The IEMs we build in Portland are used by professional musicians on stage and in the studio. Some of those musicians have worked directly with us during development, shaping the final product through professional use. Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails is one of them. This is how those partnerships work and what they produce.
Built with Professional Use in Mind
Campfire Audio IEMs are used by professional musicians in live performance and studio contexts. That use provides feedback that bench testing does not and cannot.
A professional performer experiences an IEM differently from a critical listener in a quiet room. Stage SPL, hours of continuous wear across soundcheck and performance, and the demands of a monitor mix in a complex live environment reveal characteristics that controlled listening sessions cannot predict. An IEM that performs well on a listening desk may feel different six hours into a touring day, or under the acoustic conditions of a major production.
When that kind of professional use informs the product during development, the result is an IEM shaped by real performance demands rather than idealized laboratory conditions. Clara is the clearest example of this process in our range.
Every Campfire Audio IEM is hand-built in Portland, Oregon. The small team and direct production process make genuine collaboration with artists possible in a way that large-scale manufacturing does not. The same engineers who design the acoustic architecture work alongside the production team that assembles each unit. When professional feedback arrives during development, it reaches the people who can act on it.
Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini is a keyboardist, synthesist, and composer. He is a long-standing member of Nine Inch Nails and maintains an active solo career spanning live performance, studio recording, and electronic composition.
His live performance context is demanding by any measure. Nine Inch Nails productions involve dense, layered electronic and rock sound at high stage SPL. What Cortini needs from a monitor mix is not a stripped-back acoustic reference. It is accurate reproduction of complex, frequency-dense material under live conditions, consistently, across every performance of a touring run.
That professional context matters when evaluating his input on an IEM. His requirements are not the requirements of a casual listener or even a typical audiophile. He is a working musician whose livelihood depends on hearing accurately, night after night, in genuinely difficult acoustic environments. An IEM that cannot hold up in that context, sonically and physically, is not useful to him regardless of how well it measures in a controlled setting.
His relationship with Campfire Audio was not a conventional product endorsement. Cortini used the IEM in professional touring and recording contexts during the development process. His input, formed through that professional use, shaped what the final product became.
How Clara Was Made
Clara is the product of a working partnership rather than a post-production sign-off. The distinction matters in practice.
The development process centered on what Cortini needed from a monitor IEM under real performance conditions: coherent reproduction across a wide frequency range, natural timbre that remains accurate over extended wear, and a presentation that serves the music rather than imposing a character on it. Those demands informed the driver architecture and tuning choices.
The driver configuration reflects that intent. A dual-magnet 10mm dynamic driver with an updated biocellulose diaphragm handles low frequencies only, delivering bass with physical body and deep reach. A Knowles balanced armature with dual-diaphragm technology handles midrange, providing the sonic richness and spatial precision that dense electronic material requires. Two high-performance balanced armatures cover high frequencies with speed and resolution. The architecture assigns each driver type to the frequency range it handles best, and the crossover between them is designed to be transparent.
The result is a coherent, natural, full-range presentation. There is no point in the frequency response where the character shifts noticeably from one driver to another. The performance sounds integrated because it was designed to be, with professional use as the test standard.
Clara is a universal-fit IEM. It does not require custom molds or an audiologist appointment, which means it is available immediately for musicians who cannot plan around the custom process.
The response from the wider audiophile community confirmed the outcome. Clara was named Darko.Audio Best of 2024 and Head-Fi Watercooler Performance IEM of 2024. Both recognitions came after the Cortini collaboration shaped the product, not before. The external validation arrived because the professional development process produced something that worked at a high level across a broad range of listeners, not only for the professional context it was designed around.
What Professional Use Produces
Clara documents what happens when a professional performer's real-world demands drive an IEM's development. The same philosophy extends across our stage-focused range.
Bonneville and Ponderosa are our custom-molded IEMs for performers who need a permanent, fitted stage solution. Bonneville uses a hybrid dynamic and balanced armature configuration for a natural, full-bodied presentation suited to generalist stage monitoring. Ponderosa uses five balanced armatures in Phase Harmony configuration for precision-first monitoring, suited to vocalists and engineers who need to evaluate the mix with accuracy rather than warmth.
Both are built at the same Portland workshop, by the same team, with the same performance standard applied. Our custom IEM page explains the full ordering process for performers ready to invest in a permanent fitted solution, including how to obtain ear impressions and what to expect at each step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alessandro Cortini?
Alessandro Cortini is a keyboardist, synthesist, and composer. He is a member of Nine Inch Nails and maintains an active solo career spanning live performance, studio recording, and electronic composition.
How did Alessandro Cortini collaborate with Campfire Audio?
Cortini worked directly with Campfire Audio during Clara's development, using it in professional touring and recording contexts. His professional input shaped the final product. It was a working partnership, not a post-production endorsement.
What IEM does Alessandro Cortini use?
Alessandro Cortini uses Clara, the IEM he helped develop with Campfire Audio. Clara uses a hybrid configuration: a dynamic driver for low frequencies and a balanced armature array for midrange and high detail.
What awards has Clara received?
Clara was named Darko.Audio Best of 2024 and Head-Fi Watercooler Performance IEM of 2024. Both recognitions came alongside the professional validation of the Cortini collaboration that shaped its development.
Does Campfire Audio work with other professional musicians?
Campfire Audio IEMs are used by professional musicians in live performance and studio contexts. The Cortini collaboration on Clara is our most documented professional partnership. Custom IEM options including Bonneville and Ponderosa are built for professional stage use.
Where are Campfire Audio IEMs made?
Every Campfire Audio IEM is designed and assembled by hand in Portland, Oregon. Campfire Audio was founded by Ken Ball in 2015 and has maintained Portland-based production throughout its ten-year history.
Listen to What the Collaboration Produced
For readers drawn to the Cortini story, Clara is available now. For musicians who need a permanent, stage-fitted solution, our custom IEM page covers Bonneville, Ponderosa, and the full ordering process. Every Campfire Audio IEM is hand-built in Portland, Oregon.
