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Mersiv on How His Upcoming Red Rocks Headline Presents "A New Way to Listen to Live Music"

Thursday, 3 April 2025 05:33

A Q&A with Mersiv and AKA Event Productions' Andrew Kirschman ahead of their groundbreaking "Audiosphere" production at Red Rocks.

Beloved DJ and dubstep producer Mersiv is returning to Colorado's legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre for his third headline show on April 4th. But this time around, innovation is also taking center stage.

Dubbed "Attack on Mars," the show's lineup promises a night of blistering bass through supporting performances from Seth David, Zen Selekta, Lumasi, Mr. Carmack and EDM.com Class of 2025 star ALLEYCVT. Factor in eight speakers placed strategically around the crowd for an immersive listening experience, and the result is an inevitably unforgettable night.

Already carried out successfully at Mersiv's performance at The Caverns in Tennessee last year, the "Audiosphere" experience refers to those speakers' placement around the crowd as well as their ability to manipulate different elements of the music as it plays. The production is the "first of its kind," according to Mersiv and AKA Event Productions' Andrew Kirschman.

And with anticipation already simmering for the "Audiosphere," it was effectively brought it to a boil when Denver residents started spotting mysterious posters on the city's streets containing Mersive's unmistakable swirl logo, the number 444 and a message: "New album live at Red Rocks 4.4.25."

We caught up with Mersiv and Kirschman to discuss the ambitious "Audiosphere" experience and what fans can expect at the show.

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EDM.com: When did you realize that the Audiosphere experience could happen for your Attack on Mars Red Rocks show, and what changed in your set preparation (musically, visually, or otherwise) after putting the plan into action? How is it similar and/or different to the Audiosphere experience at The Caverns?

Mersiv: Once we pulled it off at the Caverns, we knew it would be achievable on a larger scale—we just didn’t know where yet. And when the idea came about to do it at Red Rocks, we got so excited and started chipping away at what was possible and what wasn’t, until we ended up with the version of it that we will be deploying on April 4th. It’s different from the Caverns in many ways due to the nature and layout of Red Rocks itself, but the concept and experience will be very similar in essence.

EDM.com: Your fans on social medias know how much you appreciate a 360 set—how does the idea of a sort of spherical experience contribute to your project and creative process?

Mersiv: It’s just so much different than anything we’ve done before, and so much different from anything than any artists have done in the live space before. It’s more engaging for the fans, and a new way to listen to live music.

EDM.com: How do you anticipate the innovative "Audiosphere" to elevate and deliver your sound? How do you want it to impact the Mersiv Sound Project as a whole?

Mersiv: What we are aiming to do has not only never been done at Red Rocks, but will also be the first Mersiv set of its kind. I don’t want to give too much away, but we’re really excited to share something we have put countless hours and days into developing for the next chapter of the Mersiv Sound Project.

EDM.com: In your opinion, how does the Audiosphere experience differ from and rise above the traditional sound dispersion at Red Rocks?

Andrew Kirschman: The Audiosphere, specifically for this event, is all about additional coverage. While there will certainly be key moments where sound will travel freely up and down, left and right, for a special listening experience, the main goal is to increase coverage in the audience area to create a more even listening experience for the patrons, regardless of where they are located in the amphitheatre.

View the original article to see embedded media.

EDM.com: What challenges do you face in creating this dynamic sound experience in an open-air venue as opposed to a contained venue like The Caverns? Is any fullness of sound lost to the wind, or do you anticipate that the rocks will amplify the effect?

Andrew Kirschman: Compared to the debut of this project at The Caverns, the biggest change is just the sheer size of the audience area. Without the use of cutting edge processing for object based mixing (in this case D&B Audiotechnik’s “Soundscape”) the listening experience would be substantially impacted with different arrival times of multiple sources for the listener.

Additionally, care has been put into ensuring that every listening position maintains some baseline of all sounds, regardless of their automation. Say a specific sound comes out of the arrays at the top of the amphitheatre, the person on the front row wouldn’t be able to hear it. To mitigate this, time has been spent to ensure that even if something may pan hard in one direction, it still has a baseline level emitting from all sources, so that content isn’t lost based on your location.

EDM.com: How do you hope this project will leave its mark on Red Rocks and the broader respective scenes of music and sound design moving forward?

Andrew Kirschman: This particular project, and our mission at AKA Event Productions in general, has been to add a new tool for creativity for the artist to express themselves. Doing this not only breathes new life into songs that may already be fan-favorites, but it also elevates the listening experience for everyone in the crowd.

This win-win scenario hopefully stimulates new ideas, inspiration and allows artists new avenues to express their creativity by adding a new layer in which they can consider their art to be represented. 

Follow Mersiv:

X: x.com/mersivsound
Instagram: instagram.com/mersivsoundproject
TikTok: tiktok.com/@mersivsound
Facebook: facebook.com/mersivsoundproject
Spotify: spoti.fi/3g72tXg

Follow AKA Event Productions:

X: x.com/akaeventpros
Instagram: instagram.com/akaeventproductions
Facebook: facebook.com/akaeventproductions

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