Summa schools broadcast students at Chabot College

"Eighteen months later, the Summa has made a huge difference in our ability to properly prepare our broadcast students for their pro careers," said Sujoy K. Sarkar, general manager of Comcast 27 Chabot TV, the campus TV station. "The students love the fact that they'll be able to go right to their first jobs with more professional experience than many of their peers from other schools. In fact, graduates from other programs often come here to do internships because our facility is so cutting-edge.

"This latest upgrade keeps the Summa at the forefront of audio-mixing technology, which means we can broaden our curriculum even further and give our students even more opportunities to gain video- and audio-production experience. And another plus of having professional, industry-standard equipment is that we're on a stronger competitive footing for renting our facilities to outside productions."

At Chabot College, the 32-fader Summa console is used by broadcast students to mix audio for the TV station's entire lineup of live and recorded programs, and for hands-on training in mass communications classes. The college works in close cooperation with KPIX, the San Francisco CBS affiliate station, which also uses a Summa in its operation and provides one of its audio engineers as a part-time consultant to help students train on the console.

The upgrade to version 7.0 of the Summa software makes more efficient use of the college's TriCaster 8000 video-production system and gives students greater control over audio content, since the audio comes into the Summa first and then is passed to the TriCaster. Also, version 7.0's IoS control features mean that the mass communications instructor will be able to operate and control the Summa using an iPad. Expanded audio-over-IP capabilities make for another valuable improvement, since the college is considering using Dante for moving uncompressed audio over a standard Ethernet network.

"Chabot College's ongoing investment in advanced broadcast technologies — including the Summa — shows that the school understands the tremendous importance of giving students relevant hands-on experience," said Dave Lewty, U.S. regional sales manager, Calrec Audio. "Thanks to this commitment, Chabot College has become an outstanding role model for top media companies that are investing in higher education to address the industry's acute shortage of qualified engineers."

College installations for Calrec in the U.S. include Chapman University, University of Missouri, New England School of Communications (NESCom), and WPSU, a PBS station out of Penn State's campus.