Dante network connects Full Sail campus
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The university was an early adopter of networked audio in its educational offerings and as part of its studio and live productions. Over the years, as Dante became prominent within the industry, the university ultimately made a substantial investment in Dante-capable Focusrite RedNet equipment, solidifying Dante as the audio networking standard for the campus.
“That was really our first big push into Dante, and from there, the platform has fanned out across our campus. There are very few places here that it doesn't touch," explained Vince Lepore, director of event technical operations at Full Sail University. "We use it for education and production at almost every level of the campus. Not a day goes by that I don't use Dante in one way or another.”
The Dante platform is a complete AV-over-IP solution that allows audio, video, and control data to be transported over standard 1GB ethernet networks.
According to Lepore, the university's Dante network is a constant work in progress. Currently, an effort is underway to outfit classrooms with Dante-enabled equipment. The standard classroom footprint includes Shure MX Series microphones, QSC Q-SYS networked audio processors, and a mix of I/O options, mixers, monitors, and more, depending on the room. Full Sail’s lab spaces are also equipped with a range of Dante-enabled digital audio consoles from manufacturers such as Yamaha, DiGiCo, and Calrec.
“Many of our facilities, whether it's the recording studios, live event production facilities, or our additional classrooms, are all equipped with Dante connectivity,” said Lepore. “The rooms that are being built out now with Dante are Zoom-based, and the audio moving in and out of the Zoom systems is all Dante.”
The university’s flagship performance venue, Full Sail Live, hosts a wide range of events — from concerts and large-scale productions to graduations and new student orientations. It’s a very diverse space with Dante fully integrated in many ways. The university’s esports facility, the Full Sail University Orlando Health Fortress, is a large indoor, multi-use space primarily used to support the university's esports team, Armada. From the microphones to the speakers and everything in between, the audio system in the Fortress is virtually all Dante.
“We opened the Fortress in 2019, and Dante was very mature at that point, so it was obvious that we would incorporate Dante and its industry leading capabilities into the facility,” added Lepore. “From an audio perspective, Dante is integral to the esports operations of the Fortress.”
Lepore explained that with the volume of Dante devices on the university’s network, one of their goals for 2022 is to deploy Dante Domain Manager across the network.
