Welcome to the seventh 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 spoke to Gary Burns, Calrec's Compliance Electrical Design Engineer. Gary knows why responsible manufacturers run regular EMC emission and ESD tests, and explains why he is already obsessing over the damage the open road can cause to an audio console even before the prototyping phase.
1. What is your role and what does it entail?
I am responsible for all areas relating to product compliance. This includes EMC and safety testing of products to ensure they adhere to the relevant standards. My role also includes product design, at which stage I can ensure all product compliance aspects are addressed. By designing for compliance upfront, we save on costly re-testing and re-design during product development.
2. What are the international standards that Calrec adhere to?
Calrec sells its products worldwide. As a result, we need to adhere to globally accepted international standards for professional audio equipment.
The standards we adhere to are constantly changing so we have to work hard to stay up-to-date and maintain compliance across our full product range. We are currently in the process of re-testing to the new IEC62368 safety standard, which comes into force in December 2020.
3. Why is it important to meet these standards?
This allows us to sell our products internationally, guaranteeing to both our customers and distributors that our products will be safe to use and compatible with other electrical devices in their regions. It is a legal requirement to meet these standards.
4. How does the wider broadcast environment influence development?
Across the industry, we are seeing the move to IP-based systems in broadcast. This means many of the specific standards for professional audio equipment have been combined with standards for IT-type products. This has resulted in the re-classification of our products and hence changes to requirements to meet these new standards.
A good example of this is the new IEC62368, which attempts to bring together a more common set of requirements for a wider range of products. This has resulted in changes to vent design with regard to fire safety.
5. What equipment does Calrec use in-house, and how does that make the process more efficient?
We use only very basic in-house test equipment to pre-test designs before testing externally at professionally certified test houses; however, at the early design stage, we make use of PCB and thermal simulation tools to help us design compliant solutions. We run in-house EMC emissions and ESD tests at each stage of prototyping to ensure that by the time we get a final product, we have a high level of confidence in achieving a pass. By designing for compliance and testing each design iteration, we reduce the total number of development cycles required.
6. What exactly is an anechoic chamber? What is the advantage of having one on-site at Nutclough Mill?
An anechoic chamber is a room designed to prevent the refection of electromagnetic waves. The small, custom-built chamber we have at the Mill allows me to test the level of electromagnetic radiation produced by a product in isolation. This is a great advantage as this is one of the most common reasons for products to fail EMC testing and allows me to test as early and often as required. Booking time in an external chamber is both expensive and inflexible.
7. Why is EMC/ESD compliance so important?
It is important because it cannot only prevent our products from working or being damaged but also avoids them affecting other systems around them which may have critical functions.
8. What environmental considerations are tested, and why?
Our products are designed to work in somewhat harsh environments, such as high temperatures or altitude. They are often installed in cramped spaces in outside broadcast units where they will experience shock and vibration. To perform reliably in these environments this needs to be considered and tested during the design phase. To achieve this, we test all our products over a wide range of temperatures and, where necessary, vibration test.
We also consider the environmental impact of our products and where possible utilise recyclable materials in both the product itself and the packaging. All our products meet the requirements of the EU RoHS directive.
Missed our previous Meet Your Maker Q&As?
Take a look at the following:
First Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Gareth Frimston, Product Manager
Second Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Darren Silcock, Lead Customer Support Engineer
Third Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Sally Baines, Production Manager
Fourth Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Andrew Munt, Software Manager
Fifth Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Maria Mitchell, Senior Product Test Engineer
Sixth Instalment of Meet Your Maker with Joe Gulaiczuk, Project Engineer
To view Calrecs product range click here
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
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...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
Welcome to the seventh 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.
