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Mercury Sound & Lighting chooses EAW’s Adaptive technology for DroneArt tour

Mercury Sound & Lighting is the audio production partner for the traveling DroneArt show, produced by Fever - a choreographed performance that combines live music, synchronized drones and immersive sound design at venues around the United States. The show moves from open fields to baseball stadiums and cricket arenas, each with different acoustics, reflective surfaces and audience configurations.

To meet the show’s challenges, Mercury turned to Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW), a brand that founder Dave Johnson has trusted for years. The company is now touring with a full EAW rig, including sixteen Anna Adaptive arrays, four Otto subs and 28 NT206L loudspeakers, 24 of which are active at any given show.

According to Drew Hornback, Project Manager at Mercury Sound & Lighting, the decision to bring EAW’s Adaptive technology on the road was both practical and transformative. “We’ve always had the product. Dave’s always been a big fan”, he explains. “But it hasn’t been until this year that we’re really implementing it to its full extent.” The result has been a level of control Mercury’s clients have never experienced before, including the ability to suppress slap-back off outfield walls one night and manage reflections in a covered cricket ground the next.

Jonathan Ball, the A1 who oversees system deployment and tuning on the tour, sees Adaptive as a gamechanger. The team typically flies eight Anna modules per side, deploying NT206Ls as out-fills or front-fills depending on the venue width. “The more we tweak, the more we build out the file within Resolution, the better results we’re seeing”, says Ball.

While the Anna arrays handle the primary coverage, the NT206Ls play a crucial role in shaping the show’s impact. “The NT206s have a bite to them”, Ball explains. “When you add them in, it gives the system that definition that just drives and hits you in the gut.” Mercury travels with 28 NT206Ls, using 24 at each show and keeping four as spares, giving the team the flexibility to adapt to each venue’s geometry and audience layout.

Four Otto subs, deployed two per side, extend the system’s reach during the show’s most visceral moments. “We have a four-string quartet, so we have a cello player and a viola player that are really hitting down there”, says Ball. 

With additional DroneArt shows in development and Mercury pursuing more long-term touring partnerships, the company expects its EAW inventory to continue playing a central role.

(Photos: EAW)

www.eaw.com

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