Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: rustyg61 on July 07, 2015, 12:45:36 AM
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Here is a great article on the WOS -
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-wall-of-sound?utm_source=vicefbus (http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-wall-of-sound?utm_source=vicefbus)
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How Kool is this ? WAY KOOL !
Thanks for posting this Rusty !
Wolf
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Just finished reading it; very enjoyable read. Thanks!
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This article describes the sound system for the LAST shows;
http://www.prosoundnetwork.com/article/meyer-sound-fares-the-grateful-dead-well/19646 (http://www.prosoundnetwork.com/article/meyer-sound-fares-the-grateful-dead-well/19646)
Wolf
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Thanks Rusty, good article !
I'll have to reread it and Wolf's after more coffee.
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Thanks for the postings, great to read. The Meyer Sound/Mickey Hart mention of low frequency healing through neurological stimulations is intriguing!
Rob
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Thanks for the links! WOS article was a fun read, still need to read about the PA for the GD50 shows.
On a related note... Bear's son Starfinder brought a jar of his father's ashes to Chicago and they were placed on the soundboard for the final shows. Very cool.
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Wow,
That's deep.
Cool pic!thanks
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Thanks for the article.
The Wall of Sound was incredible. I got to see, hear, and feel it several times. I remember the official unveiling, the Sound Test at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in March of 1974.
The Dead played a LONG concert, followed by breakfast (croissants and oranges, as I remember) and on the way out we were handed a free 4 song mini LP - all for $4!
I paid $200 for my ticket at the Santa Clara show. Times have indeed changed!
Bill, tgo
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I was at that Cow Palace show as well .
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Glad everyone likes the article, I thought it was very interesting!
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Glad everyone likes the article, I thought it was very interesting!
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I'll second that ;),
I've been doing some random reading on the WOS,
I'll dig up some links.
I have a few GD/WOS pieces of gear that I have been
trying to research to see where and when they where used.
If anyone has some pics/info about cool black(?) boxes like Betty Cantor-Jackson's breakout box and Ron's AX-10....please post them.
The Meyer/GD50 article mentioned they gathered 650 speakers from different sources to put the chicago show up.
A guy I worked with was a JBL warantee serviceman in the 70's. He said one day they got a call to send out ALL
the 5 drivers they had for some big project.
(Message edited by elwoodblue on July 07, 2015)
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I only had a chance to glance at it yesterday morning, but read the whole thing trying to unwind after a particularly rowdy wedding reception gig last night. (yeah - on a *Tuesday* night... who the heck planned that?!)
Anyway, I guess that's the most comprehensive article I've ever seen on the Wall of Sound. Fascinating, the back story... Thanks for posting Rusty!
As an aside, I had this buddy in high school, (we're actually still buds, just separated by a continent anymore) that famously huge sound stytem was all he thought or talked about leading up to the Dead tour that year (either Summer of '86 or '87) by which time I guess they wouldn't have been using it anymore. Tried his best to get me to go with him, but I didn't heed his accolades about this *amazing* Phil Lesh guy on bass. I'd like to have that one back.
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What a shame that the WOS could not be revisited. In today's world of powered cabinets (lose one whole semi full of Mac amps and miles of speaker cable !) and computer control, imagine what could be done now. Especially since some of its features have become standards now.
Plus, one big hurdle is completely eliminated these days: You'd NEVER have to worry about feedback, since they're all lip-synching !
Joey
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The Meyer Sound Leo system with its accompanying 1100-LFC low-frequency control element delivered an immersive fan experience in the large football stadium and supported an experimental segment devised by drummer/percussionist Mickey Hart.
Using the Meyer Sound system to transmit ultra-low frequencies in surround sound, Hart probed how the brain perceived audible and below-audible rhythms.
?John Meyer?s 1100-LFC loudspeakers empower the rhythmic voice and enable percussionists to manifest new ideas,? said Mickey Hart.
?They are sonic tools for reliably transmitting vibrations that affect neurologic function in a special way we are only beginning to understand, enabling us to explore healing properties embedded in low-frequency sound?a dream come true for us all.?
yes, this!
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Pretty sure they weren't lip-syncing at GD50, unless they practiced forgetting the words and coming in at the wrong time, and were studiously staring at the lyric sheets just for appearances.
Some of the drums segment appeared to be triggered loops; but other than that, it was live music, improvisation without a net, with a few blown transitions as counterpoint to all the transcendent passages.
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In other words - a typical classic GD show - !
IMO, the range of emotions that can be experienced during the band's struggle to navigate through all of the rough spots to reach the transcendent passages is where the magic happens.
The tension steadily builds until the blessed release that occurs when they collectively nail it.
And the WOS was the perfect vehicle to transmit all of that sonic energy.
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Someone posted on another forum, and I agree... it's most impressive (in the article) how they first recognized the problems associated with large scale amplification, but they didn't stop with just meeting about it for discussion, they set about actually *doing* something. A nice side-effect of those efforts is the instruments we get to play that were developed as part of the plan.
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Well, if we get the petition started now, we can probably get the momentum going for the WOS 50th anniversary spectacular.
(((((((((BRING BACK THE WALL)))))))))))
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The WoS was a great thing, and the research that came from it is still relevant, but it's extremely outdated. Most of the problems it was trying to cure, especially intermodulation distortion, are no longer problematic. While it would be awesome to see in action (I missed it by 2 years, which seemed like a long time back then, but is a blink of an eye now), what we hear now is probably better fidelity. Especially the low end. The Meyer subs are way more efficient and powerful.
And then there is the cost. It would be hideously expensive to get such a thing going now.
The one aspect of it that would probably not be bettered by the modern systems is the localization aspect. With each instrument coming from its own speakers, the sense of a band being in front of you, rather than on the other side of a sound system, would be awesome. Like a bar band brought large. There's no replicating that that by other means.