Since its 2016 launch, audio-video technical management and client support company TV Tech Inc major player in broadcast production for US concert and entertainment for Verizon’s GO90 live streaming service. The company has now relaunched its 5.1-channel surround music mix truck after installing a Focusrite RedNet Dante-networked audio infrastructure.

This new interface system feeds dual 128-track recording systems over a Dante audio-over-IP network. TV Tech chose a Dante-enabled RedNet system based on the reputation of both Focusrite and Audinate’s network protocol.

‘We designed the truck – which we call TV Tech Unit #1 – to handle the needs of clientele in the entertainment industry, whether it’s a high-profile broadcast event, a live concert, or an opportunity for live remote recording,’ explains TV Tech Inc Technical Manager/Project Manager, Kevin Hartmann.

‘I’ve been a big Focusrite fan for years and years, back to the analogue days,’ says Music Mixer, Thom Cadley, who was chief mixing engineer at Sony Music Studios in New York for many years and has extensive TV live music mixing credits, including an All-Star Tribute to Johnny Cash, which earned him an EMMY nomination. ‘I love the way Focusrite products sound, their reliability and the overall engineering. It was pretty easy, once we decided to go in the direction of Dante, to integrate as many Focusrite products as we could.’

Dave Hewitt built the original custom 39ft Peterbilt rigid box truck, which he named Polar Express, for his Remote Recording Services company in 2006. ‘Things have changed a fair bit since then,’ Hartmann says, ‘so when Verizon’s GO90 wrapped, Thom got in there, took it apart and put it back together using Focusrite equipment and a lot of Cat6 cable.’

The truck now includes three Focusrite RedNet D64R 64-channel Madi bridges that can ingest 128 inputs from remote-controlled microphone preamps located at the stage plus 64 inputs from the production truck. Once on the Dante backbone, those signals are available for routing to dual 64-track Avid Pro Tools 12 HDX3 DAWs and three 64-track JoeCo BBR Blackbox Recorders. Signals are introduced to each Pro Tools system via a pair of RedNet HD32R 32-channel HD Dante network bridge.

‘RedNet created the bridge that allowed us to create a single path from the inputs to the truck to the console and recorders, which ultimately streamlined our workflow and gave us added flexibility.’

The truck includes a variety of speaker systems available for 5.1 and stereo monitoring, including Genelec, JBL, DynAudio and K+H,’ Hartmann says. ‘Each 64-track DAW interfaces to the Avid Icon control surface’s Xmon monitor management system via a RedNet A16R 16-channel analogue I/O interface and converter. Offering additional local input and output options, TV Tech Unit #1 also houses a second RedNet A16R, a RedNet D16R 16-channel AES3 I/O, and another RedNet D64R Madi-to-Dante bridge.

‘The A16R’s, as a D/A, just sound superb,’ Hartmann notes. ‘We use them in the truck for monitoring, because some of our monitors require analog inputs. We’re also using them to enable the insertion of analogue equipment into the signal chain, and we’re also using them as a outbound path from the truck, should another interface require an analogue signal.’

‘We can scale them [the two 128-channel Pro Tools and JoeCo recorder systems] however we need them,’ says Cadley. ‘Because we are using Pro Tools and the Icon, it’s like having two consoles and two entire recorder set-ups in the truck. With the push of a couple of buttons we can go from stage A to stage B in a very scalable way. It could be a big stage with 100 inputs and a small stage with 28, or any combination thereof.’

Having changed out the analogue cabling for Cat6 runs, TV Tech significantly reduced the truck’s weight. ‘There are piles of cables upstairs in a spare room,’ says Hartmann. ‘With the addition of Dante and RedNet interfaces, our workflow has been completely streamlined, and we are now in a position to offer clients an enhanced level of service.’

‘We use single mode TAC4 fibre with Neutrik OptiCon Quad connectors. We own a lot of single-mode fibre-optic for video, so it made sense for us to get the RedNet boxes with single mode connections. That way, all of our fibre in-house is basically the same,’ Cadley says.

With the truck renovated, TV Tech is busy marketing its services, and already has prospective clients: ‘Once everybody sees it, the word is going to spread,’ Hartmann says. ‘It won’t take long with this truck – it’s so beautiful.’

More: www.focusrite.com