Before Jerry Harvey was an world-renown audio innovator, he was ready to leave the touring life behind — until a night in 1984 when he saw Van Halen live for the first time. The show felt like the circus had rolled into town: the lights, the chaos, the energy. That night ended with him sitting next to David Lee Roth at a bar in St. Louis, talking about martial arts and stretching to Huey Lewis records. It wasn’t about music. It was about possibility.
A decade later, Harvey was on the other side of the barricade, mixing monitors for Van Halen — the biggest gig of his life. In-ears were still a novelty; only two viable options existed. He handed Alex Van Halen the first set. Alex stopped mid-song and said they sounded awful. The second set fared no better. Then came the ultimatum: “If you want to keep mixing for Van Halen, find something that sounds better.”
With no roadmap, Harvey went back to his workshop and began cutting, fitting, and experimenting with whatever parts he could find. He wasn’t chasing patents or markets — he was just trying to solve a problem for one drummer on one tour. But the solution worked so well it didn’t just save the gig — it rewired the entire industry.
In Can I Get a Little More Me, Harvey’s story is more than an origin tale for custom IEMs. It’s a reminder that some revolutions start not with a grand vision, but with someone refusing to fail when the stakes are highest.