
Welcome to the fourth instalment of Meet Your Maker Q&A! Meet Your Maker is a series of behind-the-scenes videos and blogs that illustrate the wide range of in-house skillsets used to design and manufacture our market-leading broadcast technology whilst exploring the amazing people behind Calrec.
This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Calrec's Software Manager, Andrew Munt about his brand-new role. Andrew discusses Calrec's agility and ability to control the entire engineering process from beginning to end, Calrec's 60 strong R&D team focused on core design principles of reliability and ease of use, and how Calrec is staying ahead of the changing landscape.
1. What is your primary role with Calrec and what does it entail?
I am Calrec's new Software Manager, which is a brand-new role that continues to drive and expand Calrec's R&D output. I manage the architecting, design, development, and delivery of all software for new and existing products. Working with teams of engineers, I am responsible for specification through to release for shipment and support. I also develop code for the products where appropriate!
2. How big is Calrec's R&D team (as a percentage of the workforce and sheer numbers) and how does that compare to equivalent companies?
Calrec is very focussed on R&D and we invest a significant amount in our product R&D. Approximately half of the staff at Calrec is directly involved in developing new products and features; this is around 60 people.
Also, as Calrec is part of Audiotonix which includes DiGiCo, Allen & Heath, and SSL, we have over 200 R&D staff within the Group. This is a great position to be in and we are lucky enough to be able to share ideas and best practice.
3. What does R&D consist of and what are their relationships?
Product management is where it all starts for us in engineering, but they also work closely with the sales and marketing teams. These staff members also keep a close eye on broadcasting technologies to define a roadmap for the engineering teams.
It's great to be involved with a company where all the engineering is done in-house and having everyone in one place helps us to resolve engineering issues very quickly and efficiently. There is a huge amount of collective experience within the teams, which helps with the quality and reliability of our products.
The mechanical team is responsible for the physical surfaces and our electronic design team creates all our circuit boards, working closely to optimise space and thermals. On the software side, we have FPGA/DSP firmware, core embedded, networking, and web technologies teams and our dedicated product test team ensures everything functions as expected.
It's a really interesting place to work from an engineering perspective. We have the ability to be very flexible because we control the entire process from beginning to end, which helps us to provide the best product for the customer.
4. How does the wider broadcast environment influence software development?
Broadcasters demand reliability and quality above all else; this is the main driver for our internal development processes. We maintain great relationships with broadcasters across the world and ensure we can flex with the exacting demands of the industry.
But interoperability and standards are increasingly important to our customers too, and they often drive the direction of our development. AoIP is a good example of the industry having a significant input on our development program.
5. What are some of the design principals employed in Calrec equipment? How do you ensure these are adhered to?
Our core principles are reliability and ease of use. Live TV mixing is hard, and so we try and make it as easy as possible for our customers to create the best product they can.
Our engineering ideas are thoroughly reviewed by experts from inside and outside the company, and we always try to extend existing libraries so they can be re-used on different product lines.
Day-to-day we run agile development workflows with daily stand-up meetings and an open collaboration between software and product teams, which means we remain flexible and quick to adapt to change. Our code is continuously built and we run comprehensive unit tests to maintain a level of quality before it hits our product test team. We keep on top of the schedule with regular meetings with all key stakeholders and this is where any changes with the feature map or priority are fed back to the teams.
6. How does software manage the development of feature lists? How much is feedback from customers and how much is planned in advance?
Calrec is strongly led by customer feedback.
Our Sales and Marketing team has an ear to the ground and our Product Development team ensures there is an ongoing dialogue with customers, industry bodies, and other manufacturers before deciding what features will be in the development roadmap.
Calrec also has in-house IP specialists who work with industry bodies like AIMS and NMOS to keep one step ahead of the changing landscape.
In reality, we have to make a few choices for our strategic roadmap but right now we're on a course that looks forward a number of years, and it's good to see that level of investment.
7. What are the challenges of working with multiple software revisions?
Having multiple versions of code is quite normal for a software department and we have tools to help us manage them; however, we have a lot of products in the field and that often means many different versions of the same product line.
Calrec is well known for its excellent customer support but this, at times, can have an impact on the software department. For this reason, we need to be able to process field issues quickly. We use robust version control for all our software with strict rules on branching and versioning as y
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
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...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
LTN, a global leader in IP-based video transport and network services, today announced that PBS has selected LTN as its IP video partner to modernize and future...
23/06/2026
LiveU will introduce its Q Era to Australia and New Zealand for the first time at ABE2026 on Stand No. 25, (July 30 31). Leading the showcase is the LU900Q, a n...
23/06/2026
Miri Technologies Inc. has begun shipping its highly anticipated V410 live 4K video encoder/decoder for streaming, IP-based production workflows and AV-over-IP ...
23/06/2026
DHD audio reports the completion of an upgrade to the audio production facilities at the Galilee headquarters of Radio Tzafon. The station broadcasts two progra...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/06/2026
Multifaceted Growth Executive Brings 20+ Years of Experience Leading Organizations Across Tech and M&E
Imagine Communications today announced the appointment ...
23/06/2026
Australians in Film and Screen Australia's talent development initiative UNT...
23/06/2026
Visual Productions Unveils RdmRelay2 Four-channel Relay Control at InfoComm 2026
Brie Clayton June 22, 2026
0 Comments
New Relay Solution Combines DMX, ...
23/06/2026
SMPTE Makes Its Standards Freely Accessible, Opening Standards Library to the Gl...
23/06/2026
The RT Toy Show Appeal has raised over 31 million since its inception in 2020 ...
23/06/2026
News Highlights:
NVIDIA technology runs 81% of the TOP500 and 90% of the systems new to the list.
26 systems on the TOP500 adopted the NVIDIA Grace CPU, up ei...
23/06/2026
Companies are asking how to build specialized AI that fits with the way their workflows actually run.
The first wave of enterprise AI was about access. Compan...
23/06/2026
Newly identified molecule strengthens the eye's response to damage in retinal disease Scripps Research discovery finds that restoring the naturally occurrin...
22/06/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
22/06/2026
Cosm has announced the appointment of David Ho as Chief Legal Officer, a newly created executive role reporting to President and CEO Jeb Terry. Ho will oversee ...
22/06/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the developm...
22/06/2026
Daktronics has completed an audio control system upgrade at Petco Park in San Di...
22/06/2026
Accelerate Media has named John Willi as President and announced the launch of the Accelerate Sports Network (ASN), a prep sports media and streaming platform c...
22/06/2026
All Women's Sports Network (AWSN) and 3XBA (3 3 Basketball Association) have announced live television coverage of the annual 3XBA tournament on Friday, Jun...
22/06/2026
OWL AI has announced the appointment of Jay Prasad as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Prasad succeeds Josh Gwyther, who has served...
22/06/2026
CP Communications delivered RF video and audio support for TNT's Inside the NBA at the 2026 NBA Finals, providing main show coverage in San Antonio and ea...
22/06/2026
Polymarket has announced a partnership with GRID, an official esports data platf...
22/06/2026
As sports venues continue to evolve into more video-centric, fan-engagement-driv...
22/06/2026
As the regional sports production scene shifts toward streaming, this Texan helps lead the engineering behind Victory+'s growing live platform...
22/06/2026
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
the memories of your elders [are] a scaffolding for you to build your identity on - and t...
22/06/2026
New hyper-resolution analyser EQ revealed
CEDAR Audio's all-new Icons plug-in series has just gained its newest member, Blade. Described by the compan...
22/06/2026
Turn any live input into a cinematic soundscape
Designed for use in the studio and on stage, Sampleson's latest creation is capable of taking any audio ...
22/06/2026
Adds guitar strings to Eurorack rigs
ADDAC System are renowned for their weird and wonderful synth designs, and their line-up includes plenty of gear that...
22/06/2026
FIFA World Cup 2026 fever grows, as more than one third of Australians tune in ...
22/06/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores NAGRA Venturi, the new streaming security solution for the AI era from NAGRAVISION. Designed to aggregate and analyze ...
22/06/2026
Expanded integrations give advertisers access to distinct contextual signals acr...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/06/2026
Xilica today announced the release of Dynamic Voice Lift, a new feature in Xilica Designer v4.12 that brings adaptive speech reinforcement to large meeting spac...
22/06/2026
Telecom operators have seen remarkable returns from using generative AI to automate network management, customer care and back-office operations. Most of that i...
22/06/2026
Monday 22 June 2026
Official trailer released for Katie Price: Nothing to Hide,...
22/06/2026
The next era of AI will not be defined by compute alone. Its growth will be dete...
22/06/2026
Mission, Vision and Veritas - new Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) supercom...
22/06/2026
At the ISC conference running in Hamburg this week, NVIDIA is introducing new so...
22/06/2026
For the past two years, the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Arti...
22/06/2026
JUPITER, Europe's first exascale supercomputer at Germany's Forschungszentrum J lich, runs on NVIDIA Grace Hopper Superchips and NVIDIA Quantum-X800 Inf...