Calrec Argo M Powers Cloudbass Next Generation OB Fleet

With a contractual agreement to supply a leading UK sports broadcaster with outside broadcast services for 104 football matches per season over the next four years, OB stalwart Cloudbass selected Calrec Argo M consoles to sit at the core of its two new cutting-edge OB trucks. Purpose built for remote production by dB Broadcast, the companys hybrid OB20 unit features a 48-fader Argo M with dual Calrec ImPulse1 cores and an RP1 remote production audio processing engine, while OB21 houses a 24-fader Argo M and a second RP1.

With a philosophy of pioneering innovation sitting at the heart of its robust production operation, Cloudbass designed the trucks around SMPTE 2110.

Mike Beaumont, Technical Director at Cloudbass says, The integration of the Calrec Argo M consoles into the IP layer was fairly seamless. The ability to have an almost unlimited amount of streams in and out has made the design process really simple.

Nat Jones, Sound Guarantee at Cloudbass became involved with the project after the design phase was completed, focusing primarily on the installation and configuration of the new Calrec desks.

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, he says. 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.

Jones says the biggest advantage of transitioning to IP is being able to use shared infrastructure with the vision team. It means we can put a single pair of switches out in the field and it doesnt matter if we plug in a Hydra, some vision equipment or a camera, it all works over the same backbone.

Headquartered in the East Midlands, UK, Cloudbass has been supporting broadcasters with OB services for more than 25 years, covering a range of events including sport, music festivals, and state occasions. The company has seen many iterations of technology during this time.

The outside broadcast industry is changing quite rapidly, says Beaumont. Theres a lot of new technology out there, some of it works well for remote production, some of it doesnt. Much of it is software-defined, and the way companies approach building OBs is changing. But the one thing that isnt changing is the need for a physical surface. Yes, you can work on touchscreens, but it doesnt have the same immediacy as a real fader.

The trucks are in regular use moving from job-to-job in fairly quick succession. Last season, OB21 in particular covered the 3pm Saturday match and then bounced to a different venue for the 2pm Sunday game, says Beaumont. It doesnt leave much time for setup but having the Hydra boxes outside accelerates that.

Jones says the biggest key feature of the new Argo consoles is the Calrec Assist UI.

It lets us control the desk from another computer, which means that we dont have to interrupt the supervisor whilst theyre mixing to make small changes to routing or lineup. Moving to the Argo has been a little bit of a learning curve but after getting used to it, its almost become second nature.

Pam Barnes is Senior Sound Team Leader at Cloudbass and has many years of experience working as a Broadcast Guarantee Engineer. She says, Calrec is a brand that has been in my consciousness for a very long time. The desks and the equipment really are fantastic. They make our jobs easy because you dont have to stress about the console; it will just do its job.

Weve used Calrec exclusively in all our outside broadcast trucks, so it was the natural choice to move to the new generation of the Argo M, concludes Beaumont.

Calrec Sales Manager Anthony Harrison says, Hybrid workflows are making an impact on premium sports content, and were 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.

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