A studio built around how shows run
glitara is a Brighton consultancy that advises on broadcast technology and studio production for television and live media. We began in 2014 with a simple idea: technical advice is only useful if the crew can apply it on a busy day.
Hannah Whitfield founded glitara after years in television studio engineering. She had seen good equipment let down by unclear signal paths, and capable crews slowed by layouts nobody had planned for. The company grew from the wish to deal with those causes directly.
Today we are a small team covering the four areas that decide how a programme looks and sounds: cameras, lighting, audio and the control room. Each of us works in one of these fields, and we meet on every project so that decisions in one area do not create problems in another.
We write things down. Plans, schedules, procedures and review findings are delivered as documents that your own people can read, question and keep. A producer should be able to follow them as easily as an engineer, and a new operator should be able to pick them up months later.
We also publish practical guides on the same subjects we advise on. They come from questions clients ask us repeatedly, and they are meant to be useful to anyone running a studio or live production, whether or not they ever work with us.
Our work is based in Brighton, but the studios and venues we advise are not limited to the town. The method stays the same wherever we are: understand the room and the crew, design something sensible, and explain it plainly.
A good technical plan is one the crew can run at the end of a long day. If it only makes sense to the person who drew it, it is not finished yet.
Hannah Whitfield, Founder and Lead Consultant
What guides the work on every project
Studio and live production leave little room for guesswork. A cable run, a lighting angle or a delay setting can decide whether a programme goes out cleanly. These principles shape how we advise, how we write and how we deal with the people who rely on our recommendations.
Clarity
Clarity means that every drawing, schedule and procedure can be read by the people who must use it. We avoid jargon where a plain word will do, label signal paths fully, and explain why a choice was made so that a producer and an engineer can both follow it.
Reliability
Reliability means advice that holds up when a show is live and nobody has time to improvise. We favour arrangements that are simple to operate and easy to fault-find, and we tell clients plainly where a plan carries a risk they should plan around.
Craft
Craft means attention to the detail that audiences never notice when it is right: consistent colour on camera, sound that lands with the picture, a gallery that runs without shouting. Each specialist on the team works to the standard they would want from a colleague.
How experience shaped the way we work
Our method was not drawn up in an office. It grew from studio floors, galleries and live venues, and from the mistakes that busy productions make when planning is rushed. Each part of the approach below answers a problem we kept meeting, and clients still benefit from it on every job.
Founded2014
glitaraToday2026
Starting from the studio floor
Hannah began in studio engineering, where equipment choices were often made without anyone considering the daily routine of the crew. That experience is why we begin every project by seeing how the room is actually used, not just reading its specification.
Bringing the specialists together
As the company grew, lighting, audio and control room specialists joined the camera work. Early projects showed that a good lighting plot could be undone by a camera layout, so the team now reviews each design together before it reaches you.
Writing everything down
Clients told us that verbal advice faded once we left. We moved to written plans, schedules and procedures that a crew can follow independently, and that habit has become the clearest mark of how we deliver work.
Sharing what we learn
Questions from clients repeat across studios, so we began publishing practical guides on cameras, lighting, audio sync and gallery practice. Writing them keeps our own methods honest, and readers can use them whether or not they hire us.
The teams and venues we usually advise
Our clients are the people responsible for getting a programme made and out on time. Some run a permanent studio, others set up for a single live event. What they share is a need for technical decisions that are clear, documented and realistic for the crew they have.
Television studio managers
Managers responsible for a permanent studio who need camera layouts, lighting plots and control room procedures that stay consistent from one production to the next.
Producers of live programmes
Producers who depend on a live show running smoothly and want a written review of workflow, with recommendations ranked by what matters most before the next broadcast.
Live event and venue teams
Teams filming or streaming staged events who need camera positions, stage lighting and audio paths planned around an existing venue rather than a purpose-built studio.
Gallery and vision mixing crews
Operators and supervisors who want clearer layouts, signal routing and written procedures, so that handovers between crews on busy shows are less prone to error.
Audio and sound teams
Sound crews dealing with embedded audio, delay compensation and mixing set-ups, where keeping sound and picture aligned across live and recorded output is the main concern.
Independent production companies
Smaller companies building or upgrading a studio who need practical specifications to give suppliers, so that quotes can be compared and the final room suits how they work.
Bring us the part of your show that is hardest
Write to us through the contact page with a few lines about your studio or production. We will reply with questions or a written quotation, and nothing proceeds until you agree.
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