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labout
us
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Cloudbass
was originally formed for one purpose - to do things a little bit
differently. Started as a collective at the University of Salford
whilst Steve studied his Creative Technology MA, Cloudbass' work
moved to the University of Derby as Steve took up his post as a
Lecturer. With the new found support of the University and a group
of enthusiastic students, Steve set about creating a multimedia
event entitled 'Modulus', along with his creative partner at the
time, Patrick Lauke.
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Right
from the start Modulus did things differently. Throwing away the
idea that the audience and performer should share different spaces,
Modulus was a 6 sided structure of video screens, surround audio
and performance areas. Seeking to completely 'envelope' the audience,
the experience was immersive with no preferred viewing direction
and no one source of sound.
To implement this, Steve and Patrick relied on the talents of the
students, both in terms of engineering and performance, forming
a unique team of people who knew how to forge the creative and technical
aspects of a production. Modulus quickly grew, with an hour long
show put together featuring all of these elements. It was then taken
down to Earls Court as part of the Tomorrow's World (ah, those were
the days) Live Event, where hundreds of people saw the show in a
specially blacked-out 'wigwam' as part of the overall festivities.
Upon arriving back from the Earls Court experience, the team distilled
down to a dedicated few who were to take Cloudbass forward. Long
before the days of companies, invoicing and TV, Cloudbass was a
bunch of skilled innovators just enjoying the process of production,
in whatever form it took.
...and it is that ethos that took Cloudbass forward. Steve, Mike,
James and Andy then formed Cloudbass Limited.
Following on from Steve's freelancing work, the group started work
in TV, initially specialising in Sound but quickly branching out
into EVS/VT and Vision. Mike also undertook graphics work, with
the very first Cloudbass job being a video of a 3D model of a tram
assembling and disassembling, designed for the Tramway Museum in
Crich,Derbyshire. Mike was also responsible for the graphics at
all of the venues at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, establishing
a long held relationship between Cloudbass and sport.
TV soon took hold though and the guys quickly moved into mainstream
TV work working on every conceivable production for all of the major
facilities companies in the UK and beyond. With highlights including
Live8, the Asian Games in Doha, the Football World Cup in Germany,
the Rugby World Cup in France, Touring Cars, LG Action Sports, the
list goes on.
In fact, there are very few situations that the 'main 4' have yet
to see.
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It
is that experience that Cloudbass brings to every single job.
Every crew member that is sent out is backed up by top level experience
in every area, be it one of Cloudbass' staff members or a freelancer
going out on the company's behalf, any client booking crew knows
that the crew member is backed up by a network of experience.
Not only that but Cloudbass has taken on the Manchester United
TV contract in order to provide a unique training ground for its
crew, one which is supported by the client. So if any member of
staff or freelance crew needs to refine their skills in a 'live'
production environment then they can do so in the context of MUTV's
Live Reserves and Academy coverage, all in a way that is supported
by the client and which doesn't compromise the programme output.
In fact, because the top level people are often using the opportunity
to bring people through, the standard of staffing is often much
higher on these OB's.
Cloudbass people are constantly finding homes in the broadcast
industry. The experience that allowed Modulus to happen continues
to be a unique way of bringing people through. By spotting and
developing raw talent, Steve, James, Mike and Andy continue to
provide a level of personnel development that is unmatched in
the rest of the industry. Cloudbass people now form the backbone
in many technical and production situations. Be it the raft of
new EVS ops that Sky Sports find so useful in their football coverage,
to Input Media's MCR operation which is staffed by a large number
of Cloudbass personnel, past and present. Then there is Televideo's
Head of Sound - another Cloudbass developed person.
Far from just creating people, Cloudbass also has other areas
of expertise. With the unique and bespoke knowledge now held within
the company, CB has created the new area of 'Production Logistics'.
Sitting somewhere between Production and Facilities, this new
discipline is where production or facilities companies require
a specialised solution. An example could be a bespoke edit system
that performs perfectly on every single job to a complete OB package
that brings together the right facilities provider for the production
company's needs. Having no desire to build and run its own trucks,
except for the trucks used for training purposes which are not
sold direct to production companies, Cloudbass instead specialises
in using its unique knowledge of the marketplace which is industry
wide to get the best out of any production situation for all concerned.
Having a regular 'live OB' in the form of MUTV also allows Cloudbass
to develop new bespoke technologies ready for release into the
marketplace. Whether it is OB edit systems perfectly integrated
into the Outside Broadcast provision, or tapeless strategies for
production, Cloudbass has the necessary infrastructure to develop
World Class Production Logistics.
Not content with shaking up crewing and logistics, Cloudbass is
also starting to use its knowledge and experience of production
to develop its own production culture. CB productions include
UK:Kit Car, The Road Holding Society and its latest effort, Huw
Stephens Presents..., with Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens bringing his
unrivalled knowledge of new music to TV.
Rather than just trying to make TV in old ways, Cloudbass also
uses its own production opportunities to develop new ways of doing
things - the 'Modulus ethos' is alive and well. With Huw Stephens
Presents, no line cut of the programme was recorded. Instead,
isos of each camera were recorded straight into Apple Macs and
an EDL was created from the vision mixer which then recreated
the line cut in Final Cut Pro. This allowed easy tweaking of the
line cut without the need for ingesting specific timecodes of
iso recordings.
Also, with all the bands playing live, a Sound Mobile would have
normally been needed. Instead, Andy and Steve used their knowledge
of Hard Disk systems to record straight into Logic Pro, creating
a live mix as it went. This had the advantage of providing a mix
for each band that was 'nearly there' on the night but that could
then be tweaked with relative ease by loading up the relevant
Logic file, all cutting down on post production time.
It is just this kind of Research and Development that Cloudbass
can not only use in its own productions, but also can offer to
both Production and Facilities companies alike.
With key founding principles, an emphatic belief in the value
of its people, along with an industry leading cross-section of
experience and a desire to innovate that is at the very core of
what the company is, Cloudbass is set to shake up broadcast and
beyond and truly provide...
'a new approach to broadcast'
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