The fiber optic link came in handy when...

[sonare]

I recently did a project at a church but needed to setup the control room at an adjoining building-- about a 250ft run. I figured that this forum is the only place where I could show pictures to an appreciative audience!

This is simply a Newnex FW800 repeater, 100m tactical LCLC optical fiber (with Siemon industrial connectors with dustcaps) and some other bits. It is the longest distance between mics and control room I have encountered. If you use a FW interface between your micpres/ADC and laptop then you can also do this.

I used to use AES snakes but this is cheaper than the snake equivalent (being able to do 24 channels) and is MUCH easier on the back. The other cable is starquad, carrying talkback, phoneline, and CCTV.

If you look at the regular building, the control room is on the 3rd floor far right-- about a 1 minute "commute" to the mics and other gear.

The mic setup was SF12 main, Senn 8020 omni flanks, Schoeps CMC621 subcardiods on organ, and Senn 8040 cardioids on piano and other solos.

The small square box on the organ is a small loudspeaker (with red LED that mirrors large redlight) to enable the organist to hear what I say to the conductor.

Rich

[Shadowgames]

that's a great idea. very tidy setup.

if all your I/O is in the recording space, how do you monitor?

[sonare]

The gear can output analog (which goes to theHD24) and AES which comes back with the fiber-- Belden Mediatwist. Very small diameter but very tough.

Once in the control room it feeds a Lavry DA10, which in turn feeds Tannoy 800A loudspeakers.

Rich

[Larry Elliott]

Rich

That is a great set up! Makes me feel a little annoyed that I didn’t buy your spare optical cable :(

Can you explain what the mic configuration was?

Best

Larry

[sonare]

The mic setup was SF12 main, Senn 8020 omni flanks, Schoeps CMC621 subcardiods on organ, and Senn 8040 cardioids on piano and other solos.

Rich

[sonare]

Here are 2 more pics showing my view from the control room window and the front area of the recording space.

Rich

[sonare]

Here is a final pic showing the choir in action. You can see all the mics except the right flanker.

Rich

[Corran]

What brand/model are your stands? They look extra-stable, and quite tall. I need a couple non-boom stands that go that tall.

[d_fu]

Originally Posted by sonare

This is simply a Newnex FW800 repeater, 100m tactical LCLC optical fiber (with Siemon industrial connectors with dustcaps) and some other bits. It is the longest distance between mics and control room I have encountered. If you use a FW interface between your micpres/ADC and laptop then you can also do this.

That "if" makes me assume you were not using a FW interface - in which case, what did you actually run across the fiber...?

I often use a 50 m MADI optical connection, but haven't actually had my control room in another building...

[sonare]

Mics stands have been covered in several threads here in the past. They are Bogen-- the really tall go 17ft and the main 13ft.

d_fu you have assumed incorrectly-- these are FW interface. Currently beta awaiting release or I would supply more details.

Rich

[Jim vanBergen]

Is that St. Philips in Charleston, SC?

If so, those are my family's bells in the tower!

What was the program you recorded?

JvB

[sonare]

Yes-- it is St Philip's. The choirs did a CD. And we had to turn the bells off!

Rich

[Remoteness]

Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Kees de Visser]

Originally Posted by sonare

This is simply a Newnex FW800 repeater, 100m tactical LCLC optical fiber (with Siemon industrial connectors with dustcaps) and some other bits.

Interesting! I've been looking at the Newnex solution for quite a while, but felt that an optical cable is a high risk since it's rather fragile (AFAIK), especially when there are people (musicians and audience) walking around. Do you have a backup cable for safety ? How reliable (solid) is this setup in your experience ?
I would be able to repair a broken coax or UTP cable in an emergency, but isn't that almost impossible with optical fiber ? Have you (or anyone else) ever tried the UTP extender version ? It's supposed to work up to 70m distance, which is not bad.
Have you noticed any data bandwidth loss ? IME Firewire can be a sensitive interface, so I wonder how it behaves with the extender.

[sonare]

You have brought up the very doubts I had initially. Data stream is no problem at all, as this is originally a FW800 device operating at 400 speed. NO problems at 24 channels of 24/96, and should be good for more. The real bottleneck is the data stream of the original FW device.

I do have a backup LCLC cable (the flimsy "orange zipcord") but primary cable is tactical cable which can take a car rolling over it. Armoured tactical can withstand tracked vehicles (TANKS) but someone would have to be very determined to separate this stuff. The protection is such that serious malicious intent plus clippers would be needed to bring the parade to a halt. The ends terminate in rather beefy connectors, which address the other weak spot of optical-- if you look closely you'll see a rackmounted connector and another on the box I built that contains the Firenex repeater. At the computer end it is bus-powered; on the recording end there is an AC adapter.

I will add that a colleague DID have such a person on the roof of a French cathedral decide to cut through the cable to "see what it was"-- proving there is no protection effective against total stupidity! When he got back to the states he had to have it repaired. Keeping a backup on hand is less expensive than the ability to re-terminate the stuff. Connectors only are several hundred dollars.

I also have an AES cable for monitoring capability tie-wrapped to the optical. It is Belden "Brilliance" Mediatwist, which is FABULOUS for situations where you need low-profile and durability. It is true AES-- 2 conductors without shield. I will also say that Steve Lampen of Belden was invaluable to getting this cable quickly. My particular interface cannot send monitor data over the FW-- it is only available at the box or AES out.

Price is certainly a factor-- the tactical is 6x more expensive than the flimsy stuff, but I cannot imagine anything other than a freak happening taking the tactical version out. The rig is not cheap ($2k total) but the cost of 24 channels of AES snake for 330 feet exceeds that -- not counting chiropractor bills for your back!I "ended up" with the backup because it was the first cable I started with (on the poor advice of a supplier) which failed rather quickly-- but it turned out to be because of poor termination, not physical abuse. I had enough money in it (and of course the original supplier would not admit to fault or pay for the repair) so I kept it for peace of mind.


PM me and I will send particulars -- my first supplier was naff but Timbercon (the ultimate supplier of all but the repeaters) was fabulous.

Rich

[hughesmr]

Hi Rich,
I'm curious why you have the subcards facing only the left side chamber of the organ.... is the other side a fake facade?
I love seeing those cables snaking through the cemetery!

[sonare]

Yes, the left is the only side that speaks. And the tourists found the cables--- INTERESTING.

Rich