Tech Table

After the previous attempt to build a control area for the tech gear I didn't really want to go through the process again... at least not for a while.

I did learn a few things:
- Minimize space taken from seating area
- Make sure those who have a strong say are on-board before starting
- Make construction happen quickly to both minimize service disruption and the potential for input that once again kills the project.

So a few things had changed since the last failed attempt:
1. We had put in a large equipment ask to upgrade our A/V gear.  The main relevant pieces that we got were:

• A Midas M32 digital sound board, a bit bigger than our current board but much improved
• A Roland v1-HD video mixer

2.  I had listened to a class from the 2015 Reach conference from a minister who also ran an A/V support company.  From his talk/discussion I had a couple take aways:

• Many of the frustrations I found doing tech in my church were common in our family of churches.  
• Having a heart to make services excellent and not just 'good enough' is a way to glorify God.  

So after some soul searching I volunteered to get back on tech and run it for a year to try and improve the administrative side of things so it didn't become such a burden.

3.  We had a minister and song leader move away and the new minister was more interested in having a more modern style to our services.  This meant more use of the projector/screen and really necessitated another person being in the back

4.  The Piano was elevated off the floor so it was easier to see if there was a singer at it.

So running gear from the corner still frustrated me.  It was no good for hearing the room and was cramped and uncomfortable. 

I still wanted to use the back middle of the room but it was deemed too 'high value real-estate'.  The area to the back stage left by the sound board was given the go-ahead for moving the tech table.  I did some planning to get a feel for how to design and use the area:

 






So it was clear that to minimize impact on the number of pews the area gave us enough width but not much for depth.  After some debating about weather I wanted people to walk in front of or behind the table it seemed best and safest to have them go around the front which keeps us a bit more isolated from people moving around the table.

I designed the table to be just wide enough for the sound board and 3 24" computer monitors.  With the design done (note above picture is after a revision when construction had begun) I could look at my calendar to determine when I could dedicate a whole week to the project.  I also figured out I could use the truck from the singles camping trip to load up construction materials and drop them off at the church.

So with the dates set I could figure out timing and do some initial work before a Sunday service then get onto the construction after service to give myself as much time as possible.

I built out the platform first being as wide as possible going all the way to the edge of the doorway.  One of our ministers thought it would look better being set in a bit.  I agreed and adjusted the design to use three 22" monitors and modified the platform I had made.  Fortunately I hadn't ordered the monitors yet.

The next part was the fun parts of actually building the table and surrounds.  This part wen't pretty fast taking most of a Saturday and Sunday.

 

Having the Midas and monitors there was helpful to be able to make sure it all fit right.  The trim work took a good number of trips to the hardware store and was rather time consuming.

During that process I also had to disconnect all the A/V gear as the current table was in the way.  This meant I was committed to getting this all done before the next sunday service.  The next steps was to either paint or stain the wood.  I had initially expected to stain it to blend in with the pews.  Some had suggested painting it white to blend in with the walls.  From the stage perspective this kind of made sense but the general consensus I got was to stain it.  I went to Daly's paint to get the supplies.  I also found out that the steps are: condition, stain, and finish coat.  Each step involved a day to dry so it meant 3 days for finishing... and some late nights for my schedule.

I don't recall doing wood conditioning back in high school wood shop but I guess it opens up the wood pores and helps the stain to have a more even look.

I used the matched stain and ended up doing 2 coats to try and get the color darker.  A rather long process but the birch plywood came out looking surprisingly good, I guess the preconditioning really does make a difference.

So finally the main build was finished.  While I am no professional carpenter I am happy with the way it turned out.  The color is close or noticeably different depending on what direction you look at it and what kind of lighting.

The next big step was moving all the wiring over to it.  Dad came over to help with that; rewiring the power is his thing, I mostly worked on the signal wires.  Early in the construction I had cut us some large holes in the floor for the wires to come up through.  As in all things it took us a while to move and route everything over.

But we got it all hooked up and working.  Having 3 full size screens (we previously had 2 screens using the quadview to see the computers second screen).  So we were able to get it all 'finished' in time for Sunday service.

Over the next few weeks we took care of some of the minor details like adding carpeting, adding a custom vertical drawer for various bits.  Dad did some work on power wiring so we had hardwired power switches and GFCI's for the speakers (we had been turning the speakers on with Z-wave previously).  There are still some minor tasks left like me cleaning up and staining the vertical drawer but all in all a much improved tech table that is more functional and even looks better than the old one.