Two Soundcraft GB4 Mixing Consoles Find Home Base At The Fengtai Softball Stadium For The Beijing 2008 Summer Games

Managing to connect a thin bat with a small round ball has been an athletic pursuit for a great many centuries, and it will take on new significance when women’s softball teams from around world converge on Beijing to play in the Olympics Softball event. The large stadium complex, which consists of two ball fields and one training field, with a seating capacity of 13,000 will require sound commensurate with its scale.

The sound systems feature two Soundcraft GB4 Series desks at their core. A 32-channel GB4 and a 16-channel GB4 are providing mixing and management for the combined sound systems that comprise of 12 Crown CTs 2000 amplifiers, seven CTs 3000 amplifiers and five Crown CTs 1200 amplifiers driving 64 JBL Application Engineered (AE) Series and Precision Directivity (PD) Series surface-mount loudspeakers with processing by 23 dbx DriveRack 260 processors and two dbx PB48 processors. The GB4 offers a comprehensive array of functions in a small and cost-effective footprint including GB30 mic preamps re-engineered circuit topology and EQ designs, rigid steel chassis and high-quality vertically mounted PCB channel strips. The dual-mode topology allows it to be used for FOH or monitor duties with fader control of group or aux outputs.

The Olympics Softball event takes on special meaning in what will be the last time the sport will be seen as an event in the Summer Olympics, - all the more reason to guarantee great sound for the games there, which will be played starting August 12, culminating with the medal finals on August 21. Eight teams will compete in the Olympic softball tournament in a competition consisting of two rounds.

“The Fengtai Softball Stadium will be an impressive stage for the world’s elite softball players and it’s fitting that the venue for an announcer-heavy pursuit such as softball, features a sound system from the world’s leading professional audio brands,” said Keith Watson, Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Soundcraft Studer. “We are pleased to have such a strong presence at the games and we’re especially pleased that quality sound from Soundcraft and our other companies will contribute to the enjoyment of fans at the 2008 Olympic Games.”

Harman Professional’s Chinese distributor, ACE (Advanced Communication Equipment) provided Soundcraft consoles and other Harman brand product information and regional technical support.

Information about A.C.E. is available at: http://www.acehk.com/eng/

Soundcraft is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com).
Harman International designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets, and maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, employing more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”