A brief history of live sound reinforcement

A presentation that I put together recently for a group of university students in Singapore. We normally don't go into this type of detail when training new sound engineers but I made an exception for this class :)

Hope you enjoy this little look into where our industry came from. Voice over recorded with a Shure SM86.

References:

Ball, P., 2007. Why the Greeks could hear plays from the back row. [Online]
[Accessed 5th Sept 2015].

Coules, A., 2014. The History Of PA part 1. [Online]
[Accessed 5th Sept 2015].

Coules, A., 2015. Modern Pioneers: The History Of PA, Part 2. [Online]
[Accessed 6th Sept 2015].

Feel free to get in touch with questions or comments!

[RetroElectroville]

07: 32 Swedish Champion sound system (from a translation):

Champion Presenter A2

Portable Speech Reinforcement System

A2 includes the following pieces:

10 Watt High Fidelity Amplifier, Type G17
12” Permanent Dynamic Speaker
High Quality Dynamic Microphone
Chrome adjustable microphone stand
Elegant Blue bag with folding speaker cover

In addition to this amplifier, Champion has a history of the absolute highest quality at competitive prices.

Mains connection approved.
S marked.
1 year warranty.
PRICE ONLY 475 kr Retail (approx. $60 USD)

[brucecoughran]

I can tell you from personal experience that the "wall of sound" system that was used by the Grateful Dead in the early 1970's did not sound "not that bad", it sounded incredible. The contrast with the typical large venue system of the time was unmistakable, and, in fact, emotionally moving.

As a non-professional, I attributed it at the time to the shear number of speakers, which meant that the individual drivers were asked to "move less air" than the overdriven large cabinets and horns that were typically used at the time. Also, the fact that the microphones suffered so much less "bleed" than a typical system (because the sound-canceling dual microphones canceled out essentially all of the background bleed), I always thought was a factor. The vocals were so clear (very un-typical of the time.)

Whatever it was, the system was clearer, less distorted, and just generally richer than any other large venue sound system of the era that I ever experienced. Too bad it was such a bear (no pun intended...to you Grateful Dead fans) to move, set up, and operate. It sounded SO beautiful, I just feel very lucky to have experienced it.

[klbird]

Nicely done. I am a former Shure employee and liked your SM 57-58 comments. They are still being made and continue to be the workhorse of the industry.

[samizdat]

This video is a delight to watch. I would like to say that since their advent in the mid 60's, the Sure SM57 and 58 remain the industry standard for amplifying and recording instrument amplifiers.

[michiellombaers]

As a sound engineer who started in the eighties I've got to say; nice summary.
I only missed the inclusion of some other pioneers of audio reinforcement; Clair Brothers. They started as a touring company in '66 and builded their first full range PA cabinet, the S4, in '74. The difference of course is that you normally can't buy their systems, they're only for rent.

[alonzogarbanzo]

I appreciate and enjoyed this instructive video, thank you. Please allow me to correct a few inaccurate statements regarding the Beatles. They did not really "more or less give up" touring in 1965 after the Shea Stadium concert on August 15. Two weeks later I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl. They toured again the following year, played Shea once again, and went on to play Dodger Stadium in LA on the 28th of August. I was at that one too, and couldn't hear a thing over the insane screeching. Their Candlestick Park concert in San Francisco on August 29, 1966 was the following night, and it was that concert (and tour as a whole) that made them say "no more" to touring.
And the following album was not "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", but rather "Revolver", released August 5, 1966, exactly one year after the first Shea concert pictured here. "Pepper" didn't come out until the following year, in June 1967.
Generally, I think you might have conflated the 1965 Shea concert with the 1966 Shea concert, and thus I think your "turning point" is really 1966. I can state firsthand that they hadn't solved their PA difficulties by the time of that second tour.

[RJHEllis]

WHERE HAS THIS CHANNEL BEEN ALL MY LIFE?! This is great information on this channel, SUBSCRIBED.

[Charlieosgood]

Our Band in 1968 was nothing like this but the PA worked at our gigs . You go to the local high school dances in the gym. all the bands had all their instruments played through the individual amplifiers and they played them loud. What was used for vocals was really simple, we had three mic 🎤 one lead and two for harmonies.All the bands had some kind of power amp ( I had a Bogen 50 watt ) and the vocals went out through horns . Atlas Sound was what everyone used like you see at sport stadiums. They came shaped in a rectangular or round 16 inch, all were mounted on horn stands really bigger mic stands with a X base to keep them steady. I hooked out a Realisic mike mixer so it would hold up to 8 mikes. And that was what the local ( even the best local bands) used for a PA system and they worked and sounded better than trying to use an Extra channel out of someone’s guitar amp. I didn’t see the big box cabinets till the next year and only by professional bands. The bands I talked about didn’t have a big truck to transport and it was not on a budget, when we getting 35 to 70 dollar payouts to divide between 4-5 members But that was pretty good money for a teenage hobby. People turn their nose up when I’d explain this but I heard many bands using this type of sound system. I recently found a picture of Moby grape with the horns like these for vocals.

[wraithman]

The reason for flying line arrays was to cover more of the audience and the biggest advantage was being able to add more seats that would have been taken away by traditional stacks.
One of the most distinguished live sound co's is Ultrasound which is the touring sound division of Meyer Sound.

[artysanmobile]

Kudos to the original poster. You’ve done a very good job showing and explaining the history of electronic sound systems.

[allanox]

another excellent and enlightening half-an-our, courtesy of Youtube and its fantastic contributors!!

[brucecedeno]

Big fan of your channel. I have learned so much in less of two hours of your videos.
I have bought a sound system and unable to wire them correctly until today.
thanks for what you do for us bringing so needed help.

[johnpatterson]

I remember seeing my first rock concert in a small hockey arena in Ontario, Canada. It was KISS on their 'Love Gun' Canada Tour. That show utilized the 70s style 'stacked' P.A. with the bass, midrange and treble cabinets piled-up on either side of the stage. The sound was deafening (my hearing after felt like a jet airplane taking-off in my head) for three days later. The actual musical performances of Cheap Trick as the opener and KISS as the headliner sounded like their songs had been put through a grinder. I loved every minute of it, and it gave me the belief every rock band of that day played at a volume you could feel. As most of the speaker cabinets were 'air-suspension' type, I noticed when the KISS members stepped in-front of the PA it blew their hair like a high-speed fan.

[VickersDoorter]

As a live audio engineer in the mid-1980s to 1990s I recall doing numerous gigs in the UK with the Meyer MSL3 cabinets and subs. Incredible detail and big sound for their size. Also horrifically expensive.

[hummhed]

Correction- There were mixing consoles in the late 70's that had variable bus sends to for monitors. Yamaha PM1000 came out in '74, and PM2K in '78. By the early 80's it was common. Prefader was called "Foldback" (the term still used in theatre sound design, and by us ancients), and postfader was called "echo". If you were lucky, you'd even get TWO of each and maybe a built in spring reverb! This bit of work is quite well done. Thanks Bruno!

[nicholascremato]

My home system was a pair of Altec A-7 speakers with the crown amp and a bogen table.

[pawfan]

You have done what is mostly not even considered being done for the next generation of audio/sound engineers...Thanks!

[bdc-muzik]

This was the coolest little doc I’ve seen in a long time… great job!!!👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[Djtonydraper]

Very nice. Thanks so much for sharing. Anyone who is into sound should watch, learn & appreciate this awesome video. Thanks again.

[johnbogle]

I got to see/hear the Wall of Sound system in the mid 70s (back when my hearing was still excellent :). It did in fact sound wonderful. Of great interest to me was the dual mic feedback reduction system. I have since used this technique and found it actually works well (It does however have it's drawbacks).