USA - When world-renowned immersive arts collective Meow Wolf transformed its Convergence Station venue into an unforgettable dancefloor experience for the Deep Dark & Dangerous’ Danceportation takeover, Lost Horizon Productions was entrusted with delivering exceptional audio to match the venue’s otherworldly setting. The result was a seamless fusion of immersive art and cutting-edge Funktion-One sound.
A sprawling, 90,000sq.ft creative universe, Convergence Station blurs the boundaries between art installation, interactive museum and event space. For Danceportation, the venue played host to 14 artists from the Deep Dark & Dangerous roster, who performed across two stages surrounded by Meow Wolf’s distinctive environments.
Lost Horizon Productions, a full-service event production company based in Colorado, was tasked with designing and deploying sound systems capable of maintaining sonic clarity across the venue’s diverse and challenging spaces – all within a tight two-hour installation window.
“The Deep Dark & Dangerous team had a clear vision for full-bodied, high-fidelity sound at each stage and the integrity of the Convergence Station’s art and architecture needed to be respected throughout,” explains Dylan Woods, co-owner of Lost Horizon Productions. “We also networked the audio feeds from each stage into several of the installations, allowing guests to sample the music through immersive, interactive experiences.”
The venue’s two primary performance areas – The Perplexiplex and Numina – each presented distinct acoustic challenges.
The Perplexiplex, a 2,500sq.ft room, was equipped with 360° projection mapping, resulting in a visually captivating but acoustically reflective space. Working closely with the Convergence Station team, Lost Horizon used Funktion-One’s Projection system design software to model the acoustic environment, enabling precise speaker deployment and optimised coverage. The system design comprised four Funktion-One Evo 7 loudspeakers, six F124 subwoofers and two F101.2 speakers for front-fill, together with PSM12s and BR121s for monitoring.
Numina, a much less conventional space, presented a different challenge. “Its name literally means 'the spirit of a place' and it feels like a multi-level living organism encompassing three floors of the building,” says Woods. “Simulating the speaker deployment in advance was simply not viable due to its complexity. It meant we had to play with the exact placement and orientation of the speakers to maximise dancefloor coverage and to avoid all the otherworldly art hanging from the ceiling, while remaining code compliant at all times.”
For Numina, Lost Horizon deployed two Evolution X loudspeakers together with a three-high stack of F124 subs for bass reinforcement. Delay speakers, distributed via the venue’s networking infrastructure, extended coverage across the multi-floor exhibit.
“Funktion-One’s point source technology was crucial to overcoming the acoustic idiosyncrasies of both spaces,” says Woods. “The Evo 7’s precision and bold, uncompromising sound allowed us to control reflections in The Perplexiplex, while the Evolution X’s compact design and wide 90° horizontal dispersion made it the ideal solution for Numina’s unconventional layout. The systems delivered exceptional clarity and power while integrating with the venue’s immersive environments.”
The result was a sonically engaging, artistically aligned event that fully lived up to Meow Wolf’s reputation for transporting audiences beyond the ordinary.
“This was our second Deep Dark & Dangerous takeover and the response from artists and audiences alike has been outstanding,” said Duke Ducheneaux, production manager at Convergence Station. “Lost Horizon’s technical expertise and attention to detail were second to none. They approached the show with genuine care and the result was a dancefloor experience that connected with every person in the room.”
