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Cadac networks IBC Big Screen – Auditorium

The Netherlands – Cadac supplied its MegaCOMMS network audio system complete with CDC seven and CDC eight mixing consoles to provide distribution and control of the event audio at this year’s ‘IBC Big Screen – Auditorium’.

The Cadac MegaCOMMS’ network installation was spec’d by Terry Nelson from IBC Technical Resources, a specialist in audio and acoustics. The complete installation comprised CDC eight-32 and CDC seven mixing consoles, networked to two CDC I/O 6448 and two CDC I/O 3216 stage boxes via a CDC MC Router; the network providing all audio production in the auditorium, outside of the Dolby Atmos screen sound system, including keynote presentations, seminars and an awards ceremony.

Positioned FoH in the floor of the auditorium the CDC eight-32 (inputs) was the master board, taking inputs from the CDC seven, up in the gallery, which was used to mix all stage mics and special feeds for the Awards Show, a total of 64 inputs and 88 outputs on the MegaCOMMS network. A key factor in specifying the Cadac system was the industry leading latency performance of its MegaCOMMS networking protocol: "It's a very high-speed platform and latency issues do not come into it," explains Nelson. "We're talking micro-seconds, not milliseconds, because we don't want to see lip sync delays."

MegaCOMMS provides up to 128 bi-directional channels of 96 kHz / 24-bit audio per port, with a total of 3072 channels on a single network. Total through-system propagation delay from on-stage inputs to outputs, including all console processing and A-D / D-A conversions, in 37 samples (at 96kHz) – under 400μs – it is the industry’s lowest latency protocol. Additionally, MegaCOMMS synchronises all audio samples before summing, resulting in absolute phase coherency at all outputs. This results in sonic performance audibly superior to all other mixing consoles (digital or analogue).

IBC Technical Resources have been using Cadac’s CDC mix technology for the convention’s cinema feature for four years, ever since Dolby Atmos was first introduced on the Big Screen. “We are happy to rely again on Cadac to handle audio mixing and distribution requirements for what has become an all-encompassing media conference,” says Nelson. “The solution has to meet the technical requirements of putting on and supporting a very dynamic show, as well as ensuring the high standards of audio production that attendees expect for these presentations. With Cadac the sonic performance is second to none and the audio engineering is superb. With the unique CDC mix interface being humanly intuitive, operational complexity is greatly reduced.On the practical side, the MegaCOMMS network enables RG6 cable runs of 150m which allows us to put stage boxes exactly where we need them, anywhere in the auditorium.”

Featuring a state-of-the-art cinema projection and sound installation, the IBC Big Screen - Auditorium was a centrepiece of IBC2017. The four-day conference examined and demonstrated the hottest topics, themes, and insights surrounding the art, science, and business of cinema. The programme included full screenings, in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, of War for the Planet of the Apes and Director Edgar Wright’s latest, Baby Driver, starring Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Fox.

In picture: Terry Nelson of IBC Technical Resources at the controls of CDC eight for IBC Big Screen – Auditorium.

28th September 2017

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