Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
Carolina Theater
Durham, NC
07.27.96

Source:  Nak 300's + Senn 441's > D8 (Mike Clark) > DAT(s)
Transfer:  DAT > D-15 > coax > Audiophile 2496 > Ardour 2.8.11 @ 16/44.1
Cleanup:  Wavelab 6.10 (level and balance adjustment, tracking, stereo re-imaging) > FLAC

1. //Orphan Girl
2. One More Dollar
3. Pass You By
4. Barroom Girls
5. Annabelle
6. By The Mark
7. I've Been Down Before
8. Acony Bell
9. Tear My Stillhouse Down
10. Long Black Veil

Notes:

A crystal recording of a beautiful, haunting performance.  Could be on-stage, certainly FOB, although the Carolina Theater's acoustics are so nice that it's hard to say exactly.  The first 10 seconds of Orphan Girls is missing, and the beginning of the set may also be missing, although Orphan Girl was a frequent opener.

The first 90 seconds of Orphan Girl were recorded with very low levels.  At about 1:30, it sounds like the taper plugged in a second set of mics, or something, and the tape overloads briefly.  The taper overcorrects, and then brings the levels back to something reasonable.  Somewhere in the history of the recording, the peaks were brought up to +0dB, and thus the applause between songs is clipped, compressed, and way too loud.  This has been smoothed out considerably.  A 2-second drop in volume about 3:00 into Annabelle has been improved but is still audible.  There is a short discontinuity, maybe 5 seconds missing, in the middle of I've Been Down Before.  

The stereo imaging is also skewed toward stage right, possibly from the orientation of the mics.  The right channel was about +5dB louder than the left channel, as well.  That has been improved, but forcing the stereo image to dead center fuzzed up Gillian Welch's voice.  As this isn't a studio album (you can buy their studio work), I just nudged the stereo image enough that you won't feel like walking in circles to the left.

Thanks to Mr. Zeau for the DAT, and for feedback from others.

Enjoy!

--mhg :: 01/10/11