Tech Support in a Time of Need

Houses of worship have been early adopters of modern electronic equipment in a typical service. The microphone is the gateway into a full tech team. Microphones need amps and speakers, then a need to record the service, and now more lights are needed and all these devices need to be controlled from a central location. 

All this leads to automation, which leads to a tech crisis if something along the line fails. For clients with AVL systems, tech support is crucial if one of the systems fails, and it is even more urgent when it affects hundreds of people.

St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, located in Newport Beach, Calif., on the week before one of its largest fundraisers of the year, experienced just such an example when its AVL system recently failed.

“Our Pastoral Ministry Retreat, the largest fundraiser of the year for St. Matthews, was the next Sunday, and we were expected to have 80 guests in person along with a number attending online,” explained Rachael Crews, the Director of Parish Logistics at St. Matthew's Church. ”It was vital to get all systems up and running.” 

With many of PDC AVL’s house of worship clients, the “tech team” is a small group of volunteers eagerly willing to operate the cameras and the mixer in the FOH. Everyone has their specialty. One person has the helm, and the others have their assigned duties and collectively rehearse for a typical Sunday service. When that AVL system doesn’t work for whatever reason, most of the volunteers don’t know what to do - especially when the church’s lead technician is out of town.

“We joke that something always breaks when someone goes on vacation...it's like the technology senses that it suddenly has more power!” said Rachael. 

The first call St. Matthews made was to PDC AVL, located in Orange, Calif., specifically Brett Perkins, Lead Technician. PDC AVL installed the system in 2018.

“They needed help, and we were ready to solve the problem for them,” said Brett.  

“As he has always been, [Brett] was incredibly helpful. He came the next day, diagnosed the issue, and worked diligently to get us a working solution,” said Rachael. 

PDC AVL troubleshot the issue and discovered that the processor, the heart of all the audio, video, and control processing, had malfunctioned. Without the processor, the A/V system was not functional. Lead time for a new unit was weeks away and that meant the system wouldn’t be operational for the largest fundraiser of the year.  

As chance would have it, PDC AVL works closely with several houses of worship in this area, and one church stood out as being a possible solution to this issue. Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, Calif. is a client of PDC AVL’s that they have worked with since 2010 after initially installing their system.  

“Rockharbor had an issue with the same AV processor about a year ago, and they had purchased a second unit while the first one was being repaired,” said Brett. “A typical repair is simple and can be performed in a matter of days or a couple of weeks under normal circumstances, but with the current supply chain issues, routine repairs can now take months to receive parts and St. Matthews just couldn’t wait.” 

PDC AVL called the manufacturer’s service center about this matter and discovered that the repairs to that unit had recently been completed, was ready for shipment, and had not been sent back to Rockharbor yet. And, the service center was within driving distance. PDC AVL promptly picked up the processor from the service center and delivered it to St. Matthews church to get the system back up and running. 

“I'm very thankful we have PDC AVL and though I never hope for more technical issues, I'm always grateful we have PDC AVL in our back pocket to help handle them!” said Rachael.  

“Doing business is about building relationships and doing all we can to come to our client’s aid when needed. We’re thankful to serve these two churches and the many others that have relied on us for their audio, video, and lighting needs,” concluded Brett. 

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About PDC AVL

PDC Audio Video Lighting is an integration company located in Orange County, California providing area houses of worship and commercial locations with custom AV, control, and lighting solutions. For over 20 years owner Brett Perkins has focused on quality for his customers while growing his technical skills. PDC AVL works with its clients to turn their vision into an easy-to-use, reliable and aesthetically pleasing project that meets budget needs.

PDC AVL is committed to outstanding customer service with smooth installations while using the industry’s most respected quality products. Learn more about PDC AVL at https://www.pdcavl.com/ and contact them at info@pdcavl.com