Offering real-world entertainment, media, arts, and emerging technologies education, Full Sail University has embraced the latest in A/V technology for more than 40 years – including a campus-wide Dante audio network that is part of its infrastructure.

The university in Winter Park, Florida, was an early adopter of networking technology and, as Dante became prominent within the industry, has made a substantial investment in Dante-capable Focusrite RedNet equipment.

‘That was really our first big push into Dante and, from there, the platform has fanned out across our campus,’ says Director of Event Technical Operations, Vince Lepore. There are very few places here that it doesn’t touch. We use it for education and production at almost every level of the campus. Not a day goes by that I don’t use Dante in one way or another.’

With early roots as a recording studio and a centre for the recording arts, the Full Sail curriculum calls on immersive teaching methods in real-world classrooms, production studios and performance spaces, and through a robust online learning environment. Full Sail’s creative approach provides a fast-paced, highly relevant learning experience that mirrors the workflow and collaboration found throughout today’s music, performance, and A/V industries.

The standard classroom footprint includes Shure MX Series microphones, QSC Q-Sys networked audio processors, and a mix of I/O options, mixers and monitors, depending on the room. Full Sail’s lab spaces are also equipped with a range of Dante-enabled digital audio consoles from manufacturers including Yamaha, DiGiCo, and Calrec.

‘Many of our facilities, whether it’s the recording studios, live event production facilities, or our additional classrooms, are all equipped with Dante connectivity,’ Lepore says. ‘The rooms that are being built out now with Dante are Zoom-based, and the audio moving in and out of the Zoom systems is all Dante.’

The university’s flagship performance venue, Full Sail Live, hosts events ranging from concerts and large-scale productions to graduations and new student orientations. The university’s eSports facility, the Full Sail University Orlando Health Fortress, is a large indoor, multi-use space primarily used to support the eSports team, Armada. From the microphones to loudspeakers, the audio system in the is virtually all Dante.

‘We opened the Fortress in 2019, and Dante was very mature at that point, so it was obvious that we would incorporate Dante and its industry leading capabilities into the facility,’ Lepore says. ‘From an audio perspective, Dante is integral to the eSports operations of the Fortress.’

In addition to the installed Dante infrastructure, students enrolled within Full Sail’s Show Production bachelor’s degree programme receive a Dante Virtual Soundcard licence for use on their laptops. The virtual soundcard turns a computer into a Dante-powered workstation, integrating any PC or Mac with Dante audio devices on the network. With Dante Virtual Soundcard, students can instantly connect to a Dante network to record, process, and play out using any audio application and any combination of Dante-enabled devices.

‘Along with the campus-wide Dante network, all the virtual soundcard licenses, and Dante Controller for management and configuration, we also use tons of Dante AVIO adaptors,’ Lepore says. ‘AVIO adaptors are everywhere here – they’re like little Swiss Army knives.’

One of the largest but perhaps least visible uses of Dante is with the university’s campus-wide intercom system. Full Sail uses a Dante-based system from RTS. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the devices within Lepore’s set-up are RTS Intercom devices. ‘Our Dante-based intercom footprint is substantial. We’ve been using RTS for many years, and it’s probably the technology that our team relies on the most,’ he says. ‘I use my intercom key panel multiple times every day, and all of that communication is transported via Dante.’

Lepore explains that with the volume of Dante devices on the university’s network, one of their goals for 2022 is to deploy Dante Domain Manager across the network. ‘When we consider remote and on-campus students and staff, we’re providing services for over 20,000 people. There’s a lot of activity on our Dante networks. I’m excited about Dante Domain Manager, and I think it will be a great benefit for us.’

Dante Domain Manager is a server-based solution that provides a centralised view of the entire networked audio deployment. This makes it easy to define user access for any area of the system, and the system’s alerts and audit log ensure that any issues are quickly identified and solved.

‘Overall, when it comes to Dante, it’s all about the flexibility, reliability, and the confidence that we have in the system,’ Lepore says. ‘Within our staff, and within our student body, we’ve built up a great knowledge base about Dante, and its wide use across our campus is evident.’