Production Media Teams

Introduction

Hi there. My name is Drew and I’m the Church Production Media Director for Aloma United Methodist Church. One of the many things I do here is manage the team of volunteers that run the lights, powerpoint, and sound for our church services. I’ll try to break each individual job down for you so if you feel called to the ministry, you’ll have a better idea for what is needed for our services.

Power Point Team

The computer person runs either Power Point or Media Shout (depending on the service), which contains everything from the lyrics to songs and liturgy to sounds and and video files. We have 2-3 people that put the files together to make the order of operations run as smoothly as possible, so hopefully whoever is running the computer on Sunday (literally) just has to press one button. If you’re interested in becoming a part of the computer team, prior knowledge of Power Point and/or Media Shout is helpful, but not essential. A knowledge of Windows Vista is also helpful.

Lights Team

At Aloma, we have more than 30 theatrical lights that illuminate our sanctuary. The lighting board operator is responsible for making scene changes happen so that the congregation is able to focus on everything going on. We have a Leviton board that is fully programmable to do different scene changes, sub-mixes, or operate each individual light as needed.

Sound Team

The sound board operator has the most difficult job in the tech booth because if people can’t hear the word of God, there’s not much point to having the service. We have a Midas Verona 560 (56-channel) mixing console that feeds 4 Crown XS4300 power amps, which are capable of running our contemporary worship service at well over 100 decibels. Mixing sound is like baking a cake in that there’s a mix involved. If you use too much sugar, the cake becomes too sweet. If you use too much of one instrument, the mix becomes either too muddy or too sharp. And as always, the more you practice, the better you get. Prior knowledge of mixing consoles of any size is desired in those who feel called to help out with live sound.

Recording Team

Both the 8:00 (traditional) and 9:15 (contemporary) services are recorded on a weekly basis at Aloma. To do this, we use a custom Spirit Soundcraft K2 (48-channel) board in conjunction with a MOTU 24 I/O and Mac Pro 2.8 GHz. At any given time we are recording anywhere from 10-20 tracks in Cubase 4. Once the service is edited and mixed down, it goes to the Sermon Burners ministry for duplication. At this time, only the traditional service is offered on compact disc and those discs are $2 per service to help support the Sermon Burners ministry. Because the software is very specialized, prior knowledge of Steinberg software is essential to assisting with the mixing and editing of the worship services.

Closing Comments

I hope that I have been able to give you just a taste of all the exciting things involved in the Media Ministry here at Aloma. If you have any questions regarding our team, equipment, or how to become involved, please do not hesitate to contact me at: arcollins@alomazone.org or call the office and ask to speak to me. Each week, I look forward to making worship the best it can be here at Aloma. See you soon!