Ibiza’s Enter. Party takes place weekly at Space nightclub, where DJ/producer/label boss Richie Hawtin continually pushes the technical boundaries of his shows. His aim is to create a fully immersive experience for clubgoers: ‘Enter. will be a point of entry into new experiences – from new music and DJs through to technology,’ he says, and his audio system is helping him to achieve that goal.
Behind the scenes at Enter., Focusrite’s RedNet 4 audio interfaces can be found in the DJ booths of each of Space’s five rooms, and are connected by single Cat6 cables to a central network switch in the club’s machine room. Using Audinate’s Dante digital audio network protocol, RedNet supports distribution and recording of studio-quality audio over IP for a diverse range of applications.
For Enter., the network pipes 96kHz digital audio on the Dante platform around the complex, with negligible latency and zero signal degradation. Enter. chief audio engineer Johannes Kraemer manages the system from the stage beside the DJ booth in the main room using a MacBook Pro rig.
From here, he records four channels of audio from each room (the stereo output from each DJ mixer and two microphones for crowd reaction) on to three recording systems simultaneously – 20 channels of 96kHz digital audio simulatanously recorded on to three separate recorders. A JoeCo BlackBox Recorder fitted with a Dante interface card is his primary recorder, with Logic Pro and Cubase running on two separate computers as backups, all connect to the Dante network using standard Cat6 Ethernet cabling and Audinate’s Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) drivers. All of the audio feeds can also be monitored by Johannes from a Yamaha 01V96i digital mixer, which is also Dante-enabled.
Despite the complexity of the system, the set-up phase proved remarkably easy: ‘I got my hands on the boxes just three days before the show, but I knew what the devices were able to deliver in advance,’ he says. ‘I made sure all the firmware was up to date, did a test setup with the six machines, and it just worked. The RedNet 4 preamps are very clear and open – they make you feel like you’re in the club with the DJ – and the sound quality of the whole system is very precise, and of course the signal doesn’t degrade over distance because it’s digital. What’s more, it connects to my Dante-enabled Yamaha mixer and JoeCo recorder instantly, with zero configuration needed. It’s so simple to use.’
Network engineer Bryan McDade was also won over by the set-up: ‘Having the ability to record eight, 16 or 32 channels to a hard drive and walk away with the entire night’s material is great,’ he says. ‘Digital is where everything is going to go – it makes everything easier.’
Richie Hawtin’s Enter. production ran for 13 weeks throughout the 2013 summer season, featuring guest appearances from Maya Jane Coles, Jamie Jones, Loco Dice and Nina Kraviz, among others.
More: www.focusrite.com/rednet
