Twice yearly, at Easter and Christmas, most churches confront a recurring problem: how to deal with more worshippers than the auditorium can accommodate. This is, of course, a blessing in disguise.
Rather than turn away neophyte Christians who might return more frequently, many churches implement overflow rooms on campus or even set up a temporary remote site nearby. But even if the overflow venue is connected for video, either with a direct feed or Internet stream, audio problems often persist. What if you want to do a completely separate mix for a large overflow venue? Or what if you have a complex overflow PA system that needs multiple outputs or even local inputs?
Fortunately, digital audio networking again comes to the rescue. One company offering a fully stocked toolkit for such scenarios is Focusrite Pro, through its RedNet line of interfaces and preamplifiers.
Focusrite Pro technology and commitment
“RedNet marries together Focusrite Pro’s excellent audio quality with Dante, a modern audio transport which is easy to use, cost effective and scalable,” says Will Hoult, the British company’s senior product manager. “RedNet comprises a powerful set of interfaces that can connect nearly anything going, and combines that with RedNet Control software to tie everything together into a system-wide solution.”
“RedNet comprises a powerful set of interfaces that can connect nearly anything going, and combines that with RedNet Control software to tie everything together into a system-wide solution.” Will Hoult, Senior Product Manager, Focusrite Pro
Because RedNet is based on Dante, it offers native compatibility with approximately 1,500 devices from more than 400 manufacturers. RedNet further extends connectivity through the AES67 operability standard, which is also the audio component of the emerging SMPTE ST2110 video standard.
“For systems built around MADI – mixing consoles, in particular – we offer a bridge that will take 64 channels of MADI from fiber optic or coaxial cable and bring them onto the Dante network,” continues Hoult. “We also have bridges for Dante to AES3, which is a popular format for loudspeaker processors, power amplifiers and powered loudspeakers. Many churches have a large investment in these systems, and RedNet allows them to integrate this infrastructure into a Dante-based network, whether in a permanent installation or temporary overflow applications.”
One basic overflow application (“spillover” to the Brits) is shown in the accompanying diagram, where a RedNet A16R interface connects to the main FOH mixer and feeds a pair of powered loudspeakers. A more complex overflow system might be better served via AES3 outputs, as shown for the main auditorium.
“We also have bridges for Dante to AES3, which is a popular format for loudspeaker processors, power amplifiers and powered loudspeakers ... and RedNet allows [churches] to integrate this infrastructure into a Dante-based network, whether in a permanent installation or temporary overflow applications.” Will Hoult, Senior Product Manager, Focusrite Pro
Church-ready flexibility
More complex scenarios also are accommodated with relative ease using an audio network. If the stage preamplifiers have Dante connectivity, as is the case with RedNet’s MP8R multichannel units, then all the stage inputs also can be routed on the network to a secondary console in the overflow venue for generating a dedicated mix best suited to the layout and acoustics of that room. Should the secondary console lack Dante compatibility, RedNet stands ready with bridges for either MADI or analog input and output.
“The ideal network configuration all depends on the overall workflow and the requirements at the secondary site,” notes Hoult. “If you are generating a separate mix for broadcast or streaming, that may suffice for the overflow room, and that could be placed on the network using the appropriate bridge. It all depends on the scale of the room or the site. It could be a dedicated mix for the room, using submixes from the main auditorium, or something as simple as taking a stereo pair from a AM2 interface for powered loudspeakers.”
Colorado's Flatirons Community Church
One church that has evolved into a power user of RedNet systems is Flatirons Community Church serving the metropolitan Denver area. At the main broadcast campus in Lafayette, Flatirons employs RedNet units for embedding and dis-embedding MADI to and from video, connecting IEM and headphone amps, and bridging into Pro Tools for multichannel recording. Flatirons’ five satellite campuses are each equipped with a RedNet D16R AES interface for connecting to the Living as One streaming solution as well as AM2 headphone amplifiers for the local wired in-ear mixes.
Flatirons’ five satellite campuses are each equipped with a RedNet D16R AES interface for connecting to the Living as One streaming solution as well as AM2 headphone amplifiers for the local wired in-ear mixes.
“We have a lot of RedNet here, and what it does more than anything else is provide bridging among different types of hardware,” explains Flatirons Audio Director Bryce Boynton. “The best example is how we use it to embed and dis-embed audio into SDI via MADI. We have LawoV pro8 video processors that only speak MADI, so RedNet takes that into Dante, which is critically important.”
This Easter, Flatirons' main campus will again use a vast lobby area opening out of the 4,000-capacity auditorium for seating up to 2,000 additional guests. Currently a separate interface is not needed, since both the main and remote consoles are Dante-equipped Yamahas. But in other scenarios, RedNet could again be the key translator, Boynton says.
“We now have [a] Midas console in our smaller auditorium, and here we could use a Dante-to-MADI or Dante-to-AES3 bridge because that board doesn’t speak Dante,” he notes.
Boynton also foresees networked audio playing a pivotal role in expanding the reach of Flatirons’ ministry, not just on two Sundays but throughout the year.
"... with the same systems we can make remote sites into new, pop-up ‘church in a box’ sites. We’re doing that now with our growing prison ministries." Bryce Boynton, Audio Director, Flatirons Community Church
“Certainly I can see situations in the future where we might use a nearby site, like a high school, as overflow,” Boynton continues. “But with the same systems we can make remote sites into new, pop-up ‘church in a box’ sites. We’re doing that now with our growing prison ministries. We have a small equipment rack with Living as One codec, an AJA dis-embedder to strip the audio to AES, and a RedNet interface to get onto Dante. You simply add projection and a PA and you’ve got instant ‘overflow in a box.’"
For Focusrite Pro’s Hoult, the aim is to provide the means for churches to extend the usefulness and life cycle of their existing investments. “We would hardly expect any church to let go of a perfectly good mixing console because it doesn’t have the right type of network port on it,” he says. “You want to extend its life as long as it’s meeting your needs. In that respect, the adoption of audio over IP is not a single, turn-on-the-light-switch moment. It’s more of a gradual inclusion of subsystems into your workflow, and RedNet is designed to help churches through that transition.”
