Calrec heads to the French Open

Audio and video equipment rental company Video Equipment Rentals (VER) has added two Calrec consoles into its rental flypacks, which are currently being used at the 2014 French Open tennis tournament.

"Calrec is the standard for broadcasting events such as the French Open, so with Calrec consoles in our new flypacks, it will be much easier for us to book these types of shows," said Steve Cormier, director of broadcast audio and communications at Video Equipment Rentals.

"Calrec has a reputation in the market for reliability and sound quality, and the majority of mixers are familiar and comfortable with Calrec, especially in OB and flypack situations. If you’re supplying a system based on a Calrec console, it’s a clear indication of the quality that the entire system is going to have."

VER has installed two 64-fader Artemis consoles into a flypack that has two identical control rooms. In terms of I/O, each console has two 32 x 32 analogue Hydra2, two AES Hydra2, and two MADI Hydra2.

The first rental customer, the Tennis Channel, is using the flypack to provide broadcast facilities at the French Open for some of the world’s largest sports broadcasters. The flypack can be configured differently for every event, but for the French Open, the system relies heavily on MADI, taking feeds from the host broadcaster, six announce booths covering multiple courts, a voice-over booth, multiple video playback sources, and more.

64-fader Calrec Artemis consoles have been installed into VER’s flypacks 

The control rooms are being used by different broadcasters at different times, with varying numbers of audio and video inputs and outputs being used at any given point. The Artemis system’s 64-fader surface is large enough to handle any audio scenario the broadcasters might face.

"By installing Calrec consoles, VER not only has created a dynamic and flexible system for the French Open, but also has left itself well-positioned for a number of future rental scenarios because of Calrec’s reputation and level of industry acceptance," said Dave Lewty, regional sales manager, Calrec. "VER’s installation is a great example of how Calrec can give rental companies an edge in the highly competitive equipment-for-hire marketplace."

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