[OT] Grateful Dead : Wall of Sound

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:12 pm

I was watching special features on the Grateful Dead Movie dvd last night, they were talking about the Wall of Sound, which was the Dead's massive PA they carried around for a few years in the early 70's. What a crazy beast!

I had always thought the microphones they were using at the time strange looking, but they explained what that was about. Having a huge wall of speakers behind the band causes problems with feedback from the vocal mics, so they used Differential Summing technique to isolate the vocal from the background sound. There are two omnidirectional mics on top of each other, about 3 inches apart. The vocalist sings into the top one, which is mixed with the other omnidirectional mic that is phase shifted to be out of phase. In theory, the background noise is canceled out and only the vocal being sung directly into the top mic remains. They said it resulted in a very tinny vocal sound....hahaha, no doubt! Here's the mic....

And here's a collection of articles on some of the technical aspects of the Wall of Sound
http://www.nii.net/~obie1/deadcd/wall_of_sound.htm

Robert Henke · Post by **Robert Henke** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:25 pm

great. thanx for sharing !

R.

fatrabbit · Post by **fatrabbit** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:26 pm

That whole vocal mic setup seems like a case of overcomplication.

feyshay · Post by **feyshay** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:46 pm

Having been to a number of Grateful Dead shows, the live sound quality was usually superb, even if overcomplicated. In fact, I think it was unsurpassed (relatively on the large arena level)

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:55 pm

Anyone know where I can pick up some Grateful Dead bootlegs? I remember hearing some bootleg tapes back in college and some of the "jams" they do during shows are just amazing! Was hoping to snag some of those someplace....

feyshay · Post by **feyshay** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:58 pm

Mehalic wrote:Anyone know where I can pick up some Grateful Dead bootlegs? I remember hearing some bootleg tapes back in college and some of the "jams" they do during shows are just amazing! Was hoping to snag some of those someplace....

I'm sure there is some shared file service. Otherwise, Podcasts.
Also, Dick's Picks (CD's). From Amazon.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:12 pm

Mehalic wrote:Anyone know where I can pick up some Grateful Dead bootlegs? I remember hearing some bootleg tapes back in college and some of the "jams" they do during shows are just amazing! Was hoping to snag some of those someplace....

http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead

There some great downloadable videos on Veoh

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:31 pm

HA! I didn't know that about the mics! it also explains their vocal sound.

the thing with them and Pink Floyd is that they figured out is to get a massive PA and not overdrive it. each speaker was driven softer but they had more of them, so it was louder.

can't find bootlegs? google for them, they're out there.
http://deadlegs.com/
http://deadshow.org/Dan/

they always let fans record shows, they even set aside an area in the audience so they could set up mics.

dhilsabeck · Post by **dhilsabeck** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:36 pm

Here's a site with some Dead bootlegs as well as well as some others (Floyd, Bowie, Marley, Jimi, and much much more). They're from the master recordings from the archives of "Bill Graham Presents".

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/

Registration to listen is free, but it just may be worth it.

DGA · Post by **DGA** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:26 pm

fatrabbit wrote:That whole vocal mic setup seems like a case of overcomplication.

Well, the wall was also their monitoring system. On big shows, the moniotr mixes can be just as complicated as foh, so it is in a way simplifying things.

Amps and drivers were on the order of comparably low power back then. For as loud as the rig looks, a modern system would be both small and louder, sound better, too.

knotkranky · Post by **knotkranky** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:46 pm

It's funny to see all that PA "behind" the band. Not a great place for it