Dan Healy is an

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction ...

who often worked with the American rock band the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

. He succeeded

Alembic An alembic (from ar, الإنبيق, al-inbīq, originating from grc, ἄμβιξ, ambix, 'cup, beaker') is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distillation of liquids. Description The complete dis ...

and Owsley "Bear" Stanley as the group's chief sound man after the

Wall Of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of sessio ...

in 1974 and subsequent band hiatus through 1975. A favorite amongst

Deadhead A Deadhead or Dead Head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, a number of fans began travelling to see the band in as many shows or festival venues as they could. With large numbers of people thus attending strings o ...

s for many years, he helped to introduce a tapers section at Grateful Dead concert to allow audience recording of live concerts. Healy would often provide direct output from the soundboard for the tapers to directly patch into their recorders. He was a pioneer in rock sound system innovation, and helped Bear along with Ron Wickersham of Alembic design the Dead's "

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of sessio ...

" concert sound system. He also helped perfect the ultra-matrix soundboard setup which was used by the Dead from 1986 through 1990. Some fans and collectors of the band's live recordings deem this setup to be the band's best-sounding, and most practical. Healy has also undertaken

record production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

duties on occasion, such as when he produced the 1960s

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

band The Charlatans' eponymous debut album. He is listed as co-producer and engineer on

Mother Earth Mother Earth may refer to: *The Earth goddess in any of the world's mythologies *Mother goddess * Mother Nature, a common personification of the Earth and its biosphere as the giver and sustainer of life Written media and literature * "Mother Ea ...

's debut album ''Living with the Animals'' (1968). Healy was also the bass player for Hoffman's Bicycle (later ) that played the Bay Area for 18 months from the Summer of 1968.

Notes and references

External links

Dan Healy, "Speaker of the House"
- Interview, October 1992. Fro
Dozin.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Healy, Dan American audio engineers Grateful Dead Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)