NBC Olympics signs up Calrec consoles for Beijing

Calrec Audio will supply twin 64-fader Sigma with Bluefin consoles to NBC Olympics for U.S. coverage of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The consoles will be installed at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Beijing in May 2008. “Each Olympic Games’ coverage brings with it new demands for better technology, increased flexibility, and greater efficiency,” says Bob Dixon, NBC’s director of sound design at the Beijing Games. “From the summer games in Atlanta in 1996 to the upcoming summer games in Beijing in 2008, we have gone from an analog-only two-channel contribution and distribution audio platform to a fully digital, discrete 5.1 channel platform.”

Sigma with Bluefin provides 320 channel-processing paths packaged as 108 stereo and 104 mono channels and allows up to 52 x full 5.1 surround channels. This is provided on just one DSP card, with full EQ and dynamics on all channel groups and main outputs.

NBC Olympics started planning for the Beijing Games more than 2 1/2 years in advance. The broadcaster holds exclusive U.S. rights for coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Games will be seen by an estimated 200 million Americans.