
Welcome to the second instalment of Meet Your Maker Q&A! Meet Your Maker is a series of behind-the-scenes videos and blogs that illustrates 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 Lead Customer Support Engineer, Darren Silcock, about the importance of our close customer relationships, bespoke 24/7 support contracts & training and Calrec's no-nonsense approach to customer support.
1. What is your role with Calrec and what does it entail?
As the Lead Customer Support Engineer, I head up the Customer Support team to ensure that all customers receive an exceptional level of service, support and technical advice.
2. How big is the Customer Support Team?
We have seven UK-based engineers including myself, plus a highly technical Customer Support Manager. We support all Calrec customers and distributors around the world and have dedicated Calrec-trained US-based engineers on the East and West Coasts of America.
3. In what ways does Customer Support provide support to Calrec customers?
Customer Support provides a huge array of support facilities. One of the most important aspects of the Customer Support role is that we establish close relationships with all our customers. This allows us to gain a sound understanding of customer requirements, their systems, operational and technical requirements and provide a better, more empathetic level of support.
We also support site visits to customer facilities and OB trucks for commissioning, upgrades, system health-checks and onsite training. Part of this is handling upgrades for customers who operate 24/7 production schedules to ensure as little impact and risk as possible. This not only requires a high level of knowledge of the customer's system but also an exceptional background knowledge into the system/platform; how it's evolved over time, and any changes that have been made to hardware or software configurations.
We undertake system diagnostic work using system logging to allow events to be analysed. There is a large amount of telemetry within Calrec systems to allow us to cover events with extreme detail and accuracy.
And let's not forget training. The support team provides many training courses, often customised to suit customer requirements for specific configurations or site facilities.
And then there's operational and technical consultancy - we're not just here for problems! We are always happy to spend time discussing any new or changing workflow requirements that a customer has to help them identify and implement solutions
4. What is the global coverage? How do you work with other people in other countries?
Some customers we are able to deal with directly, but around the world, we work with an excellent and ever-expanding fleet of distributors.
Working with distributors allows us to provide a much better level of support as it provides customers with dedicated personnel that have been trained by Calrec engineers. It also allows local knowledge and practices to be maintained keeping a personal touch to the level of support.
5. How do you ensure local representatives are fully trained?
All distributors will visit the factory in the UK for an extended period to undertake an extensive range of training on all or specific Calrec products. It allows us to go through all the operational and technical training requirements, a huge amount of practical learning, configuring systems for their specific customer base, Q&A sessions, and a factory tour to see the build and progress of consoles.
Distributors have the complete freedom to immerse themselves into Calrec's world and products; it gives them a chance to not only use the products fully but also meet and get to know everyone in the factory. It's important that local representatives get to know people they will be working with in the factory on a day-to-day basis.
6. What about spares holding? How is that managed?
We hold a large amount of stock within the UK factory at Hebden Bridge and at strategic sites across the globe to ensure an extremely quick turnaround time. It is important that our customers get the parts they need asap to return to normal operation.
This not only covers our current range of products but also our legacy products there's a large amount of the older Calrec products still in daily use around the world!
Every console, asset and module that has ever left the factory is recorded, and this database is maintained daily. A good example of this is a commissioning visit for a new console. Prior to the console leaving the factory, every bit of information is recorded at the point it has completed factory testing. During the commissioning visit by the engineer if there is a new release of software this will be installed during that visit. The Customer Support engineer then makes sure that all records for that console are updated accordingly.
This ensures that any future replacement or additional hardware is configured correctly. Much of our hardware/software utilises a self-managed software process where a verification process is completed by the card itself on fitment. This further ensures spares are always configured correctly.
Calrec operates an AEU (advance exchange unit) for managing and distributing spares. This is a program whereby we ship a replacement part to the customer fully configured, and once fitted the original unit is returned to the Calrec factory for repair where it remains. This speeds up the process and allows facilities to get back up and running quicker.
7. What are the different levels of support contract?
We have three off-the-shelf levels of Support Contract that provide round-the-clock access to support servic
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...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/08/2026
When hundreds of thousands of people gather to hear a single voice, there is no room for compromise. Every word must be delivered clearly, every wireless transm...
21/08/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with ScorePlay, the AI-powered media infrastructure that spo...
21/08/2026
NUGEN Audio announces the launch of its new Post Plan and Producer Plan, two flexible subscription offerings designed to give audio professionals short term acc...
21/08/2026
Join the Screen Currency 2026 Ask Me Anything (AMA) Online 20 August 2026
(L-R): Adrian Coates, Grainne Brunsdon, Deirdre Brennan, Rachael Perkins
Got questio...
20/08/2026
From host-broadcaster and rightsholder support in June and July to MLS, NWSL, US...
20/08/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/08/2026
At IBC this year, Veritone (14.A56) is bringing two connected themes to the booth: architectural independence in enterprise AI, and the automation of the media ...
20/08/2026
Telestream and ScorePlay have announced a partnership combining Telestream's...
20/08/2026
The Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League have announced a three-year agreement with ESPN, bringing more than 300 hours of live curling coverage to U.S. audienc...
20/08/2026
Nielsen has announced a series of enhancements to its Big Data + Panel currency measurement methodology, taking effect August 31. The updates were developed in ...
20/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected by service provider Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group) to provide its Nimbra platform as the core media transport solution for a...
20/08/2026
The 2026 US Open will bring a series of free fan activations across New York City ahead of and during the tournament, which runs August 23-September 13.
We...
20/08/2026
Bridge Technologies will announce a transport stream (TS) playout feature for its VB330 and VB220 compressed monitoring probes at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71).
The fe...
20/08/2026
ENCO will demonstrate solutions across captioning, translation, AI production tools, automation, and virtual production at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A34, Amsterdam RAI, ...
20/08/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will demonstrate camera robotics and mot...
20/08/2026
Chyron will demonstrate news workflow solutions at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A23), marking the company's 60th anniversary. Highlights include updates to PRIME HTML, ...
20/08/2026
Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now available to Spectrum customers in former Cox markets following the clos...
20/08/2026
swXtch.io will unveil expanded Global SRT Distribution and native multicast tran...
20/08/2026
Riedel Communications has announced that Transformation Church in the United States has deployed a communications system built around the Artist intercom ecosys...
20/08/2026
The bestselling author and longtime Apple observer explores how product launches...
20/08/2026
The Orlando Magic entered last season with a dramatically upgraded in-venue prod...
20/08/2026
Pacers Sports and Entertainment has announced a partnership with DAZN, making it the exclusive streaming home of Indiana Pacers basketball. A team-branded strea...
20/08/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
20/08/2026
The NHL has announced two major developments tied to its Germany growth strategy...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
New York August 19, 2026 Nielsen today shared a number of key enhancements t...
20/08/2026
New Gracenote Data Hub analysis finds sports program titles up 31.2% and individ...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
At IBC, Profuz Digital will showcase at stand 8.A88 the SubtitleNEXT platform delivering innovative AI transcription integrations and stunning new features boos...
20/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Transformation Church, one of the fastest-growing and most influential digital ministries in the United States, has d...
20/08/2026
QuickLink Showcases New 4K Capabilities Across StudioEdge and StudioCall at IBC ...
20/08/2026
The Boys Season Five Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton August 20, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist Siggy Ferstl uses Depth Map to bring a three ...
20/08/2026
Adobe Firefly expands its creative AI studio: generate music, speech, and sound ...
20/08/2026
Multiview available via SaaS for streaming platforms and operators through broadpeak.io, with live demonstrations at IBC2026
Broadpeak , a leader in streaming ...
20/08/2026
Techex, a leading provider of live broadcast infrastructure solutions, has appointed Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer, further strengthening its executive...
20/08/2026
Avid today announced that MediaCity Studios has upgraded its production infrastructure with an enhanced end-to-end Avid production ecosystem, including the dep...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...