The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology integrates a Dante network

THE Portuguese FCT deploys an Audinate Dante network to launch a professional high-definition studio for the production of audiovisual content.

The Foundation to a Science and others Technology (FCT), aimed at disseminating scientific knowledge in the public and private sectors in the fields of natural, exact, social sciences and humanities, has launched a professional high definition studio for the production of audiovisual content.

The studio has a network under Dante protocol (Audinate) along with a green chroma, lighting, wireless microphones, cameras, a teleprompter and monitors. This studio is thus equipped to produce professional quality videos, audio recordings and learning tools in virtual settings.

Members of the Foundation will use the space for a variety of activities, all designed to promote scientific education in Portugal, such as creating audiovisual content for e-learning, broadcasting live or recorded webinars, holding photo sessions and product demonstrations, and recording radio programs or podcasts.

FCT engineers integrated Audinate's Dante technology into the heart of the studio's audio system, greatly improving workflow and connectivity.

Under this IP infrastructure it is possible to network devices and make interoperability easy and reliable. Additionally, it enables the distribution of uncompressed multichannel digital media over standard Ethernet networks, with near-zero latency and perfect synchronization.

Claudio Silva, director of the study promoted by the Scientific Computing Unit of the FCT, assures that this facility "is a reference for all universities and research laboratories that work with audio and video. Today, IP and other network-based solutions are used everywhere. For audio, we are one step beyond the rest, and Dante allows that step."

Silva's search for a new audio solution led him to Dante due to its innate interoperability and flexibility, the reduction of analog cables, greatly improved audio quality, and decreased preparation time for recording sessions. Silva was particularly attracted to Dante's ability to reduce problems accompanied by analog connections, such as noise and interference. Since switching from the previously used audio interface to Dante, studio hum and hum have been reduced by 20 dB.

Additionally, studio users can bring their own equipment when working on projects. With a Dante system, Dante AVIO adapters allow your studio users' PA system, conferencing system, and equipment to be quickly and easily integrated into the Dante network. The studio needed a way to manage the numerous audio paths students needed, which was made possible by Audinate's Dante Via software, which offers computer-based multichannel audio routing. Dante Via allows the studio to route different audio channels to different applications on a PC. The studio uses the Reaper Digital Audio workstation along with Dante Via software for audio mixing, reception and video conferencing.

"The FCCN studio is small, but the technology we use is excellent and the work we develop is very important for educational purposes in Portugal. Dante products were very important to improve the audio quality and the speed of setup when starting a recording session. Since we started using Dante, all the work has been simplified and our problems have been solved," Silva acknowledges.