unsplash.com; Kylie Lugo
... while aesthetics tend to focus on audio, video, lighting and scenery, the stage itself is the most fundamental element of the presentation process....
While houses of worship and performing arts centers have different primary missions — one is to enlighten and the other to entertain — they do share a need to look good while fulfilling their respective purposes. And while aesthetics tend to focus on audio, video, lighting and scenery, the stage itself is the most fundamental element of the presentation process, one that many designers don’t give sufficient attention to, say some professionals who put the stage at the center of things.
Center stage
“[The stage] doesn’t always get the attention it requires,” says Tom Mody, owner of Church Audio Supply, in Norwich, N.Y., which supplies items like floor pockets, wall plates and cable to a largely church clientele. “Recessed floor boxes are our biggest sellers, and they’re the route to go to keep a stage looking clean and free of possible obstacles.”
The number and location of cable pockets depends on parameters such as the size and shape of the stage, as well as the number of people who are expected to populate it, Mody explains. The rule of thumb is to begin in the center, where the lectern or pulpit will likely be placed, and then determine what that location will need, in terms of microphone, video and data inputs. Then determine how many musicians and other performers and participants are going to be on the stage on a regular basis, as well as what might be expected in the way of additional users who may need more inputs, such as visiting music artists and speakers with multimedia needs.
The rule of thumb is to begin in the center, where the lectern or pulpit will likely be placed, and then determine what that location will need, in terms of microphone, video and data inputs.
More stage pockets are better than fewer, if only because that allows for future system expansion without having to go into walls and conduit to run additional cabling. That’s also easier to do as the unit costs of well-made pockets come down as more manufacturing has moved overseas (like almost everything else related to AVL).
Networked audio and video are actually reducing the amount of cabling that has to go into houses of worship now, with 64 or more inputs from the stage to the FOH and monitor mix positions able to be contained in a single strand of CAT-5. Ironically, however, the number of input sources on the stage itself just keeps getting larger, thanks to more elaborate productions with more microphones, backing tracks, and quarter-inch MI jacks from more electric musical instruments.
Mody says all this is being compounded by the need for more data inputs onstage for everything from presentation platforms on stage, like laptops at the lectern, to production automation control systems, many of which are finding their way onto the stage as musicians become more self contained.
IEMs on stage are increasingly common for musicians vocalists and presenters, but wedge monitors are still a regular part of sound systems, and prudent cable-pocket placement can help keep their cables under control.
IEMs on stage are increasingly common for musicians vocalists and presenters, but wedge monitors are still a regular part of sound systems, and prudent cable-pocket placement can help keep their cables under control.
What’s inside the pocket is important, too. Mody points out that mixing in data inputs with mic inputs that are connected to 48-volt phantom power can be a recipe for disaster for whichever laptop catches any errant current in there. “That can also fry components in some direct boxes if they’re mistakenly plugged into phantom power,” he explains.
Custom pockets
Josh Moore, custom products coordinator at Ace Backstage, a major supplier in Valencia, Calif., points out that they regularly fabricate customized floor pockets for house of worship clients, including ones specific to certain manufacturers’ mixers, such as Presonus’ NSB 16.8 and for Allen & Heath consoles. These are basically extensions of the consoles themselves, in the form of their stage racks, in rack-mount form. The floor pockets are made to accommodate the rack rails inside.
"The number of cables coming from the mixer to the stage have been drastically reduced thanks to networked audio, but the number and type of connections inside the pocket on stage continue to grow." Josh Moore, Custom Products Coordinator, Ace Backstage, Valencia, CA
Customization can extend to finishes such as brushed brass and brushed stainless steel, available as special orders, and items such as rubber lid stops set into recessed mounts cradle the lids to prevent rattles. But most stage pockets are familiar in size and placement, though what’s inside can be an alphabet soup of formats, from RJ-45 jacks to BNC connectors. “The number of cables coming from the mixer to the stage have been drastically reduced thanks to networked audio, but the number and type of connections inside the pocket on stage continue to grow,” he says.
Ace Backstage addresses that using its Connectrix series of connectors and panels. These combine the popular mounting pattern of the Neutrik “D” series connectors with the commonly used mounting pattern of Switchcraft "E" series connectors to combine into a rectangular cutout that serves as a template for an array of adapter-mounted standard connectors, as well as providing ground isolation between the panel and connector, mounting any combination of modular jacks (RJ45, RJ11, etc.), BNCs, dual RCAs, XLR jacks, speaker jacks and numerous other standard connectors in a standardized manner.
A good-looking, efficient stage needs a variety of clearly marked, properly installed (i.e., countersunk) input boxes. They’re a relatively small item on church’s increasingly extensive AVL agendas, but everyone on those stages will thank you for thinking of them.
