
The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead's Short-Lived Wall of Sound - braythwayt
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wnnayb/the-wall-of-sound
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jefflombardjr
They had to solve some pretty cool technical challenges to build it - there is
a cool Interview about the use of noise canceling mics in the grateful dead
movie[0]

Also, I don't think a lot of people are aware of the link between the Grateful
Dead and the EFF. John Perry Barlow was a lyricist for the Dead and a founding
member of the EFF.[1] I really really respect folks like Barlow who were bay
area hippies that saw tech as a way to change the world for the better. RIP.

[0] [https://youtu.be/PODPgBaiFI4?t=202](https://youtu.be/PODPgBaiFI4?t=202)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow)

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z-cam
There's a great video essay on this topic:
[https://youtu.be/r86Sb4heCWM](https://youtu.be/r86Sb4heCWM)

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Daneel_
Came here looking to post the exact same thing. The channel (Polyphonic) is
excellent - I'd highly recommend his other videos.

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Projectiboga
The Grateful Dead were always the clearest band throughout the 80s and 90s,
they kept working on low distortion, even sound and sonic fidelity. 6 shows of
their's in 7 or 8 days were less stressful on the ears than a single show by
anyone else. Roger Waters, King Crimson 95 tour, Peter Gabriel 80s & 90s were
the only bands I saw that approached the Dead's clarity while being gentle on
the ears.

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gumby
> The Grateful Dead were always the clearest band throughout the 80s and 90s,
> they kept working on low distortion...

I agree, but have to say that Marvin Minsky once walked into my office (where
my office mate and I were frequently playing the Dead) and, as an aside, said,
"I thought the idea was to _minimize_ the distortion".

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Jgrubb
I admit I haven't read the article yet, but I have read an incredible amount
on the wall of sound and I find it hard to believe there's anything remaining
that qualifies as a fully untold story. I will report back after reading TFA.

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Jgrubb
Ok,couple tidbits that were new to me. I didn't know about all the tube amps
they used, that probably sounded really nice when they started pushing things,
especially on the low end. I didn't know how they solved the problem of a line
array being behind the band WRT feedback on the vocals, that's worth the read
alone.

Most interesting takeaway for me was that the Wall time period basically
overlapped w the period that they'd booted Mickey from the band. Those two
things together - no wonder those are my favorite shows.

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MichaelMoser123
Wouldn't you get deaf if you put all the amps right behind yourself ?

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hluska
Yeah - a lot of high profile musicians end up with terrible hearing as they
age.

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Applejinx
Bear in mind that for many of those guys, notably Townsend, what killed their
ears was not stage volume but abuse of headphones in the recording studio. If
you're wearing headphones to record and they don't isolate very well and
you're in a live room with drums and stuff around you, the bleed from the live
sound seriously interferes with your ability to keep track of what's going on.

If you choose to turn the headphones up until they drown out the bleed, you're
effectively doubling sound pressure levels and that's what will make you deaf.
Effectively, you add to the bad-sounding but still loud bleed, another layer
of distorted cranked-out audio from tiny speakers right against your ears.

The Wall Of Sound was line arrays. If you stand right next to those, you hear
only a tiny fraction of the loudness of the full system. Much of the wattage
is literally firing over your head or at your feet. If you've not experienced
line arrays, this is counterintuitive, but it's very true. There's nothing
that can even out 'distant volume' against 'close-up volume' like a line
array.

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MichaelMoser123
very interesting, thanks!

