Sweet sounds of success for West Yorkshire Firm

Calrec Audio of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, is definitely in the vanguard when it comes to high quality audio equipment.

The company was set up in the 1950’s as a hobby, and by the 1960’s the Calder Valley Recording Group – later shortened to Calrec – was pressing its own records in a makeshift recording studio. Since those pioneering days, Calrec has since blossomed into a world-leading provider of top quality audio equipment for live and on-air broadcast operations. 

Think of any big name in the broadcasting industry – from the BBC to Al-Jazeera – and it’s highly likely that they’ll be using equipment designed and produced at Calrec’s West Yorkshire headquarters.

And now, with the advent of High Definition TV, customers are expecting top quality surround sound for their sports coverage and home movies. So naturally broadcasters have responded.

This is where Calrec’s latest success fits in. Three years in the making, and launched to the industry in 2006, their Bluefin High Density Signal Processing system enables a 5000% increase in processing capacity to cope with the needs of top quality audio, all fitted into a very compact piece of kit – a particularly welcome innovation for outside broadcasters who are used to working on location in the tight confines of an Outside Broadcast truck.

But coming up with the right product at the right time is only half the battle, as Calrec’s marketing coordinator, Kevin Emmott explains.

“We knew we had an absolutely world-beating piece of kit, and a market that was crying out for our product.  But we still needed advice and support when it came to exporting and dealing with overseas distributors.

“In this regard, Brian Aungiers, our international trade adviser, has been of invaluable assistance to us, in putting a funding package together which enabled us to attend the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas, where Bluefin was launched.

“As a result of attending NAB in 2006, sales have far outstripped our expectations and we have expanded our workforce to cope with the increase in orders. Brian is also a mine of useful information when it came to appointing new overseas distributors.”

Brian Aungiers added: “I’m delighted that the new development has been such a success for Calrec.  We wish them all the very best for the future.”

A long-standing irony amongst audio manufacturers is that the audio hall in any major broadcast show is always the quietest.  Audio has long been the forgotten stepchild of the industry; the bit which is bought after all the whiz-bang video gadgetry has been installed and drooled over.

Not anymore. The rise and rise in popularity of HDTV is changing the landscape, and the buying habits of broadcasters all over the world – and Calrec will no doubt continue to be in the lead in supplying top quality equipment to an ever more demanding customer base.