drum set, this turned out to be a somewhat larger project than I had imagined, especially since it mostly occurred Saturday afternoon, meaning I had to make the sound system useable for Sunday services.
Next project around the sound system is to test the mixers to make sure that all channels work, sell the 40-year-old Rodgers electronic organ (model 110, if you are interested!) and reconfigure the computer that controls the computer so that sound from PowerPoint presentations will use the sound system, too! Ah, but I have a week to get that working. Then I'll try to substitute for the huge loudspeakers. By the way, there is a loudspeaker behind the altar, in the shape of a cross, that is covered by a heavy curtain - which does very little for the quality of voice projection. Oh, and the cross-speaker is backed by a heavy curtain, too! The Vicar never new it was there, hooked up, and functioning.
All these changes make a visible difference - as the band platform was none to lovely. I'm hoping to make the sound system function better, too. The current speakers are widely spaced, about half-way down the sides of the space. Nowhere near to the actual person speaking, which is my ideal. (The amplified or reflected sound should come from no farther than 10 feet away from the source. This means that the reinforcement comes within 30 milliseconds of the original to the hearer's ears and the hearer's brain merges them into one sound. If the sounds come more than 30 milliseconds apart the brain hears them as separate sounds and the performance lacks 'intimacy' to the listener.)
Then there is a sound and projection control room that is still packed with stuff. On to the next project!