The Grateful Dead's "Wall of Sound".*

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by JayB, Apr 5, 2008.

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  1. JayB

    JayB Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT
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  2. zippy2001

    zippy2001 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moorpark CA
    Another reason why my cousin is a deadhead.
    I'm sure that must have been awesome to hear in concert.
     
  3. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    I saw the Dead in Buffalo back in '73 (?) and they had the "wall of sound"
    setup - I did'nt believe they really had all those speakers actually wired up
    (thought it was just for show).
     
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  4. Gregory Earl

    Gregory Earl Senior Member

    Location:
    Kantucki
    After reading your link this morning I pulled up one of the stage shots and have it full screen while enjoying Jerry and gang at Fillmore East,New York, NY. 04/26/1971, Set 1 on Wolfgang's Vault.....at a higher pun intended than usual volume.:cool:

    Excellent article BTW.
     
  5. docwebb

    docwebb Forum Resident

    Thinking of how Pete Townsend damaged his hearing during his playing days. With that set up I'm surprised all the members of the Dead aren't stone cold deaf.
     
  6. jstraw

    jstraw Forum Resident

    Honest to goodness...(by reputation...I never heard it) it wasn't that loud. It made a lot of very precise sound without a sledgehammer approach. Basically...no driver was reproducing more than a single source. It was a fussy rig, a bitch to maintain and cost a fortune to tour with. So it wasn't destined to survive. But a whole lot was learned and there's be no Meyer Sound Labs or Ultrasound without it.
     
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  7. jacksondownunda

    jacksondownunda Forum Resident

    Photos of this system can be found in the 1974 archive photo section of Grateful Dead's official website.
    I had the pleasure of hearing this sound system several times in 1974, both outdoors (UCSB and Hollywood Bowl), and a couple times at Winterland in October. I was stunned when I first saw it; it looked like a giant Martian hieroglyphic!
    It was 641 speakers all run on McIntosh 2300 power amps AT LOW VOLUME; the result being very undistorted sound. Each band member had their own system, except for vocals and drums (drums had own bottom end), so all the signals were separate, not mixed together through a soundboard. Very clean. The shear "face" or "wall" of the speaker area moved a huge "surface" of sound across the stadium. Hence it wasn't blasting at you, you were bathed in it and could walk closer or farther away from it and it sounded the same. To hear every clear delicate nuance in Jerry's finger on his modified Irwin/Strat thing was delicious, and the Alembic bass magnificent. The only thing I can compare it to is the crisp sound of near thunder. It sounded better outdoors than indoors.
    The downside, as some tapes attest, is as everyone had their own volume, sometimes the balance in instruments was lopsided, but that was only obvious on tapes. Also, the differential summing mics (2 reverse matched mics per singer, each singer singing into 1 mic and anything else cancelled out, cut out some vocal bottom....but that was being worked on).
    Check out those pics!
     
  8. Sneaky Pete

    Sneaky Pete Flat the 5 and That’s No Jive

    Location:
    NYC USA
    Thanks for the link. I saw the Dead with the wall of sound set up, and it is true it was not that loud. I think the point was that it sounded better than almost everyone else at the time. The Dead always cared about good sound.

    The Who actually had the reputation of being the loudest rock band in the world for awhile (later I think this distinction went to Motorhead). I think Pete's hearing was also damaged by the explosives put into Kieth's drum kit for the Smothers Brother's Show "finale."
     
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  9. jstraw

    jstraw Forum Resident

    The Dead were great innovators in terms of live sound. They were dragging delay towers around to sheds and stadiums when they were unheard of. Now nearly all the sheds have them permanently installed.
     
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  10. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    that center cluster to me is the absolute highlight in PA Technolgy..
     
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  11. Mr X

    Mr X Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY, USA
    I saw a couple of GD shows with the wall. It was very clear and had amazing headroom. From the middle of the floor at a coliseum or arena it sounded like you were listening to a reference system. There really wasn't anything comparable in sound for large venues.
     
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  12. MusicMtnMonkey

    MusicMtnMonkey New Member

    Location:
    Vail, CO, USA
    I think Pete always claimed he suffered hearing loss from the drum keith moon exploded very close to him on live tv??

    I love both Pete and Jerry, though only Pete could jump in the air while spinning around 360 degress and doing a windmill without becoming entangled in his guitar cords 8)

    Anybody else thinking it was partly all that beautiful tube amplification in that wall of sound that led to those amazing, almost unsurpassed enjoyment available from live board reel recordings of 70's Dead shows??

    When I listen to all the Jerry live shows mastered on cassette tape in the 80's, it's SOO painfull, just does not have the beautiful fidelity of the 70's Dead or Jerry recordings.

     
  13. Gregory Earl

    Gregory Earl Senior Member

    Location:
    Kantucki
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  14. JA Fant

    JA Fant Well-Known Member

    Simply awesome! The Dead always cared about great sound, great performance.
    An era gone by...
     
  15. Lownotes

    Lownotes Senior Member

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    This is from the dozin link:

    "Note: the amplifiers used were all identical dual channel 300 watts per channel solid state type with matching transformers except for one each in the vocal and drum system which were Tube type at 350 watts, and operated the tweeters."
     
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  16. MusicMtnMonkey

    MusicMtnMonkey New Member

    Location:
    Vail, CO, USA
    dunno where I thought I read about tubes??

    I guess it would really matter most about the mixing board and reel tape head pre amp?? What I'm really wondering is why do the recordings of the wall of sound shows sound soo good also??

     
  17. SkyBlueShag

    SkyBlueShag Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orlando, FL, USA
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  18. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

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  19. phallumontis

    phallumontis Active Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Yeah, looking at that picture made my eyes bug out. Must have been something else!
     
  20. As sound is not additive, the number of speakers isn't really relevant although the volume of the loudest speaker is (and of course, how close you are to it).
     
  21. jstraw

    jstraw Forum Resident

    Sound is mostly, kinda not additive. I was once shown a formula for how many violins were required to be twice as loud as one violin and the result was a number a heck of a lot larger than "two." It's additive...it's just very, very minimally additive. :)
     
  22. Actually, it takes approximately 10 violins to have the volume perceived to be twice as loud as 1 violin. But perceived is the important word here - in actuality, the violins - as measured quantitatively by a decibel meter or other similar device would only be as loud as the loudest violin.

    The perceived volume has to do with competing frequencies "fighting" for the same nerve endings in the human ear. I forgot the details though, it was a long time ago that I studied this... and I hope I'm remembering correctly :)
     
  23. CusBlues

    CusBlues Fort Wayne’s Favorite Retired Son

    I love this thread. I was born in 1961 and wasn't able to go to concerts until 1979 or so. I heard Dead shows only through bootlegs tape or on the radio. In those days, I always thought the shows sounded as bad as the tapes. :) I never knew about the care taken to design and build sound systems back then. I really wish I could have heard the Dead during this period. Keep those recolections coming.
     
  24. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Looking at those photos, one word comes to mind:

    Feedback.
     
  25. jstraw

    jstraw Forum Resident

    Nope, the solution was the paired mics wired out of phase.
     
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