New York, NY (September 29, 2023)—As I write this, New York is underwater from torrential downpours all day. According to CNN, nearly 8 inches fell at JFK Airport—that’s the most in a single day since 1948. I live 20 minutes from JFK, so I just spent five hours bailing out standing water around my house and doing flooded basement triage, but we got off easy compared to some of the neighboring towns where homes are surrounded by waist-deep water. While I wait for the Uber Ark we ordered a few hours ago to moor up to our front porch, I’m going to pass the time remixing The Grateful Dead’s classic 1973 Wake of the Flood album—a new, free feature that the band coincidentally—but all too appropriately—unveiled today on its website, Dead.net.
Around a year ago, the Dead’s site added Playing In The Band—a virtual mixing desk that lets you mix the famed jamband any way you like. There’s eight faders—Jerry, Bobby, Phil, Billy, Keith, Violin, Vocals and Master—as well as Mute and Solo buttons, and a pan knob for each source. The Playing In The Band mixer originally debuted with five songs from an August 27, 1972 show in Veneta, Oregon, but now you can try your hand at mixing five Wake of the Flood tracks: “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo,” “Eyes of the World,” “Stella Blue,” “Prelude/Part One” and “Let It Grow.”
Bringing The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound Back to Life
The mixer is mainly intended for instrumentalists who want to virtually sit-in with the band or perhaps learn a solo note-for-note by isolating it and playing along. Still, it’s a fun way to discover or re-familiarize yourself with the songs, and the virtual controls are responsive and easy to use. [Right about here, we’d joke that you could also record each stem individually and then drag ’em to your own DAW to cobble together a TikTok-ready Dead dubstep remix, but of course, we don’t approve of piracy]. Here’s a decidedly non-technical but fun breakdown of the mixer, created last year when the Oregon show was the only option available to play with:
Why did the Dead unveil this cool addition to its website today of all days? Because they just happen to also be releasing a slew of 50th-anniversary editions of Wake of the Flood, ranging from expanded, multiple CD sets to remastered vinyl versions. That mixable, online version is free, however, so dive into the Flood via their virtual desk.
