RPS Expands Remote Production Capabilities With Calrec Upgrade

Remote Production Services (RPS) has expanded its remote and mobile production capabilities with the deployment of a new Calrec Argo M console at the centre of its Hypermax-1 production truck, which made its global debut at NAB 2026.

The move follows a major upgrade to the company's Connecticut remote production centre in 2023, when RPS installed three 60-fader Argo S consoles. One of those consoles has now been redeployed into the new Hypermax-1 unit, while an Argo M console has been introduced at the Connecticut facility to provide greater operational flexibility.

According to Lance Bracale, Director of Engineering at RPS, the change allows the company to streamline workflows across both fixed and mobile production environments.

"The compact Argo S fits perfectly into the footprint of Hypermax-1 and the Argo M we have replaced it with is a 36-fader console to mirror the Brio consoles that we have across our fleet of smaller trucks," he said.

£The Argo M gives us maximum flexibility; it continues to connect to our range of RP1-enabled REMI-only units, and we can also adopt our Ross Ultrix platform to mux and demux everything fully back to Connecticut if we don't have an RP1 available. Because it is totally self-contained with built-in I/O, we can even send it offsite for full remote mixing.£

Designed and built during the pandemic, the Connecticut facility supports a range of remote production workflows for major broadcasters and emerging sports leagues. RPS has standardised its audio infrastructure around Calrec systems, including Brio consoles across multiple mobile units, an Apollo console in its RPS 9 truck, and RP1 remote production engines in its REMI-only units.

"Calrec is used in every one of our trucks and the Argo is becoming more and more of a standard for mixing in remotes and mobile units," said Bracale, who oversees all mobiles, engineers and workflows at RPS. "The flexibility of Calrec's True Control 2.0, which will be added, and the seamless way we can connect an RP1 for a remote workflow are both really standout features.

"But the biggest advantage to having Calrec across the board is that it keeps everything simple. It means almost any A1 can walk into an audio control room or truck and know how to use it."

RPS said Hypermax-1 has already secured bookings for a broad range of productions including sports events, music festivals, government debates and rodeos.

The installation of the Argo M onto Calrec’s existing IP ImPulse backbone was completed in just two days, enabling the console to go live almost immediately after commissioning.

"The swap was super easy for the Argo M to be integrated into the IP network due to Calrec’s flexibility and powerful ImPulse core options," he said. "Having an existing network and not having to recreate it from scratch was super simple to get up and running and took just two days to commission. Calrec's Rob Lewis and Drew McEachin also helped us work through our unique workflows and supported us to commission everything in such a timely manner that the Argo M was used the day after commissioning for a Versant Basketball game – and it worked like a charm!"

Calrec said the partnership reflects the increasing demand for flexible and scalable remote production models within the broadcast industry.

"Remote and distributed production models already make the most of a production company's resources, but the opportunities it creates are more nuanced," said Calrec Technical Sales Manager Rob Lewis. £The ability to do more with the same flexible equipment enables production companies like RPS to create more content with the same resources.

£It gives broadcasters and production houses the freedom to experiment with content that they might not have had the resources to cover before. And in today's fragmented media landscape, that kind of agility is priceless."

calrec.com