Any Audiophile Steamers Out There ?

[Rob S.]

Starting in 1966, I believe, the Dead began recording all of their performances, as a means to help them improve. There are hardly any concerts of theirs that are not available in one form or another right up to their final show in 1995.

PS I usually only listen to their shows up until the middle of 1972. 1969, '70 & '71 are their peak.

 

[LAB3]

About 15 years ago I was offered a loan of a 1tb hard drive full of DAT recordings that where taken directly off the mixing board from several years of Grateful Dead shows by a friend who was there to record it. The Dead where quite OK with people bootlegging their shows and I quite clearly remember seeing an area around the sound booth at their shows where people set up their recording equipment. Perhaps the ONLY thing I clearly remember....

Yes, Archive.org is THE place to grab those recordings these days, back in the day it was all done by trading them in person.

 

[Rob S.]

The Dead where quite OK with people bootlegging their shows and I quite clearly remember seeing an area around the sound booth at their shows where people set up their recording equipment.

Yes, the famous taping area. A lucky few were usually allowed to plug right into the sound board. Others held their microphones atop tall wooden sticks.

As magnanimous as most Dead tapers were, offering free copies to anyone who supplied the blank tape, some would alter the speed at some point or introduce other imperfections so that they would have the only perfect version. Human nature!
But this is no reason to get 'steamed.'