Spring 2022 ~ Letter from UCM’s Production/Tech Team

The UCM Production Team has been working hard to finalize our new AV system. And now the fun begins! Come join us and help share the stories of the church. From recording music, to producing short videos, to live production on Sunday — there is so much to learn and you don’t need to know anything to start. Send an email to the address below or reach out to anyone you see with an asterisk before their name in the Zoom Chat during Sunday Services. We can’t wait to hear from you!

 

A quick update about our tech gear. We have had our cameras up and running for the entire year. We have three PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras mounted on the walls, connected to a controller and switcher in our new AV Control Room. There has been a long delay in getting our desired audio gear, but we’ve cobbled together an analog system from various borrowed equipment. After a long delay with the global supply chain, we’ve finally gotten some movement and should be receiving our audio gear within the next 2-3 weeks. This will really enhance our ability to record music in the Sanctuary. There is great potential for making high-quality recordings. We are really excited to build our production capacity, and create opportunities for musicians in our community to record music!

 

We feel that we have accomplished our original goal: to minimize the impact on the Sunday Worship experience while offering the experience to remote congregants. We have three cameras mounted on the walls, all controlled from outside the Sanctuary (as you are looking at the organ, the AV Control Room is through the door on the left). We currently have the audio mixing board in the Sanctuary, which we hope will change when we receive our new audio system. Our intention is to control the audio via a tablet in the Sanctuary. 

 

We want to extend our gratitude to the Air Quality Project Team for overseeing design & construction, and offer a special thank-you to Kris Hammer for long hours of construction & project management, and some fine woodwork! Thank you also to congregant Dan Wetmore for constructing the AV room (and his ongoing work with the AQP). And we have a special thank-you for AV designer, Drew Fahle, who we found after a few missteps. After many months of frustration, we found Drew and he quickly and efficiently sorted out our electrical & digital system.

 

Our current small Tech team is committed to operating the AV system for the remainder of this year, and we are excited to play a role next year as well … and, we need your help! We want to have a robust team, capable of cycling through the various roles. It is a really fun way to contribute to the church community and indeed a unique way to experience Worship! We invite you to join us and learn a lot of production skills! Don’t worry if you’re brand new at this stuff, it’s actually easier than you may think … and a lot of fun! Contact us to volunteer:

UCM Production Team: ucm.productionteam@gmail.com