Mercer Aplin
Medea — vivid green and purple stage with band and projected face

Sound Designer · Mixing Engineer · AV Consultant

Making theaters sound alive.

Fifteen years designing, mixing, and specifying audio systems for the stage — from 150-seat studios to Expo 2020's Al Wasl Plaza.

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Mercer Aplin at the front-of-house mix position

Mercer Aplin — Lafayette, IN

About Me

I'm a theatrical sound designer and mixing engineer based in Lafayette, Indiana. I teach Audio Technology at Purdue University and lead AV system design work through my consulting practice, Sound-Power.

Past lives include Senior AV Consultant at Threshold Acoustics (150+ projects across the US, UK, UAE, and Canada), Staff Audio Engineer at Baltimore Center Stage, and Head Audio Engineer at Theatre Aspen — where I mixed three musicals and a play in repertory each summer at ten shows a week.

When I'm not in a theater or classroom, I'm building tools that make production life easier — from scheduling software to field notes on off-grid systems.

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  • RENT
    Sound Designer
    Montgomery College
    dir. David Gram
    RENT at Montgomery College — the scaffold and street set under a blue wash during tech
    RENT at Montgomery College — view over the FOH console and QLab rig toward the lit stage during tech
  • Legally Blonde: The Musical
    Sound Designer
    Michigan State University
    full band, wireless orchestra pit and cast RF package
    Legally Blonde — wide view of the pink Delta Nu set from the production desk
    Legally Blonde — the illuminated 'Elle Woods' marquee sign above the doors
    Legally Blonde — the company mid-number on the pink turntable
    Legally Blonde — FOH console with racks of wireless receivers glowing green
    Legally Blonde — drum kit inside an acrylic isolation booth in the pit
    Legally Blonde — close mic'd kit with overheads rigged in the pit
    Legally Blonde — pit sub-snake and direct boxes patched backstage
  • Spring Awakening
    Sound Designer
    Purdue University
    dir. Kristine Holtvedt · MFA Terminal Project
    Spring Awakening — full company under the tree backdrop
    Spring Awakening — 'Totally Fucked' mid-jump on chairs
    Spring Awakening — Moritz at the mic with pistol raised
    Spring Awakening — Wendla, Melchior and Moritz in haze and blue light
    Spring Awakening — Wendla in bloomers with Melchior upstage
    Spring Awakening — girls around Melchior at the table
    Spring Awakening — company silhouetted against the magenta backdrop
    Spring Awakening — amp racks and backline, Purdue
    Spring Awakening — FOH mix position with band onstage
    Spring Awakening — onstage band monitor world
    Spring Awakening — FOH console under the marquee
    Spring Awakening — amp and DSP racks, backstage
  • Medea
    Sound Designer
    Purdue University
    dir. Mike Lenz · USITT Robert E. Cohen Award
    Medea — figure atop a pedestal framed by shredded blue curtains with band below
    Medea — road cases during load-in backstage
    Medea — load-in view of the set from the house
    Medea — wide view of the shredded-curtain set from the house
    Medea — solo guitarist in a spotlight against draped curtains
    Medea — band framed by shredded curtains in deep red backstage light
    Medea — FOH console foreground with guitarist onstage
    Medea — FOH mix position looking at the shredded-curtain set with onstage band
    Medea — lighting and audio consoles with performer onstage
    Medea — onstage POV of the band mid-performance
    Medea — FOH POV of the band under purple and red wash
    Medea — full band onstage under green and blue lighting
    Medea — mix engineer at the FOH console mid-show, stage in view
    Medea — vivid green and purple stage with band and projected face
    Medea — hands on the FOH console mid-show in stage light
    Medea — onstage band rehearsal, wide from the house
  • The Understudy
    Sound Designer
    Purdue University
    dir. Richard Sullivan Lee
    The Understudy — view from the tech table during rehearsal, laptop running cues in front of the painted set
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — QLab cue list at the production desk with the scene running onstage
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — Jake demonstrating a scene across the desk from Harry
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — Harry and Jake trading lines at the writing desk with the castle drop behind
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — Harry seated on the desk mid-monologue under a rain-streaked window
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — Roxanne on headset consoling Harry downstage
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — Jake in overcoat with a pistol in the Kafka scene, deep blue wash
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Understudy — actor engulfed in fog beneath the projected castle
    © Mercer Aplin
  • Sunday In The Park With George
    Sound Designer
    UW–Stevens Point
    dir. Tim Howard
  • Floyd Collins
    Sound Designer / FOH
    UW–Stevens Point
    dir. Tim Howard · music dir. Roger Nelson
    Floyd Collins — wide view of the multi-level cave set with the company in pools of lantern light
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — Floyd on the platform holding a lantern aloft
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — Floyd singing with arms outstretched beneath strings of practical lights
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — Homer climbing the ladder against the blue-lit drapes
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — two brothers on the platforms echoing each other in amber and blue light
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the men gathered around a guitar in warm firelight
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — Skeets Miller reporting into a microphone before the burlap drop
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the carnival scene with balloons and the company in blue wash
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the rescue crew hauling rope on the raked platforms
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the company spread across the levels of the draped cave set in pooled lantern light
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the FOH mix position with playback rig and console before the run
    © Mercer Aplin
    Floyd Collins — the scene list on the console with the tabbed show script above
    © Mercer Aplin
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood
    Sound Designer
    UW–Stevens Point
    dir. Roger Nelson · music dir. Tim Howard
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — 'Puffer's Confession' with the full period company
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — graveyard scene in blue light and low fog
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — company musical number in the music-hall setting
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — the company surrounding Edwin in a deep red wash
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — the graveyard in blue light and rolling fog
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood — the full company finale with the Chairman downstage center
    © Mercer Aplin
  • Never The Sinner
    Sound Designer
    UW–Stevens Point
    dir. Steve Trovillion Smith · Won the KCACTF Region III sound design competition and advanced to the national festival at the Kennedy Center
    Never The Sinner — Leopold and Loeb (Alex Sabin and Thomas Bevan), hands clasped
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — courtroom scene against period newsreel projection
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — 'Two Examination Rooms, The Cook County Jail' title projection over parallel interrogations
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — 'Dr. White testifies' projection above the courtroom examination
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — Frank's funeral archival image projected behind the reporters
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — final image, Leopold and Loeb's photograph projected on the empty stage
    © Mercer Aplin
    Never The Sinner — the sound design display board at the KCACTF national festival
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Kennedy Center steps, host of the KCACTF national festival
    © Mercer Aplin
    The Kennedy Center river terrace during the national festival
    © Mercer Aplin
  • Julius Caesar
    Sound Designer
    UW–Stevens Point
    dir. Steve Trovillion Smith
    Julius Caesar — company around the red-draped bier on the multi-level set
    © Mercer Aplin
    Julius Caesar — full cast assembled on the wide raked stage
    © Mercer Aplin
    Julius Caesar — solo figure against the projected map panels
    © Mercer Aplin
    Julius Caesar — Antony's oration in a white suit before the assembled company
    © Mercer Aplin
  • Afterimages
    Sound Designer / Engineer
    UW–Stevens Point
    student & faculty choreographers
    Afterimages — dancers mid-phrase in blue wash
    © Mercer Aplin
    Afterimages — duet with dancer perched on a stool
    © Mercer Aplin
    Afterimages — solo dancer shielding her eyes on a stool
    © Mercer Aplin

Recognition

Honors & Awards

  • 2014
    USITT Robert E. Cohen Sound Achievement Award
    for Medea, Purdue University
  • 2013
    KCACTF Excellence in Sound Design, Region III
    for Never The Sinner · advanced to National Competition

03 — Elsewhere

Other Endeavors

Sound-Power

AV system design & consulting for performing arts.

Visit →
Schedule Scout

Scheduling built by someone who was personally wronged by scheduling tools.

Visit →
Offgrid Knowledge

Notes and field guides from off-grid systems work.

Visit →

04 — Contact

Have a show, room, or system that needs a set of ears?

aplin.mercer@gmail.com608 · 698 · 8179