Lyon Video Becomes First to Implement Dual Faders in Calrec Audio Apollo Console
Story Highlights
Lyon Video is the first North American company to implement dual faders in a Calrec Audio Apollo digital console. With the Apollo desk’s modular design, the retrofit was easy to accomplish, enabling the Lyon-11 mobile production truck to redeploy earlier this month with a total of 144 faders.
“Currently, our Lyon-11 is carrying more faders than any other production truck in North America,” says Chad Snyder, account manager at Lyon Video. “It’s partly a numbers game — more faders are more impressive to our clients. But it’s not just numbers. For the viewer at home, the Apollo’s increased power amounts to increased accuracy in its ability to convey the reality of the event. And in the A-1’s world, having 144 faders is extremely empowering. In fact, dual faders are a natural extension of the power of the Apollo.”
Snyder also noted that in spite of its fader count, the Apollo’s compact size makes it well-suited for mobile production. In addition, both Lyon Video’s clients and freelance audio mixers are acclimating to the platform’s superior processing power and channel count as well as the I/O flexibility afforded by the integrated Hydra2 network. Snyder predicts Apollo will eventually replace the Calrec Alpha as the “go-to” console for OB trucks.
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Lyon Video is a full-service video and film production company with dozens of clients including ESPN, FOX Sports, ABC, and the SPEED Channel. Lyon Video installed the Calrec Apollo console with Bluefin2 HDSP in Lyon-11 last year. The console’s first dual-fader assignment was coverage of NBA All Star Jam Session events from Center Court at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Calrec’s Apollo console offers more than double the processing power of the previous generation of audio consoles, a channel count that sets a new industry benchmark, and a highly responsive, user-configurable control surface. Powered by Bluefin2, the Apollo provides powerful resources at multiple sample rates. At 48 kHz, Bluefin2 gives Apollo up to 1,020 channel processing paths, 128 program busses, 96 IFB/track outputs, and 48 auxiliaries.