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Photo courtesy of Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC.
"For a while we had issues deploying Dante networks successfully. The jump into networked audio felt very foreign to our IT dept, and there wasn’t much clarity around what we actually wanted to use it for or why. Those struggles led to discouragement around the idea as a whole and ultimately tension between the IT and production teams. It wasn’t until we had a trusted partner outside the church communicate to both IT and production the truth around our methods and why deployment had not worked to this point. The barrier was ultimately pride, from both teams, preventing the compromise that needed to happen. Through lots of trial and error, grace, patience, and COMPROMISE…we landed in a great spot! You’ll be thrilled to know that we are successfully deploying Dante at all our campuses in a way that both production and IT are proud of."
Ryan Eads has been the production director at central Indiana multisite Traders Point Community Church for the last four years, and in that time he’s learned the important (and sometimes painful) reality of how critical it is for his team to have a healthy working relationship with the church’s IT department.
As he noted in his recollection above, these two incredibly important teams can sometimes be their own worst enemies when it comes to working together effectively.
“We work so closely with our IT team on mission critical systems and projects that we cannot afford to assume or dismiss anyone’s experience or expertise,” he continues. “We have to set our personal preferences aside so we can align to a kingdom purpose.”
“The better you can gracefully communicate about and advocate for your ministry, the more likely others will understand your needs and support your vision. Without that relational equity with the IT team,” Eads notes, “you’ll face a steeper hill to climb as you equip reliable systems and troubleshoot effectively.”
With nearly everything in the production world either requiring network connectivity to function or at least having that feature set available, there’s a greater need now more than ever for synergy to exist between the IT and production worlds at a church.
"Without that relational equity with the IT team, you’ll face a steeper hill to climb…” —Ryan Eads, Production Director, Traders Point Community Church
While not every church has the ability to provide staff with a focus on IT or network management, it’s not uncommon for ministries to have a single “tech” person manage both worlds, having to juggle enterprise network traffic (like VOIP, printers, guest wifi, and kids check-in) and production network traffic (such as Dante, intercoms, sACN, and online streaming).
Not only is it considerable weight for one person to have to manage all of those things, but it can also be quite taxing on network infrastructure to carry that load if it’s not set up properly to do so.
This is where there can be substantial benefit to stepping back and assigning priorities to all of the traffic and then setting a network up accordingly.
Prioritizing network traffic through a QOS (Quality of Service) process allows network switches to be able to assign priorities to certain types of packets of network traffic. Just like a traffic cop can help vehicles get through a congested intersection in an orderly fashion, QOS does the same thing with network traffic that’s all fighting for the same available bandwidth.
Typically, VOIP traffic is required to have highest priority (so emergency/911 calls will always get “dibs” on bandwidth when it’s needed), but beyond that, a tech team must then decide the order of priority for traffic. Is it bandwidth for an online stream? Is it so Dropbox can sync across multiple computers? What about kids check-in, café POS, or guest wifi?
Certain things will likely be seen as a luxury instead of necessity, but if their priority isn’t assigned as such in a managed switch, then it does nothing but jumble up the network and further restrict any other attempts at using the network.
If assigning QOS to traffic isn’t an option for whatever reason, then maximum effort should instead be put into assigning VLANs (virtual LANs) to traffic so it all has clarity about the “lane” it should stay in.
“Maybe you could think of VLANs sort of like mixes on an audio console,” says Evan Woertz, the production systems manager at SoCal megachurch Mariners Church. “The console is mixing multiple outputs all at the same time, but they go to different places and you don't want them getting mixed up. VLANs allow, let's say, a single network switch to manage ACN traffic and Dante traffic at the same time on the same physical switch but segregated from each other so there are no conflicts. This also allows you to configure IP settings independently for each and maximize the bandwidth of your infrastructure topography. It's like having one or more mini switches inside a larger IT switch or system of switches.”
By having network traffic assigned to individual VLANs, that can allow a ministry’s limited switch infrastructure to be able to seamlessly pass traffic for a variety of functions without allowing ports or destinations to get overwhelmed and choked.
The same reasoning should also be applied when thinking through the amount of wireless traffic that may be necessary to manage.
VLANs allow a ministry’s limited switch infrastructure to be able to seamlessly pass network traffic for a variety of functions without allowing ports or destinations to get overwhelmed and choked.
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Photos courtesy of Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC.
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There’s an ever-increasing reliance on wireless technology in the live production space, ranging from using tablets to interface with mixing consoles, to in-ears and personal mixers, to app-based intercoms for volunteer camera ops. And just as un-VLAN’ed network traffic can cause issues, so can congestion in a wireless space.
“The wireless spectrum is quickly becoming overcrowded, and with most people carrying at least two forms of wearable/portable tech at all times, having enough access points and properly managed SSIDs is a must,” cautions Luke Gaikwad, the director of technology and AVL Systems at South Carolina-based multisite ministry, Seacoast Church.
“With most consumer technology living in the 5G and 6G ranges now, the 2.4G spectrum is starting to find some renewed usage for production and IoT (Internet of Things) systems, but make sure these purchases and decisions are being made in partnership with the IT team. If you try and cram all that traffic into the same APs, you will notice less than ideal bandwidth in all the ranges and sub-par AP performance,” he warned. “Most common ones to have issues are wireless camera systems, and they will either squash your usable Wi-Fi spectrum, or have constant signal dropouts that make the wireless camera experience unreliable and pointless.”
Unfortunately, not all wireless access points are created equal. Some have more limited signal range or are not ideal for high-density environments (like an auditorium) where they will get numerous constant connection requests. So understanding the specific wireless needs of the environment can then determine what type of APs are installed and where they will be most effective.
This should be done in conjunction with a broader understanding of RF traffic in a facility. How many wireless channels are in use for microphones or IEMs? How much RF noise is being emitted by an LED wall? Are IoT devices like thermostats, lighting controls, or burglar alarm panels trying to connect with a network?
All of these things can combine to create a mess of a network that can lead to unknowable amounts of issues if they aren’t managed properly.
“With most consumer technology living in the 5G and 6G ranges now, the 2.4G spectrum is starting to find some renewed usage for production and IoT (Internet of Things) systems…” —Luke Gaikwad, Director of Technology and AVL Systems, Seacoast Church
“As our needs grow beyond just one room and we start trunking all that data to other venues and hallways across multiple IDFs, then without VLANs and their required specifications, it quickly becomes a recipe for disaster,” Gaikwad adds. “Not only should we setup VLANs to segment traffic within various production systems, but we should also aim to maintain as much isolation as possible of those VLANs and SSIDs from all other IT networks. It allows for better management of the overall network and makes sure that the critical systems have the bandwidth they need at all times.”
Perhaps all wireless access points don’t need to have all available SSIDs loaded, so as to better regulate traffic. Perhaps the 2.4GHz spectrum should only be available for IoT connection in certain spaces and not all. Perhaps some devices, straight up, shouldn’t even be on the network due to limited configuration options that can lead to cybersecurity issues.
Photo courtesy of Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC.
“Production relies heavily on a strong IT backbone,” Gaikwad says. “IT needs production and AVL systems to be compliant with the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity. These two teams need to work together for a successful and stress-free outcome, in which the needs of both teams are met. If not, the result is going to be frustrating for everyone involved.”
Ultimately this means that both teams should have a measure of humility when working together. Each side must recognize that it may have blind spots in its knowledge base and may not know everything. IT teams may not fully understand how Dante works, and that’s OK. Production teams might not fully internalize why certain devices can cause cybersecurity concerns and why those shouldn’t have public-facing IP addresses, and that’s OK too.
The important part is that both sides work together to help the other achieve its goals. It is possible for a network to be both functional and secure, and to serve both IT and production needs effectively.
And while it can be daunting for either side to fully learn and understand the other, it’s easier to consider just taking baby steps.
“Start by getting familiar with the IT elements you have now but more importantly, learn what they are doing for you and what you need to know to use them in that capacity,” says Mariners’ Woertz.
“Also, ask for help. It's ok to have someone else set up and configure these elements for you.”
While Google searches are always effective, there are also a growing number of courses online for people wanting to better understand the intersection of AV and IT, whether through Coursera, Avixa, Audinate (for Dante-specific content), and even through church resource MxU.
But regardless of where the education comes from, it’s critical that it’s sought out, one way or another. If anything, starting with some basics for wireless management, QOS, and VLANs can dramatically help improve network performance as a topology continues to get more complicated, even as a desire grows for end users to have a quality experience with no interruptions.
“Today’s production and AVL systems cannot function without network infrastructure,” Seacoast’s Gaikwad states. “IT teams can’t have production networks wreaking havoc upon general IT networks. Without communicating with each other and understanding the needs of each side of this complex technological landscape, it would be extremely difficult to function without great frustration on both sides. Working together to help each other keeps everyone happy, and more importantly, allows for distraction-free services for the people coming into our buildings.”
