Meyer Sound Helps Grateful Dead Bid Farewell

Grateful Dead’s original sound engineer first tapped Meyer to create acoustic solutions for the legendary “Wall of Sound” system in the 1970s.

CI Staff
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Fifty years after forming their band at a Palo Alto music store, the surviving founders of the Grateful Dead kicked off their end-of-an-era “Fare Thee Well” mini-tour this summer at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., with a Meyer Sound LEO linear large-scale sound reinforcement system driving a quadraphonic surround setup.

The two Silicon Valley shows were a landmark occasion with more than the 60,000 devoted Deadheads in attendance each evening. It was also a milestone in the band’s decades-long association with Meyer Sound CEO John Meyer, a relationship spawned from a shared passion for audio experimentation and audience experience.

The Grateful Dead’s original sound engineer, Owsley “Bear” Stanley, first tapped Meyer to create acoustic solutions for the legendary “Wall of Sound” system in the 1970s.

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.

Photos: Inside Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well Tour

“John Meyer’s 1100-LFC loudspeakers empower the rhythmic voice and enable percussionists to manifest new ideas,” says 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.”

The Meyer Sound system comprised four front arrays of 17 LEO-M and three MICA line array loudspeakers each, with dual side columns of 14-each 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements and a center column of 22 700-HP subwoofers in an end-fire pattern. Side and offstage coverage was supplied by 32 LYON and 32 MILO line array loudspeakers, respectively, with an additional 30 MICA loudspeakers providing behind-stage coverage.

Matt Haasch, audio crew chief for Pro Media / Ultrasound adds: “I was impressed with how well the LEO system handled the physical acoustics of a big stadium. Coverage was smooth and practically seamless, with precise imaging for all seating areas.”

More live sound project stories here.

John Meyer’s work with the Grateful Dead extends to the mid-1970s when the band’s concerts were heard through McCune Sound Service’s JM-10 systems designed by Meyer. The relationship continued through the band’s last tour with Jerry Garcia in 1995, supported by Meyer Sound MSL-10 loudspeakers.

Meyer Sound systems have been a staple for tours of reunion and spin-off bands during the interim, including the 2005 and 2009 tours equipped with a Meyer Sound MILO system when the core members were known as The Dead. In 2011, the band’s Bob Weir installed a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system in his Tamalpais Research Institute (TRI).

Author Bruce Borgerson is a freelance journalist who has been writing about pro audio for more than three decades, covering the sound reinforcement and music recording markets. He operates his own hobbyist recording studio and supervises sound at his house of worship.

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