Gonshiro strengthens collaboration With Riedel and ARRI

The three companies are working together to address the growing complexity of modern live productions and to develop workflows that connect imaging, communications, and operations within a single production environment.

Gonshiro handles approximately 1,000 live productions each year and is involved in roughly 60% of Japan’s major concerts, spanning music, entertainment, sports, and broadcast events. The company operates 22 ARRI cameras, including 16 ALEXA 35 Live units, among the largest deployments of the camera anywhere – alongside six Riedel Bolero wireless intercom antennas and 15 beltpacks. That scale gives Gonshiro sustained, hands-on experience with both technology platforms in demanding live environments.

“The combination of ARRI and Riedel creates exciting possibilities because cameras, communications, networking, and operations are all part of the same production workflow,” says Yuji Morihara, president and representative director of Gonshiro Co., Ltd. “If we can bring together camera systems, tally, talkback, monitoring environments, and communications into a more integrated environment, the benefits for live production would be absolutely real.”

A central part of the collaboration is the exchange of operational feedback from Gonshiro’s live production work. That input is informing ongoing dialogue between Riedel and ARRI around live-specific development priorities, including camera-to-intercom integration, network-based LUT and settings management across multi-camera deployments, and more compact camera options for tight on-stage positions.

“Our goal has always been to create the best possible images while making it easier for crews to do their jobs,” Morihara adds. “As productions grow more demanding and experienced technical staff become harder to find, simplifying workflows will become increasingly important. We want camera operators to focus on creativity, not infrastructure.”

Gonshiro’s production environment reflects this approach in practice. The company deploys ALEXA 35 Live to bring cinema-grade quality to live entertainment and uses Bolero to connect mobile camera operators, backstage crews, and production staff. A single Bolero beltpack supports up to six channels of send and receive, and centralised management from one system PC lets engineers configure and monitor communications efficiently across large-scale productions, reducing operational complexity.

“Gonshiro operates one of the largest ALEXA 35 Live fleets in the world, and their feedback from live music, sports, and broadcast work is a direct line into how the camera needs to perform outside of a controlled cinema set,” says Michiyo Funayama, sales manager, ARRI. “That input shapes decisions we make for live production going forward.”

“We used a combination of Bolero and MediorNet to solve Gonshiro’s recurring problem: keeping large, distributed crews connected without adding friction to the production,” says Guillaume Mauffrey, director sales Asia, Riedel Communications. “Pairing that expertise with ARRI’s imaging gives us a much more complete answer for live production teams working at this scale.”