Jean-Sébastien Roy, Sound Engineer at Headroom Productions talks to Calrec about his work on Star Académie on TVA in Montreal, Canada.

As a Sound Engineer and audio equipment supplier for the past 25 years, I’ve worked on hundreds of different broadcasts including reality television shows, variety shows and films. We’ve worked with TVA, a Canadian French-language terrestrial network headquartered in Montreal for over 15 years.

My most recent role with TVA was Sound Technical Director on the popular reality television singing competition, Star Académie. The show features people under the age of 30 competing for the title of next solo singing champ so as you can imagine, a stellar audio setup is crucial to the show’s success.

That’s why we needed a top-notch audio console that was reliable, easy to work with, sounds great and simply gets the job done. That’s Calrec in a nutshell.

We were introduced to the Summa console via Calrec’s Canadian supplier SC Media, with whom we have a longstanding relationship and we work closely.

The Summa has a host of features that worked really well for us on Star Académie. For one, the console is extremely easy to use in broadcast applications compared to others on the market, and the materials used in manufacturing are very high quality, making the tactile nature of the console good to use. It’s a very intuitive machine too; the screens and interface are well thought out and very simple for new users.

We also liked the workflow and the advanced automixer for the work we do on the show as it’s really a mix of musical performance and reality TV. On the more technical side of things, we were using SMPTE-2110 and AoIP because the main patch was using a Dante network. We also used the MADI standard since it served as an interface for less advanced technologies.

The Summa is also oriented toward IP, and we know the importance of research and development at Calrec, which gives them a lead over other companies that are slower to adapt to advancements in technology. Calrec’s constant professionalism and perfectionism means their console is at the cutting edge of technology.

Find out more about Summa

As the Broadcast Console specialist at SC Media Canada, I’ve worked with Jean-Sébastien for well over a decade. He’s a fearless engineer, always looking to take on the most technically challenging jobs on the market. I am very happy that the Calrec Summa has lived up to his high expectations.

Kypros Christodoulides, Technical Sales & Support at SC Media Canada

Kypros Christodoulides

Calrec's Technical Sales & Support at SC Media Canada

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