Nearly 20 million pairs of eyes were glued to the 60th annual GRAMMY Awards Live. Supporting the music industry’s marquee event, the Ferrofish A32 converter (AD/DA) helped to deliver high levels of sound quality to those viewers.
This year’s event featured live performances from artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, Gary Clark Jr., and Lady Gaga. The show’s digital source mixer Anthony Lalumia selected the Ferrofish A32 converter to manage these artists’ performances because of its reliability.
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With so many different performers, Lalumia had to compile each act’s individual tracks so they could all be played through a single system, rather than each artist using their own sound systems.
“A lot of the work is on the front end because we’re having to compile all of that and be in communication with many different people. New files are coming in through rehearsals and it’s our job to put them together and be sure they are the correct format for the show,” says Lalumia.
It’s a high-pressure job so I need my rigs to be fully redundant. Since the A32 is ultimately the last point before all the tracks are sent out, it’s a pretty critical piece that has to sound totally transparent for me.”
Ferrofish A32 Converter Offers Small Footprint
Lalumia says his system featured his Pro Tools interfaces connected via a MADI auto switcher feeding the Ferrofish A32 converter. [related]
The AD/DA converter was fed coaxial and optical MADI streams for redundancy, and the A32’s analog output was split to five consoles with five different engineers mixing at different positions during the show.
Lalumia says the A32 served as the last component in the audio chain so it was always passing content. Having this type of work load he says meant the product had to perform reliably.
Ferrofish says the 1U rack space component offers 32 inputs or outputs with conversion capabilities to MADI or whatever format is required. The A32 also provides control flexibility that includes front-panel control options and two power supplies.
“The Ferrofish A32’s visual feedback of all the inputs and outputs is more in-depth than any other converter on the market. Being able to monitor directly from the face of the unit gives me the confidence that the outputs are going to the correct places,” adds Lalumia.
“I’ll typically power one of the power supplies off a UPS battery backup and the second one from separate AC power. The dual supply on the A32 gives you the confidence that even if the UPS fails, you’ll have the second power supply plugged into AC power, which is paramount.”
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