French Sports TV channel L’Equipe installs two new Calrec Brio 36 and Summa audio consoles at its broadcast studios in Paris, France.
French TV sports channel L’Equipe has installed two brand new Calrec consoles, a compact Brio 36 and larger 36+8 Summa. Based in Paris, L’Equipe is a leading sports-dedicated TV channel, established in 1998 to complement the national daily newspaper of the same name.
Situated in the main and secondary control rooms of its two studios in Paris, both consoles are being utilised for live mixing and commentary, supporting programming that includes cycling, biathlons, rallying, judo, and the Pétanque Championships.
The system design and installation was overseen by Alexis Bougault, Audio Technical Manager for systems integrator EUROMEDIA. “We wanted to offer our client something that was modular and that was therefore easily expandable. L’Equipe is continually growing so this was important,” Alexis explains. “The consoles benefit from an excellent price/performance ratio and work without complex on-going configuration, and the addition of other interfaces is easy to achieve.”
Hydra2 Networking via Audinate Dante
Both control rooms, commentary booths, intercom systems, and the two consoles themselves, are connected via a Dante network. In addition, L’Equipe chose to install a Calrec Hydra 2 network with a modular rack, which allows for seamless communication between the two consoles via Calrec’s proprietary Hydra 2 network. The Summa has two Dante cards with one for the Brio, with Hydra 2 allowing shared console resources with up to 512 channels per link.
L’Equipe’s Technical Manager, Patrick Vautier, pointed to the intuitive nature of the Calrec workflow as a selling point, which is shared by the larger and smaller consoles, and makes it easy for operators to switch between the two. “The combination of the Summa and Brio36 work perfectly because they use the same software that’s very popular with the L’Equipe team,” notes Patrick. “Operators are often called to work in either control room, so this is crucial. With features easily accessed via a touch screen, the consoles are intuitive and very refined to use.”
“the consoles are intuitive and very refined to use”
L’Equipe sports TV channel is part of the leading French sports news media company, L’Equipe 24/24. The integration was handled by systems integrator EUROMEDIA, a major broadcast services and facilities provider in France, with assistance and training provided by Calrec’s French distributor Audiopole.
Karl Chapman, International Sales Manager at Calrec, said, “The sports broadcasting market is incredibly vibrant and dynamic, and we’re seeing considerable activity. We’re really pleased that L’Equipe is taking advantage of our easy to configure networking capabilities, shared console resources and intuitive user interfaces.”
Calrec Brio 36 and Brio 12 consoles
The Calrec Brio 36 is a compact audio console with a dedicated, broadcast-focused feature set and affordable price point. Used increasingly by broadcasters worldwide, the Brio 36 (and smaller Brio 12) provide smaller broadcasters and production teams with the same class-leading features and versatility of Calrec’s larger consoles, and are suitable for a wide number of broadcast and live-to-air applications, along with educators training the next generation of broadcast engineers.
The on-board DSP count can also be increased via optional expansion packs, taking the channel input count from 64 to 96 channels on the Brio 36, and from 48 to 64 on the Brio 12 respectively. Both consoles are also available with slim trim options on request.
Find out more about the Calrec Brio 36 audio console
Find out more about the Calrec Brio 12 audio console
Calrec Hydra2 Audio Networking
Calrec’s Hydra2 audio networking environment provides seamless, scalable audio networking and communication between Calrec consoles and devices. A large number of inputs and outputs can be shared and controlled regardless of location, with no compromises in audio quality; negligible latency; and built-in fault detection and redundancy.
A range of modular and fixed format I/O boxes are available for Hydra2, including options for the most popular digital formats (MADI, Dante, AES3, AES67, Ravenna, SMPTE 2110). Multiple I/O boxes can coexist on a Hydra2 network, to meet the required quantity of I/O in any given project.
Find out more about Calrec’s Hydra 2 audio networking
If you’d like to know more about the Calrec Brio and Hydra 2 network, or would like to arrange a practical demonstration, give us a call on 01727 821 870 to speak to one of our team.
You can also contact us here.