Who knew that being a camera operator not only took a keen eye, but also super-sonic hearing? Well, finely-tuned ear drums used to be a must to know where the video director wanted you filming at Highland Baptist in Waco, TX. You see, they had a comms system, but unfortunately, between the buzz, single-channel of operation for all tech, and only certain stations having access to comms, deciphering anything useful was difficult, to say the least.
Fidelity, dear Watson. We’re not talking about studio-quality audio here, but we are talking about clarity and intelligibility. That’s all they needed, no high-end frills or lavish accessories, but a simple, buzz-less comms system. It started with infrastructure, out with the old and in with the new; although in some cases you get lucky and don’t need all new cable pulls, after a thorough examination of the lines, we knew that for everyone’s peace-of-mind, we needed to start fresh. Once we had pulled the new lines and installed custom breakout panels at each station, it was finally time for the brains; a simple ClearCom Encore analog party-line system.
Having heard of the communication issues beforehand between producer, video director, lighting ops, camera ops, stage crew, and all manner of techy, we knew that one channel just wouldn’t do. So to create some space for now and give room to grow in the future, we landed on four channels. Now, rather than the constant barrage of noise happening in every set of ears on the system, a single thread of communication to only the people who need to hear it. The techs at HBC Waco now know the true value of quality comms isn’t just in the clarity of the words but also in the in-betweens because after all silence is golden.
