It would seem the musicians were doing something to compress the sound, then. "It goes to 11 . . . " ;o)
you mean the live engineer at the console. The musicians play, the soundman mixes.
And yes, live music is often very compressed, to a point where there is not much dynamic fluctuation.
looking forward to downloading the sample. FWIW, my altime favorite live grateful dead recording was with some beyer ribbons. Ultra smooth, detailed and NATURAL sounding.