JBL
PROFESSIONAL’S VERTEC® LINE
ARRAYS ANNOINTED BY AUDIO ANALYSTS FOR
HUGE EASTER CELEBRATION |
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| NORTHRIDGE, CALIFORNIA, April 21, 2004 — Reinforcing the consistent performance and road-tested versatility of JBL Professional’s VERTEC® Line Arrays, leading event sound provider Audio Analysts recently implemented the system for one of the world’s largest Easter celebrations. Sponsored by Lakewood Church in Houston, the celebration had to be held in a very large space due to the size of the congregation. In excess of 34,000 people were in attendance for this year’s live event, which included music, sermons and other production elements. Thousands more received recordings and later saw it on a televised broadcast. The church is in the process of purchasing and renovating the former Compaq Center in Houston and turning it into a global ministry headquarters to be called the International Center. Since the project wasn’t complete in time for Easter 2004, this year’s event took place at the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park.
While the church has turned to Audio Analysts, based in Colorado Springs, to meet their audio system design needs for the new International Center, Lakewood’s technical staff also asked them to produce the event at Minute Maid Park. The event was diverse and demanding, not only in the program content, but also in the logistics of load-in and tear down. There were performances by a 400-voice choir, and a separate praise band with electric instruments and drums and six backup singers. In addition, there were spoken word portions of the program for various sermons and what the church calls “the Message.” A mix of handheld, wireless and lavalier mics were required. Veteran soundmixer John Cooper, known for his work with The Judds, Wynona and most recently Bruce Springsteen, was tasked with helping to ensure audio quality for the complex live production. According to Albert Leccese, Vice President of Engineering at Audio Analysts, the challenging nature of both the sound reinforcement and the logistics drove their equipment decision to a multiple array system of JBL VT4889 full range cabinets with VT4880 subwoofers. “The VERTEC’s came in very handy on a project like this,” Leccese insisted. “They are universally acknowledged to be the easiest large systems to set up, which they were for us, and they sound great too. Our main goal was making sure Pastor Joel Osteen’s message could be heard clearly throughout the seating area, by all attendees. The flexibility of being able to array the VERTEC system inside 60 ft. towers, along with using the VERTEC Line Array Calculator to simulate and arrive at the proper intercabinet angles, array height, and array angle allowed us to achieve our goal.”
Given the advanced acoustical technology designed into the VERTEC Line Array systems, it was reasonable to anticipate outstanding sonic results, but putting together four separate towers of 16 VT4889’s each, along with two floor arrays of 16 VT4880 subs for a total of 96 cabinets in a matter of hours, meant they had to be easy to set up. And they were. “Because of the ease of setup of the VERTECs we were able to load in on Friday at 10am and have the system fully operational by 7pm,” explained Leccesse. “Saturday afternoon was rehearsal, and run-throughs with a test recording session. The event was Sunday from 10am to 12:30pm, and we were out that same evening.” Because the celebration took place during the Major League Baseball season, Audio Analysts had to load in the system and configure it all while accommodating the team’s requirements: be extra careful with the grass; keep the baselines in good shape; and placement of towers had to be accomplished without any alteration or damage to existing structures or surfaces. Leccese describes the system used for Lakewood’s Easter celebration as an integrated package of professional tools that helped Audio Analysts realize their goals for the event. “We had 96 VERTEC cabinets all powered by Crown MA 50002 IQ-controlled amplifiers and driven by BSS OmniDrive 366 digital system controllers,” said Leccese. “The VERTECs really helped because they went up fast, sounded great and, most importantly, the client liked it.” In fact, Audio Analysts had previously offered an evaluation of different competitive systems to this same client who liked the sound so much, they not only chose JBL VERTEC for this live Easter event, but also as the speakers to be installed permanently in their new International Center. “We are very pleased that JBL’s VERTEC Line Arrays were chosen by Audio Analysts and Lakewood Church for such a demanding event,” said David Scheirman, Tour Sound Director for JBL Professional. “The ease of use in assembling complex arrays for such a major special event, and the satisfaction expressed by Audio Analysts’ client, show that VERTEC products are fully delivering on their promise when in the hands of professionals like these.” The VERTEC VT4889 was the first in a growing family of VERTEC
Line Array products that now include the VT4880 and VT4881 subwoofers
along with midsize and compact line array elements. The enclosures
can be mixed and matched to accommodate nearly any type of special
event or entertainment sound reinforcement application. ABOUT JBL
PROFESSIONAL ### |
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Copyright © 2004 JBL Professional. |
