FRONT OF HOUSE
THE BEST ABILITY IS STABILITY | Kent Morris
Analog sound systems, for all their troubles, were stable. Once all the heavy copper cables were soldered and put in place and all the outboard gear was connected, they worked, and worked, and worked. Through power glitches, occasional water intrusion, and even while caked in dust, they worked. Today, things are different. The technology is markedly improved, the systems are far more capable, and the gear weighs much less, but our sound systems are rather fragile. If the exact, correct IP address isn’ t laid in, the specified cable isn’ t used, or a tiny power surge takes place, trouble awaits. In other words, a Ferrari that won’ t run isn’ t any better than a Yugo. How then do we build stable systems and get our Italian Stallion back on the road?
The first step is to understand our role as audio engineers is secondary to our role as IT techs. Pro Audio is now a subset of IT and we must learn how to set up and diagnose networks. To be stable, the audio network should stand apart from other networks. Only audio data should be present to maximize accurate clocking. For most operators, there are two audio protocols in play: Dante and the brand specific internal network. Dante, from Audinate, is the industry accepted replacement for CobraNet and plays the part of traffic cop and referee on digital audio transport across devices and brands. AVB is a competitor to Dante but has found limited success even though it is quite capable. Dante is low cost and solid enough to be
the dominant player and, as such, has been adopted by most brands with network access through card options. On the other hand, the internal network is brand dedicated to cover housekeeping and what MIDI would term“ sysex” or system-exclusive information for that brand of equipment. It requires a separate cable connection apart from the Dante interface but typically operates perfectly as it is proprietary to the gear in use.
Dante is bidirectional, that is, it sends and receives on the same cable. For connection to take place, an output must be published to the network stream in order for it to connect and then it must be subscribed to on the other end for it to be received. Once the network reaches scale, it is controlled by the Dante Domain Manager software suite which grants users a simple way to connect devices to the network and route signals where they need to go. For the stability segment of the equation, Domain Manager’ s troubleshooting features show where trouble has been logged and when and where it happened.
A key eternal network component is the switch, which is basically a patchbay for digital audio transport. The switch cannot be one pulled off the shelf at Target, it should be a dedicated AV oriented switch with management control optimized for Dante, such as Netgear’ s M4250 line. The investment difference will be repaid with stable functioning and far fewer headaches.
Stability also comes into play in how the console and stage box are configured and run. Logical patching schemes with consistent routing and control are needed to present the simplest path from input to output. It is better to skip a fancy plug-in until every channel is operating as intended with as little latency introduced into the system as possible.
Finally, stability comes from us as the engineers as we mix. We must stay attentive to any anomaly such as a click or pop which could indicate a clocking error or a mis-wired cable. We should be on the lookout for unusual phasing, such as overheads that seem“ off” or guitar amp mics with a“ hollow core.” Anything amiss is cause for concern and best addressed sooner rather than later. If the issue occurs during rehearsal, explain to the worship leader there is a possible problem and ask them to proceed while it is investigated. If, on the other hand, it happens during a service, alert the tech director and have the A2( audio assistant) investigate without making any adjustments until the service ends since it is safer to drag through with an occasional pop than to shut down the audio stream. However, as soon as the service ends, locate the problem and fix it before the next service begins.
Kent Morris Kent Morris is a 45-year veteran of the AVL arena driven by passion for excellence tempered by the knowledge all technology is in a temporal state.
116 August 2025 Subscribe for Free...