Gothenburg Opera Selects Focusrite RedNet Digital Audio Systems for Cutting-Edge Richard Siegal Show

Focusrite RedNet systems used in The World To Darkness And To Me, premiered at the Gothenburg Opera, to offer the sound and audio required in a show that seeks the most avant-garde musical creation.

The production of The World To Darknes Gotemburgo And To Me It's a dance show, released at the end of 2013 at the Gothenburg Opera (Sweden), which has been developed by the New York choreographer Richard Siegal with electroacoustic music by Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch from Ircam (Acoustic/Music Research and Coordination Institute) from Paris.

The music, sampled and with percussive and abstract electronics by Hoesch, complements Siegal's 'If/Then' dance method, which combines choreography written for the dancers with improvised movements performed on stage.

Hoesch's music, which was created through the visual music programming language Max, It required a dynamic range that would transmit a balance between light and shadow and was designed to be reproduced in three dimensions through an array of speakers in a special configuration of 27.2. Using MSP audio extensions and 3D spatialization plug-ins, extremely powerful audio manipulations were achieved..

Hoesch used an Ambisonic surround sound system that allows a three-dimensional sound field to be recreated anywhere in the space without any relation to the speaker positions..

Audio digital RedNet 2

One of the biggest challenges that the Gothenburg Opera faced with this show was how to reproduce this unique music in the environment in which it was going to be held.. “I needed equipment that was capable of offering the highest possible quality in digital conversion, taking into account that they needed 32 audio channels between one location and another, including the supply to your own sound system in 27.2” format, explains Andreas Renhorn, Chief Sound Engineer of the Opera.

Rehorn found the answer to this problem in RedNet units 2 of Focusrite, whose products are distributed by central media. Con 16 AD/DA conversion channels, a couple of RedNet systems 2 offered the exact number of channels required for the main system, together with the assistants. These teams are based on the system Audinate Dante and, thanks to the possibilities that Dante offers, locating the audio was a simple process.

For the performances, audio was sent from a MacBook Pro laptop running QLab, a playback software designed for theater and live work. Using the Dante Virtual Soundcard driver (DVS) supplied free of charge with RedNet digital audio units, The MacBook Pro's internal Ethernet port is used to transport the digital audio signal to the RedNet units through a switch NetGear GS716T standard located between these systems and the computer. The analog outputs of the RedNet 2 they were going to end up in a replay system of d&b of 29 channels using DB25 cables, with two additional channels for stage foldback and one more for voice.

“This has been one of the quickest and easiest installations we have done. Complementing the speakers that already existed in the Opera, we install 22 additional speakers on the balconies along with five more that were mounted 25 meters high. “Including the Ethernet cabling, it took us less than six hours to complete the assembly.”, clarifies Rehorn.

RedNet's Ethernet-based functionality offers great advantages when installing and configuring equipment. “Hoesch was impressed by how easy it was to set up his laptop in the center of the auditorium via a Cat6 cable. 50 metros, so that the signals that fed the playback array could be adjusted. It was just as simple to place a second computer on the same network to record, “We only had to connect an Ethernet cable between the computer and the switch”.

After completing the installation, the sound elements were able to resonate in all directions, for the 1300 auditorium seats, and that will form a homogeneous set with the lighting effects. For similar performances in the future Renhron plans to use a RedNet PCIe card in a Thunderbolt PCI chassis for better performance and minimal latency.

RedNet is being used in an increasing number of audio applications where special functionality is required in terms of quality or performance.. RedNet combines the expertise of Focusrite converters with the Dante Ethernet network audio protocol for recording, distribute and play sound over IP.