Front Row Seat Productions deploys DPA for its HOW projects
Front Row Seat Productions deploys DPA for its HOW projects
Once exclusively a recording business designed to give young musicians a start in the industry, Front Row Seat Productions has evolved to include a wide array of audio and video production services for clients of all types. Today, that includes spec’ing and installing equipment at houses of worship throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the surrounding regions. Recently, these have included Pendle Hill Retreat Center in Wallingford, PA, and St Luke’s Episcopal Church in Gladstone, NJ, where the Front Row Seat Productions team deployed DPA Microphones.
Like most houses of worship in recent years, leadership at both Pendle Hill and St Luke’s needed a way to connect with members remotely. As a Quaker study, retreat and conference centre, Pendle Hill Retreat Center provides a more meditative style of worship, where any member is welcome to stand and speak whenever they feel the spirit has moved them. This style of worship means that Pendle Hill required bidirectional communication for its livestream, which they accomplish via Zoom video conferencing.
“With Pendle Hill, members attending in-person need to be able to stand and speak freely, without having to grab a microphone to ensure the home attendees can hear them,” explained Front Row Seat Productions founder and president Robert Bullington, who worked in conjunction with DPA global support manager Gabriel Antonini to find the ideal solution. “For that installation, we installed a network of 10 ceiling-mounted DPA 4098 goosenecks affixed to the DM6000 mounting base, to allow for clear, intelligible speech pickup that perfectly complements the hybrid online worship format.”
At St Luke’s Episcopal Church, the ministry is considered “participatory”, with members encouraged to join in on the hymnal singing that is synonymous to the Episcopal/Anglican Church. With both traditional and contemporary styles of worship available to its members, one of the unique aspects about St Luke’s is that its clergy offers outdoor services during the warmer months, while the beautiful parish hall is used during the winter.
“The team at St Luke’s wanted to offer an immersive-style video livestream to its members and needed a mobile AV system that could be used during the outdoor services,” added Bullington. “We had previously installed an audio system for livestreaming at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, and we took what we learned there to accommodate St Luke’s. For this project, we installed a network of microphones indoors, which includes a 4006A omnidirectional mic in the most critical spot, pointed up the middle of the chancel, 2006 twin diaphragm mics for ambient capture and 4097 choir mics hung above the two opposing sides of the choir. This gives the church a beautiful, immersive sound for the livestream on Facebook and YouTube.”
Bullington and Antonini also created a second system for St Luke’s contemporary services, which are held in the courtyard and in the parish hall. The system integrates DPA’s 4099 instrument microphones for the piano and two guitars, along with 2028 vocal microphone capsules on a Sennheiser wireless handheld system for the pastor and vocalists.
In addition to these livestream applications, Bullington has also specified DPA mics for smaller projects, such as integrating a pair of 4098 goosenecks at the lectern and pulpit at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton, NJ, which is the seat of the Diocese of New Jersey, as well as selling a 4098 mini gooseneck for use on the lectern at St Luke’s Episcopal Church in Metuchen, NJ.
