Television New Zealand (TVNZ) has extended its longstanding commitment to Clrec mixing technology with the installation of a new Artemis Light audio console and a Concord processor upgrade to its Artemis Beam desk.
‘We’ve enjoyed a long and successful partnership with Calrec, going back to 1996 when we brought in two analogue C2 consoles for our live television production studios,’ says TVNZ General Manager of Production Services & Facilities, Paul Hedges. ‘When it came time to upgrade, we had no doubt the Artemis consoles would meet our needs.
‘Calrec’s feature set, roadmap for the future, and fit for our productions continue to be very compelling. Plus, we really value the personal relationships we have established over the years with the sales, marketing, and support at Calrec and distributor Synchrotech in Australia. They have always been quick to respond when we have any support issues, and they’ve done an outstanding job of meeting our technical and budget needs.’
A government-owned national broadcaster, TVNZ serves viewers throughout New Zealand and other Pacific regions with daily news and current affairs programming as well as a broad range of live and recorded entertainment shows.
TVNZ brought in the Artemis Beam for its news studio in 2014 as a replacement for Calrec analogue consoles, which had delivered almost two decades of reliable daily service. This was part of a move to expand production capabilities with an Artemis Light console for a second studio. TVNZ installed the Artemis Light earlier in 2016 for production of a wide variety of lifestyle programmes, including live-audience comedy shows and variety shows featuring interviews, product demonstrations, and live music performances.
The Calrec consoles have doubled the resources available to both studios, enabling TVNZ to handle a line-up that would have required hiring additional personnel or purchasing extra resources.
The upgrade to the Concord processor has brought new flexibility and power to the Calrec configuration, enabling TVNZ to handle highly complex programmes. The network produces an audience-based show that required stems and clean mic splits to be recorded to an external device. With Concord a complicated patch can be set up, tested, and saved for recall week after week, and yet at a moment’s notice the production can revert to a basic show mode.
‘The Artemis Light is a perfect complement to our existing Artemis Beam console, bringing flexibility and agility to our operation,’ Hedges says. ‘We can change quickly and easily from one production to another with zero downtime and zero patching errors, and the ability to share resources between the studios and to save output configurations is invaluable. Plus, from our many years of experience with Calrec, we know we can count on absolute reliability for critical programming. Live news production forms a large part of the TV One schedule, and it’s vital we have a robust production audio console. Another example is our twice-weekly live lottery draw in the other studio. There’s always a lot of scrutiny when people have a chance to win big cash prizes, and a failure on air would be a huge issue – but we have complete confidence in Calrec.’
‘We have worked hard for many years to earn TVNZ’s trust, and the new Artemis deployments there are just the latest examples of how our technology can evolve to serve a customer’s ever-changing needs,’ adds Calrec International Sales Manager, Anthony Harrison. ‘We can’t wait to see what the next 20 years holds for our partnership with TVNZ. Whatever it is, we know it will be exciting.’
More: http://calrec.com
