| June
13 , 2005
Here
is big news about another key installation of Sabine 2.4
GHz Wireless!
COPPERFIELD
CHURCH: BUILDING A WORSHIP CENTER ONE STEP AT A TIME
--Major
Church in Houston Chooses Sabine Wireless --
Houston,
TX––As described by Technical Director and
Church member Michael Mychalczuk, the Copperfield Church
is "designed for someone who's never been in a church
before."
With
a horizontal layout that provides enhanced access and
activity flow for a growing number of programs, Copperfield
is always open to the local commun ity
with their extensive and sophisticated facility available
for free to all.
Copperfield
Church was founded in 1991 and their services average
between 800 and 1000 people per week. Also unusual is
the fact that their entire technical arts ministry is
made up of lay people who volunteer their services for
the Church. Mychalczuk is responsible for all audio and
video at the Church while holding down a full time job
with a local software manufacturer.
According to Mychalczuk, "another unique area is
that the Church has grown over the years absolutely debt
free. We build out as we have the funds to pay for the
individual elements. So we had to design a sound, video
and lighting system that could be installed in phases.
We had to think three to five years in the future, and
build into them.
"As
such, there were areas where we couldn't afford to make
a mistake because it would be too expensive to change
it later on. We had to make a choice and commit to it.
"One
of those was the area of wireless microphones. We originally
had a mix of VHF and UHF systems and they worked, but
with the population growth in our area, the UHF space
is quickly getting filled up. We're in Houston, a major
market where we haven’t even felt the full effect
of the HDTV thing yet. And I’ve been talking to
other pastors in our area, which is very populated, and
people were stepping on each other’s UHF space every
time they turned around!
"So
when we looked at Sabine, they were the only wireless
microphone company that put us in a safe harbor in terms
of the frequency spectrum, which also had all of the outboard
processing, compression, limiting, etc., built into the
microphone and receiver, another major cost savings.
"And
Sabine was the only one that gave us the ability to model
various microphones, which was important to us because
of different singer types and other issues. And when we
factored that cost savings along with the longevity of
the system, the decision became clear.
'We
initially had some concerns because the Sabine system
is a first generation product, but when we brought something
to their attention, they were right there to work with
us every step of the way. They went out of their way to
make sure we got the replacement equipment we needed,
and they got it to us quickly, plus they had answers for
all of our questions."
The
services at Copperfield feature contemporary music with
a full band of acoustic and electronic instruments, with
anywhere from a two to six-person drama, and pastoring,
along with video projection and magnification, lighting
and more.
Their
expanding audio system currently includes 40 inputs on
stage, with at least 60 by the end of the year. Other
components include a Yamaha M2500 console for Front of
House, Furman monitoring on stage and in-ear monitoring
for all singers. The amps are all Crown powering Community
loudspeakers.
All
of the audio can be recorded in their studio with up to
32 tracks of digital audio using MOTU’s Digital
Performer running on an Apple Macintosh G5. As Mychalczuk
adds, "All of our Sunday services are recorded to
hard disk, which we can then duplicate into CDs, so that
by the time between the first and second service, there
are CDs of the service available in our store!"
For
video, the Church uses three CANON XL1s fed to a NEWTEK
Video Toaster for video projections, magnifications and
DVDs.
Summing
up, Mychalczuk emphasizes the bottom line reality of the
Church's approach to technology, "When you look at
the Sabine system from a dollar cost perspective, it’s
extraordinarily competitive. When you’re working
within a 'debt free' system and you have to go to your
congregation and ask them for funding of a specific item
such as wireless, you can’t afford to screw it up."
For more about Sabine Wireless, please click to sabine.com
or call (800) 626-7394.
Thanks
for your support,
Rob
Rothschild
Director
of Sales & Marketing
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