DC Dead Tape Exchange

Music

Grateful Dead   Diversions

The DC Dead Tape Exchange today maintains an active library of approximately 10,000 hours of live music. We divide the library into two categories, "Grateful Dead" and "Diversions" (all non-Grateful Dead) because, as we all know, man cannot live on Dead alone. By clicking on either of one of these two tabs, you will be taken immediately to each of these categories.

We have tried to make our website somewhat user friendly for browsing purposes. The Grateful Dead portion is broken down by year. The Diversions portion is broken down alphabetically by band name and then by date of performance. Additionally, because we periodically update this list with new finds, we also maintain a separate page called Bound to Cover Just a Little More Ground, (aka "What's New") which just lists the new material coming into the library. By clicking on this page, you can access this new stuff directly without sorting through the full menu.

As we have been collecting music since 1971, the media on which the music is stored has obviously gone through some serious evolution from reel-to-reel tapes to cassettes to Beta hi-fi tapes to digital audio tapes and now to compact discs. Since 1998, we have mastered in a digital format and have been regularly converting analog masters to digital clones (with sonic cleanups and other improvements as warranted). This conversion process continues and we anticipate completing it about the time we are admitted to nursing homes (by which time, of course, there will be even newer archiving options available).

Finally, on the issue of "sound quality grading," three plus decades of listening to live music has taught us to be flexible on trying to impose an objective classification on what is essentially a pretty subjective topic. We strive for consistency in our ratings and probably fall short of that goal on occasion depending on playback equipment, room acoustics, and whatever mood our ears happen to be in at the time. For grading purposes, our music is broken down into three sources: soundboard (sbd), radio (FM or XM), and audience (aud). Variables on these (IEMS or matrix [mix]) are noted when necessary but generally will be regarded as soundboards.

You can reach us at this e-mail address