Recently while cleaning out my desk, I came across the April 2001 Houses of Worship supplement that contained an article you wrote about the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. I enjoyed re-reading your article and I noted with interest that in the last nine years a lot of the technologies in the building had been upgraded and changed since the article had been written. Just last year we finished upgrading the production lighting controls to the latest ETC technologies and are in the middle of planning the architectural changes to the new ETC Paradigm system. At the time of the article, Ethernet for lighting control was just being introduced and was still a lot of “voodoo.” Now, the console in front of house does not even have a DMX port on it. The audio system is currently having the DSP upgraded from Media Matrix to the Bi-Amp system. In the last few years we have changed out the consoles, amplifiers, and we have added new V-Dosc line arrays for the room and 300 additional speakers over the terrace and balcony seating. These changes reflect the shift to digital from analog and a lot of the work in finding the best audio for a very large room that hosts a range of different types of events. The video projection system, broadcast, intercom, and most other systems have, over the years, been recently replaced with newer versions of those technologies, and in some cases, we are upgrading the upgrades.
It really is amazing how fast technologies change and create new opportunities and challenges, and yet some things remain the same and untouched by time.
The thanks is nine years late, but the article brought back fun memories.
Thanks,
Mike McBride
Senior Lighting Network Designer
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
*****Editor's Note: For an update on the rigging systems in the one-of-a-kind Salt Lake Tabernacle, see the June 2007 issue of Live Design, Swinging From The Rafters.