Calrec has revealed details of its work to provide the audio ecosystem aboard two Cloudbass outside broadcasting units.
Contracted to supply a UK sports broadcaster with OB facilities to cover 104 football matches per season, Cloudbass has deployed Calrec’s Argo M consoles for two new purpose-built trucks. Designed around SMPTE ST 2110 by dB Broadcast to meet Cloudbass’ remote production needs, the hybrid OB20 unit includes a 48-fader Argo M with dual Calrec ImPulse1 cores and an RP1 remote production audio processing engine. OB21 features a 24-fader Argo M and a second RP1.
Commenting, Nat Jones, sound guarantee at Cloudbass, said, “In OB20 and OB21, we gather all incoming field sources and use the Argo M consoles to ensure they are clean and are arriving at the right levels. We then pass them on to the broadcaster over AES67 streams. We also send them to the RP1 in the truck to provide local ear mixes.”
The transition to IP enables the infrastructure to be shared with the vision team. “It means we can put a single pair of switches out in the field and it doesn’t matter if we plug in a Hydra, some vision equipment or a camera, it all works over the same backbone,” said Jones.
Calrec’s Assist UI is an important feature for Cloudbass, enabling the desk to be controlled from another computer. Changes to routing and lineup can be implemented without the need to interrupt the supervisor.
Anthony Harrison, sales manager at Calrec, said, “Hybrid workflows are making an impact on premium sports content, and we’re committed to providing technology that helps OB companies and broadcasters capitalise on that. Our relationship with Cloudbass spans decades, and the Argo M is the perfect console to support the flexible production ecosystems that are defining the future of live sports broadcasting.”
