Pink Floyd pioneered live surround sound as long ago as the early ’70s. Chris Hewitt has tracked down the groundbreaking PA systems they used at Pompeii and on the Dark Side Of The Moon tour, and rebuilt the custom quad console operated by Alan Parsons. In our exclusive video feature, Chris explains how the Floyd created a fully immersive concert experience more than 50 years ago.

Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:14 - Allen & Heath quadraphonic desk 01:39 - Desk designer Andy Bereza 02:00 - Allen & Heath Minimix 02:19 - Pink Floyd mixing in quad 02:43 - Teac A3340 4-track tape machine 03:22 - Alan Parsons at the mixing desk 04:11 - Binson Echorec 2 04:30 - Live mix engineers 05:30 - Introduction of wedge monitors 06:26 - Sennheiser MD 409 07:07 - Phase Linear amplifiers 08:54 - WEM parabolic dish 11:23 - Rebuilding the quad desk

Thank you to Chris Hewitt of CH Vintage Audio for inviting us to film his collection. https://www.chvintageaudio.com

The following books by Chris Hewitt contain a wealth of information and further details about the Pink Floyd PA system as well as the history of WEM the pioneering British live sound company.

The Development Of Large Rock Sound Systems: Volume 1 The Development Of Large Rock Sound Systems: Volume 2 The Development Of Large Rock Sound Systems: Volume 3