South African internet radio station Vibez.Live has moved into the digital realm with Calrec’s Type R for Radio to take advantage of its power, flexibility and sound quality. The deal has been overseen by Calrec’s South African partner, Wild & Marr.
The station, which launched two years ago, now has a six-fader, AoIP-based Type R with dual layer functionality, which gives it extra faders at the touch of a button. Vibez.Live also added a Type R large soft panel with feature sets pre-loaded for more control.
John Badenhorst, co-founder and a host at Vibez.Live, said: “Having used a variety of equipment for the first 18 months after we launched, including an analogue desk, we knew that we needed to upgrade to enhance our capabilities. We spoke to Wild & Marr about Calrec’s AoIP-based Type R for Radio system and were immediately impressed. While the Type R core has enough I/O for our current needs, we also purchased a Type R analogue I/O box that provides an additional 16 mic/line inputs and six general purpose input/output interfaces.”
Immediately after the switch, Vibez.Live’s online communication was flooded with listeners commenting on the great improvement in sound quality.
Dwaine Schreuder, broadcast engineer at Wild & Marr, commented: “We saw an opportunity to partner with Vibez.Live and supply them with the upgrades they needed to put them in a streaming league of their own. The console has a whole host of benefits and keeps installation simple. With its ethernet connection, it does away with cumbersome cables found in conventional studios.”
The Calrec Type R has a simple layout and a clear touch screen display. The sleek, compact design fits perfectly into the Vibez.Live studio environment, taking up less space while doing the job of a much bigger desk. Vibez.Live also uses two pairs of Shure SRH840 headphones, two Shure SM7B microphones and On-Stage’s microphone boom arms. All levels are now easily managed and compressed, which was previously challenging.
Vibez.Live broadcasts music from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, with recent months seeing the introduction of a weekly ‘Trance Vibez’ show in conjunction with Denon DJ SA and Midi Music.
“There’s a lot of competition in the radio market for both traditional and streaming stations, and the sound quality can’t be compromised. Type R for Radio’s versatile attributes, such as being able to add more fader panels via a simple ethernet connection, puts Vibez.Live firmly in control. We’re so delighted the station is able to connect with audiences on a greater level,” said Graham Murray, international sales manager, Calrec.