Volume 2, Issue 12 — December 27, 2013
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The Law of Diminishing Returns
By Anthony Coppedge House of Worship Technology Consultant
I don’t know many guys — or gals, for that matter — who do not appreciate the artistic beauty and scientific precision of a Ferrari. They’re elegant machines that, over the years, have captured our imagination. They represent the pinnacle of automotive engineering and have resisted the gravitational pull of mere cars to achieve the escape velocity of distinct art forms.
Now I’m a sucker for a gorgeous car, but I also know I’d never want to actually own one. First, I’d have no place to drive it. The mere idea of sitting in traffic on Texas Highway 114 seems insulting to this kind of craftsmanship. I’d also never get to experience the car as it is meant to be driven. It is actually designed to perform at high speed in tight, twisting environments. A friend of mine used to own several Ferraris and he shared his thoughts with me.
”I never experienced what this car was intended to do until I took it to the race track and sat next to a professional driver as he negotiated this beauty through 90 degree hairpin turns at 100 miles per hour. That’s when the car came alive…You need to sit behind the wheel and feel the power. You need to negotiate the turns. You need to put your foot to the floor and know the roar… I can guarantee you that this kind of car doesn’t drive like civilized vehicles.”
I don’t know a single church that needs a Ferrari, yet I see churches buy the technological equivalent of them from time to time. And even when I don’t see a Ferrari, I am surprised how often I still see the commensurate very high end Mercedes and Aston Martins of the tech world sitting in churches.
Enamored with Tech
“Hi, I’m Anthony Coppedge and I’m recovering tech-a-holic.” (“Hi, Anthony.”) I was the dude specifying this kind of ultimate tech early on in my career. I still geek out on tech, but I’ve learned to curb my enthusiasm after an encounter with the Lord back at the end of 2005. This is what the Lord told me: “It’s not about the tech. It’s about My people.”
Information can change my mind, but it took God to change my heart. This simple revelation put perspective on my tech addictions. I was teaching churches that the increased production value was the critical component missing in their services and that with the right tech, they’d finally be on the right track to amazing success. I was missing the point that the technology was the tool, the force-multiplier, but not the point in and of itself.
Focused on the Features
Perhaps us gear-heads go from simply being excited about technology to being enamored with it because we can see the benefits of certain technologies. We can easily justify “more, better, faster” because we believe it will give us our desired result. Sometimes, there’s truth in that statement. Some technologies really do allow us to do more, do it better and even do it faster (ostensibly allowing us to do even more). But the reality is that there’s a point of diminishing returns that quickly approaches when we start looking at the super-car level of technology. Sure, it really is more, better and faster, but at what point will we as techies be able to coax that kind of performance out of it in our typical church venues?
The illustration below shows how the Law of Diminishing Returns works. The Ferraris of the tech world are where B1 and C3 intersect for the vast majority of mega churches and giga churches — our largest, biggest venues in the U.S. church world. You’ll notice that the benefits actually decrease with that kind of massively increased level (and cost) of complexity. That’s because, like a Ferrari on my local Texas highway, the real benefits are lost due to both the environment and the operator. All of the possible performance is lost in real-life application for all but the most technologically demanding of contexts.
Heck, I used to be the guy who saw this graph and automatically pointed to the peak of B2 and C2 on this illustration to prove that going the extra mile (and cost, and training and maintenance) was worth the increased benefit. Truth be told, unless the church is willing to staff, train, maintain and deliver on that kind of performance, it’s probably still too much for many houses of worship.
The Kay Factor
There is a solution to determining what’s “good enough” for your church. It’s all a matter of context and perspective, of course, based on the capabilities and limitations of your venue, your programming and your people. Years ago I sat on a panel at a conference with the legendary Marty O’Connor. Marty was the first technical director up at Willow Creek, at the time the fastest-growing and largest mega church in America. He shared with the class that there was a time when Willow’s tech was over-the-top because it could be. Marty said, “We didn’t have many new components with a serial number over 10.” They got the best and they got it first.
Then one day Marty and his audio team were doing a shoot-out with four new microphones. This group of highly skilled tech gurus were doing blind listening tests with varying audio to determine which one they liked best. Marty’s wife, Kay, happened to come in during one of these tests. Off-handedly, Marty asked Kay which one she liked best. She gave him her answer. He had the test repeated. She gave the same answer. He did the test a third time and Kay stuck with her original assessment. Marty told it this way:
“Kay couldn’t tell much difference between the most expensive microphone and the second-to-least expensive microphone. She picked the third least expensive microphone all three times. Then God hit me with this thought: ‘If Kay can’t tell the difference, and Kay is the average person on Sunday, why would you spend the extra money for the very few people who could tell the difference?’ From that point on, we established the ‘Kay Factor.’ If Kay (the average person) wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, we didn’t spend the extra money.“
Three requirements
Of course, it is possible to go so low on the tech side of things that you actually limit what can be accomplished. Sometimes this means the desired outcome is unreachable by limiting the technology. Instead of simply demanding more, there are three requirements for most technology in the majority of church scenarios.
- Easy enough for volunteers.
- Consistency in operation.
- Scalability for growth.
Yes, there are churches that have complex enough environments to need professional paid staff to operate the technology. But that’s almost always the biggest components (a really high-end audio console, a broadcast video switcher, etc.), but there are still plenty of jobs that require volunteers where these three requirements are a helpful guide in the decision-making process.
We all like Ferraris, but we must remember that Kay is the passenger.
Chances Are, You Don’t Make Ferraris
Some readers may, in fact, make some really high-end gear. But the tech equivalent of a Ferrari isn’t going to find much business in the HOW market, because the applications just very rarely call for that.
Be careful how you market and position your products: too high-end and you’ll limit buyers. Not selective enough and you could be seen as a me-too product. The HOW market will spend serious money when necessary, but never sell them something at the top of the point of diminishing returns graph. “Good enough” shouldn’t mean enough-to-get-by, but should represent good stewardship and appropriate technology applied for optimizing results in the context of each unique church. Leave a Comment
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The Day the AVL Industry Changed
By Anthony Coppedge House of Worship Technology Consultant
One need not envision a distant future of me-too products and companies vying for market sales when considering the future of the AVL industry. Our future is upon us and the end of features and benefits has already slipped past, like a buoy fading with the Doppler effect of time on the sea of sameness.
Whether it was at NAB back in the late ’90s when “convergence” was the buzzword or AES when “making the right connections” was the promise or even when InfoComm and LDI seemingly merged from a vendor booth standpoint in the early 2000s, the present has slowly been revealed as the future has unfolded. Today, there’s a blurring of the lines between large technology applications and vertical markets. Today, there’s a blurring of the technological battle lines, with large technology applications and various vertical markets to be conquered. Ironically, it has been technology that has flipped the tables: Buyers now have the largest voice and make you come to them instead of assuming the funnel of leads would naturally flow into the valleys of trade show aisles.
The First Step Is Admitting the Old Rules Are Out
If it’s true that the first step to solving a problem is admitting the problem is real and you are ready to address it, then the hope for change be articulated into a strategic plan where the old sales and marketing rules are gone. In his book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” author David Meerman Scott suggests that the four Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) have been replaced by the digital Ps of marketing (Personas, Participation, Publishing and PageRank). This shift is important for the AVL industry.
I’ve had the privilege of working with many manufacturers over the years, from smaller niche companies like NewTek, FSR and LynTec to juggernauts like Barco, ETC, Sony and Audio Technica, and all of them were prone to limiting their innovation to their products and not to vertical markets. I list some of those names here because no matter which portion of the AVL marketspace you’re in, the lessons to be learned from both big and small companies is the same: Addressing vertical markets really is about relating to the Personas, Participating in Social Media, Publishing (both content creation and content curation) and PageRank (landing pages that focus on Personas for better ROI conversions). Said another way, if a juggernaut can learn about a vertical market like the house of worship market and re-think their marketing strategies, then small guys can do it too.
Change is always bad and it’s always hard — in the short term. For some of you reading this, the change is less dramatic because you can simply adapt to these principles and flex your strategies as you change one set of methods out for a new way of thinking. Yet other readers will see this as a huge red-tape battle upstream with “corporate” to fundamentally shift entire product and branding marketing strategies. In both instances, the goal is not change out of a reaction (or fear of the future), but a refocusing and retooling to properly wield the right technologies and systems to win more battles with greater efficiency.
Personal Personas and Publishing
Personas are not new to marketers. The personas of Audio Al, Projector Paul and Lighting Larry may still represent general groupings of your prospects, but individualization and specialization have never been more important. Granular data, via marketing automation tools, will allow for more targeted databases. If, during this change, you shift from one 10,000-person email blast per month to ten 1,000-person email blasts complemented by a bevy of social media channel communiques, blog sponsorships and highly contextualized copy, you’ll find your leads increasing through a specific, narrow points of ingress.
Guerilla small group tactics are far more effective if — and only if — you make the digital transition to automating your lead gathering processes into a marketing automation database with unique publishing content addressing not just vertical markets (an improvement that’s needed anyway), but sub-sets of vertical markets. Before your transition to the new rules of marketing and PR is over, your organization/division will find yourselves creating more content than ever, but tuning it to extremely narrow and focused subgroups of the vertical market subsets.
I’ve written about house of worship market personas before, so I’ll not repeat myself here. And yet, this simple truth has ramifications in every vertical market: Know thy audience. There has to be a huge landscape-altering shift for the would-be sales and marketing army generals: the unique value proposition, customized and articulated to a unique vertical market subset, is not the future of your increased sales and ROI; it is the current scenario being played out on a different plane than many (most?) of you guys are operating in today.
Participating in Dialogue, Not Pushing Propaganda
About 10 years ago, I sat down with the very top level brass of one of the largest manufacturers on the planet and listened to their engineers describe and demonstrate a prototype product they “just knew” was going to sell like crazy to churches. I’d been briefed over a very nice dinner the evening before by the senior VP that the engineers were very excited about this product and wanted to hear my input. The next day, I walked into the grand foyer of this prestigious company and was escorted to a private conference room where I spent about an hour listening to and asking questions of the engineers. At the end of the demonstration, I made the statement that I thought that it was not a niche product for the house of worship market, but that it would fit perfectly in the field with certain other industries. I presented my stats on the HOW market and described what I thought was a compelling argument for why this new product would be priced at least two times higher than the HOW market would likely pay and how the best aspect of the product — its portability — wasn’t going to be a need to the portion of the HOW clients that could afford it. I’ll never forget how nicely the senior VP spoke with me as he escorted me down to the lobby and had them call a limo to take me to the airport — half a day before I was scheduled to depart.
You see, on that day, what they desired was a stamp of approval from a company that has been on the right side of most technology battles over the years. They already had their pitch down before the prototype was even a product! Interestingly, months later at NAB, I stood in the company’s massive booth next to a church tech friend of mine watching a model/actress pitch the product to the masses. I sensed someone standing right behind me and turned to see that same kind senior VP smiling at me. He told me that one of the markets I told them to attack aggressively had two of the main players buying dozens of the units sight-unseen, but that they hadn’t seen any interest from churches.
You can have a great product and even great PR, but if it’s not following the new rules of marketing and PR, you could miss the best audience — the one actually willing to buy your products — if you’re pushing propaganda instead of participating in dialog. The voice of the publisher is firmly in the hands of the users. While this obviously means your marketing and sales teams will need to do a better job than ever of listening, it also means you can enter the conversation by inviting two-way dialog. See my rAVe column on “Turning Users Into Heroes” for more on this subject.
Building Targeted Destinations
The quality of your leads will always trump the quantity of prospective buyers, yet much has been made about the importance of PageRank (made most famous by Google Analytics). Every marketer understands the basics of measuring hits, clicks, page length and goal conversions for Web properties, yet in the rush to get more screen time, the same marketing materials are copy-and-pasted from campaign to campaign, substituting one vertical market’s title and catch-phrases to match the assumed sentiment of vastly different client types. In a day and time when websites have been made the ultimate lead-capturing tool, the obvious miss is in the everything else that leads up to a Web page click or a lead form submission.
The HOW market needs for you to show them how your products and services help them create, organize and/or manage experiences. As often as possible, tell stories, show pictures and share videos that highlight how what you’re selling adds to their desired outcome — typified by a worship service experience.
Practically, I’ve recommended for years that you create unique landing pages specific to the HOW market. When possible, I’ve also advocated for having home pages that invite the user to choose their application or market (churches as an option, for example). The key of these specialized online destinations is to both write copy that speaks to the pain points, illustrates examples and offers a better future outcome and provides visual eye-candy of your technology in use by other churches in various venues. Complement this with a robust social media integration and sharing/liking/tweeting about your solutions is enabled at the user-level.
Going a step further, combining the personas, participation and publishing into unique landing pages (dozens or hundreds of them, if necessary) that build off of your marketing automation and online advertising, and you will begin to see the benefits of far better lead qualification and lead nurturing.
The day the AVL industry changes will largely be determined by how you engage users. Will you continue speaking at churches (or, worse, not at all) or begin to learn how to engage in two-way dialog, curating stories and creating user-centric and user-specific content and destinations that speak to the value proposition of your products and services as they apply to the context of each unique church? The users have a voice. Will you embrace their chorus or continue to shout down from within your walled gardens? Leave a Comment
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PreSonus Introduces AudioBox Stereo Recording KitAimed at recording rehearsals and performances in schools and churches, the PreSonus AudioBox Stereo recording kit includes a USB interface with Studio OneArtist music-production software, HD7 monitoring headphones, a pair of small-diaphragm condenser microphones and all necessary cables. It’s designed for capturing live performances and rehearsals, songwriting, song production, podcasting and a variety of educational applications.
Specs include:
- 24-bit resolution, 44.1 and 48 kHz sampling rate
- Two combo mic/instrument inputs
- 48V phantom power for condenser microphones
- Zero-latency monitoring via internal mixer
- 6-foot (1.8 meter) USB cable included
For more information, go here. Leave a Comment
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Kramer Intros VP-460 Presentation Scaler/SwitcherKramer’s new VP-460 is a three-input and two-output switcher/scaler that outputs up to 2K resolution. The VP-460 supports HDMI and HDCP, as well as HDMI Deep Color. It also includes EDID management and an option for selectable power saving modes. Other features include picture-in-picture functions, luma-keying, picture zooming, RS232 and IR control.
The VP-460 lists for $2,190 and all the specs are here. Leave a Comment
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Atomos Ships Spyder Color Calibration Atomos is now shipping the Spyder calibration tool. Developed in partnership with New Jersey-based Datacolor, the Atomos Spyder gives Samurai Blade one button color calibration normally only found on high end monitors. With Spyder, the Samurai Blade gains the ability to accurately calibrate to the SMPTE Rec 709 color space with a D65 white point with 100 percent gamut and is fully customizable after calibration.
Atomos Spyder features:
- Extreme precision 7 sensor calibration
- USB to LANC serial control unit included for automatic calibration.
- Calibrate to 6500K ITU-Rec709 white point with delta-E better than 2 down to 20 percent grey
- User adjustments of lift, gain and gamma per channel after initial calibration
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Meyer Sound Introduces Its Lightest Self-Powered Stage Monitor: the MJF-210Meyer Sound has expanded its on-stage solutions with the new self-powered MJF-210 — a so-called low-profile high-power stage monitor. The MJF-210 measures less than 14 inches high and weighs 67 pounds and provides the sonic and practical advantages of a self-powered system, including reliability, low distortion and ease of setup and configuration. With the amplifier built into the cabinet, the MJF-210 eliminates amplifier racks and saves valuable backstage and truck space.
The front of the MJF-210 slopes at 40 degrees from the stage (50° H x 70° V), giving the performer more freedom to move on stage while staying within the wide vertical coverage. The drivers are powered by a three-channel class D amplifier.
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BEHRINGER Ships X32 PRODUCER BEHRINGER is now shipping the new X32 PRODUCER, a rack-mountable console with 16 MIDAS-designed mic preamps, eight stereo FX engines and a 32×32 USB 2.0 audio interface. It can be controlled via computer, iPad or iPhone, or with the built-in LCD interface.
The most compact of the X32 family of consoles, the X32 PRODUCER features motorized faders, on-board stereo FX racks with “studio-grade” reverbs, compressors, delays, EQs and more. Inputs and outputs can be expanded via AES50 ports on the console that permit the easy addition of up to six optional S16 digital stage boxes for an additional 16 remote mic preamps and eight XLR outputs per device.
The BEHRINGER X32 PRODUCER lists for $1,999 and all the specs are here. Leave a Comment
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NEC’s V423-TM is a 42″ Aimed at Touch Screen Digital Signage NEC Display Solutions has just launched the V423-TM display to its Touch-Integrated V Series portfolio. Within the display’s bezel is an integrated, low-profile, four-camera optical-imaging technology that allows for up to four simultaneous touches. The native 1080p (1920×1080) LED-backlit LCD is spec’d at 430 cd/m2 (maximum brightness) and 1300:1 contrast ratio. Inputs include DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI-D.
Integrated with double-sided anti-reflective glass, which protects the LCD panels while minimizing reflectivity, the V423-TM has a built-in expansion slot, which allows for seamless integration of Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) devices. It lists at $2,399 and will ship in January 2014.
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Crown Ships DriveCore Install Series AmplifiersHARMAN’s Crown Audio started shipping four of its DriveCore Install (DCi) Series power amplifiers. Available in both DCi Analog and DCi Network Ethernet-linkable configurations, the 4-channel and 2-channel amplifiers are spec’d at 1,250 watts per channel into 2, 4 or 8 ohms and 70-volt and 100-volt (all channels driven; 2,500 watts in bridged mode), and are designed for installs in stadiums, arenas, amusement parks, clubs and casinos.
The models include the DCi Analog 4-channel DCi4|1250 and 2-channel DCi2|1250, and the DCi Network 4-channel DCi4|1250N and 2-channel DCi2|1250N. Both share the same specs, with the DCi Network amplifiers adding Ethernet connectivity that enables networked configuration via RJ-45 cable and BLU link digital audio transport. The DCI Network amplifiers offer networked monitoring and control via HARMAN HiQnet Audio Architect system software. The amplifiers also incorporate a global power supply that is designed to accept AC input voltages from 100 – 240 VAC, 50/60Hz (+/- 15 percent).
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PreSonus Ships StudioLive AI-series PA Loudspeakers PreSonus is now shipping its new StudioLive AI-series (Active Integration) Loudspeakers — the new line includes the full-range StudioLive 312AI, 315AI, and 328AI and the StudioLive 18sAI subwoofer.
StudioLive AI-series speakers incorporate Fulcrum Acoustics’ TQ Temporal Equalization algorithms that supposedly eliminate horn reflections and to correct linear time and amplitude anomalies in coaxial systems. Collaborating with Fulcrum Acoustics’ co-founder Dave Gunness, PreSonus software designers incorporated custom TQ algorithms with dynamics processing, FFT tools, and performance monitoring into the onboard DSP.
Each full-range, powered, three-way loudspeaker relies on a custom-designed, CoActual 8-inch coaxial speaker with a 1.75-inch titanium compression driver to reproduce the mid and high frequencies. Triamplified, Class D power amplifiers in each model deliver a combined spec’d 2,000 watts of power.
The StudioLive 312AI includes a 12-inch ferrite speaker to handle low-frequency reproduction, while the 315AI employs a 15-inch woofer, and the StudioLive 328AI has dual 8-inch ferrite speakers.
Each full-range system has a combo XLR/TRS line input and an XLR microphone input with an XMAX Class A mic preamplifier and 12V phantom power, as well as an XLR audio throughput. The full-range speaker systems are pole-mountable and have side handles, interlocking stacking, and M10 fly points. All enclosures are of plywood construction.
Three operation modes allow the user to choose DSP presets for their application, such as MP3 playback, live performance or stage monitoring. Users can also create a custom preset using SL Room Control and store it onboard for use later.
The 1000-watt StudioLive 18sAI is a powered, 18-inch ferrite subwoofer designed to match the full-range StudioLive AI speakers. It includes stereo line inputs (XLR/¼-inch combo) and full-range stereo line outputs (XLR) with a switchable, low-cut crossover.
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Meyer Sound Introduces Galileo Callisto 616 AES Primary Array ProcessorThe new Meyer Sound Galileo Callisto 616 AES primary array processor is a designed for driving and aligning Meyer Sound loudspeaker array systems.
The 2U, rack-mounted Callisto 616 AES includes six inputs, 16 digital outputs with eight mirrored analog outputs, and a full digital matrix processor. Working in tandem with the Compass control software, Callisto 616 AES is optimized to be a mastering tool that makes it easier to manage loudspeaker systems and shape overall system response. The U-Shaping equalization comprises five bands with adjustable slopes, widths, and gain. Five bands of complementary phase parametric filters are available on each output. An additional five bands of parametric filters and standard TruShaping equalization are available on each input.
Additional features include delay integration for automatic alignment of Meyer Sound line arrays, and atmospheric correction to maintain high frequency response regardless of changes in temperature and humidity.
To assume impeccable sonic performance for analog audio signals, Callisto 616 AES employs A-D-A conversion with 24-bit resolution at 96 kHz sampling. Internal processing is at 96 kHz with 32-bit floating point resolution. Latency is fixed across all output channels regardless of processing applied and dedicated connectors are provided for integration of Meyer Sound’s SIM 3 audio analyzer.
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For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe HOW out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100 percent opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the ProAV industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
Don’t like us, then go away — unsubscribe! Just use the link below.
To send me feedback, don’t reply to this newsletter. Instead, write directly to me at gary@ravepubs.com or for editorial ideas, Editor-in-Chief Sara Abrons at sara@ravepubs.com
A little about me: I graduated from Journalism School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (where I am adjunct faculty). I’ve been in the AV-industry since 1987 where I started with Extron and eventually moved to AMX. So, I guess I am an industry veteran (although I don’t think I am that old). I have been an opinionated columnist for a number of industry publications and in the late 1990s I started the widely read KNews eNewsletter (the first in the AV market) and also created the model for and was co-founder of AV Avenue, which is now known as InfoComm IQ. rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition.
Everything we publish is Opt-in — we spam NO ONE! rAVe ProAV Edition is our flagship ePublication with what we believe is a reach of virtually everyone in the ProAV market. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA and launched in February 2004, is, by far, the largest ePub in the HomeAV market. We added rAVe Rental [and Staging] in November 2007, rAVe ED [Education] in May 2008 and then rAVe DS [Digital Signage] in January 2009. We added rAVe GHGav [Green, Healthcare & Government AV] in August 2010 and rAVe HOW [House of Worship] in July 2012. You can subscribe to any of those publication or see ALL our archives by going to: https://www.ravepubs.com
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