Super Bowl LVIII: For the First Time, Game and Halftime Show Will Deploy the Same Sound System The sound will be bigger and bassier than ever By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Friday, February 9, 2024 - 9:59 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
When Super Bowl LVIII kicks off on Sunday (broadcast on CBS, streamed on Paramount+, Slimed on Nickelodeon), viewers at home and fans in the stands will hear the game's sound through the same PA system that will amplify eight-time Grammy Award-winner Usher's halftime performance. It's the first time the same temporarily installed music PA system will be used as the sound for both the game's play and the entertainment performances.
ATK Audiotek, acquired by Clair Global in 2021, has designed and managed the halftime show's sound system for 26 years, usually rolling onto the field a separate music-PA system loaded on eight carts. This dedicated system would also be connected to the venue's installed PA system, which would be used as delay speakers to cover the upper reaches of seating, becoming an extension of the temporary music system for entertainment applications.
Multiple-Grammy winner Usher says he has been preparing for his Super Bowl Halftime Show moment for 30 years.
Last year, however, the roll-out grass field at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ, prevented use of the carts: it couldn't be moved fast enough to accommodate the quick change necessary to assemble the performance stage midfield. For the first time, then, ATK had to fly the music system, but it still adhered to the practice of connecting with the stadium's existing installed sound system for delay speakers.
This year, Allegiant Stadium has the same kind of roll-out field, again preventing the use of speakers on carts. In this case, though, ATK will fly an entirely new temporary L-Acoustics K2 system, and it will be used for both the halftime music show and the game's announcements and other sound elements.
We're flying the entire PA again, except this year we're not augmenting the house system, says Kirk Powell, engineer in chief, ATK, who is working his 22nd Super Bowl production. Last year, we augmented what already existed; we just added clusters to the existing system. This year, we flew a completely separate PA system for the first time.
The existing house PA, a JBL VLA system, will be available for emergency paging needs, he adds.
Implementing the temporary sound system had its own challenges, due largely to Allegiant Stadium's roofing, which is made of thin ETFE material. It's a cable-type ceiling, so you're limited in where you can put clusters and things of that nature, Powell explains, adding, The rigging and cable management was also a challenge, as was amplifier placement.
Hip-Hop Takeover Continues In the fourth year of the NFL's multi-year deal with rap mogul Jay-Z and his Roc Nation production company, Usher's show at Allegiant follows Rihanna's appearance at State Farm Stadium; the 2021 show at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa featuring The Weeknd; the 2022 show with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem; and the 2020 appearances of Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, with guest appearances by Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Emme Mu iz at Miami Gardens (a show that earned a Primetime Emmy and four nominations).
As the line-ups suggest, the shows have provided for progressively larger numbers of subwoofers to accommodate the bass-heavy rap and hip-hop genres. That includes 16 L-Acoustics K1 extended-low-frequency boxes and 48 KS28 subs all flown, buttressed by a complement of 16 Clair Cohesion 218 subs on the field. They'll join a system comprising 212 K2 boxes flown from the roof rigging and managed by System Engineer Chris Daniels. Signal distribution will be over a Dante network using Focusrite RedNet D64, D16R, and A16R interfaces. Shure Axient Digital will be the main wireless-microphone system on the field, managed by Cameron Stuckey, RF engineer, Professional Wireless Services.
Quick Switch From Game to Music Although the system is larger than last year's, mainly on the low end, the fact that it will already be in place will help smooth the switch to music for the halftime show. However, it still requires a team of 100-plus temporary audio-team workers to make the system transitions precise. The team will be supporting the core ATK team of Powell, show mixers Alex Guessard and Dave Natale working on a pair of DiGiCo Quantum338 consoles, monitor mixer Tom Pesa on an SD5, and game-sound mixer Jack Bowling on the stadium's installed Yamaha PM3 desk. All are Super Bowl Halftime Show veterans.
The sound system got its first use at Monday's Opening Night event at the stadium, Powell says, where hundreds of media folks interviewed Super Bowl players and coaches in their only public appearance in Las Vegas before Super Bowl Sunday. It was also the only time the two teams would be together in one location prior to taking the field for the Big Game.
He notes that deployment of the NFL OnePass app will allow fans in the stands to tune into any of the dozen podiums in simultaneous use on the field, even as only one of the podiums at any given time could be pumped through the PA system: That's just one more cool way that sound is being used for the Super Bowl. It's another way that fans are engaged.
And viewers can expect a rather sharp halftime show by a performer who's in the middle of his second Las Vegas residency, who says he has studied what has become the ultimate gig in the ongoing convergence between sports and entertainment.
I've watched every performer, analyzing how they maximized those 12 minutes, Usher told Billboard this week, citing Michael Jackson's 1993 performance as the halftime show's inflection
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
Super Bowl LVIII: For the First Time, Game and Halftime Show Will Deploy the Same Sound System The sound will be bigger and bassier than ever By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
