NEP UK covers the EFL with Calrec hybrid solutions

Two ImPulse1 cores, one RP1, and one Type R compact mixing panel Calrec provide the NEO hybrid remote unit NEP UK the ability to offer reliable remote IP connectivity and routing for up to three parties on the English Football League (EFL) each week.

Yes ok NEP UK has been making remote football productions for Sky since 2020, the company's deputy director of sound and technology, Neville Hooper, does not hesitate to affirm that the deployment of Calrec has allowed it to not only reduce the cost and weight of its traditional remote units, but also “minimize power consumption with a unit that can also run on batteries as a backup.”

NEO, defined by Hooper as a mixture between a mobile production unit and a “hybrid trailer", has cores Impulse1, which are used exclusively for audio routing and distribution. These systems process incoming audio from the field, adjust the gain of everything for later distribution, route it to and from the RP1, manage the outputs of the RP1 for local distribution on site and transfer everything to Sky's production center in Osterley.

“Meanwhile, a light panel Type R It allows us to create a disaster recovery mix in case of circuit problems or incidents on Sky, and because the surface is powered by POE, it consumes much less power than a conventional console. By combining this with the ImPulse1 cores, we can keep power consumption to a minimum without sacrificing processing capacity,” adds the head of NEP UK.

Versatile IP flows for greater efficiency

The implementation adopts the transmission control system TFC, owned by NEP, to integrate third party IP equipment and route IP streams from other devices on the network, with incoming Dante signals processed as AES67 on the ImPulse1 cores. NEP delivers a multi-channel MADI audio stream to Sky, as well as MADI streams to RP1 from Calrec for local entrance signals. Both are controlled remotely from Sky's production center in Osterley: "Incoming IP streams are double routed to both the ImPulse1 and RP1 cores, so they are effectively separate consoles. This improves resiliency, while the Type R only returns the DR mix and audio effects to Sky"

"NEO offers a global configuration that meets all our needs. Since the ImPulse cores have no control surface, control is managed through graphical user interfaces Assist, Control y Connect de Calrec, with which we are already familiar. Calrec Assist is the main configuration tool for the ImPulse, Type R and RP1 cores, and it is very useful to have the same user interface to configure all devices, as it speeds up learning as there are fewer new interfaces to learn to operate the system,” he explains. Hopper, who states that he chose the Calrec solution because “it has proven its reliability, is familiar to our operational team, offers solid technical support, integrates perfectly with TFC, our proprietary control system, and is also competitively priced.”

Anthony Harrison, regional sales director at Calrec, welcomes the alliance with NEP UK and identifies the “key to success” in modern broadcast environments: “Calrec has worked closely with NEP UK for many years to help design more sustainable production methods without sacrificing DSP or reliability. As broadcast workflows continue to adapt to more versatile production requirements, it is important that companies like Calrec continue to collaborate closely with their partners to achieve new goals. “This installation is a good example of this: a hybrid workflow that offers enormous processing power in a very small space.”