"My first reaction to Leo is that I was working in front of a system unlike any other," says Fabrizio Piazzini, FOH engineer for international EDM superstar Calvin Harris. "It has precision, clarity and punch - and all of those elements are redefined by these loudspeakers. Also, the headroom is incredible - I don't think I hit the limiters on any component. The sound was very relaxed, even at high SPLs."
Piazzini has found that mixing on Leo affords him new creative freedom. "I find that I need to do far less to my input channels. I just place a great mic and a filter, and I'm 99 percent there. No need to apply crazy EQs, and compression is also backed off quite a bit. And with so much headroom, it's great to let my mixes be dynamic and breathe organically."
Piazzini was also struck by the output of the 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements in a low end-heavy EDM setting. "It's an outstanding box. You don't need many to achieve a huge sound. The polar pattern was extremely well-behaved, beaming only into the needed area with incredible SPL, even at 100m."
Decorated with a giant, blinking owl head, the main stage featured a system comprising four hangs of 10 Leo-M and two Lyon line array loudspeakers each, 32 1100-LFC elements, 16 Mica line array loudspeakers for front-fill. A Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with one Galileo Callisto 616 AES and four Galileo Callisto 616 array processors provided system drive and optimization. All components were supplied by Montreal-based Solotech, with system design by David Brazeau.
(Jim Evans)
