After nearly 20 years using an older audio signal transport system for on-field live entertainment at the Super Bowl, ATK Audiotek has a Dante-based digital audio networking system using key RedNet interfaces from Focusrite.
With a DiGiCo D5 console for the mix, two distinct systems routed the audio for different purposes. The first used a number of RedNet D64R 64-channel Madi-Dante bridges to convert the D5’s signal to the Dante network, with audio routed to four loudspeaker carts in separate quadrants of the stadium with RedNet D16 AES 16-channel AES3 I/O interfaces. Meanwhile, the RedNet A16R’s 16 channels of analogue I/O were used to feed both the broadcast trucks and the stadium’s FOH position, operating between the Dante network audio and the stadium’s existing analogue wiring.
‘I’ve been waiting years for this day,’ says ATK Audiotek Design Engineer, Kirk Powell. ‘This Super Bowl was truly an inflection point for audio at the event. It marked the shift to the 21st century for audio networking.’
It was a major shift – Powell says it required training to bring the crew fully up to speed on the new system, but that the advantages were significant: ‘The old system we had been using just did not have the kind of flexibility that Dante and RedNet can offer,’ he reports. ‘Now, if they quickly needed a microphone moved, it was just a matter of moving it on a screen and it was done. RedNet as the interface made this shift so much easier. The RedNet’s own interfaces are simple and intuitive, their reliability is rock solid, and the sound couldn’t be better. RedNet made the shift to the next generation of signal transport for the Super Bowl a sure thing.’
