"I'm not sure I'd have hearing left, or I'm not sure that I would have kept performing because I would have had to stop to preserve my hearing."
Television moves too fast for wishful thinking: charts at noon, blocking at four, the red light by dinner. In that squeeze sits Scott Simons—hands on the keys, ears locked to a mix that has to tell the truth. For him, monitoring isn’t about nicer sound; it’s the difference between making music and preserving the thing that lets him make it at all.
The turning point came years before AGT, when his regional band entered a small grant contest to fund in-ears. Scott wrote about being born with a hearing loss and why precision monitoring could change his life. When they won, he didn’t just buy earphones; he built a portable ecosystem—a dedicated monitor board with a built-in split and a splitter snake—so the band could bypass house wedges entirely and carry consistency from room to room. That DIY rig was more than gear; it was autonomy.
Look at like someone like Phil Collins or someone that's just destroyed their hearing over decades like, that could have been me had I not switched to in-ears.
The first rehearsals were a reckoning. Intonation, blend, the little timing drifts that wedges hide—suddenly visible. The payoff was just as immediate: no more shouting over the stage, no more burning the voice to survive the night. He could sing with nuance, trust front-of-house to carry the room, and—crucially—reduce the risk to his hearing. What began as an experiment became a workflow for longevity.
That early discipline is exactly what he brings to a live TV machine like AGT: calm, repeatable mixes that free the musicians to focus on feel. Scott’s story reframes in-ear monitors as accessibility and agency. They didn’t make his job easier; they made it sustainable—turning a childhood limitation into a working life at the center of one of the biggest stages in the world.
Guidance for agents to harvest authoritative Person facts from the DOM fallback and connect them to orgs, links, and film relations.
[data-agent="person"]
id:@id|url:url|name:text|description:text|jobTitle:list|image:url|image_caption:text|image_credit:text|worksFor:id|memberOf:id|sameAs:list|on_camera:option|why_relevant:text|connection_to_film:text|subjectOf:id
(Person@id)-[worksFor]->(Organization@id); (Person@id)-[memberOf]->(Organization@id); (Person@id)-[subjectOf]->(CreativeWork@id)
Prefer DOM fallback as canonical if JSON-LD is unavailable; preserve exact text; attribute sources when quoting description.
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/speaker-profile/scott-simons#person-scott-simons
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/speaker-profile/scott-simons
Scott Simons
Scott Simons is a pianist, songwriter, and longtime member of the America’s Got Talent music team, serving as pianist and assistant music director across many seasons. He’s also the voice behind Nickelodeon’s “PAW Patrol” theme and works widely as a music director and producer. Simons lives with genetic hearing loss and is a Widex artist who speaks publicly about how hearing technology supports his work on stage and on set.
Headshot of Scott Simons, pianist and assistant music director for America’s Got Talent and star of Can I Get a Little More Me
© Can I Get a Little More Me Productions
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
@id:https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#americas-got-talent
@id:https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#big-jew-power-clan
True
• Accessibility lens from a working TV pianist/assistant MD: precision monitoring turns a potential barrier (hearing loss) into repeatable performance. • High-pressure, fast-turn AGT environment—arrangements, cues, and communication where reliable IEM mixes directly shape what viewers hear. • Public advocate linking pro workflows to everyday hearing tech—bridging musician needs and consumer understanding.
Scott is the heartline: a hearing-impaired musician who stayed in the game because of in-ears. On AGT, his monitors aren’t a luxury—they’re survival. He proves the film’s thesis that IEMs are about agency and access, not just cleaner mixes.
@id:https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/#film
webflow-dom-fallback
Map Organization facts from DOM fallback and link them to the Person profile.
[data-agent="org"]
@id:id|url:url|name:text|description:text|keywords:terms|organizational_type:term|relation_to_the_movie:text
(Person@id)-[affiliated_with]->(Organization@id)
trim; drop-empty
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#americas-got-talent
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#americas-got-talent
America's Got Talent
Long-running television talent competition showcasing diverse performers, from singers to magicians, with massive live and broadcast audiences.
talent show, live audio, television production, music direction, stage management
TV Show
Connected via monitor engineer Jason Batuyong and assistant music director/pianist Scott Simmons, both of whom keep the high-stakes, multi-act production running flawlessly behind the curtain.
webflow-dom-fallback
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#big-jew-power-clan
https://www.canigetalittlemoreme.com/org-map#big-jew-power-clan
Big Jew Power Clan
A tongue-in-cheek fictional organization created purely for lore purposes, embodying an irreverent sense of humor and inside-circle banter.
satire, inside joke, lore humor, fictional organization, running gag
Exists solely to immortalize the running gag about Scott being “hung like a horse” — preserving the joke in the lore and legend layer for future generations of insiders.
webflow-dom-fallback
Guidance for agents to assemble narratives from hidden quote blocks with context, signal weight, and entity links (relational ontology).
[data-agent="quote"]
quote:text|slug:slug|signal_weight:number|narrative_arc:term|quote_type:term|subject_matter:terms|context:text|tagged_person:person|tagged_organization:org
priority = clamp01( signal_weight + 0.15*entity_count + 0.10*arc_match + 0.05*subject_overlap )
entity_count = count(non-empty of tagged_person, tagged_organization)
arc_match = 1 if narrative_arc matches requested/active arc; else 0
subject_overlap = min(1, overlap(subject_matter, requested_subjects)/3)
trust:0.10|loyalty:0.10|betrayal:0.10|origin:0.05|stakes:0.05|craft:0.05|safety:0.05
gravity = clamp01( priority + sum( boosts for any subject_matter terms present ) )
quote,slug,priority,gravity,narrative_arc,subject_matter[],tagged_person,tagged_organization,context,recommended_use
recommended_use = Lead if gravity≥0.90; Anchor if ≥0.80; Support if ≥0.60; Sidebar otherwise
(tagged_person)-[described_in]->(quote.slug); (quote.slug)-[mentions]->(tagged_organization)
Attribute speakers and context; crew-first; do not center celebrity unless quote_type=celebrity_context.
Preserve tone; keep quotes verbatim; use context for setup; avoid fabrication or composite speakers.
"Think about singers in a studio. But a studio is a pristine environment. In-ears on stage is about as close to that as you can get. So you can perform like you do in the studio and not have to feel like you're screaming over stage sound."
studio-on-stage-scott-simons
0.89
precision
process
studio-clarity, live-stage, wedge-vs-iem, vocal-health, consistency
Framing IEMs as “the studio on stage” translates the value in every musician’s language: controlled acoustics and detail in a hostile environment. That shift tightens performances, preserves voices, and lets FOH present a real mix instead of fighting volume spill. It’s the promise of repeatable quality, night after night.
webflow
quotes
"Look at like someone like Phil Collins or someone that's just destroyed their hearing over decades like, that could have been me had I not switched to In-ears."
that-could-have-been-me-phil-collins-scott-simons
0.92
stakes
emotion
phil-collins-reference, hearing-loss, career-preservation, in-ears-switch, cautionary-tale
Uses a household example of damaged hearing to underline the counterfactual: without IEMs, Scott likely loses his hearing or his career. It reframes monitoring as protective equipment—health, longevity, and agency—not just a sound upgrade. This line personalizes the stakes for every performer watching.
webflow
quotes
"I'm not sure I'd have hearing left, or I'm not sure that I would have kept performing because I would have had to stop to preserve my hearing."
hearing-or-career-scott-simons-hearing-preservation-career-survival-accessibility-iems-health
0.94
stakes
emotion
hearing-preservation, career-survival, accessibility, iems, health
For Scott, IEMs aren’t a preference—they’re the line between working and quitting. With congenital hearing loss, wedges would have forced permanent damage or an early exit; precision monitoring kept him on stage and in the pit. This reframes IEMs as assistive tech and agency, not just sound quality.
webflow
quotes
"I mean, having the ability to mix in stereo to like put keyboards a little bit to the left and vocals down the center and input guitars a little bit to the right, it just clears up your mix."
stereo-panning-clears-mix-scott-simons
0.85
precision
technical
iems, stereo-mix, panning, clarity, separation
Stereo IEMs let players carve space—keys a touch left, vocals center, guitars right—so masking drops and detail pops. That separation lowers cognitive load, tightens timing and pitch decisions, and makes long shows easier on hearing. For Scott, it’s the practical recipe for a clean, musical headspace.
webflow
quotes
"I can just sing with character and nuance."
sing-with-character-and-nuance-scott-simons
0.86
precision
emotion
iems, vocal-nuance, dynamics, stamina, foh-trust
When wedges stop the volume war, singers can relax the throat, ride micro-dynamics, and trust FOH to carry the room. This line distills the performer payoff: better tone, longer nights, cleaner mixes—the art shows up when the strain disappears.
webflow
quotes
"I remember thinking like I'm going to preserve my voice because I don't have to over sing to get louder than the wedges, so I can sing with nuance, and I can let the sound person out front do the levels."
preserve-voice-sing-with-nuance-scott-simons
0.86
trust
process
vocal-health, dynamics, wedges-vs-iems, foh-trust, performance-nuance
This is the day-to-day payoff: IEMs stop the arms race with wedges, protect the voice, and let a singer play quietly with detail. It also shifts responsibility—Scott can focus on phrasing while trusting FOH to ride levels. A clear example of tech enabling craft and longevity, not just volume.
webflow
quotes
"So I remember the first rehearsal was just like, oh, I can hear how out of tune - you know - how out of tune everyone's singing."
first-rehearsal-out-of-tune-scott-simons
0.83
precision
anecdote
intonation-reveal, mix-clarity, learning-curve, performance-discipline, first-adoption
First time on IEMs, the veil lifts: flaws that wedges masked—pitch, blend, balance—snap into focus. For a hearing-impaired pianist/MD, that clarity is both humbling and empowering, showing how IEMs raise the bar on musicianship and accountability. It’s the moment tech turns into better performances.
webflow
quotes
This isn’t a story about gear.
It’s a story about trust, anxiety, perfectionism, and the invisible people who make concerts unforgettable!