events
Youre reading:
Optocore M8 MADI solves problems of clocking and rack space on Jason Aldean tour
Innovative rig provides economical fiber transmission between monitors and FOH
When FOH engineer Chris Leonard took up his latest role, piloting the sound for country star Jason Aldean, he wasted no time in streamlining his FOH set-up.
I took up the position in February, spent March prepping and hit the festival scene in April; so it needed to be a fast transition, he said.
One of his concerns was lack of familiarity with the existing SSL L550 Plus FOH console. While it is an amazing desk, I didn't want to try and learn a new console on a gig of this size. Instead he turned to his trusty DiGiCo Quantum 338. His other concern was the need for a reduced footprint, noting there had been no available room in the I/O rack to put both a split and two SD racks. All of the sub snakes hit that rack and routed straight to the SSL [ML32:32] I/O boxes, he said.
Evan RIchner and Chris Leonard
Chris Leonard looked at various options for integrating the 96 channels of MADI into his system, He was already familiar with the Optocore topology: I had used Optocore Festival Boxes multiple times with great success-and with DiGiCo I've used the Optocore loop for much of the last decade too.
I've also had good experiences before with the DD4R MR-FX [MADI interface], integrating track rigs to the loop, and with them being only 1RU each, we could fit them into the existing I/O rack without having to modify it much, thereby saving time and space.
This time he opted for a pair of Optocore M8-BNC coaxial MADI switches, which he strategically located in Monitor World (where monitor engineer Evan RIchner resides). This enables fiber to be run back to FOH where it interconnects with his Q338 at FOH, and into the M8s, which connect to the SSL I/O-handling three streams of 32-channel MADI at 96k.
Leonard explained the rationale. Since the M8s are only 1RU each we were able to fit them in our existing monitor I/O rack. In fact, Evan has managed to fit all our RF, SSL I/O and ancillaries into a double wide 30RU rack. This has allowed him to both keep his footprint small and also save time during load in/load out. It also saved a lot of extra cabling each day and an entire other rack. All he has to do each day is just patch our HMA fiber into the back of the rack for FOH, and that's it.
A Dante network runs between monitor console, PA drive rack, the d&b DS10s (for Dante drive to the amp racks) and the Q338 at FOH. When the audio infrastructure was clocked to the Dante network, ensuring solid word clock sync between the SSL I/O and the Optocore network was proving troublesome, and a challenge to lock down. But once we dropped in the M8s they locked right in and haven't given us any issues. I simply take word clock via Dante from the drive rack at FOH and push that to the M8s over the Optocore loop.
This unusual deployment, has been a great solution, he says. Our FOH snake can stay as HMA fiber, instead of having to run a bunch of BNC MADI lines.
Furthermore, an identical duplicated rig for upcoming B' rig scenarios uses a second pair of M8s, creating a set-up that will carry them through the foreseeable future.
Chris Leonard
In summary, Chris Leonard says, Regardless of any changes-even to our entire infrastructure-the M8s can handle it. I can still come up with multiple uses for the M8s even the ability to use them as matrix mixers, separate from the Optocore loop, opens up a world of potential possibilities.
Their provider is Nashville based Spectrum Sound, long supporters of the Aldean organization. Bobby George, our account rep, was also instrumental in making this happen, says Chris. Audio crew chief was Loren Zimmer and extra support was provided by Brandon Coons at Optocore NA.
Previous post
Optocore GmbH
Alte Allee 28
81245 M nchen
tel: +49 89 899 964 0
OPTOCORE is a German-based manufacturer of World's most popular, successful and ground-breaking Fibre Network Infrastructure and Point-to-Point systems for the install, broadcast and live industries.
QUICK LINKS:
Products
News
Downloads
Where to buy
Follow
Follow
Follow
ContacT us. We want to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch. You can reach us by phone, email or by filling out the contact form on our website. Our team is always here to help and we look forward to hearing from you!
Name
Email Address
What are you interested in? What are you interested in?InstallTouringBrodcastOther
Message
Submit
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...
02/07/2026
Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...
events
