Systems designed to be heard.
Knowledge designed to be shared.
Sound Power is the independent consulting and education practice of Mercer Aplin, Clinical Assistant Professor of Audio Technology at Purdue University and former Senior AV Consultant at Threshold Acoustics. Available now for new performing-arts, higher-education, and civic-venue AV engagements.
A practice built for the next room.
From new construction to renovation, Sound Power brings a decade of large-venue AV experience to projects that demand careful design and operator-centered thinking. Engagements are sized to fit — from feasibility studies and owner advocacy through full design and commissioning.
Services & sectors →Training the audio practitioners of the next decade.
As Clinical Assistant Professor of Audio Technology in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Purdue University, Mercer designs and teaches new courses for undergraduate and graduate students, mentors student sound designers, and oversees the audio systems serving the department’s production venues.
Coursework & mentorship →
AV Systems Design
Concept-through-construction design of reinforcement, presentation, and production audio-video systems for performing arts, higher education, and civic facilities.
Immersive Audio
Spatial-audio systems for theatre, music, and themed experience — built around the platform that best fits the room, the production calendar, and the operating team.
Network & Infrastructure
Audio-over-IP and AV-over-IP design tuned to facility realities — interoperability, redundancy, and a system someone can still maintain a decade from now.
Commissioning & Optimization
On-site tuning, alignment, and acceptance testing — turning a documented system into a room that performs the way the design promised.
A decade at Threshold.
Between 2015 and 2024 Mercer contributed to more than 150 projects at Threshold Acoustics in Chicago, with primary design responsibility on over fifty. New consulting clients inherit that institutional memory.
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Eton College — School HallHeritage hall reinforcement and presentation systems serving lectures, concerts, and ceremony.Photo: Mercer AplinWindsor, United KingdomPerforming Arts - 02
John F. Kennedy Center — Arts and IdealsExhibit AV systems supporting the Kennedy Center’s permanent installation honoring JFK’s vision for the arts.Photo: Sdkb · CC BY-SA 4.0Washington, DCCivic & Cultural - 03
Studebaker TheaterRestoration of a 1898 Fine Arts Building theater — modern reinforcement systems within a historic envelope.Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Chicago, ILPerforming Arts - 04
Fredericton Performing Arts CentreNew-build performing arts venue AV design.Photo: Nick Wiebe (Flickr) · CC BY 2.0Fredericton, CanadaPerforming Arts - 05
Starlight TheaterOutdoor amphitheater serving Broadway tours and concerts.Photo: Duedate2010 · CC BY-SA 4.0Kansas City, MOPerforming Arts
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From the bench.
A curated reading and viewing list — industry essays on AV consulting practice, talks from working designers, and tutorials I return to and recommend to students.
Browse the resources →The Value of AV Consulting
TEECOM ↗A clear-eyed industry essay on why independent AV consulting matters — and what owners get from engaging a consultant early in a project.
Industry ReadingDallas Taylor — Twenty Thousand Hertz & sound storytelling
YouTube Channel ↗The host of Twenty Thousand Hertz on the craft of sound — interviews, breakdowns, and short documentaries on how sound shapes experience.
Sound CultureCreating Unforgettable Sounds for Call of Duty — AUDIOLAND
VideoSledgehammer GamesSound DesignBob McCarthy on Theatre Sound: A Historical Journey
VideoMeyer SoundTheatre SystemsSound Check Strategy (Updated)
VideoDave RatTuning & Optimization