UltraWideScreen, Projection Mapping and 3D projection pioneer, QED Productions provides a wide range of audiovisual production services from equipment hire to management of large-scale projects. Recently, the company created a set of Portable Production Unit (PPU) racks to extend its stock of hire equipment. To achieve this, QED looked to Canford…
‘We originally drew up our requirements for custom panels and sent the CAD files to various manufacturers, including Canford, with whom we have a very longstanding relationship,’ says QED Production Manager, Paul Simmons. ‘It quickly became evident that Gavin and Laura at Canford Manufacturing could not only provide the quality of product we required, but also the flexibility to work closely with us to achieve the best results within budgetary constraints.
The racks provide full production and engineering facilities for HD multi-camera applications in the corporate and events industries and are built into mobile 32U flightcases for flexibility and easy transportation. The QED engineering team identified that one of the keys to rapid rigging, de-rigging and integration to external systems was to provide full facilities on rear patch panels to the engineer, clearly laid out and labelled. High-quality custom panels would be required, and QED determined that engraved lettering would be the most sensible option for clarity and hard wearing.
In addition to the custom panels, QED discovered that there was no rackmount fan on the market that met its requirements – quiet, temperature controlled and capable of delivering sufficient airflow.
‘The solution was to design our own, and with the close co-operation with Canford Manufacturing, came up with a compact, reliable fan unit which fulfilled this criteria,’ Simmons says. ‘We also designed two other pieces of equipment – one to encode and decode tally information from the vision mixer via Ethernet, and one to provide matrix switching for the main engineering monitor from the camera RCP joystick “touchdown” controls. Again, close working with Canford resulted in a highly compact enclosure based around the Canford extruded aluminium panels so that these devices matched the appearance of the other panels in the racks.
‘There were a further three styles of panel that we decided to include in the rear of each rack, for the convenience of the engineer. These became known as the Looking Stick and the Listening Stick. The Looking stick provides a 7-inch HD monitor in a rack panel, along with the relevant connectors, to allow the engineer to quickly identify signals appearing at the patch panels without having to shift positions. The Listening Stick provides the same facility for audio; a miniature loudspeaker driven by a small amplifier which allows quick identification of audio signals on the patch panels. Again, Canford provided the custom panels for the mounting of these, including a very neat solution for the panel-mounted loudspeaker and grille. Finally, to maintain the same appearance, Canford made for us a matching panel for dimmable gooseneck lights for illuminating the rear of the rack.’
The systems were designed from the ground up to provide the highest level of quality, flexibility, and speed of set-up. QED’s HD Portable Production Units were successfully commissioned and have already been used at many venues around the UK and Europe including Wembley Stadium, The ACC Liverpool and the O2 Arena.
‘Close collaboration with the Canford Manufacturing team has, again, proven invaluable for QED,’ Simmons offers. ‘It is unique to have direct access to the team who are actually producing the kit. We’ve benefited from the manufacturing experience of the Canford Team, and would have no hesitation to work with them again.’
More: www.canford.co.uk
