HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K.—Calrec is going the online education route, announcing the launch of the Calrec Sound Institute, which offers online certification training courses for Calrec products.

The first two courses available are for Calrec’s Brio and Type R digital audio consoles. The courses provide an overview of the consoles for engineers and operators, as well as being able to serve as a way for experienced professionals to hone their skills.

The courses cover hardware, I/O, routing, mix minus, busses and monitoring. They are designed to get users confident in operating the consoles. Those that complete the courses will be officially certified for the Brio and/or Type R systems.

Calrec intends to expand its training service with a series of detailed AoIP masterclasses that cover what broadcast facilities need to know about IP, including how it works and its industry impact.

Additional Calrec Sound Institute offerings include free operator manuals for Calrec products, Calrec’s Audio Primer, the Summa Training Course—a selection of 66 video tutorials—and a cleaning guide for Calrec equipment.

“We have always had an open-door training policy at Calrec, but COVID-19 has significantly shifted the broadcast landscape and it’s our responsibility to help customers develop with tools that can be accessed remotely,” said Henry Goodman, director of product development at Calrec. “As workflows continue to evolve, online training courses are increasingly important to help customers learn key products and be able to show that they have done so via certification.”

Learn more about the Calrec Sound Institute online. 

BURBANK, Calif.—As the largest privately held, minority-owned Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States, LBI Media Inc. produces more than 50 hours of original television programming at our Burbank Television Studios each week. Our Estrella TV programming catalog consists of more than 7,500 hours of original, Spanish-language television programming available nationally in genres such as talk, drama, comedy, variety, reality, music and more.

As a professional broadcasting company, with facilities nationwide and production studios in California and Texas, one of our main goals is to easily produce creative and engrossing broadcast audio as cost-effectively as possible. Our news studios’ fast-paced environments must be adaptable, quick to set up, easy to operate and able to shift focus as rapidly as the news itself. To accomplish this, we rely on Calrec Audio’s Brio 36 and Summa digital audio consoles, which enable us to work smarter (not harder) without compromising audio quality.

NEWS STUDIO UPGRADES AND BUILD-OUTS

We chose Calrec based on the company’s reputation within the industry and also to serve as a complement to the rental trucks we use, the majority of which come standard with Calrec consoles.

We purchased the Brio 36 earlier this year for LBI’s newly launched news operation in our Dallas office, while the Summa was acquired last year as part of the much-needed upgrade at our Burbank facility. When we replaced the existing console in the video control room in our Burbank facility, the audio engineers there immediately noticed a difference in the quality of the audio. Calrec delivers a pristine sound, which we were unable to attain with our previous console.

During the initial installation, Calrec also delivered top-notch technical support and training, which brought our team up to speed quickly and without interruption. I haven’t needed to speak to anybody at Calrec since; and, in all honesty, that says a lot about a company in my mind.

FAST-PACED PRODUCTIONS REQUIRE QUALITY EQUIPMENT

Smooth workflow is incredibly important to the successful operation of any broadcast operation, especially when going live. At LBI, we continually rely on both consoles for live programming for our local and national news shows, which include “Alarma TV,” “El Mameluco,” “iTestigo,” “Noticiero Cierra de Edicion,” “Noticiero Estrella TV” and “En Vivo.”

With the fast-paced nature of a live news broadcast, having Brio’s dedicated broadcast capabilities—such as scalable and managed I/O, comprehensive monitoring, surround sound and high-bus quantities—greatly improves workflow. This, in turn, ensures that LBI and its affiliate stations are producing top-notch content for viewers around the country.

SMALL SIZE, BIG (AUDIO) PUNCH

As with any studio, real estate is important in our production spaces. The compact form-factor of the Calrec Brio makes it an ideal general-purpose workhorse that can be used when needed; its connectivity with the company’s Hydra2-compatible equipment makes it even more versatile. Brio 36 even provides analog and digital I/O and GPIO, which are built into the surface, making the console ideally suited for the broadcast environment.

Both Calrec consoles have proven to be powerful, with great networking capabilities and the ability to scale to a large number of inputs and outputs. They are easy to drive, flexible and full of assistive features that allow us to concentrate on what’s coming up next.

Chris Buchanan has spent more than 30 years in television broadcast engineering. He was hired as the assistant chief engineer for KRCATV television in 1991 and was later promoted to chief engineer. When Liberman Broadcasting purchased the station, Buchanan remained on as the chief engineer and was promoted to vice president of engineering in 2005. He can be contacted atLBIinfo@lbimedia.com.

For more info, visitwww.calrec.comor contact.

COLUMBIA, S.C.—South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) has chosen Calrec Audio Brio consoles for two trucks –a 45-foot production vehicle outfitted with a Brio36 console and a smaller uplink vehicle equipped with a Brio12.

“With both Hydra2 network and Dante interfaces, the consoles are easily expandable and flexible with a wide range of input and output options,” says SCETV engineering project manager Benjamin Wilson. “The Dante interface greatly simplifies the cabling needs from the trucks to the set.”

As the heart of each truck’s audio processing system, both Brio unitsprovide a compact audio console solution with the features needed for broadcast productions of any size, says Helen Carr, Calrec regional sales manager.

The Brio12 in the smaller uplink unit can be linked with the Brio36 stationed in 45-foot OB vehicle, which is being outfitted by full-service system integrator Diversified, if a production needs more resources or more than one operator, says Wilson. SCETV is experimenting with the Automix function for mix minuses to different locations, he adds.

Both vehicles rely on MADI interconnectivity. The Brio12 uses one of its expansion slots in the console for MADI. The Brio36 interfaces via MADI with a Grass Valley TDM router, which in turn routes using MADI to the uplink truck. Analog I/O is used for external I/O panels on the side of both truck.

“Various A1s have commented that the consoles and routing are very easy to use and connect,” says Wilson. “They like to be able to move channels around on the fly without interrupting signals and appreciate having a full set of dynamics and EQ for each channel strip.”

More information is available on the Calrec audio website. 

HEBDEN BRIDGE, ENGLAND—It will be a team effort for Calrec’s RP1 remote audio production system and Brio audio console at MidcoSN, a regional broadcaster covering high school and college sports in the Midwest. The two systems will work in tandem to provide centralized production to the broadcaster that covers North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and soon Lawrence, Kan.

With the new Calrec equipment, MidcoSN will be able to centralize key audio production tasks at its main studio, allowing engineers to mix shows from the studio. The RP1 box was installed in MidcoSN’s new Ford Transit 350 van to provide on-scene DSP for generating monitor mixes and IFBs. This allows for the network to send all raw camera and audio feeds back to the studio over its IP-based fiber backbone.

The Brio-RP1 deployment is part of MidcoSN’s long-term strategy to expand its remote production operation, with plans to add additional control rooms and OB vehicles.

MidcoSN is a division of triple-play provider Midco.

HEBDEN BRIDGE, ENGLAND—Practice makes perfect, so Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is giving its students ample opportunity to practice with the Calrec Brio compact audio console. Brought in to help train students on professional broadcast techniques, students utilize the system during the university’s television production schedule.

The Brio platform is a part of the production system for “Chapman News,” a live weekly newscast that is broadcast on campus, throughout Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area, and streamed online live. Students use the Brio to mix audio feeds for the news program, including audio from six anchors, four video playback channels and reporters filing live segments from the field. The Brio also handles IFB feeds with its own dedicated mix, as well as incoming music tracks and other audio elements.

In the classroom, teachers are able to use the system’s DVI connections to project output from the Brio touch-screen display to a large screen.

Dodge College also uses the Brio system for talk show and narrative programs.

HEBDEN BRIDGE, ENGLAND—Calrec Audio’s Brio system has found its way under Dome Production’s roof as part of a recent studio upgrade. The Brio system was implemented to replace Dome Production’s 15-year-old main studio audio console.

Installed into Dome’s Studio95 facility control room located in the Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Brio is used in conjunction with the mobile units for “remote-at-home” style broadcasts. Brio’s compatibility with other Calrec consoles allows Dome to configure audio mixing in various productions; it can also expand the studio’s capabilities by adding more Calrec Hydra2 Fieldboxes.

Dome Productions, which provides broadcasts of live sport events, went live with the Brio in September 2016.