Monitoring the Artists' Monitors: IEM Wisdom from Kevin Glendinning

In this episode of Gig Gab, you get the full story of how Kevin “KG” Glendinning cold-emailed his way from a Chicago suburb into a 25-year career mixing monitors for Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Lorde, and more. You hear how a kid sweeping floors at dB Sound ended up on a Metallica tour bus with one piece of advice ringing in his ears: ask questions, stay late, and get a second job because you’re gonna need it. Kevin walks you through migrating artists to in-ear monitors, managing talkback culture for everyone from Eddie Vedder wanting baseball scores to Lorde’s tight production team, and what it takes to help reluctant guitar players finally ditch the wedges. If you’ve ever wondered what separates a good monitor engineer from a great one, this conversation lays it out.

You also dive deep into the art and science of making IEMs sound right in every room, every night. Kevin shares his process of minimal reduction: fixing a bad mix by figuring out what to take away, not what to add, and explains why tuning for in-ears is just as critical as tuning a PA. You learn why he flies 4,700 miles for a single gig, why the best mixes sometimes come from a throw-and-go, and how setting up dummy channels lets you experiment without wrecking the artist’s mix. He and Dave talk hearing health, audiograms, the DPA capsule as the only open mic on the Lorde stage, and why knowing your own ears matters more than knowing your gear. Whether you’re mixing monitors at an arena or running sound at a club gig, this episode is packed with wisdom you can use tonight. Always Be Performing, folks!

• 00:00:00 Gig Gab 528 – Monday, April 6th, 2026
  • April 6th: National Siamese Cat Day
  • Guest co-host: Kevin Glendinning
• 00:02:25 Hotmailing his way into a career
  • Watched the credits of a Metallica documentary, realized DB Sound was near the house, emailed Harry… “Hi, I’m Kevin, and I’m interested in audio…” and the rest is history!
• 00:07:58 Got put on the road as an audio team assistant
  • Trial by fire
  • Advice from the team:
    • Here’s what to do
    • Here’s what not to do
    • Ask questions, stay late, and get a second job because you’re gonna need it
• 00:11:22 Learning the personal touch parts of being on tour
• 00:12:52 Being the stage left PA tech, Kevin gravitated towards monitors
• 00:13:50 Talkback Culture
  • Eddie Vedder wanted baseball scores in his talkback
  • SOMBR for Coachella 2026 (Chris Rabold at FOH)
• 00:16:18 Managing multiple talkback channels
• 00:18:08 LORDE on Talkback
  • Phil Harvey on FOH
  • Sarah Parker is LD
• 00:19:00 Talkback stories
  • Jaret Reddick’s use of talkback mics in Bowling For Soup
• 00:20:51 Migrating to in-ears
  • IEMs can preserve your hearing, if done right
  • Future Sonics uses dynamic drivers
• 00:25:09 Helping guitar players to IEMs
  • Mike Dias on Gig Gab
  • Sensaphonics 3MAX IEMs on LORDE tour
• 00:32:08 SPONSOR: Gusto. Get three months free when you run your first payroll when you start at https://gusto.com/giggab
• 00:33:44 Back to helping guitar players with IEMs
  • Problem: when a vocal mic is downstage from a guitar amp
  • Ian Beveridge with Foo Fighters
  • Paul Simon prefers wedges
  • Always be learning
  • First: Learn the human being you’re going to be mixing for
• 00:41:27 The differences between mixing monitors for Miley Cyrus and Ella LORDE
• 00:42:48 Monitoring the Artists Monitors
  • TX1 Wireless Transmitters
  • REMI with Brad Madix on Gig Gab
• 00:47:50 Different rooms sound different on IEMs
  • AFAS Live (formerly Heineken Music Hall) in Amsterdam sounds great
  • Dave says Alamodome in San Antonio is one of the worst-sounding
  • To fix IEMs in a bad-sounding room: what can we reduce to make it sound better?
  • Last night it was a bongo mic that was making the drumset sound too washy in the IEM mix
  • “The process of minimal reduction”
  • Ella’s DPA capsule is the only open mic on-stage on the LORDE tour
  • Tune for the IEMs, too: listen to something you know, and EQ it
  • Tuning the podcast for JH Audio Laylas
• 01:04:06 Learn your own ears (not your IEMs, your human ears) first
  • Take a hearing test with your phone if you can
  • Kevin and Alicia Keys would go and get their hearing tested together, getting audiograms to compare
• 01:07:09 IEMs are the most personal audio interaction
  • You have to be psychic!
• 01:09:46 Flying 4,700 miles to save the day
  • Sometimes the throw-and-go results in the best mix because you’re not overthinking it
  • Tip from Kevin: set up dummy channels to experiment without messing with the actual mix for the IEMs
• 01:15:57 Gig Gab 528 Outtro
  • Follow Kevin Glendinning
    • IG: @kev_chitown
    • LinkedIn: Kevin ‘KG’ Glendinning
  • Contact Gig Gab!
    • @GigGabPodcast on Instagram
    • [email protected]
    • Sign Up for the Gig Gab Mailing List

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