What can i say….EG2015 was a BLAST. We loved every moment of it. This year we had the honor of hosting Pastor Jeremy Johnson from Fearless LA, Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr from Rendezvous Church in Miami, and our very own Pastor Tim Bittle. As a small treat Ps Jeremy brough Trevin hunt from season 3 of the Voice as a traveling partner. What an honor it is to be part of a church that has great connections in the church.
We at TFH Production love creating environments where people come in and are amazed. I hold firm that if we can grab your attention we can tell you about Jesus. So we run hard after excellence, and hard after a "wow" factor all for an encounter with God. What was a whirlwind of 3 days in February started as a concept and design in August (usually right after GenCamp).
We get a lot of questions on how we do what we do, we might not be pulling off the biggest productions, but the knowledge we do have we want to share throughout the church. What conference prep usually looks like for us is dream up an idea, sketch it, then put together a "to scale" image in Photoshop. (There are better programs out there to design and render stages, but PS is what we have for now). What we'll end up with is a concept that looks like this.
Once the concept is approved we have to bring it to life. The 5 panels we were bringing to life were made possible by Absen A7 7.9mm LED tiles. Each of the 5 panels contained 10 tiles for a grand total of 50 tiles. The panels were specced out by Lucas Jameson at DPS Productions. DPS is the production company behind most of the Jesus Culture conferences, Hillsong LA, Winter Jam LA, and much more. I had the privilege of meeting Lucas and much of the DPS crew at WFX last year in Dallas, and Jesus Culture Sacramento. They're very knowledgable and super passionate about production.
To supplement our current JBL PA we rented four Meyer 700HPs Subwoofers. Clint Aull, Production Manager at Bethel Music in Redding tuned our system to accommodate the added subs. Clint has been in the industry for years and is an all around great guy. Over the years Clint, Bethel, and TFH have developed a great relationship. I'm humbled by the connections we've fostered over the years.
The Gear:
50x Absen A7 LED panels
Folsom Image Pro
4x Meyer 700HP
6x Martin Mac 700s
6x Martin Mac 550s
10x Chauvet Coloardo 1QT
10x Colorkinetics Colorblasts
Nano Hog 4
Mac Pro running PVP2
We decided to go with a config of 5 LED panels about 8’x30” spaced 3’ apart. The entire LED array acted as one screen, and not 5 separate. The resolution sent to the screen was a 1080 signal that was scaled to fit the width, about 23 pixels top and bottom were cut off of the image as the config of the panels were not a true 16:9.
We drove content to the screen with a Mac Pro running PVP2 into a Folsom Image Pro to scale the image on the screen. Next year we'll run either a PRG M Box or Resolume, for this year we went with a controller that volunteers were already familiar with, without having to retrain on an unfamiliar software. Whatever set that we run at conference we carry through the weekend as there is not a sufficient amount of time to tear down. So to protect excellence in our services we chose to the PVP route.
The idea behind having 5 separate panels was to map content to each panel for our TFH Film created videos. Each of our speaker intros were created by splitting a 1080 video into equal 5th’s and masking layers for the specific panel by separating each panel with a 3 pixel black bar. The countdown was also created with the 5 panels in mind. Each number in on the clock and the logo were centered on each panel so to give each panel a separate and uniform look.
Adding any amount of speakers into an existing PA isn't as simple as connecting XLR's if you want it to sound good. It requires not only choosing the correct speakers to add but also retuning of the whole system. This all takes planning and some know how on our part. Luckily for us, we had a great friend who was able to come and assist us with the whole thing.
We decided to supplement our system with some added subs. We had decided the main PA was good but was lacking some low end. So like we said above we rented in 4 Meyer 700HP subs (2500 watts a box) that we configured in a stereo setup with 2 sets on each side of the stage. Coming to about 10,000 watts in extra low end we didn't have before. Now if we would have just plugged them in and ran them it would have sounded okay enough to feel a difference but wouldn't have really added to the experience. We ended up bringing in our friend Clint Aull from Bethel Church to help set them up and retune the whole system.
He actually already knew our system quite well since he retuned it just a few months back to update everything. He directed us where to place them and fitted our current sound right up to them and had it sounding quite nice within a few hours. It really ended up setting a tone for the conference. It was the best our system has ever sounded. While tuning the subs he even touched up the main system tuning after noticing a consistent EQ cut we were making on almost every channel. By the start of the conference we had things pumping and feeling like we were at a whole new level.
It's safe to say after the conference ended and we returned the subs that something just felt... well just felt like it was missing. You just can't beat the feel of 10,000 watts of subs. Without pushing ourselves to move outside of our normal comfort zone, planning ahead, and knowing the right people we would have never done this. The conference still would have been great but wouldn't have been quite as great as it was.
If you have any questions regarding EG feel free to contact us.
EG is an annual youth and young adult conference held at The Fathers House in Vacaville, CA. For over a decade, groups and individuals from all over California and surrounding states have gathered for 3 days to encounter God, discover their purpose, and affect their culture. EG2016 will be held in TFH's brand new facility on Feb 25-17, 2016. For more info visit www.egconference.com
