A week before its official launch, Calrec Audio’s all-new Brio compact digital broadcast audio console has been pressed into service by Video Europe for its live coverage of the season-opening match between English Football League Championship clubs Nottingham Forest and Burton Albion.
Video Europe, a film and broadcast production company based in London, chose the Brio for an audio console upgrade on OB5, its eight-camera HD OB truck. Built by broadcast systems integrator and equipment supplier WTS, OB5 has the smaller footprint required for central London productions such as film premieres, as well as Championship football and Welsh Premier League rugby matches.
‘We were absolutely bowled over by Brio,’ reports Video Europe Sound Supervisor, Pete Leutner. ‘It’s a fantastic product: compact, yet very robust and intuitiveBrio fits perfectly into a medium-sized truck like OB5, where space is at a premium, but at the same time it delivers all of the functionality we need to handle very complex programmes.’
‘The Brio console was replacing an older existing mixer, so the close coordination with Calrec, plus the early delivery of the unit to WTS, was a huge benefit in allowing us to install and integrate it seamlessly in time for Video Europe’s job,’ says Andy Morris, Systems Supervisor at WTS. ‘The initial configuration of the console was simple due to the large touch screen and intuitive and familiar user interface.
‘We have found Calrec products to be very reliable, with features and options to make integration straightforward,’ he adds. ‘Brio appears to have the same qualities, making it a great fit for future projects of this size.’
The desk was used for coverage of the Nottingham Forest/Burton Albion match within a week of Video Europe receiving the desk – and with only a few hours available for crew training. Even so, according to Leutner, the broadcast went without a hitch: ‘We’ve all had the experience of going into a new environment and having to get up to speed on equipment with little or no time for training,’ he says.
‘Brio has the same logic as Calrec’s bigger Summa desk, so it has a familiar feel which allowed us to get into our comfort zone quickly. Brio not only has the full functionality we’ve come to expect from Calrec, but it’s extremely fast and easy to configure for routing, EQ, dynamics, and all of the other sound functions we need.’
Since Brio’s unveiling at the 2016 NAB Show, Calrec has sold the ground-breaking console into Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East on the strength of its comprehensive broadcast feature set and wide appeal to broadcasters. ‘As the market calls for more and more audio mixes to support online content, smaller consoles that possess pure live-broadcast features are increasingly desirable,’ says Calrec VP of Sales, Dave Letson. ‘Products in this sector have traditionally had basic capabilities and are not ideally suited to broadcast environments. Brio provides something unique in its category – a mixing console completely focused on the needs of broadcasters and broadcast infrastructures.
‘Providing dedicated broadcast features at a very aggressive price point, Brio is the only application-specific alternative for broadcasters who operate in this environment. And, of course, Brio is backed by the market-leading levels of quality and customer support for which Calrec is renowned.’
More: www.calrec.com
