Kyle LeForge, technical director at Coastal Community Church in Parkland, Florida, recently evaluated the AJA Dante-12GAM converter, a device designed to embed or de-embed audio between SDI and Dante networks. Coastal Community Church operates three campuses with a mix of permanent and portable locations, and their growing multi-site worship services require flexible, scalable audio solutions.
This device is a game-changer for churches trying to scale their broadcast capabilities.
LeForge and his team have relied on Dante for audio over the past four years, primarily for routing tracks, click cues, and outputs. However, integrating Dante with video, particularly for live-streamed and delayed services across satellite campuses, presented challenges. Traditional SDI audio embed devices were limited to four to eight audio channels, restricting the number of stems they could send between locations. The Dante-12GAM addressed this limitation, providing up to 16 channels of audio at 4K 60p and the ability to embed and de-embed simultaneously, effectively supporting 32 channels of audio per SDI video channel, upgradable to 64 channels of audio.
LeForge highlighted a specific application called "merge moments," where multiple campuses worship together in real time. The Dante-12GAM allowed him to send separate audio stems—drums, vocals, tracks, and cues—from the main broadcast location to satellite campuses via SDI over a Resi stream. This setup enabled volunteers at remote locations to mix audio locally, creating a live, immersive worship experience while reducing the number of hardware devices in the signal chain.
Other features that impressed LeForge included power over Ethernet, a built-in SDI test signal generator, and Dante primary and secondary ports for network redundancy. He also noted the unit’s future-proofing capabilities, with an SFP slot for adding a second channel of video I/O over BNC or LC fiber, ensuring the converter can adapt to evolving broadcast workflows.
LeForge praised AJA for the reliability and build quality of their gear, noting that the Dante-12GAM was robust, intuitive to operate, and ideal for volunteer-driven production environments. The unit’s design allowed Coastal Community Church to maintain high-quality audio across multiple locations efficiently, saving time and reducing complexity in their AV workflows.
For churches and multi-site venues using Dante and video, the AJA Dante-12GAM provides a versatile, dependable solution for embedding and de-embedding audio, simplifying complex signal routing, and supporting high-resolution, multi-channel broadcasts.
