ChurchProduction.com: Recently, at a worship planning meeting, I made the comment that the church lighting console board was showing signs of wear and should be replaced sometime in the near future. “Why, what’s wrong with it?” I was asked. “Well, our board was designed in 2003, is DOS-based and uses floppy disk for backup, which are both obsolete. And the page knob skips some of the pages making it difficult to use.”
3 comments:
When I read this story, I don’t hear a story about how certain lighting consoles are superior to others for certain reasons, or how one console sucks and the other is god. I see a story about people finding a problem with their existing structure, early enough for it to not cause further problems, doing diligent research about approaching a solution, taking action based upon that research, and then advocating their results for purposes similar to their own without advertising it as the only solution. I think that regardless of the application, this mode of problem solving is very useful to us, or anyone for that matter, and it’s all the better that it pertains to something theatrical in nature. Seeking proper solutions, whether it’s how to do a scene, or how to design a production, or how to build the set, basically any implementation of a task or goal, can benefit from the logic that drove this church to their new lighting console.
This article was like a great detective novel for me, in that I skipped right to the end, read the last sentence, and then started back at the beginning. Big mistake. My experience with Strand consoles has almost always been negative, as I find the only edge they have over a similar ETC console is the lower price, but it shows in build and feature quality (or lack thereof). The author is clearly concerned about price over anything, even though they claim to care about ML control knobs and interfacing with non-DMX lighting instruments. Based on their attitude in the article, they had their mind made up (or at least set on two boards) after they looked at the price. Such a tendency is weird in the church world, seeing as the recent rise of the Mega-Church and live church spectaculars have ended up displaying some of the most cutting-edge lighting technology on display anywhere. The designer also isn't particularly savvy, getting caught up in trivial lighting notions such as the amount of faders set on the board. Fader wings are out there. The one smart decision he made was going and testing the board, as it is hard to get a feel for how a lighting console will or won't suit you based on pictures and videos online.
How important is the right lighting console really? Isn’t it more important to have a still serviceable reliable lighting console that works for your organization?
Having done a lot of little theatre when I was much younger, I know that it’s much harder to train folks on easier new gear than it is to keep them using the harder familiar gear.
Especially coming from a church production site, this should really read “Selecting the console that volunteers know how to use.”
All that being said, some churches are really pushing the limits of production value. I’m really surprised that ETC hasn’t made a console specifically for worship organizations.
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