The Nine Network has been using Calrec analogue products and solutions in Australia for many years. As such, and over the years, there has been an increasing progression towards using Calrec’s digital solutions, such as the Omega and Sigma series and, eventually, their Apollo range connected to IP-driven Impulse Cores.
When Nine wanted to upgrade their Calrec solutions for this year’s Olympics, they turned to Calrec’s Australian distributor and reseller, D2N – Technology Solutions.
“Nine’s philosophy is all about interconnectivity. This not only applies broadly to the connectivity that we have between our eight bureaus across Australia and our LA branch; but also goes down to infrastructure level whereby we require our devices and systems to interconnect between one another with great flexibility, ease and reliability. The Calrec approach of providing connected audio signals and pathways across multiple studios and control rooms allows for that methodology that Nine desires to be ensured and maintained to the finest detail and highest level. As such and to complement this, D2N were the right technology partner to help us with our recent Calrec upgrade,” said Nine Broadcast tech support engineer – communication and audio specialist Shaun Zuccolotto.
As a result of the upgrade, Nine purchased two Calrec Brio audio mixing consoles from D2N to add to their existing Calrec ecosystem. These consoles were specifically purchased to handle the Olympics’ broadcast coverage by handling 82 DX (distribution feeds) and facilitate the curation of 24 CX (contribution feeds) by adding Nine’s own commentary from 13 commentary booths across Paris and five commentary booths in-house from their HQ at ODS.
“Between the two Apollo worksurfaces, VP2 headless mix engine and two recently purchased Brios our facility was able to successfully keep our news channel on air whilst adding two continuous broadcast channels and our 9Now online digital broadcast platform that ran for the duration of the Olympics’ coverage. Thanks to D2N and Calrec we successfully and comfortably handled this major event in and amongst our BAU and existing facility,” said Zuccolotto.
Nine run three control rooms, seven studios and six off-tube booths in their Calrec ecosystem.
Calrec stage boxes carry the audio signals to and from the various handoff points across their studios on multiple floors and their data centre. They then process the audio at any of their five Calrec consoles and pass these audio signals to air or to their ISO record units for broadcast purposes.
As a result, they are able to run three control rooms independently and have the ability to handle a large number of audio requirements from their Brios for more bespoke requirements.
“Calrec is a tried and tested audio mixing system that is highly dependable and adaptable to any of our needs. Having migrated into the IP domain, we are able to tie into our PMN (Production Media Network) using 2110-30 signals that allow for flexible and powerful audio routing making our philosophy of ‘any signal – anywhere’ so much more achievable. We are a fully compliant 2110 IP facility and have the power at our hands to route audio to any floor in our multi-story building across IP domains using Layer 3 routing with ease. We really have entered into a world of unparalleled processing power and DSP functionality with our Calrec ecosystem,” Zuccolotto added.
“It is a very competitive brand that has a great global reputation. Having personally visited the home of Calrec in Hebden Bridge in the UK, I can speak honestly about their passion and pride that they have in their product. It is clear to see that they have their ear to the ground listening and watching the market and continuously keeping ahead of their competitors with technological advancements.”
“With D2N being in the country and more specifically Sydney, we have a partner who is in our own time-zone that is able to react to our wants and needs in a timely manner and they are always happy to respond with swift professionalism. As a customer, we know that D2N will be able to deal with any issue or request that we have and that gives us the peace of mind that a 24/7 broadcast facility requires.”
