Houston, Texas, May 30, 2008 – Clear-Com® Communication Systems is helping the video production crew of Houston’s Metropolitan Baptist Church stay connected. Clear-Com recently provided the busy team with Clear-Com Party-line intercom systems and CellCom10® digital wireless system, which formed the communication backbone for the church’s many band concerts, dramatic productions and weekly services.
When Metropolitan Baptist Church, commonly known as the Met, added video production services to its Sunday mass, its crew faced intercommunication challenges. Wired intercom and headset systems were limiting the staff’s mobility and communication throughout the 2,600-seat facility. Clear-Com, the leading global provider of professional communication solutions for broadcast, live performance, government and commercial markets, was able to provide the solution.
“We had put a ton of wired beltpacks everywhere because we had people running around through the facility, but still we needed more mobility,” says Met Technical Arts Associate Mychal John Maltbie. “Adding the CellCom10 wireless system was a seamless transition. It can interface with up to two Partyline stations right into the CellCom station.
The church has begun its initial installation with three CellCom wireless beltpacks and a single antenna. “We have a room that seats 2,600 people, and our CellCom users can walk anywhere within that venue and still have coverage,” he says. “However, we’re going to expand the system so we can go anywhere in the building.” That expansion will include another CellCom antenna and more beltpacks.
The Met’s Partyline system includes 12 stations, three of which are at camera positions. All but two of the stations are two-channel capable, with four-channel stations in the upper production room and front-of-house locations.
Turnover is an ever-present fact of life for church production crews, and Maltbie credits the simplicity of the Party-line user interface with helping new crew members come up to speed quickly. “Intercom use is one of the first things you teach people. With this system, it takes five minutes and they’ve got it.”
Maltbie is confident that with Clear-Com, the Met’s video production staff will be able to tackle whatever new production challenges it faces in the future including the task of adding a satellite campus 15 minutes away from its main location.
“Depending on the level of interaction we have with that campus, we might end up going with a matrix solution for our intercom setup at that venue,” Maltbie explains. “At that point we might have a reason to start using even more of the CellCom beltpack features.”
Clear-Com has just begun shipping its latest version of CellCom10, enhanced with new features and functionality including vibration alerts, which allows the user to be alerted when the headset is removed from the ear, as well as a remote battery monitoring display and remote microphone kill control, both of which are available from the basestation.