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The venue stage is quite small (by CLC standards) with virtually no backstage space. It required extensive rebuilding (including the removal of a large central steel post holding up the ceiling), plus removal of a fence at the front of the stage added in the '60s when the venue was used for dinner dances. With excellent safe personal access to the venue ceiling it was decided to cut a series of holes and mount six Par64's in the roof itself rather than install an FOH truss which would have resulted in the need for a scaffold every time changes were required. This provides more than enough "white light" FOH for worship purposes. With good height and angle to the stage most "performers" don't even notice when they're on - but the audience certainly do! Since these fixtures are expected to "work very hard", 120 volt "Litecraft" Par64's were utilised in pairs due to the 2000 hour lamp life in contrast to the 300 hour life of the 240v equivalents now commonly in use.

From an early stage it had been decided to feature at least some aluminium tritruss in the rig. This has somewhat become a "must include feature" for CLC stages to set them apart from other churches and give the stage that "modern rock" look. Two 3m sections of Soundking Standsystem 50mm tri truss were installed at the immediate front of the stage directly above the performers. Located here also are four standard 500w "QI" flood lights to brighten and wash the stage with white during the message portion of the service. Nine Par56 stubbys are also up there to add colour and liven up the worship portion of the service and provide contrast with the cyc at the back. Finally two club style "aqua" effects lights were added to the truss to play over the feature wall surfaces each to the side of the stage completing the "walls of colour" effect.

The rear of the stage was painted white and three "I Colour 4" integrated DMX colour wash lights installed to provide a simple low cost cyc. These lights (featuring four 500w "J" type QI lamps behind dichroic colour filters each) are a relative newcomer to stage lighting. They have integral dimmers. All they need is about 8 amps of 240v each and a DMX line to complete the picture - working very much like Chinese "fixed moving lights" and having a price point to match. It's all relatively old technology and often leaves us old timers asking "why the hell didn't someone think of building these things 30 years ago?". The accompanying simple ICA32 controller can be set to run a myriad of automatic patches including a very nice slow colour mix fade feature which takes the lights through an almost unlimited range of colour mixes and looks a million bucks behind just about anything no matter what the speed of the music - perfect for a worship service. They're also capable of sound to light patches, chases and manual control. The only downside is the slight noise of the integral fans in the units.. but at the Five Dock venue with it's small and isolated stage and fresh sound absorbent carpet on the floor this has not posed any problems.

Control is via two 6 channel Lite Puter DX610 DMX dimmer packs permanently installed in a rack with their own integral 3 phase distribution to the side of the stage with all cabling hidden away in the cavity walls. The Chinese made DX610 is designed more as an architectural unit than a stage lighting dimmer however at less than half the price per channel than the cheapest conventional racks available "from the competition". They have an excellent track record for reliability they are perfect for Harbourside - or anywhere a permanent installation on a tight budget is required. This doesn't preclude their use for hire rigs though - and many small PA / Lighting operators are now discovering them (and the attractive price) and finally ditching their 20 year old analog racks. The racks at Harbourside are controlled by a budget concious Behringer LC2412 DMX console- itself another "I can't believe they can do that for the price" offering from Behringer who normally never stray out of the audio world.

Resisting the temptation to go "all in" from the start with a new system, Harbourside have wisely chosen to upgrade and reuse their existing portable PA for the time being whilst setting a budget and evaluating several new solutions and ideas from different suppliers over the coming months. "The PA People" were contracted to install 2 x 16ch Multicores, establish an amp farm and cables for speakers, aswell as install a data projector and screen above the stage for songwords use. Despite it's aerial advantages, the venue roof has severe weight restrictions - so line array territory it certainly isn't. However it'll be one to watch in the next year or two.

The complete system had it's inagural opening on Sunday 18th June to a very excited congregation. HCLC also intend to use the venue and installation for live television production, in assistance to several Sunday morning programs they currently produce for newly licensed community broadcaster TVS in Sydney.

And the budget? Well... for all the electrical safety work (phew) , room and stage lighting, truss and equipment supply, installation and commissioning? $10,019. inc GST. And before you ask.. No, there was no volunteer work and Yes the job remained profitable.. but only just.