Reference
Where to go next
This module is an introduction: deliberately wide, deliberately shallow. By the end of it you should know which direction you want to go deeper in. Here is where each direction leads, what it costs, and what is free.
This module is an introduction. It is deliberately wide and deliberately shallow, and by the end of it you should be able to tell which direction you want to go deeper in.
Everything below is real, current and reachable. Where something is free, it says so. Where it costs money, it says roughly what for, because a certificate you cannot afford this year is still worth knowing exists.
One honest warning about certificates. In this industry, almost nobody is hired for a certificate. They are hired for what they can do, and a certificate is a way of proving you have done the reading when nobody has seen you work yet. That makes them most useful early, and the free ones are worth doing on that basis alone.
Block 1: Free, start this month#
These cost nothing and they map directly onto what this module covered.
| What | Who runs it | Follows from | Why it is worth it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dante Certification, Levels 1 to 3 | Audinate, audinate.com | Class 5 | The industry standard for networked audio, free, online, self paced. Level 1 and 2 are genuinely introductory. Turns up in job adverts. |
| Networking Basics / Networking Essentials | Cisco Networking Academy, netacad.com | Class 3 | Free, and far more thorough than one class can be. Do it if the subnetting was the part you enjoyed. |
| Q-SYS Level 1 training | QSC, qsc.com | Classes 4 and 5 | Free online, and one of the clearest introductions to networked control and audio over IP as a system. |
| ETC training resources | ETC, etcconnect.com | Class 4 | Free tutorials on Eos family consoles, and their networking documentation is unusually honest about failure modes. |
| Ben Eater, building an 8 bit computer | eater.net | Class 2 | If "what a computer actually is" was the part that landed, this is that question answered at the level of individual wires. Free, and outstanding. |
| The IETF RFCs | rfc-editor.org | Class 3 | Every internet protocol, free, forever. RFC 791 is IP and RFC 768 is UDP. Dry, short, and the actual source. |
| Computer Science for Theatre | The same author | Class 2 | If "what the machine is doing with the numbers" was the part that landed, this is the same question asked about the instructions rather than the hardware: reading code, version control, working with AI, and animation generated from data. A separate course, and it does not assume this one. |
Block 2: Certifications worth knowing about#
| Certification | Body | Roughly | What it says about you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dante Level 3 | Audinate | free, but the exam is not trivial | You can design and troubleshoot a Dante network, not just plug into one. |
| AVIXA CTS | AVIXA, avixa.org | paid, several hundred | The general AV industry credential. Broad, respected, and the entry point to CTS-D (design) and CTS-I (installation). |
| CompTIA Network+ | CompTIA, comptia.org | paid | Vendor neutral networking. Overkill for a show rig and useful if you want to be the person a venue calls. |
| Cisco CCNA | Cisco | paid exam, free study | Genuinely deep networking. If Class 3 was your favourite, this is the road. |
| ETCP Entertainment Electrician | ETCP, etcp.esta.org | paid, and it requires logged work hours | The North American credential for power and electrics on shows. Take it seriously if you go that way. |
| AVnu / Milan | Avnu Alliance, avnu.org | manufacturer training | Relevant if you end up in a Milan house: L-Acoustics, Meyer, Biamp. |
Block 3: The standards themselves#
Reading a standard is a skill, and it is worth practising once on something short before you need it under pressure. Start with an ESTA document, because they are free and they are written for our industry.
| Body | Where | What is there | Free? |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESTA Technical Standards Program | tsp.esta.org | ANSI E1.11 (DMX512-A), E1.20 (RDM), E1.31 (sACN), and the rigging and electrical standards | Yes, free downloads |
| AES | aes.org | AES3, AES67, AES70. Also a large free library of conference papers. | Standards paid, many papers free |
| SMPTE | smpte.org | ST 2110, ST 12 (timecode), ST 2059 (PTP profile) | Paid, and some free overviews |
| IEEE | standards.ieee.org | 802.1 (VLANs, TSN, AVB), 802.3 (Ethernet), 1588 (PTP) | Paid, with some free access programmes |
| showstack | showstack-inky.vercel.app | Which standard covers what, whether it is free to read, and a citation on every entry | Yes, free, open data |
Block 4: Books, which age better than links#
A short list, all of them standard references rather than fashionable ones.
- **Charles Poynton, Digital Video and HD: Algorithms and Interfaces.** The definitive treatment of gamma, luma, chroma and colour for video. If the colour material interested you, this is where it goes next, and it is rigorous without being unreadable.
- **Bob McCarthy, Sound Systems: Design and Optimization.** How sound behaves in rooms, and how systems are aligned. The reference for anyone going towards system engineering.
- **Andrew Tanenbaum, Computer Networks.** The textbook. Heavier than you need for a show network, and it will make Class 3 feel like the introduction it was.
- **Brad Schiller, The Automated Lighting Programmer's Handbook.** Practical, specific, and it assumes you are going to be in a production office at midnight.
- **Al Kovalick, Video Systems in an IT Environment.** Video as data rather than as pictures, which is exactly the transition Class 5 is about.
- **Nisan and Schocken, *The Elements of Computing Systems*** (the Nand2Tetris book). Build a working computer from logic gates upward. The most satisfying way to make Class 2 permanent.
Block 5: Where the working conversations happen#
Reading is half of it. The other half is watching people argue about real problems.
- The Lighting Network and Blue Room forums, for lighting and production electrics.
- Sound on Sound forums for audio, and the AES conference papers for the serious end.
- Manufacturer forums and Discord servers for the products you actually use. disguise, ETC, MA Lighting, Resolume and QLab all have active communities where the answers to genuinely odd questions live.
- Your venue's technical staff. The single most underused resource in this list, and the only one that knows what is actually installed where you are.
Block 6: How to choose a direction#
Three honest questions, and the answers are not equal.
Did you like finding the fault, or building the thing? Fault finding leads towards systems engineering, network design and technical direction. Building leads towards design, programming and content. Both are careers, and people are usually much better at one.
Did the arithmetic bother you or please you? If subnetting and data rates were satisfying, the networking road is open and it is well paid. If they were a chore you tolerated to get to the creative work, that is useful information and not a failing.
Which department's problem did you want to solve? Notice which of the five classes you wanted to keep reading. That is a better guide than any careers advice, and it is available to you right now for free.
Nobody in this industry learned it in the order it is taught. Pick the thread you actually want to pull, and the rest fills in around it faster than you would expect.