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 ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
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.
