New Orchestra Area Project

Project to build a new orchestra area at my church

Due to the expansion of our orchestra and various sound and TV requirements, it was necessary to rebuild the area or our church hall where the musicians sat. This involved taking out the old drums and percussion room, above which was a balcony for the horn section, and remodelling it to allow for a string section and better visibility of the musicians.

Other than fitting the large windows, we did all the work ourselves in about 6 weeks - mostly evenings and weekends.

Here is a short catalogue of the progress...

Old drums and percussion room

	My drums used to be located in a room-within-a-room in the back corner of the building. I had the percussionist directly in front with line of sight to the pianist and conductor.
	From inside the percussion room, my drums were within an inner room.

Step 1 - Rip out old drum room and balcony

	The first part of the job was to remove the entire percussion room plus the balcony that was above it. The guy carrying the insulation is standing about where my snare and hi-hats were.
	Here's a wider view of the corner of building being modified. The emergency exit door has also been moved across to the right.

Step 2 - Extend keyboard and strings area

	The keyboards will be at the front of the stage area, then behind them, the strings and woodwind. My drums are temporarily sitting in the area where the strings eventually will be.
	My Tama Artstar II kit sitting behind the screens. This arrangement was only used for a few services whilst the building work was being completed. The snare is a Pearl 6x14 Brass Floating Shell. The kit is mic'ed with Shure Beta 98's on the toms, a shure SM57 on the snare, a Shure Beta 91 inside the kick, and a pair of AKG 414's as overheads (not in shot).

Step 3 - Build the tiered levels for the horn section and drums.

	The step ladder is standing where the drums will be. All the cabling is hidden in trays under the floor with removable covers. You can see one of the 32 channel stage boxes mounted on the wall towards the bottom left of the picture. This will eventually be hidden behind a cupboard door.
	The drum room is about 7' off the ground. The floor is constructed from 1" Stirling board above and below standard 8" joists, and has been filled with sand to prevent resonance! The half height tier on the left of the picture is where the percussion will go.
	Looking out of the drum room before the windows were installed The windows are 10.8mm thick laminate panes designed for low sound transmission.

Step 4 - Final steps

	The final stages were to install the windows (professionally done), lighting, ventilation and microphones. Once the detail work was completed, the finished orchestra moved in for rehearsals.
	The view from the horn section out onto the congregation. This photo was taken as guests were arriving for the Carol Concert on Dec 5th. The entire orchestra now uses headphones or in-ear monitors. This one change has made a huge improvement in the quality of the PA sound in the hall.
	My kit installed in the new drum room with the Dunnett Ti 6x13 (with mended Nickel strainer!!). Notice the big chunk out of my 16" Paiste 2002! This is what happens if you allow a crack to spread... :-(
	The best seat in the house!! The only adjustment I've had to make to the kit was to move the cymbals to the sides because my viewing angle is now downwards.

Chris Whealy