Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1434375
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I W I N T E R 2 0 2 2 23 I had been working on and off at Tyler Perry Studios under sound mixer Sal Nappo. Massive track counts, impossible filming speeds, and vast geographical coverage were daily demands. Sal had been implementing remote RF receiver racks to cover the property and had just begun experimenting with RFoF (RF over fiber) and AoF (audio over fiber). I had been deeply studying Sal's growing system and the problems that it solved. Unfortunately, there was no real command and control of the racks from a remote location. So, while the solutions it created were great, there was still a lot of hands-on work at both ends that was required to keep the system running. Having grown up in an analog music world and then partially transitioning to a digital hybrid audio flow, plus having spent many years doing FOH for live sound, I knew there was gear available to make this happen. However, I also knew that it was expensive, not well- suited for field use, usually heavy, and oftentimes clunky to integrate into a sound-for-film environment. I researched a technology called Dante—Digital Audio Network Through Ethernet. This technology developed by Audinate has, quite frankly, changed the audio world at its very core. Dante allows users to transmit full fidelity audio over a basic Ethernet cable and network in real time. Up to 512 to accommodate that in a non-theater environment, I needed a recorder that could handle such a track count, a console to handle it, and a way to move all of those signals to and fro, while still keeping the rig mobile. Dante seemed to be a very good solution, but again, the gear was expensive, not easy to find, and even more challenging was that nobody in my region was really using the technology in any meaningful way. The Wish List I called my friend, Peter Schneider at Gotham Sound in New York City, and told him what I was trying to do and the limitations that I was under. I needed: no less than 24 channels, analog-to- Dante conversion (bi-directional), rack mountable, affordable, durable, field ready, and stand-alone operation. To add another layer of impossibility was my requirement that it be 12V DC-powered and have near zero latency. The 12V DC power bit turned out to be the final nail in the coffin of pretty much every device that I had found, so Peter was going to have to do some heavy lifting to fill that slot. Enter the Ferrofish A32 Dante. At that time, it was brand new to the market and Peter got my hands on one of the first ones to hit the states. Thirty-two channels analog I/O with full Dante conversion, as well as all other modern formats, and it can do them all simultaneously in 250 microseconds (a quarter of a millisecond). It comes bi-directional channels of 24 bit/48 kHz audio can be sent over a single Ethernet port. Latency is near nil, quality is as clean as the original signal source, and distribution of the signal(s) can be effectively limitless on the proper network. It is by all definitions, a paradigm shift in audio production around the world. My work at that time, and still today, regularly involves high cast counts and, many times, live performance and music work. I can have as many as 25-30 cast on mic at any one time. In order for me The desk inside the Digital Diesel. And, yes, that's an iced coffee. Inside my truck, the "Digital Diesel," enjoying a moment with my pipe.