CMS conference

A technical post...

Audio-visual planning is well under way for the CMS 2005 summer conference to be held at Phillip Island in January. We have an enthusiastic team which is great.
I'm going for a similar audio set-up to last time - built around ART300A full range boxes, JBL 418SP powered subs and some smaller loudspeakers for delays. This will be supplemented by some front-fill loudspeakers to provide better coverage at the front of the room. I plan to run the subs in mono this time (reminds me: got to make a Y-lead) and use the freed-up output on my Driverack to run the front-fill. I've been toying with the idea of connecting my laptop to the Driverack via a wireless link (Bluetooth or Wi-fi), but this will take some new hardware and a better battery in my Thinkpad, so maybe not this time.
We are also going for a better quality of recording this year. I hope to have a computer with Pro Tools or similar set up in order to record the sermons and then burn them straight to CD.
I'm hiring audio audio gear from the good folk at The PA People in Mt.Waverley, and plan to use a new Dbx digital processor called the DDP which will be useful for performing compression and de-essing tasks.

R.I.P. VCR

It now seems official. VCR machines will no longer be sold by some electrical retailers from next year. DVD (and, for that matter, hard disk) recording is to fill the shoes of what has been a common companion to the tv for twenty+ years. "The future is digital" is what we have been told for quite a while now. That probably all began with the introduction of the compact disc into mainstream culture in the mid-eighties.
Braver `experts' are telling us that the days of the CD are numbered, too. DVD-A and SACD are among the newer formats that cater for recorded music. Good as the sound may be, the newer formats' promise of better quality sound and convenience is largely a front for the introduction of copyright protection that is trickier to implement on the CD format. The sheer ubiquity of the CD format seems to suggest that mass change will be a while coming, though. I'm sure the humble audiocassette is still the format of necessity in some parts of the world.
Perhaps the whole optical-disc thing will be circumvented. Hard-disk based music/video servers could be the next big storm to rush into the home entertainment world. Some homes are wired for this today. Maybe soon our entire music collection will be stored on a remote server somewhere, waiting to be accessed via a network that today gets around by the title of `internet'.
The way we listen to music seems to have changed. The advent of the MP3 music player means that downloading a single rather than buying the whole album is the way things are going (although singles on CD have been around since the beginning of the format). Are recordings made purely with the success of singles in mind, rather than the strength of a well thought out coherent album that lives long in the hearts (and players) of fans?
Digital technology is a useful thing. For media storage, editing and transmission it can't be beat. The snag is that the current version of human beings live in a world that for all practical purposes is analogue. Since the end result can only be judged by how it is perceived by the human listener or viewer, the quality of a digital system is only as good as the mechanisms in place to transport between the digital realm and the real, organic world that we live in.

Note: as is convention, disk implies magnetic storage (e.g. hard-drive) and disc refers to optical storage (e.g. CD, DVD) - lest anyone think I was getting sloppy with spelling. Magneto-optical formats like MiniDisc seem happy spelt, well, MiniDisc.

the great labyrinth critique

Well, maybe not `great' but there has been some reasonably disturbing and ignorant criticism of the practice of 'walking the labyrinth' here.
Eddie and Dave have boldly entered the arena.

Had a good yarn tonight with Eddie, Mark Pierson et. al. about where people are at with creative church in Melbourne. I'm still personally uncomfortable with the term `emerging church'. Just collecting some thoughts on elaborating...

Today's random book recommendation...

I picked up an excellent book last week at Octopus Books in Ottawa called Our Own Devices - how technology remakes humanity, by Edward Tenner. I've only just started reading it, but have already learnt more about shoelaces and walking gaits than I knew before. Reclining chairs, helmets and typewriters all come under the gaze of Tenner, as he examines blurry boundaries between technology and technique.

Piccadilly cone sounds

This must be the new craze in London - DIY busking. I was walking from Leicester Square towards Piccadilly Circus when in England a couple of weeks ago and I heard the very distinct sound of someone singing through a traffic cone. I saw no hat for coins, so perhaps he was just bored.

Recent interview with Mr Cockburn

There is a recent interview with Bruce Cockburn here.

"The life of the man across from me is at once a mystery and an open secret, where radical politics, a complex Christianity, and platinum record sales converge" - interviewer Greg King

Alex is back

On returning to a wet and windy Melbourne on Saturday morning I must confess my admiration and wonder at a baggage processing system that enabled me to check my bag in at Ottawa and then see it emerging safe at Tullamarine, four flights and half a world later. On a related note, in Chicago my bag was first off the carousel, which puts to rest the reasonable observation that no-one ever seems to own the first suitcase to emerge on the conveyor.

Time now to go through my collection of digital images.

the chilly capital

Well I've started having a look around Ottawa, and today went on a tour of the Parliament building, which is quite impressive. The bilingual French/English mix is great and all the more apparent over the provincial line in Quebec.

A fine day in Chicago

Just had a day in Chicago, checking out the architecture and the views from the Hancock Center and Sears Tower. The Hancock Center is the pick of the views, as it is closer to Lake Michigan and gives a better overall picture, as well as highlighting just how high the Sears Tower is on the other end of the CBD.
I must say - Chicago is ridiculously flat. I think I'd go mad here without any hills to give a truer sense of elevation (apart from that provided by tall buildings).
Off to Ottawa tomorrow.

further travels of...

Just back in London after a ripper weekend up in Glasgow. Checked out Abbotsford Parish Church and met Roddy Hamilton, who is behind much of the great prayers and liturgy that has inspired me for so long on their church website.
Attended Holy City on Sunday at Renfield St. Stephens and that pretty much made up for not being able to get to Iona this time.
Also caught up with more folk than I was expecting, on Saturday night at a gathering in Mt Florida. Neil Paynter from Iona Books is full of enthusiasm for the new books they have just released and I must say there is some tempting stuff. More on this...