CHURCH TIP: Ultimate Ears

[00:00:00] Today's Church TECTIP is Ultimate Ears. Joining us today to talk more about this is Tiago Costa. Tiago, welcome to The Tech Arts Podcast. Thank you. Hey, man, tell us a little bit about Ultimate Ears. Well, Ultimate Ears is one of the brands that makes India monitors.

[00:00:18] Actually, the pioneer in the industry, Ultimate Ears started in 1995 next year. In 2025, we're going to be 30. Which is an incredible, it started. And the back of the tour bus of Van Haley, when the engineer Jerry Harvory decided to start creating something so they could use as monitors instead

[00:00:49] of using the wages, the traditional floor monitors. And then that's what he started. So Tiago, did you say it started with Van Haley? Yes. That's so cool. So Jerry Harvory started that on the tour with Van Haley kind of figured out. There's a lot of space.

[00:01:06] So Jerry was the other engineer for the band. And then they were realizing that they were overusing their years of his a lot of stage noise and obviously, playing rock. And you can imagine, especially way back then 30 years ago, they were using huge amps on stage and drums.

[00:01:34] Like everything was really loud. And then they were starting to, it takes a toll when you overused, you know, exposed to so much noise for a long time. And so they started brainstorming and then Jerry put the first prototype together.

[00:01:52] And then from there in 1995, that was a believe in 1994, in 1995, the official Jerry officially opened ultimate years. Well, what makes ultimate years so special? So you know, I'm sitting and you know, listening to this podcast, I'm another church.

[00:02:08] Why should I go in the direction of ultimate years as opposed to one of the hundreds of other in your companies that are out there? That's a great question. Literally, we learned recently that worldwide there over 300 companies making any of mine.

[00:02:28] Obviously a lot of just moment pop that just start up, you know, they're trying to get off the ground. But there are a lot of people trying into the market. And but there are some major players. We all know some other brands out there.

[00:02:46] They are doing a great job. And I usually tell people who come ask me this question, I get asked this question a lot. Like obviously we're not the only company that knows how to make any of mine at this point.

[00:02:59] And when you're choosing an in your monitor for you, unless you have some really good critical year, you're splitting hair in terms of how you choose the right model for you. I really believe the ultimate years creates great product. We have some really good sounding in the monitors.

[00:03:24] We have a series of different models that we have different sounds signatures each model has a specific sound signature or an EQ profile. So basically what we sell any company, not just ultimately is any one, what we sell to the customer is sound.

[00:03:47] We sell you how it sounds. Now obviously there are a lot of details, technical details and a lot of people want to know how many drivers this one has and they want to compare how does your triple driver compare to this other brand triple driver?

[00:04:05] And it's hard to compare because it's not, oh we're not comparing just the three drivers. We're comparing how they are EQed. What is the quality of those drivers? How are they aligned in phase to make sure that they deliver a specific sound signature?

[00:04:24] So that's what makes everything different. Now what makes also me is different than anybody, anybody else at this point is not just the great product that you get. It is I believe the service, the customer service, that would really differentiate ultimate years from anybody else.

[00:04:43] First of all, obviously we've been there longer than anybody else. So every major step that happens with India monitors usually happens the ultimate years first. We were the first ones to start doing 3D printing and then we created a technology that allows us to also scan your ears

[00:05:05] with a 3D scanner. Obviously we only have that locally or when I'm traveling around the country with the scanner, I will scan a worship team or a band somewhere. But usually when there is happening in terms of innovation, ultimately years there's ahead of the game.

[00:05:29] But really the customer service is really amazing. Our turnaround time is usually awesome. A regular turnaround time is 10 business days for a new set. Other brands out there, they usually started 5 to 6 weeks and are we paired to repair a team is really, really on it, really good.

[00:05:53] We're trying to get it out back to people's ears because we know everybody's trying to use them. Especially church people who use them weekly. It's very important. Yeah, I think service is a big deal because you're putting in your ear and taking it out all the time.

[00:06:10] It's just going to break things are going to break. But if you've ever seen the ultimate ear brand, I've actually held them in my hand before. They're built really solid, really nice. They come with some excellent features.

[00:06:21] You mentioned the multiple driver thing and we'll get into that a little bit more later. But just the service piece of ultimate ears is a big deal because the way you use them and the way it worship team tends to abuse them.

[00:06:35] You want to have service kind of there ready to go. But on the driver thing, it's like the number one question I get asked. Multiple drivers. Like I've got to have 8,000 drivers in my ear in order for this to sound good.

[00:06:48] Just talk about that just for just a minute or two on multiple drivers and number one, how it makes a difference in your ears. Yeah, that is also, I also get asked the question a lot. And now you can get what 23 and a half drivers in the ear.

[00:07:06] It's crazy. So the most we have is actually the first, the first in the industry, we have 21 drivers. It was, is the UE premiere and it was released last year in 2023 and NAMM. And it's, it's pretty amazing. Well, yeah, let me talk a little bit about the driver.

[00:07:26] So I'm going to try to dumb down a little bit the answer. So everybody can follow and understand what drivers are. Like sometimes we say, oh, this one has this many drivers and people have no idea what that actually is. Though drivers are basically speakers.

[00:07:41] They are very small, micro-speakers. They're built to deliver sound. So, so for example, imagine this is a speaker and I am pushing some sound out of the speaker and it sounds, okay, you can hear things. And then I decide to add another speaker,

[00:08:08] just a different color as you can see. I just added a different speaker over here and I put them together and I'm pushing the same sound that was playing. Well, because now I have two speakers, what I'm going to have to do,

[00:08:23] I'm going to probably have to turn down a little bit of volume because I have two speakers trying to push the same sound, they're not a sound. And also you can divide the frequencies that they are, let's say this speaker can actually deliver a better clarity,

[00:08:43] crisp sound which is the highs or mids and this one is responsible for more like low and. So you kind of divide it, don't necessarily, depends on how many speakers start adding, you can start dividing those frequencies and say hey, you're responsible for this frequency here.

[00:09:03] This is your job and this is your job. And then when you do that, it allows the sound to have a lot more depth and definition. But that brings us to other things as well. It's not just about of how many speakers

[00:09:25] I love the dual driver that we have. It's the intro model that we have the UE5. It is actually the oldest sound signature that we've have. We have in our line, it Jerry did it like way back then. It's been 20 plus years almost.

[00:09:43] I believe probably 25 years that it's been in line and it's still there and we still use it. It's great. It sounds really good. Now if you want to add a little more detail here and that you're going to start adding new drivers to hear a little more definition.

[00:10:02] Now people want to know what should I get? If I want to hear, I play the keyboard, which one should I get? And a lot of people, including all the other media brands they try to market to musicians saying,

[00:10:21] oh, if you are a keyboard player, you should get this one. If you get our player, you should get this one. If you're a bass player, you should get this one. Which is probably a good estimation of how the works but not really very musical in my opinion

[00:10:38] because we all have different way of interpreting frequencies. So if I tell you, you have to have this one because this one is the best one. That is probably the best one for how I hear or how I like to hear and how I interpret.

[00:10:56] And even with age, you start losing some frequency. So it's not always the same for everybody. But the best scenario is when if you can meet with me for example, I will have all the demos and you will sit down and listen and see

[00:11:18] which one works for you that better, sonically. That is the best scenario. That is not always the case because people live all over the country, all over the world, I help people all over the world get any amount of money. So what I tried to do,

[00:11:37] I've been working with ultimately years since 2013. It's been basically 11 years. It was May 2013. And it's been a minute. So I have a lot of experience. I'm also a musician, producer, worship pastor. So I understand music in a different way.

[00:11:57] So I try to understand what people are telling me what are their needs in terms of what they want to hear. And then when I ask the question, what would you like to hear? When we kind of frequencies do you love?

[00:12:12] People want to tell me what they want in their mix. And I always tell them, well, you can buy any of the models and then mix that way because mixing is something that you can learn how to do it in any sound signature.

[00:12:28] Now to make it sound good in the way that it's pleasing your ears, there has to do with the sound signature. Is it warm in the midst? That what you're looking for? Is that gives you a little bit of a low end

[00:12:43] because you want to feel the music. So that's what drivers do. The more drivers don't necessarily mean better, it means more expensive. That's for sure. You've sold me. I want to move forward. How does our audience get in touch with you so that they can buy an old-to-minear?

[00:13:04] Well, I'm always available. You can go to myiniers.com. Or hit me on Instagram as well. It's going to be at myiniers. And it's usually very easy to get in touch with me. There is a chat on the website that you can start writing there

[00:13:27] and I will be able to respond to you promptly. I love helping people understand educating people on how to properly use any amounters and make sure that you have not only good sounds to get a true, but you have a proper mix

[00:13:43] and a proper understanding of how do we use the, what are you invested on? Yes. That website again, everybody is myiniers.com. And if you can't tell Tiago walks you through the process, part of that service and support of old-to-minears,

[00:14:00] he makes sure that you get the right in here for your need. And you don't necessarily need the 21 driver in your system. He will make sure it fits who you are. And if you're a singer, a bass player, a keyboard player,

[00:14:13] they walk you through that and make sure that you get the right system for you again, that website, myiniers.com.