Radiant Church - Tampa, Florida
ADJ is a global manufacturer of entertainment lighting, LED video and atmospheric effects equipment.
Hailing from the pro audio world, Andre T. Miller stumbled upon production lighting almost by accident: his church needed someone to run its rig, and he stepped up to the occasion. Not long after, he decided that working in production lighting was the career for him. “That experience transformed me, and lighting really took off for me,” he says.
That was about seven years ago. Since then, Miller fulfills two roles: one as lighting director at Florida’s Radiant Church, and another as partner at Atmospheric Productions, an audio, video, and lighting design/integration and live events firm based in Sarasota, Florida. While the company works in several different markets, its core business is working with houses of worship. “The cool thing about this story is that it started out as kind of a hopeful dream, and we’ve learned, and we’ve grown, and we’ve built really good relationships so that we can sustain our business and help churches,” he says. Atmospheric Productions officially opened its doors in January 2015.
"If you’re running anything in 1080 or 4K, now you have to have the lighting that’s going to match that quality. I think this was happening before COVID, and now it has expanded.”
Andre T. Miller, Lighting Director, Radiant Church; Partner, Atmospheric Productions
Miller relays that in working with houses of worship, he and his team invest a lot of time in the pre-planning stages of any project. “We have to be able to come in, listen to what they want, know what they need, and be able to implement that within their budget,” he describes. He says that this involves an extensive discovery process to determine the church’s present goals for the facility, what can actually be achieved within the limitations of the space, as well as where the church is headed in the future. “Our philosophy is that we’re always going to build the infrastructure; your infrastructure will be set up so that no matter what happens, you can expand and grow without redoing it.” Even in phased projects, the infrastructure is always the starting point. “That way, we’ve built everything they need so now they just need to add what their ‘wants’ are.”
Approximately five years ago, Atmospheric Productions struck up a relationship with production lighting, LED video, and effects manufacturer ADJ. Miller says that aside from the company’s broad portfolio of solutions––“they have products for a very small church, or a very large church, and really, anything in between”––he’s impressed with the level of customer service he receives. “There’s only been two issues I’ve ever had––and they weren’t aware of one of the issues but I found it,” he recounts. “They were able to correct it, and so now all of their clients benefit from that correction.” According to Miller, true, real-world testing like this defines how valuable a fixture really is, “and I’ve found that ADJ has reliable fixtures in all of their lines. I think they’re great.”
Miller notes that right now, the majority of his work consists of helping churches boost their front lighting systems to better accommodate broadcast. While this is, more often than not, in response to the pandemic––and thus, the emphasis that has been placed on streaming services––he also observes that lighting has been more of a priority for churches for some time now. “When churches were running 720––even 720p––it looked pretty good and you could get away without a lot of lighting. If you’re running anything in 1080 or 4K, now you have to have the lighting that’s going to match that quality,” he says. “I think this was happening before COVID, and now it has expanded.”
And, Miller adds, this trend will continue to expand. “Churches want to broadcast because they’re trying to be COVID-compliant, and honestly I don’t see that aspect going away any time soon,” he says. “I think broadcast is going to remain an imminent part of the conversation, and churches wanting better lighting is going to be a major part of that.”
The ADJ Product Lineup: A Few of Miller’s Faves
ADJ Focus Beam LED Moving Head
Focus Beam LED Moving Head: “It is an LED beam, which is not quite an industry standard, but nine times out of 10 that beam will stand up to most other bulbed beams. It has overlapping prisms so you can create really big, dynamic effects, and that same light can give you a tight beam across the room. I’m really liking that fixture.”
ADJ MOD STQ LED Par
ADJ Focus Beam LED Moving Head
MOD STQ LED Par: “The best part about this light is it comes with different lenses, so you’re not stuck with one beam angle–it gives you a really versatile range. In one of our projects we used it for house lights, and we used it for front light, and we used it to spotlight the walls so there was some color on the walls for their banners. It’s a great little fixture and it’s versatile.”
Focus Spot 6Z Moving Head: “It’s a 300-watt LED in a compact fixture. You get all of the output that you would ever need and it has a great feature set to go with it. It’s a great fixture for churches because it’s not going to break the bank, and it’s bright enough that it stands up to most spot fixtures. And the price point for what you’re getting is phenomenal.”
