Six Ways To Transform Your Studio Workflow 09 Aug 2017 --
Take the Dante Advantage So you've bought a Focusrite Red interface - congrats! It's taken pride of place in your studio and you're over the moon with its rock-bottom latency and dynamic sound. Right now, you're happy using the DigiLink and Thunderbolt ports to interface with your various DAWs, after all it's the first time you've been able to use the same interface for Pro Tools | HD and Ableton Live. Or maybe you're using a Red interface on stage for playback with your band. You bought it because of the quality of the conversion and the low latency, but you've noticed that the stage crew is using a Dante network for the monitor and FOH mixing. Well, you have Dante too, and it's ready and waiting to be used.
This piece suggests ways to inject the Dante advantage into your workflow, and provide some out-of-the-box ideas that you maybe never thought possible.
1. Expand Your Foldback Capabilities
In conventional interface systems, creating custom mixes for your performers either requires a dedicated headphone distribution system, costing about $1000 per mix, or a large-format mixing console with enough aux channels or mix groups for each of your performers - also a significant expense. Add to this the need for headphone amps and the cable required to route all your signals, and you were faced with a clunky, complicated system prone to technical problems. An alternative is to mix all your headphones sends in the interface's control software, but this process will eat into your engineer's setup time, and consume analogue outputs at a rate of two per performer - let alone the unacceptable latency that some older interfaces would introduce.
But with Dante connectivity, a more elegant approach is possible. The Red 4Pre and Red 8Pre each have a 32 I/O Dante interface, which can be used to route audio from your DAW to a Dante-enable device. One such device is Focusrite's RedNet AM2, a two-channel Dante receiver with a headphone amplifier and line-level outputs, which fits in the palm of your hand. You can equip your studio with up to 16 stereo foldback stations, for the reasonable sum of $400 per mix. This functionality is ready and waiting, needs no upgrades or add-ons, and is remarkably simple to set up. What's more, the AM2 is one of the few Dante products that supports daisy-chained Ethernet connections, so you don't even need a network switch!
You can create up to eight different latency-free mixes using Focusrite Control, and even have your performers adjust their own mix on their iOS device using the Focusrite app!
Adding Focusrite RedNet AM2s via Dante is a cost-effective way to provide convenient foldback to performers.
2. Activate Every Corner Of Your Facility For Recording
One of the runaway benefits of audio-over-IP is that you can easily and affordably expand your system. Let's say you have a production room in a studio complex where lots of other fellow music makers work. You may have a couple of racks of outboard gear, and enough space to record a couple of vocalists or a horn section, but not much more. Your friend in another studio in the building has a live room and there's that concrete stairwell at the end of the corridor with a crazy tank-like reverb. Ever dreamed of hooking it all up?
With a Focusrite Red 4Pre or 8Pre in your studio, not only would you have great-sounding conversion and class-leading mic pres, you also have a 32 I/O Dante interface built in. With Dante, you can configure the connected devices any way you like, so all 32 channels need not come from the same physical location (unlike MADI or ADAT, for example). So you could have 16 channels of Dante-enabled mic pres for tracking a string quartet in a room down the hall, four channels for a stereo reverb send/return in the stairway, and a stack of independent headphone stations for the performers. (See point 1, above.)
You will need additional interfaces, such as those in the Focustrite RedNet range. But thanks to Dante's semi-open architecture, there are over 1000 devices to choose from, from digital audio recorders to amplifiers - even wireless microphones.
This workflow was technically possible previous systems, albeit with significant analogue routing, distribution and outboard equipment required. With Dante, you can easily connect the various parts of the building together, without any of the hassle or signal degradation associated with running multicore cable. All you need is some run-of-the-mill network cable (Cat-5e or Cat-6) and a network switch - and some imagination.
Portable racks of Dante devices - such as these two Focusrite RedNet MP8R mic preamps- can be easily located practically anywhere. The Focusrite AM2 (sitting atop the rack) provides a dedicated headphone mix for the performer.
3. Make Your Stage Show Sound Great & Integrate Effortlessly
Computers play a major role in live shows, thanks to increased reliability and performance of DAWs and interfaces. Many concerts contain an element of playback from track', to help keep the band in sync, beef up the sound and provide that album vibe'. In many cases, playback will be triggered by the musical director, who's often a member of the band. In more technically advanced stage setups, multiple band members feed audio into a single DAW for effects processing and suchlike.
The Focusrite Red 8Pre is an excellent choice for live applications, thanks to its high-quality 16-in, 18-out analogue capabilities, coupled with super-low latency over Thunderbolt. But what makes the Red interfaces even more desirable on stage is their Dante connectivity.
Dante has been adopted widely in live sound, due to its plug-and-play nature, the sheer number of Dante devices available, and the lack of signal degradat
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Six Ways To Transform Your Studio Workflow 09 Aug 2017 -- 
