The Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the setting for the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) electronic dance music festival’ more than 400,000 revellers. The 2015 event also saw first use of Focusrite’s RedNet D16 AES interface, serving the d&b audiotechnik J System and D80 amplifiers serving the main Kinetic Field stage.

3G Productions provided the sound reinforcement systems for three of the show’s stages, using the D16 AES for the output of 96kHz audio via a Dante network to AES3-compatible amplifiers between the FOH position and the amplifiers used to power the system.

‘With eight delay towers and a distance from FOH to the stage of 300ft, cabling for network control and digital signal distribution to 100-plus amplifiers was a major concern,’ says 3G Productions System Engineer/Technology Director, Clark Stewart. ‘Additionally, for EDC a special requirement is for the entire system to operate at 96kHz, 24-bit AES3 from the DJ to the FOH console and ultimately the amplifiers. Being able to reliably and efficiently provide this was paramount. The D16 AES gave us a solution that could work in conjunction with our existing network infrastructure and needs while providing reliable, cost-effective digital signal distribution to all devices in the system.’

Stewart says that the scale of a festival like Electric Daisy and the demand for reliable, high-quality audio integrated with control for audio management has made the need for networked audio and control critical, and that RedNet provides a tested, trusted interface.

‘Networking has become an integral part of our operations for system control,’ he says. ‘With the advent of Dante and the RedNet product line, we have finally been able to combine network device control with that of signal transmission. With this system in place, we have seen a drastic reduction in cabling complexity and a huge increase in efficiency when dealing with large, complex systems requiring extensive cable lengths. Furthermore, the ability to use fibre-optic cable instead of copper for network connectivity provides for successful distribution of high-resolution synchronous digital audio over distances otherwise impossible to achieve using traditional copper. RedNet is the key interface for us in that system.’