Morrison, CO (October 14, 2025) — The iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, known for its unique natural acoustics and breathtaking scenery, recently made history by hosting its first-ever immersive audio event made possible via d&b Soundscape with En-Scene for electronic music artist Mersiv. This groundbreaking collaboration between d&b audiotechnik, Brown Note Productions, and Andrew Kirschman (Audio Engineer for Mersiv and founder of AKA Event Productions) built upon Red Rocks’ existing SL-Series system with the addition of strategically placed V-Series speaker towers to bring unparalleled sonic immersion to every fan in the historic outdoor venue.
Mersiv, a Denver based electronic music producer and DJ, had always dreamed of playing Red Rocks and wanted to do something truly unique for his third time headlining the iconic venue. His artist name, Mersiv, reflects a desire for a “complete mental, physical, and spiritual embrace to the present moment of sound.” He aimed to ensure this philosophy extended to his performance at Red Rocks.
Ryan Knutson, founder of Brown Note Productions, explained that Mersiv’s team approached them with the desire for an immersive audio event at Red Rocks. Matt Brown, Brown Note Audio Technician, elaborated on the artist’s goal: “Just like his name, Mersiv, ‘immersive’ was the catchphrase for what they were going for with this experience. He wanted to provide the same, creative, impactful sonic experience to people in the front row as well as the back row. He wanted to give his fans a club-like experience, but at Red Rocks, which is a massive, 400-foot long, 100-foot high, open-air venue, this would normally be very difficult to achieve.”
Initially, Mersiv’s team considered a custom-built setup, however, Brown Note Productions, advocated to try d&b Soundscape, which had never been deployed at Red Rocks. Knutson noted that basic setup wouldn’t scale to Red Rocks without a processing system to manage timing issues in such a large space.
To demonstrate Soundscape’s capabilities, Brown Note and d&b set up a scaled demonstration system, 13% the size of Red Rocks. They A/B tested content, including some of Mersiv’s own stems, comparing quadraphonic sound to Soundscape. Knutson recalls that Mersiv’s team quickly understanding how innovative the Soundscape solution was and how conducive and responsive it would be for this particular deployment.
Once a Soundscape deployment was decided on, the unique geometry and status of Red Rocks as a National Park presented significant design hurdles. Brown described the core challenge: “Our biggest challenge in designing and deploying the system was the space itself, it’s never had reinforcement in the audience area before, and because Red Rocks is a national park, we had to get prior approval on anything we want to do there.”
d&b’s ArrayCalc simulation software was crucial for design and ultimate approval. Brown stated, “We started with a very detailed model of Red Rocks in ArrayCalc and worked with d&b to help us determine where we could place the loudspeakers to optimize the Soundscape installation and do it in the least invasive way possible,” says Brown. “ArrayCalc is such an impressive tool to overcome design challenges and there was no other way to look at what to expect in this space without ArrayCalc.”
The team also faced strict physical constraints. Knutson explained, “We were approved to place the speaker towers within an 8’x8’ footprint and we had to get the speakers high enough to be functional because Red Rocks has a rapidly elevating rake. We had to design, engineer, and get stamps of approval for a system that would create enough of an impact for the Soundscape deployment. d&b’s V-Series, V8 loudspeakers perfectly met all our requirements.”
Limited on-site rehearsal time at a busy venue like Red Rocks was another hurdle. With the system design approved, Brown Note created another scaled-down version of the system at their facility for six days of artist rehearsals. “We then took our programming and scaled it up to the size of Red Rocks by adjusting our positioning plane within the Soundscape software,” adds Brown. “Soundscape made it easy and this minimized our need for extensive programming time on site.” Employing d&b ArrayProcessing also helped compensate for Red Rocks’ extreme environmental conditions, which include high altitude as well as, humidity and temperature swings, to ensure consistent sound.
For the performance, d&b Soundscape with En-Scene software was used to position sound objects throughout the venue. Brown described its creative application: “We ran Soundscape with En-Scene to place stationary objects across the span of the venue. We set a left/right implementation through each pair of towers so that there was a consistent level experience for everybody.”
The event began with a dramatic activation sequence for each tower, synchronized with lights and lasers, creating a truly immersive opening. Throughout the show, Mersiv took individual audio stems and elements and used En-Scene to move that content around the venue, elevating the audio experience to match the energy of the lighting, video, and lasers surrounding the venue. Brown describes the experience, “Sound moved throughout the venue, whizzing by at different moments during songs. The whole thing was really impactful and this was all made possible with Soundscape.”
The successful deployment was a testament to the long-standing partnership between Brown Note Productions and d&b audiotechnik, dating back to the 2000s. Knutson praised d&b’s unwavering support: “When this opportunity popped up, we reached out to d&b and they supported us every step of the way. They were so great in getting us up to speed and online for our first Soundscape deployment. That’s why we continue to work with d&b audiotechnik—their amazing level of support, consistency, and the relentless engineering they do to make these systems easily deployable.”
The feedback from the show was overwhelmingly positive. Mersiv himself noted, “From the feedback I received from the fans, it seems like they want this to be the new norm for Red Rocks concerts. I think Soundscape could be the future for live concert experiences”
Brown shared a vivid anecdote from set up: “My first impression was that it felt like a great Red Rock show, but then we turned the Soundscape system off for a moment, and it was like ‘holy smokes, this is totally different!’ Soundscape sounds so natural that I almost didn’t realize that it was there until it wasn’t and we brought it back online. I then became hyper-aware of all the little nuances of movement and the spatialization. As an engineer, I’ve never had an experience like that before.” He concluded, “Ultimately, our end goal is creating an experience that is memorable for every person that comes to one of our productions, and I think for this one, we really achieved that goal. I think everybody walked away feeling this was something special that they never experienced before.”
Knutson added, “The results with Mersiv were so good that a month later, we were asked to do it again for Skrillex. Everyone who has heard about the Soundscape show at Red Rocks wants to create a similar experience there.”
About the System Configuration
Brown Note Production’s Red Rocks Soundscape deployment built upon the venue’s standard in-house d&b audiotechnik system. The main system included 8 x GSL8 over 6 x GSL12 with 6 x flown SL-SUB per side, supplemented by 6 x ground SL-SUBs, 4 x Y10P point source loudspeakers as fills, and 2 x V-Series V8 per side as side fills. For the towers in the audience, 6 x V-series arrays (4 x V8 loudspeakers per tower) were deployed, spread from 60 to 290 feet from the stage with a 100-foot elevation change. The system was powered by 34 x D80 amplifiers with ArrayProcessing, and Soundscape with En-Scene software was enabled by the DS100 signal engine . Networking was provided by the DS10 audio network bridge, and controlled using R1 Remote control software.
About d&b audiotechnik.
d&b audiotechnik provides professional audio technology and solutions to accurately transfer passions through high-end quality speech and music reproduction. d&b audiotechnik is internationally regarded as a leading company for sound reinforcement systems in installed and mobile applications, with a reputation for quality of construction, standard of service, system integration principles, and pioneering technological development.
Founded in Germany in 1981, d&b audiotechnik headquarters are located in Backnang, near Stuttgart, where research, development and production take place. With sales offices in major cities around the world, the d&b audiotechnik team numbers more than 600 co-workers. www.dbaudio.com.
d&b audiotechnik is part of d&b group which provides professional audio technology and AVLM solutions to create memorable, multisensorial experiences.
