At the Mahawai Theater in Great Barrington, small old wooden theater with a balcony, signs everywhere that proclaimed boldly, NO TAPING ALLOWED, which I didn't expect really because David Bromberg has tons of recordings out there, so it must be the theater's deal. I used my new HEBs into my inbox into D8. Arlo Guthrie was a suprise special guest who sat in for most of the show, as well as a dobro player I never heard of. I sat in the third row in the center. Great show, nice clear sound, very respectful crowd.
However, between songs the applause was so damned loud it caused mad clipping, while the music only peaked at 12 or maybe once or twice 10.
So I've been going through it with Soundforge knocking down the wild applause to 2 decibles. The music sounds perfect, until the thunderous applause just blows up all over the place. The big problem is when the applause happens in the music. I can isolate each clipping clap and dim it, and it still sounds great to me, but is this an acceptable practice? And I also noticed that even though the levels of the two mics were congruent during the music, during the applause portions one channel clips a whole lot more than the other. This really concerns me, perhaps it's a mic issue and they are not really matched as well as they should be. Maybe it's all good.
It should be interesting to hear my next experiment, Little Feat at another taper unfriendly venue, the Cape Cod Melody Tent. The sound there is about the worst I've ever heard anywhere. I'll probably be stuck way in the back, the stage revolves! Should be interesting.
Peace!