The Fall - NSWN

The summer has been real quiet for our Sound Team and our SSL Team. We haven't had to setup for Sundays for months now b/c we've been in home worship. But we're back and in full force. We have our first corporate Sunday Service at Pauley Ballroom on the Berkeley campus this Sunday. Then we have two nights at Pauley for NSWN - same event both nights. And then we have another Sunday worship service at Pauley the following Sunday. And then we're back at Willard. Whew....We got a lot going on in the next few weeks. So I want to document everything we're doing so check back here often.

Here's a slideshow of some of the pics from last year's setup first SWS setup. NSWN changed a bit after that. but you'll get the general idea here.

I wanted to show people what goes on behind the scenes of some of the planning. I have been too busy to take pics of all the things I want to but maybe this Sat - our tech run through - we'll have some time. All the stage, lighting, sound and video stuff is really coming together. You'll see that in some of the posts after today.

Josh Wilson Music Video

This is one of my favorite artists. He's sort of a one-man band. I love how he uses a lot of effects and loops his own music. Kind of a cool rendition of Amazing Grace.

Audacity releases 1.3.8 for Mac

Audacity just released 1.3.8 for Mac recently.  It's still a beta version but so is most software nowadays.  Seems like they've added a bit of new tweaks and changes that are quite nice.  Here are a few i've listed that i like:

Effects:

• Faster Equalization and Noise Removal; improved Truncate Silence and Click Track
• Faster waveform drawing and better response in multi-track projects

Interface:

• Draft Manual/Quick Help included in Windows and Mac installers
• New "Mixer Board" view with per-track VU meters
• Mute, solo, gain, pan and track height saved in projects
• More compact Preferences window with easier-to-use Keyboard tab and new toolbars shortcuts
• New Screenshot Tools and improved screen reader support
• Upon export, addl ID3 tags revealed and editable

But you get it download it and try editing some files.  We'll also post a tutorial to get ardour working on your machine at some point as well. 

Skype vs. Oovoo

I've decided to look into Oovoo to see if this product would be better for us to use over Skype for our video conferencing needs.  I'll list out some of my initial thoughts, which assumes you're already familiar with Skype.  Our main issue with skype that i want to resolve is the problem that Skype doesn't import the video AND audio; it only does the video.  So we get some syncing problems when using a dv camera. 

Oovoo Video

Pros: 

* 2-way, 3-way, x-way conference calls

* 2-way video sessions are free

* 3 different levels of quality - low, standard, hi

* 3 levels of quality directly correlate to bandwidth and cpu usage. 

* more manual adjustments for audio than skype.

Cons: 

* UI is awful.  a millions widgets and buttons without a clear flow or purpose

* Cpu utilization overall is high b/c it's written in java

* crashed on me several times (mac install)

* 3-way and up concalls require a paid memberships - starting at $7.95

-->  I'm still waiting on the main point of making sure the audio comes with the video in the dv stream.  I'll update y'all later on this one. 

Who is Taking MYT Audio?

Hi,

if you are going to or were or still are taking MYT Audio let us know what you would like to learn more about.  What did we cover that was too fast or you'd like some more info on.  What are you curious about?  Comment and let us know.  I'm trying to get this blog going again =-). 

What is Feedback?

Well, we sure heard some of it last Friday at the Ei8ht Hour Shift Concert at First Pres.  The concert was great except for the feedback.  and trust me, i was dying. 

So what is it?  basically a sound loop that keeps increasing in volume until you get that ear piercing sound.  that's the common understanding of it.  How does it happen?  Well usually it's from an input, like a microphone that is too close to something like a speaker.  The speaker, you see, is outputing or sending out the voice or audio input from the mic and b/c the mic is close, the sound from the speaker is going right back into the mic, which is coming out of the speaker and into the mic and then you have a natural disaster like feedback.  and let me tell you it can be a disaster.  i was really pushing the limits this past weekend at the sound at 1st pres.  

this is why i love our in-ear system by Aviom.  oh well, won't be touching those until the fall!  but i can't wait. 

Using Skype with DV cameras for JCC and GLIVE

Many of us know Skype as the software product that allows us to do a phone conversation or a chat (video or audio) session with our friends and in particular with friends abroad - all via the internet. When my friend George was overseas we used Skype for a video conference with him and some of our friends. 

Most recently, we've taken Skype to a new level - when we broadcasted JCC and then GLIVE. We've even "skyped" people for meetings and such as well.  So let me explain some basics here.  This is delving a little into the video world but you need to understand both to see how this works. 

Here's the flow:

Mixer Board (xlr) --> DV Video Camera (dv) --> Video Switcher (dv) --> dv repeater (dv into computer and dv deck*) --> Computer with Skype (audio input from Dv Deck) --> Recipient Computer with Skype

Flow for this setup is relatively simple.  But this is a much larger setup. We use the video switcher b/c we have multiple cameras and inputs coming into the switcher.  Usually we have 3 cameras and an S-Video (pro-presenter/slides).

For a single camera setup, it's similar:

Mixer Board (xlr) --> DV Video Camera (dv) --> dv repeater (dv into computer and DV deck*) --> Computer with Skype (audio input from Dv Deck) --> Recipient Computer with Skype

* the reason that we need the dv repeater and the deck is b/c Skype cannot handle the video and audio stream in the dv input.  i don't know why but it will not accept the audio input, so we need to grab the audio from another dv device, hence the repeater. I'm sure i've confused a few of you by this point.  that's b/c it is confusing.  hopefully skype will resolve this issue and then we could just plug the dv camera right into the laptop and we'll be good. 

So this is a rough presentation.  If you have more questions i can try to fill in the gaps.