• Comment: What Dias says (i.e. interviews) is are primary sources and not independent and forums, blogs, etc. are not reliable sources. S0091 (talk) 18:05, 5 September 2024 (UTC)

Mike Dias (born 1975) is an American businessman who helped commercialize the use of custom in-ear monitors both professionally on stage for musicians and recreationally for hobbyists, audio-enthusiasts, and eventually — for general consumers. Mike worked closely with Jerry Harvey and Mindy Harvey when they were first starting Ultimate Ears. Mike initially met Jerry and Mindy through their intellectual property attorney Steve Gibson during their contested IP dispute with Shure and Westone. And in collaboration with Steve Gibson, Mike wrote the initial business plan for Ultimate Ears and helped ghostwrite many of Ultimate Ears early trade publications.[1]

Early life

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Mike Dias was born in 1975 and was raised in Las Vegas, NV. He worked for his father at Stratus Construction[2] and started a commercial landscape installation division in 1996. This is why Jerry Harvey often jokes that Mike Dias was his gardener well before the global headphone revolution[3] and why many of Mike's business philosophies and practices are based on Bill Mollison's Permaculture foundations and ideals.

Ultimate Ears

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In 2005 Dias helped Ultimate Ears relocate to Irvine, California in order to work under the guidance of Innovate Partners, the private equity firm that financed Ultimate Ears' expansion and commercialization.[4] Innovate Partners was able to leverage their previous holding of Jabra to create and distribute the mass consumer market universal in-ear Super.fi line. As the Director of Marketing and Communications, Dias spent the bulk of his time training in-store sales teams for resellers like Apple, Guitar Center, and Radioshack while taking buyers for said companies out to their favorite shows to meet their favorite Popstars like Gwen Stefani, The Killers, and Incubus while listening to the mix through their own sets of in-ear monitors from side stage with world class monitor engineers.[5]

Logitech Acquisition

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Logitech acquired Ultimate Ears on August 14th, 2008[6] and Dias continued to work for Logitech as an outside consultant and contractor until 2014 when he came on full time to serve as their global Sales Director working for Ultimate Ears' General Manager Philippe Depallens.[7] Under Philippe's guidance, Ultimate Ears and Dias expanded their focus towards serving audio enthusiasts in China, Japan, S. Korea and Hong Kong while pioneering new ways to take digital ear impressions[8] and to employ state of the art 3D Printing processes for maximum fit, style and comfort.[9]

In-Ear Monitor International Trade Organization

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At the 147th International AES Convention in New York on October 19th, 2019, Dias took over as Executive Director for the global in-ear trade organization.[10] The mission of IEMITO was to promote the uses and benefits of IEMs — by bringing together all in-ear manufacturers, dealers, suppliers, engineers and end-users from all over the world to help shape the future of the global headphone market. Founding members included Shure, Sennheiser, Ultimate Ears, JH Audio, Sensaphonics, 64 Audio and many other brands throughout the globe. Dias and IEMITO continue to create informative and unbiased content to educate consumers, resellers and the market.[11]

A Little More Me — The Upcoming In-Ear Monitor Documentary

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During Winter NAMM of 2023 — while Dias was a NAMM keynote speaker, [12] — Dias and his partners Jason Batuyong, sound engineer for America's Got Talent and Bryan Olinger, Director of Photography for the iHeart Theater in Los Angelas, began filming sound engineers and tour managers from Maluma, Drake, U2, Van Halen, Queens of the Stone Age, Miley Cyrus and The Doobie Brothers to talk about the impact that in-ear monitors have had on live sound and recreational music consumption. Dias and team also captured first hand accounts from headphone inventors and pioneers.[13] Filming continued throughout 2023 while shooting at LA's CenterStaging and Mates rehearsal and production venues. The documentary is currently in the editing process.

References

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  1. ^ Leonard, Chris. "Mike Dias, The In-Ear Monitor International Trade Organization (IEMITO)". ProSound Web. EH Media LLC. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Better Business Bureau". Better Business Bureau. International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.
  3. ^ Owsinski, Bobby. "Amazon's New Streaming Service and Ultimate Ears' Mike Dias Episode 131". Bobby Owsinski Music Production. Bobby Owsinski Media Group. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  4. ^ Sauer, Patrick. "More Volume!". Inc Magazine. Inc. Magazine. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  5. ^ Ramsey, Colby. "Front And Centre". Headliner Radio. Headliner Group. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  6. ^ Philipps, Wes. "Logitech to Acquire Ultimate Ears". Stereophile. AVTech Media Americas Inc. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Embracing the Community: Mike Dias is now Sales Director for Ultimate Ears". Head-fi.org. Head-Fi.Org. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  8. ^ Xavier, Trey. "Ultimate Ears 3D Ear Scanning Is More Future Than I Can Handle". Gear Gods. Gear Gods. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  9. ^ Hayes, Tyler. "3D Printing is Revolutionizing Custom Molded In-Ear Monitors". Paste Magazine. Paste Media Group. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  10. ^ "Mike Dias on why trade associations can provide vital help right now". Pro AVL Asia. Pro AVL Asia. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  11. ^ Hamilton, Dave. "Mike Dias, a Career of In-Ears". Gig Gab — A weekly Podcast for Working Musicians. Gig Gab. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  12. ^ "How to Network With Confidence Before, During and After the Event". NAMM — Believe in Music. The NAMM Show. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  13. ^ Leonard, Chris. "Mike Dias, The In-Ear Monitor International Trade Organization". ProSound Web. EH Media LLC. Retrieved 19 July 2023.