FAQ

Straight answers on how we work, what we advise on and what to prepare before getting in touch.

FAQ

Questions we hear often

These are the questions engineers, producers and studio managers ask most before a first conversation. If yours is not here, the contact page is the quickest way to ask.

What kinds of productions do you advise on?: We work with television studios, outside broadcast galleries and live events that are filmed or streamed. Projects range from a single studio refit to the planning of a one-day event. We do not supply or install equipment; we plan, draw and advise.
Do you supply or install the equipment?: No. We produce plans, drawings, schedules and written guidance, and your installers or suppliers carry them out. This keeps our advice independent of any manufacturer and lets you compare quotes against the same specification.
Can you work with our existing studio?: Yes, and many projects begin that way. We start from what you have, note what works and suggest changes in an order that lets you keep broadcasting. Photographs and a rough floor plan are a good starting point.
How do you charge for advice?: Each service has a stated price on our prices page, and larger pieces of work are confirmed in a written quotation before anything begins. The quotation says what is included and what would change the figure.
Do you travel to our site?: We are based in Colchester and visit sites across the UK when a visit helps the work, such as measuring a studio or walking a venue. Travel is discussed and agreed in the quotation, not added afterwards.
What should we send with our first enquiry?: A short description of the space or event, the number of cameras and audio sources, your date or time frame and any drawings you have. Even rough sketches help. We will ask for anything further once we have read your message.
Can you train our crew as well as plan the setup?: Yes. We run half-day and full-day sessions on gallery operation, vision mixing and camera work, usually in your own studio on your own equipment. Sessions are scaled to the size and experience of the crew.
Will you work with our existing technical staff?: Always. Our plans are written so your engineers can follow, question and adjust them. We prefer to leave a team better informed about its own studio than dependent on us to explain it.

How we work

What good advice looks like on paper

We think a plan is only useful if the person who builds it, the person who operates it and the person who pays for it can all read it. That shapes how we write and draw.

Drawings you can use

Floor plans, lighting plots and signal flow diagrams are drawn to be handed straight to an installer or a rigging crew. Every symbol is explained and every cable run is labelled. We avoid shorthand that only we understand. If a drawing needs a conversation to make sense, we redraw it. The aim is that someone who was not in the meeting can still build from it.

Plain written notes

Alongside the drawings we write short notes in ordinary language. They say why a camera sits where it does, why a microphone is placed at a certain height and what to check on the first day. Technical terms are kept where they are needed and explained once. Engineers can read them quickly, and producers can follow the reasoning without a glossary.

Room for your decisions

We offer options with their trade-offs instead of one fixed answer. You may choose a simpler cable route to save on installation, or a more flexible lighting rig to suit changing sets. We set out what each choice means for budget, crew and time on air, and you decide. Our job is to make the decision easier.