Calrec Audio Ltd

POWERFUL AUDIO CONSOLE SYSTEMS

Calrec Audio supplies audio broadcast mixing equipment trusted by the world’s most successful broadcasters. From premiership football, to the Superbowl, from X Factor to Dancing With the Stars, if it’s live, there is a good chance it is mixed on a Calrec.

Calrec’s reputation for build quality, reliability and audio performance has made it an industry benchmark across the world. All Calrec products are designed, manufactured and tested at Calrec’s Nutclough Mill headquarters in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England. From original concept to state-of-the-art production, every step of the design, development and manufacturing processes is carried out inhouse. This ensures the absolute integrity of the product development process and guarantees a quality standard unsurpassed in the broadcast console marketplace.

Throughout the company’s history, Calrec’s team of innovators has anticipated major changes and consistently provided products that have allowed broadcasters to remain one step ahead.

Now, broadcasters demand even more versatility and integration from their audio equipment. For audio systems to achieve this, greater consideration has to be given to networks as a whole, and how efficiently they can be controlled. Calrec has designed its range of consoles to meet these demands.

BRIO

Brio is the most powerful and compact digital broadcast audio console in its class, with a comprehensive broadcast feature set, and the same market-leading levels of quality and customer support which Calrec is renowned for.

Al Jazeera operator works on a Calrec Artemis console in Bosnia, one of 15 Calrec consoles installed as part of Al Jazeera’s worldwide operations.

BSS AND BRIO

Calrec has formed a partnership with Broadcast and Studio Solutions (BSS) to be its exclusive distributor for Brio in the UAE, Bahrain and Oman, as well as delivering local support and after-sales service through its network of regional offices spanning the Middle East.

“Throughout our region, there’s strong market demand for a wellpriced compact mixing console completely focused on the needs of broadcasters. Brio is the most powerful and compact digital audio console in the market today,” says Tareq Eid, CEO, BSS.

“We’re honoured to be associated with a company as well respected as Calrec and we are certain Brio will make a huge impact in the region.”

Since Brio’s launch, Calrec has sold Brios to customers in the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and Asia — a reflection of its comprehensive broadcast feature set and appeal to a wider breadth of the market. Calrec Audio’s allnew Br.IO provides an easy and affordable way to expand Brio’s I/O.

“BSS is the ideal partner to help us expand the Brio footprint in the Middle East,” says Calrec International Sales Manager Anthony Harrison.

“BSS has an excellent reputation for offering premier products and services. Their extensive network of regional contacts, together with their flagship showroom in Dubai, means that a Brio is always readily available and supported in the region.”

Calrec Brio.

The smallest in the Bluefin2 family, Brio’s control surface is only 892mm wide and has 36 dual-layer faders. It is entirely selfcontained with analogue and digital I/O and GPIO built into the desk, with expansion I/O slots to increase connectivity. A Hydra2 module can be fitted to benefit from Calrec’s Hydra2 network.

This means Hydra2’s sophisticated management facilities can be utilised for network-wide control, including interfacing with multiple video and audio over IP networks such as SMPTE2022, Dante, AES67, Ravenna and Soundgrid.

SUMMA

Summa simplifies even complex workflow tasks such as creating mix-minus feeds. Bluefin2 gives Summa a pool of 180 or 128 channel processing paths, eight groups, four mains, 16 auxes and 32 tracks, while its Hydra2 router core provides Summa with the same integral router technology as the Apollo and Artemis consoles.

ARTEMIS AND APOLLO

The Apollo and Artemis consoles provide unrivalled resources of up to 1020 channel processing paths, 128 programme busses, 96 IFB/Track outputs and 48 auxes. With single and dual fader options, Apollo can squeeze in more faders into a single footprint than any other console, and its integrated router provides total network flexibility. I/O functions are performed by the Hydra2 network, which uses high capacity 8192² cross-point routers for a variety of I/O units.

AoIP

AoIP interconnections offer even greater capacity, flexibility and multicast possibilities – and all on existing infrastructures. Calrec doesn’t dictate which AoIP route to take, but facilitates broadcasters’ choices so Calrec’s customers can interface with any broadcast protocol they choose.

This is why Calrec supports more protocols than any other console manufacturer. Calrec supports AES67, Ravenna, AVB and Dante. In addition, Calrec customers can interface with a SMPTE 2022-6 video interface. Calrec customers can also work with multiple protocols at the same time. For example, a signal can be received via AES67 and then sent out via SMPTE 2022, AVB, Ravenna, Dante or AES67, via modular Hydra2 cards or 1U boxes.

Each element of Calrec’s protocol range redundantly connects to Hydra2

and appears like any other I/O resource. Hydra2’s integral suite of management tools provides additional benefits to allow remote configuration patching, port protection, alias files, virtual patchbays and access rights.

RP1

Remote production provides the ability to capture a broader range of live events, such as sports, news or regional music festivals, and mix them in a remote facility hundreds or thousands of miles away. The aim is to produce programmes centrally, in a studio-based control room, without the financial outlay of a dedicated on-site team. This means generating the programme sound mix some distance from the venue and allowing more efficient utilisation of equipment and personnel.

Calrec’s RP1 provides local DSP to generate monitor mixes and IFBs with no latency. It gives direct control over channel functions such as mic gains, aux send/ monitor mix levels and fader levels and provides a mechanism to embed audio into existing backhaul technologies, such as SDI or SMPTE 2022.

THE FUTURE

Broadcasters constantly push the boundaries of technology. They need more processing power and more intuitive ways of controlling it to deal with the increased workload and changing landscape. They need networking options, and the ability to talk to other equipment in a seamless environment. Naturally, Calrec already has the answer to these concerns and has already identified potential issues that may arise. This is why Calrec’s expertise, experience and technology is trusted and endorsed by the world’s most successful broadcasters. Alongside DiGiCo and Allen & Heath, Calrec is part of the Audiotonix group of British console companies.

CONTACT

Calrec Audio LTD

Nutclough Mill Hebden Bridge HX7 8EZ England Tel: +44 1422 842159

Website: www.calrec.com Twitter: @calrecaudio Facebook: @calrecaudio LinkedIn: Calrec Audio Ltd

A Calrec Artemis Light console installed in Hedgehog’s OB truck, the first high-definition outside broadcast truck in Lebanon.