With campuses in Boston, Los Angeles and the Netherlands, Emerson College is an academic leader in media, communication and the arts. The college’s main campus in Boston recently incorporated Focusrite’s RedNet into its production and learning environments to ‘enhance its ability to deliver industry-facing training in sound design, immersive audio and media production, offering students hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology’.
The integration was spearheaded by Emerson College’s Engineering Department Manager of Design and Integration, Bruno Caruso, and aligns with the institution’s commitment to real-world production environments. The Media Technologies and Productions Department supports college facilities that span the media production techniques, from pre-production and recording to sound design, mixing, and final deliverables.
‘We were looking for interfaces that provided a comprehensive range of I/O, including Dante, analogue, optical and Madi, without compromise,’ Caruso says. The RedNet line-up checked all those boxes, and its reliability and reputation in the industry made it an easy choice.’
Emerson’s Boston facilities include five theatres, two television studios, immersive sound stages, a radio station, three recording studios (which serve as classrooms), and mix and postproduction suites that support multiple disciplines throughout the College of Communication. The ability to connect spaces across campus using Focusrite The adoption of RedNet now allows students to collaborate in unprecedented ways: ‘We can route audio across multiple buildings in downtown Boston, using smaller rooms as remote voice-over booths, amp rooms or ADR spaces,’ Caruso says. ‘Because of our Dante infrastructure, a performance in our largest theatre can be recorded in a completely different building in real time, while our radio station does a live mix for broadcast – all with virtually zero latency.’
Through partnerships with Parsons Audio, Emerson sourced and installed a comprehensive RedNet set-up, including RedNet 16Line, RedNet D64R and RedNet AM2, among other devices. Caruso and his colleagues configured and calibrated the system in-house, ensuring smooth integration with existing workflows.
Caruso has also found that Focusrite’s RedNet Control application serves as a valuable educational tool. ‘The graphical interface makes it easy to teach students about audio routing and signal flow,’ he says. ‘It allows them to visualise how audio moves between rooms and devices, reinforcing both theoretical and practical knowledge.’
Looking to the future, Caruso anticipates continued expansion of immersive audio education and encourages Focusrite to develop additional tools to support spatial audio, loudness monitoring and room calibration. ‘We’d love to see more built-in DSP solutions for Atmos and immersive workflows,’ he offers. ‘Focusrite has been fantastic in listening to the needs of educators, and we’re excited about where they’ll go next.’
More: www.focusrite.com
