For the second year in a row, Georgia’s Savannah Music Festival is an all-Meyer
Sound event, with sound systems reinforcing all five venues for amplified music.
With more than 100 performances scheduled through April 9, this year marks the
debut of Meyer Sound’s LEOPARD™ linear sound reinforcement system at the
festival, providing sound at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts.

LEOPARD was specified for the venue by Chris Evans, the festival’s chief sound
engineer. “LEOPARD really shined for the Pink Martini show,’ reports Evans. “The
band is very dynamic, with pin-drop-quiet classical piano and violin sections
followed by upbeat big band parts. I noticed the detail did not change with the
loudness level. This is what sets LEOAPRD apart—that ability to maintain clarity and
musicality from the softest to the most intense parts of a show.

“During the Irish supergroup The Gloaming’s performance, the first thing I noticed
was the level of detail during the softer passages,’ continues Evans. “The FOH
engineer for the band told me that he didn’t have to use as much EQ to get the
results he wanted compared to other systems.’

The festival’s growing reliance on Meyer Sound has paralleled with its mushrooming
growth. One Meyer Sound system was used in 2010, and the number has advanced
steadily to include all four venues in 2015, with a fifth added this year.

“We present an extraordinarily wide range of musical genres, and with Meyer Sound
we’ve found that we don’t have any limitations whatsoever,’ notes Ryan McMaken,
the festival’s marketing and managing director. “Also, when we advance the shows,
as soon as artists find out it’s a Meyer system, they’re happy with it.’

At the 1,200-seat Lucas Theatre, 16 LEOPARD line array loudspeakers and four 900-
LFC and two 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements support a diverse schedule of
artists that includes Dr. John and the Nite Trippers; Ry Cooder, Sharon White, and
Ricky Skaggs; Andrew Bird; Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings; and the Atlanta
Symphony.

At the festival’s largest venue, the 2,560-seat Johnny Mercer Theater, the system is
anchored by 16 MICA® line array loudspeakers and six 1100-LFC elements. The
semi-enclosed, 700-seat Ships of the Sea shed is covered by 10 M’elodie® line
array loudspeakers, and 16 M’elodie loudspeakers are deployed for the 1,105-seat
Trustees Theater. The intimate, 300-seat Charles H. Morris Center relies on a UPQ-
1P loudspeaker system.

Other Meyer Sound equipment in use includes UPJ-1P and UPJunior™ VariO™
loudspeakers, UPM-1P loudspeakers, 700-HP subwoofers, and Galileo® Callisto™
loudspeaker management systems with Galileo Callisto 616 array and Galileo 616
processors. MJF-212A and UM-1P stage monitors are deployed across the five
venues. As in prior years, all systems are provided by Rock N Road Audio of
Tucker, Ga., with facilitation by Roy Drukenmiller and Robin Gang.

Launched in 1989 and assuming its current name in 2002, the Savannah Music
Festival is the largest musical arts event in Georgia. Other notable acts performing
in 2016 include Dwight Yoakam, Dave Rawlings Machine, Vicente Amigo, Drive-By
Truckers, and Rokia Traore.