Notre Dame Studios, part of the University of Notre Dame, a global, Catholic research university, has upgraded its SMPTE-2110 production facility with market-leading IP audio solutions from Calrec. The Rex and Alice A. Martin Media Center now houses a Calrec Artemis, Type R surface and an ImPulse core to meet the exacting demands of all its production needs from across campus.
The Notre Dame Studios facility has been fully IP since opening in 2017, but as productions grew in size, scope and technical requirements, the need for faster, more flexible and more powerful audio consoles became apparent. Michael Sill, Video Engineer at Notre Dame explained, “Our previous console, though IP, was quite basic and we often needed to tie it to a second analog console for more outputs. Seeking advice from experts in the field, like our main A1, industry veteran Garry Elghammer, as well as A1s with NBC, with whom we share feeds, led us to the Calrec Artemis and Type R. Garry was already quite familiar with both systems and explained the benefit of the Type R’s sophisticated features such as sidechain capabilities and a powerful EQ and compressor.”
Notre Dame Studios is a centralized production facility which serves all of campus. It provides the backbone for production of hockey broadcasts to NBC’s Peacock streaming service as well as approximately 125 athletic contests to the ACC Network. It also produces and streams other events ranging from performing arts and educational events to multi-day programming such as Notre Dame Day and commencement ceremonies.
At the heart of the audio system is the 48-fader Artemis plus ImPulse core equipped with Hydra2 I/O units with 24x8 inputs and outputs along with EDAC connectors. The console features an empty bay, which means it can be expanded up to 56 faders to meet future needs. Additionally, a 12x4 fixed format I/O unit and three 24x8 fixed format I/O units cater to different production needs, including basketball and hockey broadcasts.
Carl Cathcart, Video Engineer at Notre Dame Studios, added, “Our Calrec system benefits the whole University, not just athletics. With I/O boxes strategically placed across campus, we have flexibility in covering events like graduation and we’re even training students on how to use the consoles. They produce some of our streamed games; it’s a part time paid job for them and they’re gaining valuable, real-world experience in professional audio.”
Helen Carr, Regional Sales Manager at Calrec said, “It’s exciting for us to provide such stellar audio to a university as renowned as Notre Dame. The school’s production facility is one of only a few in the world that’s all IP, and Calrec is an instrumental part of this. It really demonstrates our commitment to IP now and well into the future. I am also delighted to learn about Notre Dame’s commitment to training the next generation in the skills needed to enter the broadcast industry and I am impressed to learn that many of these students are seriously considering a career in broadcast.”
