Ukraine’s 1+1 Media Group Upgrades HD OB Vans With Calrec Audio Consoles

1+1 Media Group, one of the largest media holdings in Ukraine, has installed Calrec digital audio consoles in two of its HD outside broadcast (OB) vans. The installations are part of an upgrade to meet Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) technical requirements for 5.1 sound production and Dolby E encoding.

“The Calrec consoles give us a reliable way to handle two live feeds of 5.1 sound at once, which is not only a UEFA requirement but something we simply couldn’t do with our other consoles,” said Aleksey Marko, head of procurement for 1+1 Media Group. “Previously we had to use two OB vans in order to meet the requirement, but now we can accomplish the same thing with a single console in a single van, which saves money and leaves the second van free to cover other events. We get this significant capability from small-footprint consoles that fit neatly into the limited space inside the vans.”

One of 1+1 Media’s OB vans houses an Artemis Light console equipped with 40 multilayer faders, along with Calrec’s Bluefin2 high-density signal processing technology and Hydra2 plug-and-play audio routing capability. A similar Artemis Light console in the second OB van has 48 faders. The vans cover football, basketball, boxing, and both live and recorded entertainment shows. Each console can produce two programs of digital 5.1 sound that are ready for UEFA-mandated Dolby E encoding.

The Artemis Light consoles satisfied 1+1 Media’s main technical requirement for high capacity in a small space. In addition, unlike the vans’ previous audio consoles, the Artemis Light desks minimize the mic and line noise and hums that are prevalent in the strong electromagnetic environments around stadiums and live-show stages.

“1+1 Media Group is the first Calrec customer in Ukraine and, because of its size and number of media holdings, is a major source of programming for the Ukrainian people,” said Michael Reddick, Calrec’s European sales manager. “Calrec technology will help this media giant streamline its OB operation and cover more ground, which we anticipate will influence other broadcasters in the market.”

Both sales were completed in partnership with Calrec’s Ukraine distributor, Engineer Service, a company that also owns two Calrec consoles installed in its OB vans available for hire.