The Pepsi Center in downtown Denver opened its doors to Democrat convention-goers on 25 August and hosted key speeches by Senator Ted Kennedy, Michelle Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and other party stalwarts including Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Joe Biden. The convention concluded on 28 August with an acceptance speech by Senator Obama at Denver's Invesco Field and featured live performances by Steve Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Will.i.am accompanied by John Legend, and the Agape Choir, Sheryl Crow and Michael McDonald. The stadium swelled to an 85,000-person capacity with much of the infield used for temporary seating.
Event sound designer and chief engineer Pat Baltzell of Baltzell Audio Design specified 82 JBL Vertec VT4889 large-format line array loudspeakers, eight VT4880A arrayable subwoofers and 68 VT4887 compact line array loudspeakers set up in distributed fill-arrays for the Pepsi Center sound system.
ATK Audiotek deployed 22 channels of bi-amped amplification with Crown Micro-Tech 1200 on the high frequency drivers, Macro-Tech 3600 for low frequency drivers. The portable system for Invesco Field comprised 76 VT4889 full-size line array elements and 12 JBL VT4880A arrayable subwoofers in sports-venue perimeter configuration along with 32 JBL VT4888 midsize line array elements for delay-tower applications powered by three racks of Crown I-Tech IT8000 amplifiers.
All monitors for the Invesco Field performances were powered by 20 channels of Crown Micro-Tech 1200 and Macro-Tech 3600. An additional battery of Crown I-Tech IT4000 amplifiers powered JBL Professional VRX928 compact line array elements for fill applications throughout the stadium.
Mike Stahl, president of ATK Audiotek says: "From the Grammys to the Emmys to the Academy Awards, ATK Audiotek's business is dedicated to providing excellent, highly reliable sound performance coupled with world-class customer service for the most prestigious events in the United States entertainment, sporting and political calendar. For these once-in-a-lifetime special events we cannot afford to miss a spoken word, a musical note or any subtle inflection, which is why we work with the sound components and the people from Harman Professional."
Michael MacDonald, executive vice-president of marketing & sales at Harman Professional, adds: "Working with top professionals like Mike Stahl and Scott Harmala at ATK Audiotek, along with leading event sound designers such as Pat Baltzell, we are honoured and pleased to have our sound system technologies deployed in the most demanding and prestigious applications like the Democratic National Convention."
(Jim Evans)
