After all of our big services and events, we like to review how things went and identify areas for improvement, even if we felt that nothing went wrong. For our reviews we follow a format called The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, where we identify things which went well, things which shouldn’t have happened, and things which we could have done better.
The Good
- Having two operators meant that streaming was less stressful, and gave a more dynamic mix of both sound and video.
The Bad
- The soloist for the beginning of Once in Royal David’s City wasn’t mic’d correctly, meaning the sound wasn’t as clear as it should be.
- In future, a member of the Tech Team should perform a mic check beforehand.
- Microphone users who are unfamiliar with them should be told to always leave microphones switched on; the audio operator will manage levels.
- Changes had been made to the configuration of the sound desk at an unknown point in the past which affected our baseline mix, leading to a small amount of feedback.
- Although this was quickly addressed by the sound operator, it shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.
- Replacement of the current mixing desk with a digital desk which can be locked or which has automatic feedback suppression should be made a higher priority.
The Ugly
- The microphone arrangement for the choir and organ is starting to show its weaknesses compared to the quality of the performance, and should be reviewed to provide a better mix.
- This will likely require consultation with an acoustic engineer to ensure the best placement.
- It is likely that this will also require engagement with the faculty process if anything more than the bare minimum is done, as microphones and cabling will need placing at high levels.
- This will likely need either the inclusion of a submixer, or the replacement of the mixing desk, to allow for sufficient number of microphones.
- An incorrect expander configuration in our streaming pipeline meant that particularly quiet parts of singing or organ were being lost on the stream.
- This configuration has now been changed to be less aggressive.
- A shortage of members of the Tech Team meant that we weren’t able to install the usual number of supplementary cameras, leading to a less engaging visual mix.
- We should consider permanent installation of additional cameras in key positions, and potentially replacement of our video mixer with one supporting more inputs. This will provide a wider and more engaging range of shots for all services, not just ones where the Tech Team are able to install temporary supplementary ones.