Among its other duties, Microsoft Production Studios provides the media hub through which launches and corporate presentations are relayed to Microsoft staff in Washington and around the world. Regarded as mission-critical, the complex uses to networked-audio signal transport with Cisco switches and a fibre-optic backbone. There are presently more than 100 Dante-enabled audio units on the network, including a growing number of Focusrite RedNet modules – one of the largest RedNet installations anywhere.
Having been using RedNet units for more than a year, Microsoft Production Studios is also one of the first customers to take delivery of the newly introduced MP8R and D64R. ‘Eighty of those [Dante units] are on full-time, 20 are in use part-time and 12 others are used remotely,’ explains Microsoft Production Studios Systems Engineer, John L Ball. ‘The MP8Rs are already integrated into the network and are working great, and the D64R Madi units will be put to use as soon as they arrive.’
In addition to RedNet 4 Mic Pre, RedNet 5 HD Bridge, RedNet 6 Madi units and RedNet PCIe cards already in use at the complex on the software giant’s Redmond, Washington state campus (which comprises four soundstages, 16 edit bays and four audio studios), Microsoft Production Studios has taken delivery of eight RedNet MP8R eight-channel remote-controlled mic preamplifier interfaces and will soon take delivery of 12 RedNet D64R Madi Bridge interfaces. These second-generation RedNet units feature dual power supply and network redundancy for fail-safe operation.
The RedNet D64R Madi Bridge builds on the RedNet 6 adding power supply and network redundancy. D64R features sample rate conversion on inputs and outputs allowing Madi and Dante to operate simultaneously at different sample frequencies. The RedNet MP8R Mic Pre Amp is based on the successful RedNet 4 eight-channel mic preamp but is now housed in a 1U-high chassis. MP8R features selectable impedance for mic splitter optimisation and two Dante outputs – one direct and the other automatically gain compensated. MP8R is the first and only Dante mic pre to enable different brand digital consoles to be connected to the same device. MP8R may be discovered and routed directly from Yamaha Cl/QL ranges.
The MP8R mic preamps provide a solid Ethernet connection for the Dante-enabled Yamaha and Solid State Logic mixing consoles used at the facility, and the D64Rs will soon act as a Madi bridge directly to the Miranda HD router, which results in 384 channels of digital audio. ‘The RedNet units have helped reduce our set-up time for projects, too,’ Ball says. ‘What once took two to three days now takes two to three hours, which really improves overall productivity here.’
In a unique application, Microsoft Production Studios embeds audio from RedNet into the studio’s RTS/Bosch intercom system, allowing the integration of IFB into the network and programming of mix minuses, as well as hot mics to intercom panels. The RTS Omneo option allows the audio to be merged into the Dante streams. ‘RedNet is helping position us for the future,’ says Ball. ‘Its performance is everything we expected and then some. These new units take RedNet to whole new level.’
More: www.focusrite.com/rednet
