LEO is perfect for what we do. You can feel the drums and the guitars, and the bass guitar has never sounded better.”
Robert TaylorFOH Engineer, Skillet
A cornerstone of White House, Tenn.-based Blackhawk Audio‘s inventory, the Meyer Sound LEO linear large-scale sound reinforcement system is staying busy this spring season. Now supporting Christian hard-rock band Skillet‘s tour with rappers TobyMac and Lecrae, the LEO system gives the Blackhawk crew and FOH engineer Robert Taylor the tool to deliver an exceptional live experience show after show in amphitheatres across North America.
“LEO is perfect for what we do,” says Robert Taylor, FOH engineer for the Skillet tour. “You can feel the drums and the guitars, and the bass guitar has never sounded better.”
The standard configuration for the tour is 16 LEO-M line array loudspeakers per side, with two MICA line array loudspeakers per side used for down fill. Out-fill arrays consist of up to 10 MICA loudspeakers each, and 16 1100‑LFC low-frequency control elements supply low-end reinforcement. The tour also carries four 700-HP subwoofers and four JM‑1P arrayable loudspeakers for side fill. A Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 and four Galileo Callisto 616 array processors handles zoning, drive, and alignment.
For Taylor, who first mixed on LEO when Skillet played a festival last year, the new system has been a welcome new foundation for the band’s shows. “When we first fired up this rig and started line-checking, people were walking around with huge grins on their faces,” he recalls. “The sound is big, full, and in-your-face, but never harsh. The subs get down really low, under 40 cycles with no problem, but they stay musical while they’re doing it.”
An Avid SC48 console is chosen for both FOH and monitoring mixing. The tour is also carrying Shure UHF-R wireless microphone systems and IEMs for Skillet, with additional Sennheiser G3 systems for opening acts. Scotty Rock is the tour production manager, and Ted Daniels of Blackhawk Audio is system tech.
Jamie Nixon, director of touring and marketing for Blackhawk Audio, finds LEO to be a perfect match. “Skillet puts on a very high energy show, and the LEO system finishes the way it starts—with a full wall of sound.”