Adobe Creative Suite vs. Final Cut Pro Suite 1
I wrote about 6 weeks ago that I had gotten Adobe’s CS3 Master Collection installed on my MacBook Pro. There were some very interesting features that the Premiere/ Encore/ Soundbooth offers:
-Dynamic Link and shared render caches between Premiere and After Effects
-Encore can output your DVD to Flash. This would be great for outputting content to multiple medias
-Soundtrack’s visual tools for editing sound
But it wasn’t enough to make me switch. Here were a couple of my reasons:
-Premiere/ Soundtrack/ Encore only run on Intel chips. My workstation is still a G5 so I can only use the Adobe apps on my laptop. Which means I have to repatch my workstation when I want to capture of the DVCam deck.
-I have other tools that I can work faster in. I have a good grasp on FCP, DVD SP, Motion. But I also use After Effects and ProTools. With all the jobs I juggle time is very important to me. I just want to know 1 tool to do each job I need to do. So for me the tools I use on a regular basis are: Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, ProTools, Dreamweaver, Final Cut, DVD Studio, After Effects, Compressor and Motion. It may not be the most economical approach but for me it’s the fastest approach.
For a church the master collection is a great bang for the buck. If I wasn’t already proficient in these other tools and/or didn’t have them, I’d focus on learning the Adobe Suite. If I was starting a media ministry from scratch at another church I’d e very happy with a MacPro and the master collection.
AV Upgrade for Spanish Church
Our spanish church has been in a serious need of an audio upgrade. I think we just made the jump from AM radio quality to CD quality. The room can seat around 125 I think, but it has 8 foot drop ceilings. That ceiling height is the biggest challenge.
Here’s what we put in:
– 2 x Bag End TA6000i mains. They are a nice low profile main that is mounted above the edge of the stage with one centered for each seating section. They have a nice clean sound.
– 2 x EAW VRS12 subs. They are double 12 cabs on each side of the stage. Our spanish church likes a lot of low end. These boxes get low and are very punchy.
– Amps are QSC RMX
– Speaker processing is a Driverack PA
– Board is a 24×2 Mackie Onyx
– Tascam CD-A500 for playback and a Tascam CC-222MKIII for recording
On the video side:
-A Hitachi CPX 444 projector. It gives us 3200 ANSI lumen
-High Contrast Da-Lite screen
-CPU running Easy Worship
Here’s my thoughts on the system:
-Bag End mains have a nice clean sound. But because of the layout of the room and low ceiling they can be harsh up close but it’s more volume than EQ. I’m hoping to spend some more time tweaking the EQ this week.
-EAW subs are nice in this room. The doubles get nice and low but since they are 12″ drivers they are tight and punchy. Together this system has a very nice sound.
-DBX Driverack PA is OK. We have RANE units in our sanctuary and youth room. I like the flexibility they have, but for class rooms and port rigs I want everything accessible from the front panel like the driverack. I think the auto EQ is a joke. I use it more as a reference but trust my ears. I’m hoping to get SMAART and take a class on it to expand my toolkit for setting up systems.
-I’m not the biggest fans of Mackie boards. I’ve been through my fair share of crappy SR boards. The Onyx is a huge step up from those old boards. Maybe I’m just spoiled from mixing on a Yamaha M7CL in our sanctuary. But the EQ seems to go from not enough cut or boost to too much. For the price and how it’ll be used in this room it’s a good board. I’d rather have an Allen & Heath GB2400 or a Soundcraft GB4 but the budget was tight for this room
Anyway I think this post has gone on long enough. I hope to post some pictures when this job gets finished up.
Summer Projects
Man things have been busy. This weekend is our kickoff weekend and I’m trying to finish up my summer projects:
-New AV system for Manto (our spanish church)
-Upgrade AV system for Marriage Unlimited (LIFE group for married couples)
-Upgrade parts of K-2 children’s church room
-I’m also looking to pull extra/ replaced gear to make a gig rig for our fireside room where the ladies ministry meets.
-Replace the subwoofer cones in our EAW AX subs we ripped at a concert awhile ago.
I hope to post some more info and pics about how the projects are going.
Sermon Graphics: Positioned for Success (crest version)
Here’s another spin on the success graphics. I’m on a vector kick right now. I like the brighter colors. I like that it’s a little “dirtier”. I don’t know about the crown but it looks empty without it.
Both this image and the modern one are graphics from iStockphoto. Gotta love affordable stock photo and vector graphics!!!
Any comments ideas?
Sermon Graphics: Positioned for Success (modern version)
One part of my job that I love and I hate is sermon graphics. It’s one of the areas I get to stretch myself creatively and I love that. It’s also one of the areas I get to stretch myself creatively and I hate it. I love it when ideas flow and I’m pleased with the outcome. I hate it when the ideas slow to a trickle and my work comes out cheese, old left out in the heat stinky cheese.
One of the challenges I have is my pastor is a great communicator but I don’t always get the most creative titles. Anyway here’s my first stab at the graphics for this weekend.
Any ideas, thoughts, comments would be great.
Saying Goodbye for Now
I know I’ve haven’t posted for awhile. That’s because last week my wife and I loaded up our two kids to make the drive from Dallas, TX to Albuquerque, NM to say goodbye to my Grandpa. Or as I knew him, Pa. He passed away at the age of 76.
He knew God and had lived a long life. I had the privilege of officiating his memorial service. As Christians we now death is not something to be feared. I’ll miss him. I’m sad my kids won’t know him as I did. But I know that he is in heaven worshiping God and cheering us on. I know if he had the choice he wouldn’t come back because heaven is that much better. I know that one day I’ll see him again in heaven. I know this because that is what the Bible says so. It’s in these hard times that we walk by faith and not by sight.
Two neat things happened there:
1) I got to spend some time with Pa’s sisters. He was close to them but I only met them a few times. It was neat to hear stories of him growing up and his life before he was my Grandpa.
2) AA and God changed Pa’s life. He stayed active in AA and helped people break free from the destructive habits they fell into. It was neat to see 50-75 people from AA show up at his memorial. It was even better to hear the stories of the impact he made on their lives.
That’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been walking through. I hope to get back in the routine of posting more.
Creative Church Media 