Welcome to the first Meet Your Maker Q&A! Meet Your Maker is a series of behind-the-scenes videos and blogs that explores the amazing people behind Calrec, illustrating the wide range of in-house skillsets we use to design and manufacture our market-leading broadcast technology.
This week we had the pleasure of speaking with one of Calrec's Product Managers, Gareth Frimston, about the importance of collaborating with customers and never shying away from a challenge!
1. What is your role with Calrec and what does it entail?
I'm a Product Manager. The role is, essentially, to discuss product ideas, document the details and to help guide Calrec through development. Doing that involves things like researching features, writing requirements and discussing them with developers. We also help Sales Managers and Support Engineers with their product enquiries and their feedback.
2. How does the wider broadcast environment influence development?
The wider broadcast environment has a direct influence on product development. As consumer habits evolve, the demands and requirements of broadcasters do too. New types of content like eSports and adapting workflows like remote production bring new challenges that require new solutions. The market pull this creates - combined with the push of improving technology - forms trends toward new solutions that standards bodies and manufacturers like Calrec seek to develop products to provide for.
3. What does Calrec do to keep across upcoming broadcast trends? What are the good sources of information?
There are lots of sources online that can provide a good insight into ongoing and upcoming trends in broadcast and broadcast technology; however, our most valuable sources of information are the people who work with our products and who work in broadcast environments every day. Across the company, we have regular conversations with broadcasters, audio operators, distributors, sales managers and support engineers from all over the world about new requirements, new solutions and new ideas. We also have constant involvement with other solutions providers, other manufacturers, and established industry bodies.
4. Which industry bodies are Calrec an active part of? How does Calrec keep across industry standards (AES, SMPTE, NMOS, AIMS etc.)
Calrec has been around in some form or other for over 50 years so membership of industry bodies and engaging with industry standards is not new to us. We are sustaining member of the Audio Engineering Society and of SMPTE and we are an associate member of AMWA, which is working on NMOS specifications, and the Alliance for IP Media Solutions, better known as AIMS. Membership of these groups is important to keep up with standards, but just as with all broadcast trends, so is regular conversation with our customers.
5. How important are relationships with customers in product development, and how does Calrec build those relationships?
Speaking personally, before I became a Product Manager, I was a Customer Support Engineer. During that time, I was really lucky to work with distributors, engineers and operators all over the world. Really I learned everything I know about broadcast from working closely with them, so I have a great appreciation of how important those relationships are, and I'm not alone; we work from a knowledge base across the company that is built on decades of experience of working closely with our customers. Building those relationships, from my perspective, is really just about good communication. Via email or over a beer, it doesn't really matter as long as we're talking to and learning from, each other.
6. How does the Product Management team feed into R&D? What is the relationship and dynamic?
We work closely with all the other teams within the R&D department. Our role as Product Managers is to provide them with product descriptions, requirements and design ideas, and they provide us with all sorts of technical details anything from materials, component selections and thermal analyses through to system architectures, data models and DSP. We have an incredibly talented group of people and it's very much a two-way conversation every step of the way.
7. As a manufacturer, how far ahead does Calrec need to plan?
Our customers' requirements are always changing and keeping up to date with them is essential, so we always have one eye on the trends in broadcast and on the developing technologies that relate to it. Inevitably, it takes time to develop new solutions from ideation to production, so we have to plan well ahead in order to deliver the right products at the right time.
8. How important is dialogue with other manufacturers?
We all serve the same ecosystem so it's important to keep up-to-date on each other's capabilities, products and projects. Our customers need equipment and software from different manufacturers to work together seamlessly, so we're always happy to get in touch with other manufacturers to discuss these things and to collaborate.
9. What are the important considerations when looking at designing new equipment?
There are thousands of considerations to make when designing new equipment and the software to control it, but broadly speaking it's important to remain focussed on the problems you're trying to solve and how you're going to solve them. It's no good for anyone if we deliver products that don't solve our customers' problems.
One constant focus for us, in particular, is usability. We want our products to be flexible so that users can configure them to fit into their specific installations and workflows, but we also want the user interfaces and system behaviours to be as simple and as intuitive as possible. To achieve that balance inherently leads to additional work in the backend of the systems. But we understand
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
Welcome to the first Meet Your Maker Q&A! Meet Your Maker is a series of behind-the-scenes videos and blogs that explores the amazing people behind Calrec, illustrating the wide range of in-house skillsets we use to design and manufacture our market-leading broadcast technology.
