Do you remember that one time, you were setting up the sound system at your portable church or doing something special out in the parking lot? You had to set up the soundboard, then run that massive snake cable up to the stage? It was heavy, awkward, and took up a bunch of space when you weren’t using it. Those were the best days, right? Wrong. Having set up for the church in my fair share of movie theaters, hotel ballrooms, and community centers, I don’t miss the analogue snake.
Layer 3 is where the magic starts happening. This layer builds on the previous two layers and allows for increased bandwidth and higher reliability.
As the saying goes, a rising tide raises all ships, that is true for the audio industry. Digital audio consoles have become the mainstay of mixing these days and as they progressed in technology and grew in popularity so did their counterpart Audio over Ethernet (AoE). While the focus of this article is not the history of Ethernet, I think it’s important to have a bit of background understanding. When talking Ethernet, it’s important to know that not all things “Ethernet” are created the same. Learn about the different protocols, called layers.
Layer lingo
- Layer 1 is the most basic - it utilizes the same Ethernet cabling, but think of it as more point to point or a closed system, not living with other Ethernet traffic. Aviom’s proprietary A-Net protocol is a classic example of this.
- Layer 2 starts adding some complexity to the mix and allowing the audio and data to play together. CobraNet is a perfect example of this. It was developed in the 1990s by Peak Audio and is considered the first successful implementation of AoE by the industry. Having grown up in Elkhart, Ind., where Crown Audio (up until recently) was located and who integrated CobraNet into its amps, I remember seeing a brochure or poster in the company’s office touting the 1997 Super Bowl Halftime show as the first significant use of CobraNet.
- Layer 3 is where the magic starts happening. This layer builds on the previous two layers and allows for increased bandwidth and higher reliability.
AoE options
Up to this point, I have mentioned a few versions of AoE out there, like A-Net, and CobraNet but there are many contenders. Some are still playing an active role, and others gave it their best shot and ultimately were overshadowed.
A few notables still thriving are:
- EtherSound - Developed in 2001 by Digigram. It is designed to live alone on a dedicated network of its own VLAN. Ethersound provides a two-way communication platform when wired in a daisy chain topology and is popular because of its low latency. Digigram licenses this protocol to many known audio manufacturers, such as Digico, Yamaha, and Allen and Heath.
- AVB - Audio Video Bridging was developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2011 as a means of creating an AoE standard. This is a highly reliable protocol that can live among a network with other traffic on it. By using select AVB switches, a portion of available bandwidth is reserved for AVB traffic. Unfortunately, AVB never really took off in the live sound world, with many manufacturers going with their proprietary protocols or licensing with Dante (addressed further down).
- Dante - Developed by Audinate in 2006, Dante is an AoE protocol that can live on existing network infrastructures. Dante offers several benefits to the end user over other protocols mentioned such as its “Virtual Soundcard” that allows any PC or Mac with the company’s software on it to transmit audio over a connected network line. It also offers automatic configuration via Dante Discovery and Bonjour, making it an easy set up for end users.
Buddy system
As part of researching this article and putting together my experiences, I thought it would be a good idea to get the input from a real pro, Barry Dixon. Dixon has been an Installer, tech director, and touring engineer—mainly what I like to call a super genius. He has installed, trained on, and used various models and flavors of AoE. I don’t think there has been an official coronation, but Dixon and I, as well as most of you, can agree, Dante is king when it comes to transmitting audio over Ethernet. Of all of its counterparts, Dante has become the most widely accepted protocol—even being incorporated into those with proprietary protocols.
Having set up for the church in my fair share of movie theaters, hotel ballrooms, and community centers, I don’t miss the analogue snake.
When working with any protocol, there are a few things to keep in mind and pitfalls to avoid, which is an excellent way of saying, “mistakes Shaun has made.” As I talked with Dixon, it became clear that the biggest hill to climb is infrastructure. Using proper network switches, choosing a good quality cable, and understanding how network traffic works all play a big role in making it work. I have learned from experience, that the cheap, throw-down network switch from Amazon is not the best route. Often they have green “energy saving” options that wreak havoc with an audio network. Another area mentioned was poor cabling as a contributor to a poor audio network. Cat5e is as low as you can go with Dante, and while that will work, I would recommend not going lower than Cat6 for any installation wire. This will help to future-proof your building as the technology changes. If you can, I recommend keeping your audio network isolated.
While Dante and some others can coexist, that doesn’t mean they should. Having knowledgeable IT people on your team can be very beneficial to help quarantine your audio traffic for best transmission. Make patchbays your friend. I know it is another step and some argue the hop can degrade transmission. (Don’t talk to those people; you don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.) Using a patch panel or pass-through at, say, a wall box will save you time down the road if the need for troubleshooting arises. Since it is highly unlikely your install wire running through conduits in the wall will go bad, knowing you can quickly swap out short Cat cable from the patch point to the gear is much faster than re-terminating a cable that has been damaged from use. While Dante may be king, Dixon cautions against getting too caught up on the primary protocol your console is using to talk to its components. Because Dante is so widely accepted, most manufacturers have a licensed product to get their equipment to interface with Dante. For instance, Allen and Heath uses its ACE backbone for transmitting between the stage rack and the surface but also has an optional Dante card for accepting and sending audio. Dante is an excellent platform for distributing audio around your building in a cost-effective manner.
Parting thoughts
I didn’t intend for this article to focus so heavily on Dante, but it has risen to the top with its technology. One can speculate as to why, but my opinion is that the two main reasons are: it offers a cost-effective approach to getting started with existing technology, and Yamaha adopted it early on as the company’s primary backbone for the CL and QL series of consoles in 2011.
Because of this integration, Yamaha has some great resources on its website for getting a more in-depth understanding of setting up a proper Dante network. I also recommend that any church tech that uses Dante look into Audinate’s Dante Certification Program. It is a free online course that will teach you the ins and outs of Dante. These resources are great next steps for bulletproofing your audio network and avoiding pitfalls. Happy networking!
