Working with high-profile events including Grammy Awards, Academy Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, Emmy Awards, Country Music Association awards, American Music Awards and corporate and shareholder events for leading companies such as Microsoft, live event and broadcast specialist ATK Audiotek has adopted Focusrite’s RedNet range of Dante-networked audio converters and interfaces.
‘Awards shows and other complex live events have grown massively in terms of channel counts and I/O management,’ says CTO and VP of Engineering, Scott Harmala. ‘Moving to networked audio is the only intelligent and effective way to handle sound at that level, and it’s become the default for audio now. RedNet gives us the tools we need for every aspect of building and running those complex audio networks.’
ATK Audiotek recently deployed RedNet systems at the Super Bowl, for which it has been the provider of live-sound productions for close to two decades. The halftime show featured Justin Timberlake supported by scores of singers, dancers and the University of Minnesota Marching Band, with sound managed through an extensive RedNet networked audio system, comprising a total of 48 units. It was larger than the previous year’s RedNet system because ATK Audiotek networked the entire live-sound system in the bowl this year, including cart-mounted field PA speakers that are wheeled into place for the performances, wireless microphones, wedge monitor speakers used for the pre-game events such as Pink’s ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’ as well as IEM monitors used by Timberlake and others.
‘We keep a very large inventory of RedNet units on hand, and we’re adding to it constantly,’ says Harmala. ‘What RedNet gives us is an end-to-end solution that can also interface, through the Dante protocol, with key elements of sound systems from a variety of manufacturers. For instance, we use a lot of DiGiCo SD and Yamaha CL series consoles, and we can connect effortlessly with any of them through RedNet and Dante.’
The company regularly adds to its RedNet inventory, including the recent acquisition of an additional six RedNet MP8R eight-channel mic preamp and A/D converters. ‘We will be using these units as needed on many of our shows,’ notes Harmala. ‘I predict that next year’s Super Bowl will require additional inputs for the halftime performer, and we’ll be able to put those MP8R’s to good use.’
ATK Audiotek’s work is also a testament to RedNet’s reliability: ‘So many of these big events are live, and are being seen by millions of people around the world – reliability is absolutely critical,’ he explains. ‘The RedNet R components, like the A16R or the HD32R, are what we rely on for redundancy. That calibre of reliability is absolutely necessary for the level of events that we’re working on, and it’s also good to know that that same degree of reliability is also available for everything else, from a church event to a small corporate presentation. At every level, we’re getting an incredible degree of reliability from RedNet, which is why it’s our network backbone of choice.’
‘Our new system designs and implementation for the use of the RedNet boxes have drawn significant attention from industry colleagues and other manufacturers,’ says ATK Audiotek President Michael MacDonald. ‘There is a big story to tell, on what Scott and ATK have achieved using the tools that Focusrite has developed, and we believe this is just the beginning. As Dante adoption accelerates and video begins to come on line, Focusrite RedNet will attract more attention and opportunity as the leader in the transport market place.’
