
For the past two decades, freelance A1 Mixer Andrew Stoakley has worked on many of the major sports and entertainment shows produced in Canada. With assignments ranging from MLB baseball to NHL hockey and curling (among others), Stoakley has come to rely on the flexibility and features of Calrec consoles to capture the various dynamics of each sport.
Sporting events have highs and lows that change by the second and, as a mixer, you need to be flexible, says Stoakley. The user interface and software of Calrec consoles allow me to do my job to the best of my abilities. Whether working on the Artemis, Apollo or the original Alpha, which I still love, Calrec's consoles give me instant access to basically all our monitoring. With Calrec, I'm not searching through menus all the auxes, direct outs, multi-tracks, EQs and dynamics are right there.
For Stoakley, this flexibility translates across the board regardless of which sport he's mixing. With curling, there are 28 player RF microphones and another 20 effects mics buried in the sheets of ice, he continues. So, that's 48 faders that I need to access, on top of the 14 talent mics, six camera mics and four stereo crowd mics that I use. If I have to go looking for mics on the console, I'll miss the opportunity to get that moment on-air. The new software on the Apollo goes way above and beyond, but it doesn't matter which Calrec console I'm using when I sit down to an Artemis, Apollo or Alpha, I feel very comfortable.
As a freelancer for Dome Productions, one of Stoakley's main roles is mixing Toronto Blue Jays' baseball games and NHL hockey games. Although you want to capture the announcer's commentary regardless of the application, mixing has specific requirements that are unique to each sport, he says. Viewers tune in to hear announcers discuss the sport, so I need to ensure they are clear and present in the mix. That's why I like baseball there is so much dynamic range, and I love that. I want to hear the quiet, it makes for a much more interesting mix. In contrast, hockey is aggressive, so I try to capture every skate blade or puck shot. Regardless of the sport, Calrec consoles always help me mix a better broadcast.
Another reason Stoakley chooses Calrec consoles for his sports mixing is the design of the console itself. The ergonomics of the console are really well laid out, he adds. With Calrec, I can manipulate six faders with one hand as opposed to three with a competitor's console; that's a massive difference. I don't end up having hand fatigue when I'm mixing nine to 10 straight hours of curling. As I like to say in sports, the first pitch doesn't wait for us. We've got only X' amount of time to get the show up and running and make sure everybody is happy before that first pitch happens. If something goes wrong and you have to scramble for answers, it can get really stressful very quickly, and the Calrec consoles do everything possible to alleviate that stress.
In addition to the great sound and interface of the Calrec consoles, Stoakley also finds the company's customer service to be top-notch. The Calrec support team is really awesome, he says. If we ever have any questions, they are always available.
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...
11/06/2026
PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...
11/06/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/06/2026
Kiloview, a leading innovator in AV-over-IP video solutions, will return to InfoComm 2026 (Booth# N8327) with broadcast-grade AV-over-IP solutions designed for ...
11/06/2026
Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026
From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their...
11/06/2026
Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year The Music Business Association honored Butler at its annual Bizzy Awards.
June 10, 2026
...
11/06/2026
Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement The five-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, known for her longstanding...
11/06/2026
The GeForce NOW summer sale kicked off today with limited-time savings of up to ...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
Today, Google DeepMind released DiffusionGemma - an experimental open model built for exceptionally fast text generation. NVIDIA has optimized DiffusionGemma to...
10/06/2026
A car pulls up to the curb. The app says, Your ride is here. No one's in the driver's seat. For people who live in one of the dozens of cities now hos...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...