Rane Floating on Earth

Hayden Laboratories, the exclusive UK distributor for Rane products, has supplied Rane NM84 network mic preamps to London-based specialist classical recording company Floating Earth. The preamps - part of the CobraNET range of audio products - were specified by Mark Harrison, technical engineer for Floating Earth’s new OB truck. It’s Floating Earth’s first mobile, so they consulted broadcast and high end equipment suppliers HHB about the project, asking them to supply the equipment and systems utilised and after-sales support. Floating Earth then undertook the physical install themselves. The four Rane NM84s were supplied by Hayden to HHB, for whom the project was managed by Steve Angel. The mic preamps go into the venue and sit at the front end of the location recording - each offers eight line inputs. They are linked to QSC CobraNET digital decoders in the truck by a single fibre optic cable. Mark Harrison has followed the development of CobraNET with interest over the last two years. He chose the NM84s because 'they were the right boxes at exactly the right time. They are studio-quality preamps, they have a remote control facility and mate perfectly with the QSC decoders.' He adds that the preamp’s return outputs facility has also proved very useful for talk-back and playback.

Harrison has long been a fan of Rane equipment and remarks on its proven reliability and quality. He’s so impressed with the Rane NM84s that he’s just ordered another two - to give him a total of 48 channels to the truck, and 16 return outputs. The Floating Earth OB truck kicked off its career with some test shows around town, before starting its busy production schedule with an opera for BBC Wales, Trouble In Tahiti, which was recorded at Asylum Studios in Perviale, Middlesex.

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