Henry Engineering Talent Pod – Microphone/Headphone IFB Controller Henry Engineering

The Talent Pod is an announcer’s mic and headphone controller for use by talent at a remote broadcast. It is ideal for use at sporting events and on-location broadcasts. Talent Pod solves the problem of providing talent with a mix of Local and Return (IFB or “back- haul”) audio for their headphones. Its simplicity allows for error-free use by non-technical users; several units can be quickly linked for use at broadcasts with multiple announcers.

The Talent Pod provides the announcer a convenient way to turn his mic on and off and control his headphone audio. There is a large illuminated Mic On/Off button and also a Cough button which momentarily mutes mic audio. The mic control functions are compatible with any professional dynamic or condenser microphone.

The Talent Pod also provides control of the announcer’s headphone audio, allowing remote-site Local audio to be mixed with the Return audio that’s sent to the site from the main studio. There are separate inputs for Local and Return audio with a Volume control for each source, so the talent can adjust the mix in his headphones. To minimize confusion between the two, Talent Pod’s two Pan switches can independently position Local and Return audio in the Left, Center, or Right channel of the announcer’s headphones.

For broadcasts with multiple announcers, several Talent Pods can be used so that each announcer can control his own mic, headphone volume, mix, and pan settings. Multiple Talent Pods can be quickly linked with cat5 cables, distributing Power, Local and Return headphone audio to all units and eliminating the need for multiple power sources, DAs and complicated wiring. Talent Pods can be used by themselves or integrated with Henry Engineering’s MultiPhones system or SixMix USB Audio Console. A MultiPhones Master unit or SixMix will provide power and audio to the Talent Pod(s).

The Talent Pod also includes a mic preamplifier, which can be used to add an additional mic input to a mixer or used with a codec that has no microphone input and/or monitor jack. The LOCal button (on rear) allows the output of the mic preamp to be used for local monitoring (via the Local volume control) when doing a “single-mic” broadcast without a mixer. If the Local audio source is stereo (instead of mono Local and Return), the MODE button can select Stereo operation, with both headphone channels controlled by the Local Volume control.

Talent Pods can be powered with an external wall transformer; one transformer will power several units linked with cat5 cables. If used with a MultiPhones Master unit or SixMix USB Console, the transformer is not required. Talent Pod is 1/3 rack width, and can be rack mounted using the optional Rack Shelf. It can also be wall or cabinet mounted using optional wall/cabinet mounting brackets.