Spain’s Telefonica Broadcast Services has become one of the only companies in the Spanish OB market to offer a broadcast-specific audio console for HD OB operation, with the installation of a Calrec Summa.

‘We produce events for almost all major broadcasters in Spain, as well as foreign companies,’ explains Telefonica OB audio engineer, Luis Garcia Colombo. ‘Today it’s a soccer game, tomorrow it will be basketball. After that we might broadcast an opera. We have to be able to manage any setup our clients require and guarantee their big productions will go to air with no problems.

‘The Summa ensures we can do it in a way that only a broadcast-grade desk can. We don’t even have to think about whether we’ll be able to handle the setup; we simply know that we can. It’s easy to see that it’s not just an audio console, but a TV audio console, and that gives us an edge in the market.’

The Summa’s technology and functionality make it possible for Telefonica to handle larger TV productions than before, and put the company in a better competitive position. Summa’s 128 channels, variety of inputs and outputs, and Hydra2 networking infrastructure has raised the quality of Telefonica’s HD OB performance and reduced set-up time between productions.

Telefonica primarily covers sports and Champions League football in Spain. It also employs Calrec’s Soccer Sidekick iPad app, an assistive mixing tool that simplifies the job of tracking on-pitch audio during a football game. The operator uses the app to help calculate the optimal mic/fader configuration at any given moment, which makes it possible to capture important on-pitch events while minimizing the amount of crowd and venue noise.

‘There are not many broadcast-specific desks in the Spanish OB market, so installing a Summa is a big step forward,’ says Calrec International Sales Manager, Jim Green. ‘Telefonica is making a bold statement to the broadcast marketplace about its commitment to improving quality and output.’

More: www.calrec.com