A hard-driving rock quartet formed by members of the legendary group Telephone, Les Insus is touring major arenas throughout France with its Leo Family rig throughout the year.
"I was able to choose any system I wanted for this tour, and Leo was an obvious choice," says Bob Coke, FOH engineer for Les Insus. "It has a very coherent and powerful signature in the lower frequencies, and a sweet high end. The generous and precise low-mids translate a potent, physical musical experience to the audience. Even when playing relatively quiet, LEO still sounds energetic.
"The system is really in-your-face in a non-aggressive, dynamic way, regardless of the distance from the source," continues Coke. "There have been numerous references in the press to how good the concerts sound, even in some acoustically poor, extremely reverberant rooms."
Coke also credits assistants Aymeric Sorriaux and Wilfried Mautret for their valuable contributions to the sonic success of the tour.
Danish pop sensation Christopher recently wrapped a tour of Danish arenas with support from a Lyon linear sound reinforcement system.
"It was a great experience," reports Dave M°rup, FOH engineer for Christopher. "Lyon was by far the most accurate PA system I've worked on. As a music producer, I'm used to working on studio monitors, and this is the first live system that gives me that same feeling of control. I can hear the difference on every little tweak, and I have a new sense of depth in the mix.
"I was also really surprised that I could get the same amount of energy from this system at 98 or 99 dB as I would from others at 102 dB," continues M°rup. "I didn't need to play any louder, as I had plenty of punch and definition."
The Christopher tour system comprised main arrays of 20 Lyon-M linear line array loudspeakers, while main arrays for the last two shows comprised 16 LEO-M line array loudspeakers to handle larger venues. The balance of the system included four Lyon-W wide-coverage loudspeakers, eight 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements, six JM-1P arrayable loudspeakers, and six UPA-1P loudspeakers. The system was supplied by Denmark-based Victory Tour Production.
Les Insus relies on a system with front-hangs of 12 Leo-M over two Lyon-W loudspeakers each in addition to 30 1100-LFC elements, 20 Lyon-M loudspeakers for out-fill, and 16 Leopard line array loudspeakers for in-fill. Eight UPJ-1P VariO and six UPQ-1P loudspeakers provide front and near-fills, respectively. On-stage side-fills are six Lyon-M loudspeakers and four 900-LFC low frequency control elements. All loudspeakers are provided by Paris-based Best Audio. Both tours rely on a Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system for system drive and optimization.
(Jim Evans)
