Sonic Journals: Capturing the Perfect Sound

Imagine 1300 reel-to-reel recording of more than 80 classic concerts from the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, never before released to the public. Sound engineer Augustus Owsley Stanley III, known as “Bear” recorded what he called his “Sonic Journals” and was the sound engineer for the Grateful Dead, famous for trying to record the music just as it happened on stage. He died in 2011, and never was able to deal with the stored tapes before his death. Now, the Owsley Stanley Foundation, led by one of his sons, is dedicated to the task of preserving and digitizing these tapes, in storage for more than 50 years, and releasing these Sonic Journals.