Archive
Dante Certified! Level 3
Just wanted to give a quick update. I just completed and passed the level 3 test online for Dante Level 3! Yeah!
I will admit it was not as “easy” as I would have thought with the amount of work done in our facility. I am happy that I did it! Confirms that I maybe possibly really know something, though may not be an expert yet!
If you are out there working your way through any cert or achievement, keep at it. It is well worth it and quite satisfying.
Cheers!
Catch Up!
Phew! Here I was expecting to already have my next Dante post by now. With this Covid-19 virus thing going on it has been much busier than one would expect. First I do not condone the media scaring people every 10 minutes. Yes, this virus is serious, but I think people have become numb to your fake expertise or reporting. And I work in the media!
OK, that’s off my chest. Now what have we done to keep you informed and entertained. Mostly the latter as we have 4 music formats and a sports format, and we all know that sports is not information and more of a distraction. We have done our part in clearing the building. Remote voice tracking is the norm for all music stations with the exception of morning shows. Sports “talk” and morning so far have a producer in house while the talent are remote. Tieline is our #1 go to on that front with Comrex filling in the blanks. We have deployed our old Tieline Field Units and iMix-G3 units. We also have the Report-IT app in use for other sites. Basically we are saving our 2 Via units for the extreme cases if and when that may happen.
Remote voice tracking is via the WideOrbit (WO) system. It works. I built 16 PCs just for deployment. I think we only have 5 spares of the bunch. We are in the process of figuring out how to remove all personnel from the facility, so I have beta the Remote Console app from Sierra Automated Systems (SAS) with the Rio Bravo and Rubicon consoles. It works. It is configurable. For now, no bells and whistles, but a remote operator can turn sources on and off, and remote sources like codecs get their proper mix minus. Level, or fader control is available, too. The only hitch now is how to get “the powers that be” to provide a decent remote access to the WO workstations on which I can install this app. When we can do this the operator can control WO and the console with a single remote access point.
And that is what has kept me busy the last couple weeks. I am studying up for my Dante Level 3 certification, too. That is in the “free” time. So, in conjunction with that, I hope to have my next installment of Dante posted soon. In the meantime stay save, stay healthy, stay home if you can. Keep that chin up, we will get through this.
Cheers!
Audio Over IP (AoIP)-Dante
To Audio Over IP or not to Audio Over IP. That should not be the question. The answer is a definitive yes. This should be a decision of adding another layer to the arsenal of audio options toolkit. We all still need analog and digital audio. Just add IP to that kit. Of the options available, from proprietary LiveWire and Wheatnet, to what may be considered standard, the choice is yours. Do not be fooled by AES67 claims. Think about what you want to do and why. I chose Audinate Dante. It compliments what I have and moves us into the future. And for my system it is integrated with Sierra Automated Systems (SAS) 32KD and Bravo. (It even supports AES67.) Choose wisely.
I know you have read about AoIP. I know you know about AoIP. I know you use AoIP. Any modern codec is using AoIP as we all use the Internet to feed audio remotely. The basics of creating an AoIP network is simple. You need a network. The main part of this network is your switch. Do not use a hub. Make it a good switch. Design your network for at least 1 GB. Depending what you decide on a platform, you may need a DHCP server, and possibly some high-end switches. Some will want to Subnet and use VLANs on existing networks. I am of the belief of making things simple, so I chose to create a completely independent and isolated network. I chose Dante.
What makes Dante “simple?” Many things, but the main is the fact it does not require any special hardware. No special switches. No special configurations. In addition to that it does not require DHCP. The IP addresses are automatically assigned by Dante just like the automatic addressing Windows does when a DHCP server is not available. I chose to manually, or statically, assign the IP addresses. To manage Dante, the machine that has the Dante Controller has two NICs (Network Interface Card), so one is assigned an IP address for the Dante network. As the audio in the broadcast facility is contained here alone, there is not need for a gateway. I have 59 devices, so the assignment and manually configuring of the Dante portion may take time, but once it is done, it is done.
You ask about automation and playback computers. Two NICs. Ask me how many times I have been off air with this configuration. I dare you. Zero. Keep that in mind. Each machine has 1GB NICs. All studios have CAT6 cable home runs to the switch. Avoid multiple switches if you can. This is in line with keeping things simple.
And that is the basic framework that I use. Keep it simple. Don’t try and do too much at once. Get used to what you are doing.
Next post will be the basics of Dante. I will cover the Dante Controller basics.
In the meantime, check some Audinate links while you plan your system:
So You’re Adding Dante to Your Network?
Broadcast: Radio
Cheers!
Happy Lunar New Year
Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year.
May the year bring peace, happiness, and prosperity!
Cheer!
Happy New Year!!!
Welcome to the year 2020.
The last few years were hectic, but I hope to get back on track. I have many things juggling both at work and in my personal life. I plan on posting more and catch up on those “promises.” I have a draft of my first Dante post working. I am actually learning a new responsive design program for the web site. And if interested, I can post some personal life experience as a USA Swim official.
Let’s have a good year.
Cheers!
Happy Holidays!
Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday Season for 2019.
We end 2019 and begin our plans for 2020 which looks to be an interesting year brewing. I hope to get off my duff and post more for you. Maybe impart some opinions of life, but definitely finish what I started on Dante!
Thanks for following!
Why Dante by Audinate?
I have mentioned Audio over IP (AoIP) in posts and on my site. I have been using AoIP for years to do remote broadcasts, normally using Tieline codecs, but have used others. I was one of the early adopters. I also decided years ago to run our studio to transmitter audio over IP. Due to space constraints and other factors I decided on the Worldcast/APT codecs. All have worked very well. When the stations had to move I wanted my AoIP platform to be Dante. I am glad I did.
There are three notable choices for AoIP on the broadcast industry: Dante, LiveWire, and WheatNet. Two of these are proprietary and do not have to pointed out. Only one, Dante, is an industry standard most notably in the audio/video industry and live sound. It is used worldwide in major venues. The list goes on and on. Just visit the Audinate Project Gallery. If you need devices and interfaces, why there are a whole slew of choices. Any time you need to interface, just check out their Product Catalog where you can research what you want, but do not pass over Audinate’s own devices, the AVIO adapters. Though I have not needed one, I think next year I will pick up a couple to have for the rainy day emergency! How could I pass on choosing Dante for my platform of choice?
Overall, the installation was a breeze. In my next post I will detail our basic installation, but for now just an overview. Though Audinate is designed to run on your existing Ethernet network, I am a strong believer in keeping mission critical separate, so I installed a completely separate network just for Dante. This makes life super easy as all you need to install is a good core switch and home run all your connections. At this point, as Dante will automatically configure its own IP addresses you can just let it happen. I actually manually assigned all IP addresses. Once you have a couple devices installed, you will see them populate in the Device Manager software. Using the Device Manager, make your audio connections and you are off to the races.
I am a Sierra Automated Systems (SAS) plant. With the new KDL modules and Rio Bravos, interfacing Dante to the routing system is quite easy. Again, you need to make your routes in the Dante Controller first, but once you have them available, that audio is not available in the SAS routers just like any other audio. SAS is working with Audinate such that they can control Dante routing through their system from my understanding. Seems like a complex challenge, but if anyone can do it, SAS can.
Stay tuned from my next post about the details of installing Dante, the devices, and configuration. Being an industry standard makes for easy integration with many devices. Mackie comes to mind. As for up-time, I have not had any issues with our AoIP setup. It works, and that is what counts.
Headaches of the Week!
So, what were you headaches this week? We all get them! I had one when the weather went from dry, to almost normal, back to dry again. That was a one day actual headache. The daily grind headaches were power supplies and WideOrbit configurations.
The easy fix was the power supplies for my Nautel NV20s. Yes, these are those two which were installed Dec. 2008. Still running strong, but as it ages, those power supplies tire out. What is awesome is they are easy to swap out. Pull one out, put one in. Done. Like taking Advil, pain gone.
WideOrbit on the other hand is a different story. This is combined with the fact that Jelli/Katz shipped new hardware to replace the aging appliances. I changed from 5 separate servers to 2 servers. I got them babies installed and audio plugged in. I changed the ports configured for the WO Device Server. I give Traffic the go ahead to schedule them tests. ALL OF THEM FAILED.
Well, they worked before, so I checked the configurations again. Dug into the actual WO Device Server configuration file on each workstation and what do I find? Instead of changing the “entry” for the configured port, it appended a new one! WTF I say. Check with a colleague and sure enough that is what he has been fighting for months while the pair were nailing down the metadata feeds. Every time you make a change, it doesn’t change anything, it appends the damn thing. Argh.
Last night I thought I had it, and I only received dead air on one station. Sure enough, appended change. Then Jelli and I agreed to move/swap two stations so everyone’s docs matched up. I did a test. Nothing. Wait, I checked and cleaned up the file. Oh, no, there is another line in there which referred to the OLD entry! Things like this makes you want to bash your head against a wall to fix the headache. I corrected those, so we will see how these two stations run tomorrow morning.
I’m saving the last as it has the most complex configuration file as the station uses GPIO along with metadata and Jelli. Best to pick on it separately.
I hope your headaches are easy to resolve and treat. Speaking of treats, Halloween was pretty quiet last night. Remember that next year it will be the weekend, so all Hell will break loose!
Cheers!
Only Tuesday….
Update on my Omnia 11. It has been received and the estimated time to repair is 2 weeks. This is fine as the unit on air has been accepted and reports are they like it. It is a demo Orban 8700, btw. I still need to dig in and see what else the thing does.
Running an HD3 channel which has been directly fed from the source. Now they need to run local commercials. I told them when they had logs ready I would activate the final parts to make it smooth. Guess what? They didn’t. Logs are a bit of a mess, so now I need to figure out what they did.
Meanwhile today I am swapping out Jelli appliances. I guess they decided to put newer hardware in and most likely software. So, with those messing with one thing, I bet doing this next bit will be annoying filled with interruptions.
I feel my head will explode with the lack of communications, which is the norm for a communications company.
Processor Revisited
Now doesn’t that take the cake. Just before taking some time off that Omnia 11 started to do its degraded audio again. Stereo squished in, dull, sounded almost mono. I was thinking maybe multipath as it is that time of year and the weather does mess with the signal here. Yet, if sitting in one place you can hear the audio change makes you scratch your head. The decision to swap out with another processor was made.
Ran an old 8500 for a few days. Other than the fact it is an older device, at least the audio remained consistent. Right before I left the boss man decided to get an Orban 8700 demo. I slapped it in and said let me know. After over a week no complaints from the programming. I decided to ship the Omnia in for “repair”.
I hope they find something, but I feel it will be the old we cannot find a problem. I guess I’ll let the world know what happens. BTW, the program director seems to be quite content with the 8700.
Tech Notes from the Field 