John Cutler, a sound engineer who collaborated with the Grateful Dead for many years and co-produced several of the band’s albums, has died at age 73. His passing on December 24 following a long illness was confirmed by his brother Bill.
“I know he was loved by many of you, and in the coming days I will share some stories about his life,” Bill Cutler wrote on his Facebook page, “but right now our family needs time to process this and grieve.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Among the Grateful Dead albums John Cutler co-produced was the band’s highest-charting record, In the Dark, which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in 1987. He also worked on the band’s final studio effort, Built to Last (1989), as well as the live albums Dylan & the Dead (1989) and Without a Net (1990).
In addition, Cutler co-produced the Jerry Garcia Band’s 1991 self-titled live album, and the group’s 1997 live effort How Sweet It Is.
Longtime Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux also paid tribute to Cutler in a post on his Facebook page. “I was saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and mentor John Cutler. John had more integrity than anyone I’ve ever known,” Lemieux wrote. “He hired me 25 years ago to work alongside Dick Latvala as the Grateful Dead’s video archivist. … An incredibly talented audio engineer, mixer, and producer, John was a very kind person, one of the best.”
The Dead’s 1978 Pyramids Scheme
According to JamBase, Culter began working for the Grateful Dead in the early 1970s, doing odd jobs, including fixing their amps. He was hired by a full-time employee after he made an advance trip to Egypt in 1978 to help prepare the audio setup for the band’s famous concerts that year at the Great Pyramids.
In a 2015 interview with journalist Jake Feinberg, Bill Cutler discussed some the challenges his brother faced when the band sent him to Egypt to get the sound ready for the concerts. According to Bill, the Grateful Dead asked John to get permission from the Egyptian government for the band to use the pyramids as a sound chamber.
John was then unable to find enough cable to use for the task; that is, until a bunch of old cable was found in a shed that the Nazis had left as they were retreating from the advancing British army during World War II.
“They gave John that cable,” Bill recalled. “It’s 1978 and the cable is so old that when he unspooled it most of it wouldn’t even hold together. They had to give up on the idea of using the pyramids as an echo chamber.”
Other Work
Among Cutler’s other duties for the band was mixing the sound for the group’s concerts for TV and radio broadcasts. He later was responsible for the front-of-house mix at the band’s shows.
Among the other artists Cutler worked with as either a producer or engineer included Warren Zevon, Gov’t Mule, New Grass Revival, and Rob Wasserman.