They invented a revolution — and barely stopped to notice. We asked the greatest engineers in the world one simple question... and none of them could answer it the same way. This isn't a story about gear. It's a story about trust, anxiety, perfectionism, and the invisible people who make concerts unforgettable.
Everyone thinks they know who invented it. But nobody agrees.
Everyone thinks they know who invented the in-ear monitor.
And they’re all pretty sure they’re right.
Though none of them really are....
I asked the best sound engineers in the world — along with all the industry pioneers — one simple question. And what follows isn’t a clean answer. It’s an unraveling.
We hear engineers, innovators, roadies, legends — all trying to remember the moment something changed.
And none of them remember it the same way.
That’s the point.
This wasn’t a product launch. There wasn’t a press release.
There was no lab. No roadmap. No master plan.
Just chaos. Need. And screaming fans.
And a group of people trying to fix a problem no one else even saw.
This teaser get's right the the heart of the film.
It doesn’t try to resolve the story. It simple asks why the story was never told.
And it sets the tone for what’s to come —
A story about memory, invention, anxiety, and the human need to be heard.
Full Video Transcript below:
Mike Dias: "And who invented In-Ear Monitors?
CJ Eiriksson: "Jeez, I don't really know actually. I mean, I, you know, I'm, I'm not the most technical of guys, you know, basically, so I'm, yeah, I don't really know."
Francois Pare: "Good, good question. Have no idea. No. Isn't another guy that's like started Sensaphonics, uh, I can't remember the name."
Chris Lee: "That's A great question and I don't have that answer. I think the first set of them that I had was from Westone..."
Bryan "Froggy" Cross: "I believe. I mean, the first time I personally heard of 'em was from Marty Garcia. Is that it?"
Brian Geller: "Who's Marty? Is someone gonna tell me who Morty is?"
Jeff Tortora: "Right? Well, I mean, wasn't with, with Jerry, like on the road with Van Halen, he was, uh, like Alex Van Halen, he was doing monitors believe at the time, right? Alex Van Halen..."
German Tarazona Llano: (in Spanish) "Para me, fue for Jerry Harvey. Con Alex Van Halen el Batarista." (Spanish translation to English: ""For me, it was Jerry Harvey. With Alex Van Halen the drummer.")
Daniella Peters: "I'm hearing that it was Jerry Harvey."
Scott Simons: "Jerry Harvey. Who is Jerry Harvey? I'm just asking. I know that. Oh, was I supposed to answer like Jeopardy? Yeah. Yeah."
Billy Bob "Bud" Thornton: "Billy Gibbons!"
Bryan "Froggy" Cross: "It Is always the toss up between, was it, was it Marty or Jerry? Because it was around the same time. Right. And now you got me on camera. You're gonna catch me on this. Getting it wrong."
Scott Simons: "You don't know. I'm not gonna know. Why are you asking me? You're doing a whole documentary on it."
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