A while ago I posted a photo of the Grateful Dead and the wall of sound, an awesome shot of over 500 speakers and close to 60 tweeters. For me it’s kind of like the “Mona Lisa” for anyone who’s performed in a band. I found the picture on the internet and was unaware that the photo was copyrighted.

Well, the gentleman who took that very shot, Richard Pechner, contacted me. I wrote him back and sincerely apologized. He graciously replied saying no problem, and sent me a link to his sites where I found out that he actually roadied for the band and help design this little (well not really little) piece of history.

Here’s a link to his site where there are some pretty cool shots of the construction of “The Wall” plus some of his other great work:

http://pechner.smugmug.com/

And here’s one with some info on “The Wall”

http://www.wallofsound.ws/

Being a musician, I should have realized the importance of protecting someone’s artwork, and in the future will be more considerate instead of carelessly cutting and pasting stuff from the internet. Fortunately Mr. Prechner was very understanding, even cool about.

Thanks again Rich for such a great piece of history.

Hi Whiteknuckle,

Thanks for all the background information and the links. This really rounds out the story behind this wonderful picture.

Whiteknuckle -

Thanks for posting this message. I often don't think of photos being copyrighted, unless I see the copyright notice on the photo itself. Obviously, in today's world, it's getting harder and harder to believe any photos I see, due to digital photo manipulation techniques.

But, the "Wall of Sound" photo sure brought back memories of the 70's for me and I appreciate Mr. Pechner being so understanding about his photo. In addition, thank you for the information "behind" the photo. I checked out the links you provided and it took me back in time! What a wonderful little "break" in my day.

Hey Whiteknuckle,

Thanks for providing these juicy photos. They're the best I've seen on this innovative system.

One thing that's interesting to note is that the system was being worked on a lot: for example, the central cluster keeps changing.

I wonder how they dealt with audience ears being lower than stage height?

I'm endlessly fascinated by this work.

Ken