In March 1999, Ian Anderson, of the rock group Jethro Tull, played his flute at the Frankfurt Music Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, to promote Shure Personal Monitors. Each member of the audience of 250 listened to the performance through Shure E1 Earphones and a PSM600 Personal Stereo Monitor, hearing the exact mix that Mr. Anderson heard.
Three years earlier, a prototype of the PSM600, had been sent to Mr. Anderson, and he was the first European artist to receive a production model in 1997.
Before the introduction of Personal Monitors, musicians could hear their performances only through large, wedge-shaped loudspeakers. These were placed on the floor at the front of the stage, allowing the performers to monitor the sound of their music as the audience heard it. Because these wedges were bulky and stationary, a musician had to be positioned in front of them to hear the sound. The volume was controlled by a technician offstage, and it was often very loud. Using the Personal Monitor System, including an E1 or E5 Earphone, a performer can hear his/her own monitor mix (clean and clear), move freely around the stage, and control the volume directly from a body-pack.
After using the new equipment in live performances for several months, Mr. Anderson described his experience in a fax he sent to Shure on September 9, 1997: “Having road-tested the new in-ear monitors from Shure throughout our 60-date concert tour, I am bowled over and fully converted to this exciting and well thought-out product. Although I took my tried and trusted floor wedge monitors as backup, they were never switched on and after the first week spent the rest of the tour in the back of the truck.
“As an essentially acoustic musician playing in the context of sometimes very loud rock music, it is such a relief to finally hear all the nuances and details of my efforts, particularly in the case of the flute. Now, after 29 years of playing the instrument, I can hear every note—the good, the bad, and the downright ugly!…Well done. Shure [has] come up with another winner.”
