The Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound

[Islander]

High quality sound at 600 feet, acceptable at 1/4 mile, thanks in part to using eighty-nine 300-watt McIntosh MC2300 SS amps and three 350-watt McIntosh MC3500 tube amps, for a total of 26,400 watts RMS. It weighed 75 tons.

Interesting info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)

Layout diagrams here: http://www.nii.net/~obie1/deadcd/wall_of_sound.htm

[Islander]

Also, the entire audience would have been treated (for better or worse) to a type of super stereo by virtue of the fact that each band member's PA stack was somewhat near/above his gear on stage. If you were dead center you would have heard a sound possibly similar to the band playing immediately in front of you in a much more intimate space- the sense of direction of each instrument would be that noticeable.

So with a modern PA or SR system, are the instruments' outputs run through matching speakers on each side of the stage (guitar left and right, bass left and right, and so on), so it's like mono from two stacks of speakers? It appears that sitting mid-field at a Dead concert would be just excellent.

Two of the most recent concerts I've attended (Ten Years After and Beck) had so much distortion it was terrible. There was extreme volume, which shouldn't have been a problem, except it seemed like it overloaded the room, to the point where vocals were almost completely unintelligible, sometimes to the point of what was said between songs even being hard to understand. And no, I'm not half-deaf.

Ten Years After were playing at a nightclub with a low ceiling, which has a reputation for bad sound, but when I saw Spyro Gyra there a few months earlier, it was plenty loud but also clear. Beck played at the Royal Theatre, a classic-type concert hall that does have good acoustics, so there was no excuse.

In non-technical terms, it seemed like TYA and Beck had the volume at 11 or 12, when 8 or 9 would have been great.

[mark1101]

I think they only used the whole setup for 1 year due to rediculous costs to upkeep it. But I did see the Dead several times afterward with portions of that system running. For instance, in Buffalo Aud in 1980 I saw the Dead with that large center array being used and some of the other stacks. A much smaller version but still ear piercing loud and from what I remember it was pretty clean for back then.

[Islander]

Back in the late '70s, Supertramp had a reputation for great sound. They insisted on playing across stadiums, rather than along them, and were rumoured to use equipment (rather than just their ears) to dial in the sound before the concert. I only heard them once, at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto in 1978 and the sound was very good.

The Eagles also had great sound when I saw them at the same stadium in 1980, although they had sounded terrrible when they played Maple Leaf Gardens (a hockey arena seating 26,000) in 1977.

[Islander]

I think they only used the whole setup for 1 year due to rediculous costs to upkeep it.

It took so long to set up that they had two complete systems. While they were performing with one, the other one was either in transit or being set up at their next date. That had to be pretty costly, along with needing two road crews.

[Marvel]

It took so long to set up that they had two complete systems. While they were performing with one, the other one was either in transit or being set up at their next date. That had to be pretty costly, along with needing two road crews.

That is still done with some groups today, and one of the reasons ticket prices are high. There are a lot more reasons that go with that...

[Jay Registrar]

I saw the Dead numerous times in the late 60's early 70's. The sound was always enhanced by the party.

What a long strange trip its been!

[jt1stcav]

Wish I could've heard that setup...sigh!

[artto]

It took so long to set up that they had two complete systems. While they were performing with one, the other one was either in transit or being set up at their next date. That had to be pretty costly, along with needing two road crews.

Actually, that is commom practice today also. In fact, sometimes "super groups" will have as many as three setups. One being used for the current gig, another being setup at the next concert venue, and yet another on its way to the following venue.

Also, the Dead's "bass stacks" of JBL D-140 weren't stacked 32' high for nothing. []

[jacksonbart]

Where did they put the weed?

[artto]

Where did they put the weed?

They would put it on some very thin specially made papers and roll it up, or put it in some kind of smoking pipe apparatus.

[boom3]

I heard it at a Dead concert in Louisville in 1974. It was as loud as you could want but there was no ear fatigue at all. There was a definite "stereo effect". We (about 100 of us early arrivers) snuck in on the sound check and the band played some of the more esoteric stuff before the rent-a-cops ran us out. That concert was notable also for the fact that Jerry had no facial hair, the only time I saw a concert pic of him after about 1968 shaven.

Years later a co-worker gave me a tape of part of the concert. Very tinny, I'm afraid and I had to equalize the dickens out of it before it was even AM radio quality.

[colterphoto1]

Where did they put the weed?

It was rolled up in a tube sock, formerly owned by Carl Zappa, and still damp.

[fini]

Pretty impressive system! If only I dug the Dead...

[thebigonion]

Owsley Stanley designed the first high-fidelity sound system for rock music and his designs culminated with the “Wall of Sound”. Owsley met the Dead in ’66 and was their first sound engineer. He was known as the Dancing Bear and the bears that appear on the Dead’s albums are an inside reference to him. Owsley also helped design the Dead’s “steal your face” logo.

Owsley family included senators and governors from Kentucky, English aristocracy, European royalty and he is thought to be a direct descendent of Charlemagne. However, the most interesting aspect of his life is his private lab that manufactured probably 5 million hits of LSD during the sixties and fueled such events as the Gathering of the Tribes, the Muir Beach Acid Test, the Electric Cool-Aid Acid Test and of course the Monterey Pop Festival which he supplied with free Monterey Purple.

Owsley is also famous for his high fidelity concert recordings, most of which have never been released. He is also involved in the manufacture of high end musical instruments and concert sound equipment.

Here are some musical references to Owsley from Wiki:

In 1966, the Grateful Dead sometimes performed a song titled "Alice D. Millionaire", which is a reference to the newspaper headline of when Stanley was arrested. The headline read "LSD Millionaire Busted".The Jimi Hendrix cover version of the Beatles song "Day Tripper", from a 1967 BBC session first released on CD in 1987, features Jimi Hendrix clearly shouting out, "Oh Owsley, can you hear me now?" during the climactic guitar solo.The title of the Jefferson Airplane song "Bear Melt", from their 1968 live album Bless Its Pointed Little Head, is a reference to Stanley's nickname "Bear". Paul Kantner also refers to Stanley by name on the album. The Jefferson Airplane song "Mexico", which was released as a single in 1970, opens with the lyric, "Owsley and Charlie, twins of the trade, come to the poet's room."The Frank Zappa song "Who Needs the Peace Corps?", from the Mothers of Invention' 1968 album We're Only in It for the Money, satirized the hippie scene and features the opening verse:What's there to live for? Who needs the peace corps? Think I'll just DROP OUT I'll go to Frisco Buy a wig & sleep On Owsley's floor^[5]The Steely Dan song "Kid Charlemagne" from the 1976 album The Royal Scam was inspired by Stanley:While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around
Did you feel like Jesus
Did you realize
That you were a champion in their eyes

On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motor home
Every A-Frame had your number on the wall
You must have had it all
You'd go to L.A. on a dare
And you'd go it alone
Could you live forever
Could you see the day
Could you feel your whole world fall apart and fade away

Owsley is still around – check out his website

http://www.thebear.org/

[ClaudeJ1]

Two of the most recent concerts I've attended (Ten Years After and Beck) had so much distortion it was terrible. There was extreme volume, which shouldn't have been a problem, except it seemed like it overloaded the room, to the point where vocals were almost completely unintelligible, sometimes to the point of what was said between songs even being hard to understand. And no, I'm not half-deaf.

Back in the mid-90's, I was one of 2 official photographers for the Grand Opening of the Detroit Opera House, headlined by Luciano Pavarotti. The acoustics there are wonderful, to say the least.

That's why I got excited when, 2 years ago, my favorite guitarist, Mr. Jeff Beck, was booked to play there, with Vinnie Colaiutta on drums and the amazing Beth Hart on vocals.

I told a bass player friend of mine about the show and he opted for main floor seats instead of balcony seats like another friend and I got.

He called me the next day to complain about "too much bass" (from a BASS PLAYER) on the main floor. My seat was just as bad. With modern electronics, speakers and amplification tools, there should be no excuse for bad sound anywhere.............especially in a hall with great acoustics for gosh sakes. So, while the performance was wonderful, the sound basically sucked and ruined what should have been an amazing experience for me.

I swore after that day, that I would never go to another live rock concert again. I'd rather spend WAY less money on a concert DVD and enjoy it at home many times over on my Magnificen Concert Machine (see my Avatar).

End of problem for me.

[leftwinger57]

I will never forget the first time I saw the WALL.It was at The Cow Palace and it was impressive.I've seen big P.A.s before like Bill Grahams' Days on the Green concerts but this was pretty indescribable. For me I'm a purist when it comes to my entertainment and quite frankly the thing was out of phase the vocals were off and you knew that once they tweeked it this would be the sound system to best them all.The thing that I do remember was they were not that sure it would work so they charged a whopping $2.50 w/ the sound test stamped on the ticket. Now the HDCD of the concert is all mixed and cleaned up and does sound pretty damn good. I always said if you wanted a good sound system go talk to the engineers of Pink Floyd,now they know how to convey sound and specticle at the same time.

The Yankee Stadium show which was the 3rd time for seeing Floyd was astounding w/ the end nearing Comfortably Numb this giant arm rises out of the infield to reveal the biggest mirrored ball I'd ever seen before or since then about ten super lazer spots hit it and I'm telling you the place was rotating