Distributing submixes

[Chris15]

So this is a hypothetical based on an actual event's needs...

The orchestra is individually miced and this is fed to a submixer and the output is 24 stems of Orchestra. ie. the submixer is taking 7 individual 1st violins and mixing them down to a single 1st violins stem.

Each stem must be distributed to FOH, Mons and Broadcast.

What are the available options for performing the split and what advantages and disadvantages in each of those? Which would you choose and why?

After a suitable period of discussion has elapsed, I'll tell you how it was done and why...

Feel free to ask for clarification on the scenario...

 

[museav]

Feel free to ask for clarification on the scenario...

Okay. Permanent install or temporary? If install, existing facility or new? Where are the FOH, mons and broadcast mixers located relative to one another? What mixers are involved? And in keeping with your question, why might these factors matter?

 

[Chris15]

4 show temporary install.
(Now to remember which consoles we used last year...)
Submixes on a Digico D5
FOH D5
Mons SD7
Broadcast - I think it was ending up on a SSL C200

What effect would there be if I substitute:
PM1D at Mons
Cascaded PM5Ds for Orchestra submix?

In considering solutions, do not neccessarily discount options that require intermediate hardware...

 

[Cameron]

Feel free to ask for clarification on the scenario...

Muse hit some good points.

Distance between consoles? Any budget constraints? And equipment requirements? Analog vs. digital? Gain sharing?


EDIT:I would have to say that either Rocknet or Mediornet by Riedel get you anything you would need.

 

[Chris15]

Muse hit some good points.

Distance between consoles? Any budget constraints? And equipment requirements? Analog vs. digital? Gain sharing?

We're playing hypotheticals, so let's, for now, neglect certain practicalities. Ignore budget, ignore distance. Consoles have been specified. Stems can be assumed to be leaving the console at consistent volume, line level if interfaced at analog, -10dB if digital.

When we've established the available options we'll add some constraints and see how things change...

 

[Chris15]

EDIT:I would have to say that either Rocknet or Mediornet by Riedel get you anything you would need.

Except that they are the same thing.

Mediornet has the ability to accept and transport Rocknet 100 and Rocknet 300.

This is the sort of thought process I'm trying to evoke. What are the downsides to using Rocknet?

 

[Cameron]

Except that they are the same thing.

Well, Mediornet can have any topology, while Rocknet is limited to a ring. Six in one, half dozen in the other.

What are the downsides to using Rocknet?

To begin with, you are limited to Riedel's proprietary technology, and would have to hire someone extremely well versed in that technology.

They do not have a DiGiCo Interface card yet, and unless you use the MADI Interfaces, the DA-AD conversions start piling up(a couple ms here, a couple ms there, pretty soon your talking about real delay). But, if you were to swap out the DiGiCo for the Yamaha consoles, there wouldn't be any secondary or tertiary conversions.

Riedel has been known to crash, and especially when broadcasting, that is unacceptable.


I'm sure I am over looking something too.

 

[Chris15]

So some of the options that spring to my mind:
Analog via splits
AES via distribution amps
MADI via appropriate technology
Network audio of some description
Optocre / Riedel / etc.

In each case, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

 

[museav]

So some of the options that spring to my mind:
Analog via splits
AES via distribution amps
MADI via appropriate technology
Network audio of some description
Optocre / Riedel / etc.

In each case, what are the advantages and disadvantages?

This might be what you were hinting at earlier, but also think about whether the splits might be handled internal or external to the submixer and what might make any particular approach more or less appropriate? For example, might the available input and output quantities and signal format options for the various mixers affect the decision?