Back in ye olden days (when I was a kid), PA systems were very small, and even a large theatre would just have a few large speakers set up. Some things happened in the late sixties that radically advanced the state of the art. Sound levels got very high - and very clear. Maybe a little too loud for good health in some cases, but the creative potentials also increased. It is now very common for even small clubs to have multi-channel, bi- or tri-amped systems.

The ultimate in outrageous excess was the famous wall the Owsley-designed Grateful Dead used to travel with, which required three trucks and a large crew. But it was incredibly clean; each performer had their own tri-amped speakers, with little in the way of IM distortion. They also had a novel approach to monitors - they didn’t use them! Instead, a feedback cancellation system involving two microphones made it possible for the performers to hear the sound that the audience heard.

Quite an imteresting articles of some of the unsung techie heroes of the sixties music revolution.

Music of the era

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