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How the Grateful Dead’s ‘Wall of Sound’ System Nearly Bankrupted Them — and Changed Concert Audio Forever

Grateful Dead's legendary Wall of Sound system, which redefined concert audio, is chronicled in Brian Anderson's new book 'Loud and Clear.'

Plus, at a time with far fewer regulations, transporting, assembling, and disassembling the Wall came with plenty of risks for the (often inebriated) crew tasked with doing so; Loud and Clear ’s at-times harrowing narrative includes broken arms, nearly-severed toes, falling equipment, electrocutions and flipped trucks. Your book outlines several audio innovations by the band, including pioneering the use of on-stage monitors, helping to invent digital delay towers, and using feedback-cancelling microphones to make the Wall of Sound work. In the very early ’70s, they were always having conversations about, “Gee, wouldn’t it be great if we had our own spot where we could set up our sound system, just exactly perfect, and people can come see us perform?” They started to take some very serious steps to figure out, “OK, what would this space look like?” One of the ideas they were kicking around was a Buckminster Fuller-style geodesic dome – like a sphere.

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