Studio Technologies Helps Turn the Unknown of Unscripted...

Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, continues to earn praise from top production professionals for its powerful, intuitive, and adaptable communications gear. Gideon Zaretsky, owner of Electric Ear and Research Company and an experienced audio supervisor with credits including NBC, Netflix, Food Network, and other major productions, has relied on Studio Technologies products for more than a decade.

I work in a very fast-paced world, says Zaretsky. A lot of my productions are on-location reality and competition shows, where we build control rooms from the ground up every day and then tear them down the next. There's no budget or time for overcomplicated systems. That's where Studio Technologies really shines.

Zaretsky's first experience with Studio Technologies came via its two-wire to four-wire analog interfaces, which allowed him to integrate party-line (PL) systems with improvised four-wire gear. We put the director on a two-wire PL beltpack and interfaced it with a duplex UHF repeater so they could talk full time over the crew radios, adds Zaretsky. This humble innovation was a total game changer and immediately became indispensable. Studio Technologies became my go-to because it fit all the audio requirements I needed in a reliable solution, he recalls.

As productions grew more complex, Zaretsky transitioned from DIY solutions to purpose-built products like the Model 233 Announcer's Console and Model 240 Producer's Console. The true game-changer came with Studio Technologies Model 348 Intercom Station.

The Model 348 is a small box with eight buttons, but it's brilliantly designed, says Zaretsky. I use it for IFB talk/listen, ad hoc PL stations, QC, live announcers and whatever else producers need. We were already into Dante on the audio side, but still in the Dark Ages as far as PL. Most of our shows at that time did not have much of a comms budget, so we were rolling our own party line matrixes and IFB buses on analog mixers. We had been dreaming of a Model 348-like device for years. It immediately allowed the control room crew to seamlessly talk to wireless PL channels, talent, and each other.

Zaretsky now owns over 20 Model 348 units, multiple Model 5312 Intercom Stations, and relies heavily on the Model 5422A Dante Intercom Audio Engine for IFB sends, summing buses, and custom routing. Typing in a label and hitting connect on the Model 5422A replaces 10 minutes of complicated patching, adds Zaretsky. It's a massive time saver during live shooting.

Most recently, Zaretsky added the Model 545DR Intercom Interface. According to Zaretsky, This unit is a full circle moment for me, because it extends the life of older two-wire equipment that has been sitting on the shelf for years, as it seamlessly integrates legacy gear into Dante networks. My favorite use of the product is as a Dante bridge for stand-alone wireless PL base stations, which for some reason still ship with two wire ports.

For Zaretsky, Studio Technologies' value goes beyond hardware. When I suggested a feature tweak for the Model 348, Gordon Kapes (President of Studio Technologies) didn't just listen, he called me directly to understand my use case and followed up with firmware changes within days. Studio Technologies' level of support is almost unheard of in 2025. They are super responsive and genuinely want to understand the details of each use case, no matter how obscure. They pick up the phone or reply to the email and engage right away until the problem is resolved.

From early unscripted television to today's sophisticated network productions, Zaretsky credits Studio Technologies with helping him deliver flawless results. Unscripted TV has come a long way and so has my workflow, says Zaretsky. Studio Technologies gear has scaled with me every step of the way whether I need to cue a troop of angry mimes for a hidden camera gag or integrate a large intercom system for a network show. Most of the people that hire me don't want to know about sound and comms, they just want someone to say, Sure, no problem.' Studio Technologies makes it possible for me to say yes with confidence.

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