Part of the Dallas County Community College District, in Lancaster, Texas, Cedar Valley College is both a prestigious place of learning and a focus of community activity.
The school runs has a four-semester audio programme, where students learn music production in a state-of-the-art recording studio working with leading platforms including SSL’s AWS 900 digital console and Avid’s Pro Tools HD. The school’s Performance Hall, meanwhile, hosts theatre productions, as well as education and cultural enrichment for the college and the wider community.
The recent installation of Focusrite RedNet units serving an extensive Dante audio network mean that performances that the theatre hosts can be recorded and mixed in real time in the studio.
Sold and installed by A/V systems integrator Audio DAWg, three RedNet 4 remote-controlled Focusrite mic preamps and one RedNet 5 Pro Tools HD interface provide the digital connection between the theatre and the studio. ‘RedNet was the perfect way to connect the theater and the studio,’ says company owner, Spunky Brunone. ‘It’s simple yet very robust and reliable. Plus, we are able to take the RedNet units out of the building they normally reside in and use them elsewhere on campus to route audio.’
That, says Steve Browne, Professor of Recording Technology at Cedar Valley College, greatly expands how students can learn audio production, as well as giving students the opportunity to work on the same networking platform that is becoming an industry standard: ‘With the growing adoption of Dante networking and RedNet components in facilities all over, familiarity with the gear will give them an advantage in the competitive job market.’
‘We were investigating ways to be able to record our weekly live recital series here at Cedar Valley College in a multitrack format, and I wanted to do more than just hook up a laptop next to the live console in the Performance Hall without having to run all that copper overhead and mess with all those headaches,’ he explains. ‘I looked at several options, and the Focusrite RedNet system quickly became the standout. Ultimately, we ended up with three RedNet 4 mic preamps being fed from an analogue splitter off the main stage snake. They in turn feed a RedNet 5 in our Studio A Pro Tools HD room, which shows up in the I/O as two more 192s. We elected to run a dedicated Ethernet line between the two rooms, and now we have a perfect set-up, and coupled with a laptop, we now also have a 24-track remote recording rig that we can take anywhere to do multitrack recording. This adds another dimension to what students can learn here, which, of course, is the end goal.’
Brunone sees Dante and RedNet being used for audio networking at more educational institutions: ‘Networked audio is not the future – it’s the present,’ he says. ‘It’s here now and schools are realising that they have to be able to let their students work in that environment, and RedNet is the simplest and most cost-effective way to create that environment.’
