How Hewshott helped a gospel ministry expand its reach

The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (FOIGM) was founded in 1938 as a compassionate effort to meet the spiritual and physical needs of Jewish people whose lives were displaced and tragically affected by the Holocaust.

Committed to teaching about scripture and the significance of the land of Israel, the FOIGM has historically produced CDs and DVDs that would be mailed out to their viewers. When Covid hit, FOIGM increased its digital content creation output in a makeshift studio by outfitting a large open meeting room with sets, audio, video, and lighting equipment.

The issue was that this space was never intended to be a studio. It had windows, a low ceiling and inadequate lighting. That is when FOIGM decided to build a space, from the ground up, that specifically catered to its needs.

“As a Christian ministry, we have constituents rather than customers. One of the lessons of the pandemic was our lack of preparedness to produce video communications. It quickly became evident that we needed a space designed to create audio and video digital content. Our goal for the new studio is to reach out to new people with our message while staying engaged with our current constituents and it will be a tremendous resource to our ministry,” said Jim Showers, executive director/president of the FOIGM

The highly talented Penn Valley Constructors was selected for the design-build, and while Penn Valley has an accomplished team, president Jon Otto said that it did not have specific experience in studio building and knowledge of the highly technical systems that go into making a great studio. After multiple referrals and an interview, Hewshott, led by Brandon Creel, came on as the theatre consultant for the project. From the very beginning, Hewshott was actively engaged, first in the needs analysis and space planning and later in designing the studio’s production systems. Acoustics was also a critical part of the whole project.

“Penn Valley Constructors, with the guidance of Hewshott, meticulously designed and executed the necessary acoustical measures, resulting in an acoustically superior space. In partnership with The Friends of Israel and Hewshott, we were able to deliver a state-of-the-art audio-visual studio that exceeds expectations. The successful outcome of this project is a testament to thoughtful planning and solid communication,” Penn Valley Constructors said.

The FOIGM staff were very knowledgeable and opinionated about what their workflow should be and that was a helpful start. Hewshott then had technical conversations to choose from the various technologies and equipment available.

The purpose-built studio has several manned studio cameras as well as remotely controlled cameras suspended from a pipe grid that covers the entire space. The control room has a director’s console, audio and lighting control desk, and a graphics station, while the editing suites have motorised sit stand desks. The facility is connected with a vast wiring infrastructure to tie all spaces together to the head end equipment rack. This allows users to connect network, audio, and video anywhere and send to anywhere, which is critical flexibility in cases where the space is needed for special events and configurations.

The equipment rack houses a Blackmagic ATEM 4M/E Constellation 8K switcher, four Blackmagic HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro recorders, Blackmagic Cloud Store, Blackmagic Teranex converters, Bittree patch panels, Netgear M4250 network switches, Shure QLXD4 wireless microphone receivers, Shure P9T transmitters for IFB, an Allen & Heath AHM-16 digital signal processor, an Allen & Heath AR2412 stage box, and related processing, amplification, and intercom equipment. Even the performance and architectural lighting processing equipment is in the rack. As always with a Hewshott project, all of the equipment in a rack is located in a climate-controlled room.

Cameras include three Blackmagic URSA Broadcast G2 with motorised Canon lenses and two Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pro with studio converters. For future expansion or complex shoots requiring additional cameras, the system can support five more. Everything is shot and recorded in 2840 x 2160 UHD 4K over 12G-SDI infrastructure. Graphics and character generation are ingested by a Blackmagic Decklink 4K Extreme 12G and Mac Studio.

All of the wired mic inputs connect to the stage box to be digitised and mixed by an Allen & Heath digital mixer. 16 channels of digital MADI audio then go to the video switcher to be embedded and recorded with video, allowing for post-production editing and remastering.

While the video is 12G-SDI and doesn’t travel via the network, the recorded video does and ends up in the cloud. Hewshott therefore designed a purpose-built network of Netgear M4250 POE+ 1GB switches with 10GB uplinks and Netgear M4300 10GB switches to allow for a mixture of 1GB and 10GB speeds and POE+, where needed.

The extensive pipe grid has the lighting, studio monitors, cameras, track and curtains mounted on it and is designed to support a load of 10 lbs per linear foot up to 10,000 lbs total live load capacity – so hanging set pieces and video displays is no problem. Lighting, power and DMX receptacles are in the ceiling along with AV power and signal control receptacles. This allows FOIGM the freedom to suspend mics, monitors, displays, or cameras in various permutations and combinations, hassle-free. A primary track system has heavyweight, black synthetic velour acoustical curtains and the cyclorama wall has a track switch which allows FOIGM to easily reconfigure or relocate the curtains as needed. Additionally, scenery track carriers were installed to help FOIGM suspend and move set pieces with ease. There is ample room in the studio for multiple sets and backgrounds at the same time, saving valuable time in the set-up and teardown of sets.

ETC’s Source Four Series 2 Lustr fixed lens spotlights were chosen as the primary key lights and some engines were fitted with fresnel adapters and barndoors for down lights. Chroma-Q Studio Force T 12 Phosphor luminaires were chosen for the fill lights and the cyc wall and green screen are illuminated by Chauvet Professional’s Ovation CYC 1 FC, a colour-changing fixture, all of which are DMX controlled by an ETC ColorSource 40 console.

Hewshott was responsible for the architectural lighting and controls in the studio, control room, corridors, the two editing suites and the storage room. The editing suites are built to be isolated from sound and hence the physical space was carefully designed so as to achieve the optimum acoustic criteria. The owner of the studio was concerned about employees working in there and losing track of time or receiving the wrong light at the wrong time of the day.

Hewshott therefore came up with a two-part lighting system that mimics a circadian rhythm using traditional 2×4 lay-in ceiling fixtures which are tuneable white and automatically adjusts colour temperature from warm in the morning to cooling up till noon and back to warm in the evenings for sunset. The editing suites also have track (task) lighting, also tuneable white that follows the same circadian rhythm. The lighting system also has an allowance for a user to pick a colour temperature and hold it while doing certain colour shading/ editing work. The studio work lights and control room lights are controlled by wall switches but are also integrated with the DMX lighting board in a three-way latest takes precedence control scheme.

Power and data are generously distributed throughout the space using a LynTec motorised breaker panel which allows FOIGM to remotely de-energise subsystems when not in use. Additionally, all the AV is powered through an isolated ground power system that is fed from a double-shielded isolation transformer. Critical equipment is on uninterrupted power supplies.

Ceiling speakers in the editing suites, control room, and green room have Allen & Heath IP1 volume controls and source selections, to change what is played in any of the rooms and how loud it is played. The ceiling speakers can also be remotely controlled by the director using a Crestron control system.

Anticipating supply-chain issues, Hewshott ensured that the project was awarded earlier than it would have been in pre-pandemic times so that integrators, contractors, and builders had enough time to ensure successful, on-time delivery of the project.

“Once Hewshott joined us, they opened our eyes to all the important elements of studio design: from sound acoustic management, to studio layout, to equipment selection and lighting design. They had the knowledge and understanding we lacked. Hewshott not only directed the studio’s technical design, but they were also gifted at explaining the design recommendations in a layman’s language we all could understand. They interfaced very well with the building design architect to create a great studio design team,” added Showers.

Hewshott did much more than just assist in the design of a studio for a client. As part of the value-add the company educated FOIGM on its options and choices, and their pros and cons so that it could make well-informed, educated decisions. After the design phase, Hewshott was engaged to help solicit, evaluate, and select a system integrator to provide, install and train the client on the studio equipment. Additionally, during the construction phase of the project, the company provided owner’s representation and construction management services to ensure the studio was built to exacting technical design specs.

Hewshott’s Creel commented: “With this studio, the FOIGM have expanded their potential and their reach. I would like to commend the exemplary engagement of Penn Valley Constructors and am delighted to celebrate this major milestone with them.”

The FOIGM now has a purpose-built studio that goes above and beyond what was imagined when starting the process. Designed with state-of-the-art equipment, it gives the ministry great flexibility and various functions, capable of live broadcasting as well as recording video for editing and production.