New Tales of a (Former) IT Professional

Hot dang, is it good to be home! The end of the semester really got a bit dodgy there, especially as I was involved in one of the biggest events on the calendar year - the annual Christmas Concert. This is no small endeavor, or out-of-the-box/pre-assembled kit that is just a 1-2-3 job. Oh, no, my friends, this is a veritable full-time commitment. Emails were gnats on a summer's afternoon, and with the advent of the new and upgraded House Tech Team, no one seemed to have any idea as to who exactly handled what responsibility, which was somewhat my fault, as I had not delineated my role nor my limitations. This has since been addressed, so going forward, I don't think that I will encounter quite the same level of confusion.

Please allow me to elaborate. Attendance for this concert is massive - every seat in the chapel is filled. Every year, the head of the Christmas Concert committee is a member of the current Theology IV class - the guys who are at the end of their studies, who (usually) have been ordained Deacons and who (usually) are looking forward to the Priesthood [I say usually because there are always some exceptions, as each of us arrives at the seminary having originated from different points, as it were]. The organization is compartmentalized, so the the head of the committee handles the chapel decorations, the Director of Sacred Music is (of course) in charge of the choirs, the coordinator of the House Tech Team handles the lighting and sound system, and then there is the contractor who handles the livestream and editing of the video after the fact.

Allow me to begin with my friend Deacon B. [name redacted], who was the head of the committee and was a master decorator. Exhibit A:

Honestly, he did a bang up job, and the picture was taken after the concert. In point of fact, there was a wedding 6 days later, and when the bride came in to see the chapel, she was so impressed that she wanted it to be left exactly as it was. So mad props and wicked kudos to Deacon B., whose creativity in his writing took a different course for this task. I mean, it's not every day that someone who does not usually do decorating is given the seal of approval of a bride-to-be.

There were other massive changes that took place, as one of the administrators retired and her successor was taking up her mantle. Also, I was no longer the lighting tech. Now, I am coordinator of the House Tech Team. So if anything goes wrong with the lighting, the house sound system, or the livestream team cannot get sound coming out from the soundboard, I rapidly find myself to be the pariah, and I'm running out the door to pack my bags and and then driving as far away and as fast as possible.

OK, so it wouldn't really be that bad. But I sure would feel like running for the hills would be a great option.

Fortunately, I had a kickin' team working for and with me.

The Christmas Concert is an ever-evolving organism, one that takes a life and shape of its own every year. Like every good traditional Christian institution, the Christmas Concert involves not only carols but lessons as well. The livestream was a recent addition to the setup, and it requires not only a man but an entirely different team behind a curtain.

That being said, the previous year's show involved utilizing a wicked set of Bose speakers that were placed in the aisle, since the microphones were going through the soundboard. The dual output to both the speakers and to the livestream necessitated the soundboard. This year, on the other hand, we were trying something new - no speakers. This proved to be a great idea, a rather lovely thought. That is until we hit the wall. I could mike out the podium for the lessons and send it directly to the soundboard for the livestream - aye, that was not a problem at all. The live audience, on the other hand, would very much be confused as the speaker at the podium would not be heard through the speakers because we were not using the Bose system.

Oops.

I was considering some of the advantages of a dual-mike simultaneous input, one for the house and one for the livestream. That would be effective, although not practical and could cause trouble with the unidirectional microphones if they are not angled just right. I wasn't about to skirt one either way and end up cheating either audience. So I pondered and prayed (I mean, c'mon, I'm a seminarian, we were putting on a Christmas Concert in the fancy chapel on the grounds of a seminary campus. 'Nuff said.), and then I found this:

Yeah, that "Audio Out" label made me quite happy. What made me even happier was that it freakin' worked. I punted the house sound system out to the soundboard, and when we tested the microphone at the podium, there was a resounding echo throughout the chapel from the speakers, and my guy on the soundboard heard it loud and clear through his headset.

Having it all work, let's fast-forward past the tech rehearsal and go directly to the day of the concert. We used a conference call on our phones, keeping them muted until we had to speak, otherwise the ambient noise was coming through our headsets. The real-time communication was a blessing. I operated the house lights and ran things - in short, I didn't have to do much, really, other than some encouraging words and a rare reminder of the next step in the performance. I had my lieutenant (and good friend) R on the lightboard, my new guy K on the soundboard, a new recruit, D, on the spotlight, and my guy M was monitoring the overflow room - a necessity that was able to be materialized with the advent of the livestream. The setup for that utilized a projector in the corner of the room and punted the sound into the house system in that particular room. I must say that whoever set up the sound system in both the chapel and the overflow room was a certifiable genius and had massive foresight. I pray that the Lord makes a special place in Heaven for that person.

There was literally a single hiccup in the whole thing. One of the carols went out of sequence with the alternating lessons and carols, but fortunately R and D recovered instantly so it was virtually seamless. Everything else went amazingly well, and I could not possibly have been more impressed with my team. We had a good rhythm, and as "the boss" I was very open to suggestions and all manner of improv. I had never, even in the professional world, worked with such a dedicated and devoted team of techs.

So if you were looking for a horror story, I'm hoping that you're massively disappointed.