New Century Productions Installs Calrec Alpha Console With Bluefin Technology in Latest HD Mobile Truck

Calrec Audio has announced that New Century Productions New Century Productions (NCP) will outfit its latest HD mobile production truck with a 72-fader Alpha digital audio console, featuring the company s new Bluefin high-density signal processing system. The system more than doubles the processing power of the console on one DSP card. New Century s latest truck, the NCP-VIII, is set to roll out in August.

NCP-VIII will utilize the Alpha primarily for mixing major sporting events, such as the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Word Series coverage for Fox, the Breeders’ Cup horse-racing competition, and the Super Bowl pre-game show. For these and other similar events, the Alpha will need to simultaneously mix more than 100 incoming audio sources, including stereo and 5.1 surround-sound sources.

There isn t a mixer you can buy that gives you more power in a confined amount of space than a Calrec Alpha, especially with the new Bluefin technology, said Mike Mundt, vice president of engineering for NCP. The fact that it provides 480 mono-equivalent signal paths on just one DSP card greatly reduces the amount of rack space required, a highly desirable feature given the tight spacing requirements of mobile trucks.

With the Bluefin system s processing power, the Alpha is capable of providing 78 full 5.1 surround-sound channels from its 162 stereo and 156 mono channels and eight surround groups. Each channel and group is equipped with full EQ and dynamics, and the system has 23 minutes of user-accessible delay elements, four surround main outputs, 48 multitrack outputs, and 20 auxes. The new system also generates less heat and uses less power than previous designs, which is an integral feature for mobile truck applications.

NCP chose the Alpha with Bluefin technology because of its unequaled power-to-weight ratio, Mundt explained. The processing power it provides for the amount of rack space it occupies makes it the preferred console in mobile television.

Including the NCP-VIII, Calrec mixers have been installed in four NCP trucks. NCP, an OB van and mobile television production facility vendor, currently owns two analog Q2 consoles and carries a 96-fader Alpha on the NCP-VII truck. Operating a fleet of SDI and HD production trucks, NCP provides facilities and equipment for live, taped, live-to-tape, and post-produced broadcasts and events.

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