Calrec started out as a microphone manufacturer established in 1964. It is now a leading designer and manufacturer of audio broadcast mixing equipment based in their Nutclough Mill headquarters in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

In 1977, the company supplied the world's first stereo broadcast console, in 1978 they launched the world's first single point-course microphone that could record sound in three-dimensions, and in 1981, they launched the world's first digitally controlled assignable mixing console.