CBS Television City Outfitted with Two Calrec Apollo Consoles

Calrec Audio will deploy two Apollo audio consoles with Bluefin(TM)2 signal processing to CBS Television City. These new consoles will serve studios that have produced, among other top-rated shows, 12 “Survivor” finales, “Dancing with the Stars,” “American Idol,” and “A Tribute to Heroes,” which was broadcast around the world and on every station in the United States. Working with Calrec partner Bexel Broadcast Services, the Television City facility in Los Angeles purchased and installed one Calrec Apollo desk in Aug. 2010. The second is set to arrive this month.

“These two studios, almost mirror images of one another, serve some of our most important entertainment clients who have very high expectations about the way the studios will be equipped,” says Jim Ripple, CBS director of technical operations.

The Calrec Apollo audio console featured a 8192×8192 integrated router and 1020 channels of digital signal processing, more than double that offered by the nearest competitor. In addition, Calrec Apollo features redundant power supplies and independently operable surface tiles, both of which help the console compensate and carry on, even under the demands of live production.

The CBS Television City studios are using the Apollo’s integrated Hydra2 fiber optic network to deliver as many as 512 audio signals from the console to the floors and back, without noise, buzz, or hum. In addition, the Apollo’s design made the Television City installation fast and affordable, with almost no soundproofing necessary.

“CBS Television City has an important place in the history of broadcast besides being one of the world’s top venues for production and transmission today,” says Henry Goodman, Calrec head of sales and marketing. “Our Apollo audio console, with its flexibility, ease of use, and sonic quality, was designed to meet the toughest challenges of live broadcast.”