With Meyer Sound LEO and LYON, Judas Priest FOH Engineer Gets Headroom, Weight Savings, and Clarity

For British metal legends Judas Priest‘s world tour, FOH engineer and production manager Martin Walker has selected LEO-M and LYON linear line array loudspeakers from Meyer Sound’s growing LEO Family of products. With the power and linear response of both products, the crew can easily adapt the system for a wide range of venues, which includes casino showrooms, arenas, large theatres, outdoor amphitheaters, and festivals.

The response of the system is pretty seamless, whether going from main LEO arrays to LYON side arrays, or going from a main LEO hang in an arena to a LYON hang in a theatre,” Walker says. “You turn on the PA and there’s really no difference to worry about. The headroom is there, the weight saving is there, and the clarity and fidelity are there. It’s a great system with either box out front.”

The main and side arrays for the tour are assembled from the tour’s full inventory of 28 LEO-M and 32 LYON loudspeakers and 18 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements. Twelve M’elodie line array loudspeakers are deployed as fills, and a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 AES and six Galileo Callisto 616 array processors handles drive and optimization. For onstage foldback, monitor engineer Brad Johnson mixes the band on 10 MJF-212A stage monitors and side-fill stacks of three JM-1P arrayable loudspeakers and two 700-HP subwoofers per side. The system is supplied by UK-based Major Tom Ltd.

“I try to recreate a total experience of the band,” says Walker, who mixes behind a DiGiCo SD7 digital console. “I want a loud sound with full bandwidth, warmth, and depth, a sound that really brings the band to life. With LEO and LYON, I can realize that, every night.”

Steel Panther opened the North American leg of the tour. Judas Priest’s last world tour in 2011-2012 was supported by a MILO line array loudspeaker system.