"You know, the industry is where it is because Alex Van Halen challenged me to build something better."

Do or Die

When Jerry Harvey was hired to mix in-ears for Van Halen, he showed up with the only two sets available at the time. That was it. No backups. No plan B. Just two pairs—and a whole lot of pressure.

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Alex Van Halen tried them both. And hated them.

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In that moment, Jerry had a choice:
Either solve the problem... or get fired.

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So he went back to his body shop. Grabbed what parts he had. Started tinkering. Cutting. Fitting. Adapting. Adopting... Not because he wanted to reinvent anything, but because he had no other choice.

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It wasn’t perfect.
It wasn’t pretty.
But it worked.

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Better than anyone expected.

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That was the moment it all changed.
That was the start of a revolution.
And Jerry Harvey never looked back.

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_{Full Video Transcript below:‍}

_{You have to understand, Alex and I are great friends, but Alex is a very – he's an amazing drummer –and he is got an amazing ear, and he knows if, when it's not right. and if it's not right, he has no problem telling you it's not right.}

_{So by the time 95 had rolled around and I started working for Van Halen, that was the pinnacle of my mixing career. You know,I'd done The Cult, I'd done KISS. I had done Engelbert Humperdinck, and Morrissey. I'd done  some, you know, some good bands.}

_{But when I started mixing Van Halen, that was, you know, obviously I'd went full circle because I was sitting there in 1984 and now all of a sudden I'm sitting here mixing the band. That, that to me is iconic, you know, huge fan boy,}

_{It's hard, you know, sitting 10 feet from Eddie Van Halen playing guitar every night. It was like the biggest blessing that the universe has ever, you know, put on me. I mean, it was like, I would look out there and go, I can't believe I'm this close to Eddie Van Halen every night.}

_{You gotta imagine, this is when In-Ears were brand new. I mean, there was probably, you know, 40 — 40 people on the planet — who has actually used them. So if you had any — if you had actually mixed three shows with in-ears, you were an expert, right!  Because it didn't take much to be an expert back then. 'cause nobody had a clue on what was going on.}

_{So I get hired to do, uh, in-Ear Monitors because they wanted to put Alex on in-ears to protect his hearing,  because he used to have, you know, big wedges, obviously. Then he had one of Eddie's guitar cabinets right behind him.}

_{I show up and, uh, I get a, we have a Garwood, you know, or a, a Futuresonics Wireless, you know, uh, radio station. And I get two sets of ear pieces. I get Futuresonics and I get Sensaphonics. They were the only two game in town.}

_{So I listen to 'em, I have my own set of both of them. I kind of get a mix going. So we start, I gave him a, I, I don't remember which ones I gave him first. I gave him a set of earpieces, and I'm all like, oh man, I got my new gig at Van Halen. I love this gig. So I'm all smiles and, you know, and we start playing. And, uh, he plays about a third of the song, and he stops. And he talks down into the snare mic and goes, uh.... Jerry, um.... Do you know what you're doing over there?}

_{I, I, yeah, I, I think I do. I said. You know, what's the problem?}

_{He goes, well, you know, you know, you know, basically these sound like, you know, I, I'm not gonna paraphrase. Basically they sound like ass, basically. And like, these don't, these aren't working for me.}

_{And, and he was pretty, pretty direct, you know, I was like, okay. So I guess said I got another set. So, so I grab another set and I run up and I put him on him. And, uh, he starts playing and, uh, looks over at me with this kind of scowl on his face. I'm like, oh s**t. And he goes, I really don't think you know what you're doing over there.}

_{I'm like, okay. Um, I said, here's the deal. I go, This is as good as the technology is right now.}

_{I said, it's limited bandwidth. There's one, you know, it's just, this is as good as it gets. I said, but, you know, and I'll make it as good as I can make it. I said, but this is it.}

_{I know what I'm doing and I don't blame my gear, but I'm gonna tell you now that the, the, the ear pieces are the most inefficient part of this system, and that's all I got to work with.}

_{And he puts his drumsticks down and goes, well, if you'd like to continue mixing for Van Halen, maybe you should find something that sounds better and gets up and walks away.}

_{I was like... All right....}

_{So that's what sent me down the path — to try to figure out how to keep my job mixing Van Halen — because, you know, I was a fan and it was like the biggest gig I'd ever done. you know, I was like, man, I'm not gonna lose this gig.}

_{So I really put a lot of time and effort into trying to develop an earpiece that, that pleased Alex, you know?}

_{And it was an adventure, and I learned a lot. I loved that guy.}

_{You know, he taught me in real time every defect that I, all the faults that I had in my product, like in real time, like in the middle of an arena with 14,000 people swiping at me with a drumstick. And I'm trying to change his earpiece, you know? But, uh, yeah, love that guy.}

_{He's the reason that I am where I am, and actually, you know, the industry is where it is.}

_{It's all.. he's the impetus. And he was the one that, that kind of started it all off by challenging me to build something better.}

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