John Prine – Ventura, CA (06/02/99)

John Prine
06/02/99
Majestic Ventura Theater
Ventura, CA

Neumann AK-40’s (x/y) >LC3 >KM-100’s >Beyer MV-100 >SBM-1 >Sony TCD-D7
DAT Master Transferred: Sony TCD-D8 >HHb CDR 800 PTO Via Analog i/o,
CD Masters >FLAC (Level 8) Via xACT 2.37

(1st Part Of ‘Spanish Pipedream’ Cut.)

December 2024 Remaster
FLAC >WAV >Audacity (De-Amplify Close-Proximity Hand Claps By 6 To 8 db, Reduce Overall End-Of Song Crowd Noise, Minor Edits [Microphone Bumps], Amplify By 2.8db, Re-Track On Similar Index Points) >Fix SBEs >FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.53

Recorded Front Row Balcony.
Recorded, Transferred, Audacity, FLAC Tags, & Front Cover Artwork By OldNeumanntapr.

Disc I:

1. //Spanish Pipedream
2. Six O’clock News
3. Souvenirs
4. Fish And Whistle
5. Grandpa Was A Carpenter
6. You Got Gold
7. Linda Goes To Mars
8. All The Best
9. Angel From Montgomery
10. Dear Abby
11. Let’s Talk Dirty In Hawaiian
12. Donald And Lydia

Disc II:

1. A Good Time
2. It’s A Big Old Goofy World
3. Sam Stone
4. Bear Creek
5. Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody
6. Sins Of Memphisto
7. Lake Marie

Encore:

8. Hello In There
9. Paradise

OldNeumanntapr Notes-
This was the last time that I’ve been to the Majestic Ventura Theater. The theater owners have made a lot of improvements to the theater, especially with the new sound system, since I was first there to record Arlo Guthrie in early 1991. I used to like to record in the front row of the balcony because there was less security up there and you didn’t get the noise of the dinner guests and the waitresses. The downside was that you were farther from the stage and the SPL was lower. Also, it was difficult to hear any comments that the artist might say between songs. The bottom floor of the Ventura Theater is all dinner tables and you need dinner reservations down there. Those reservations go quickly. (When I recorded Gregg Allman, openly, on the floor at the Ventura Theater a month earlier I had to pay $20 cash to the waiter on the spot to keep my place. I had already set up my stand and they were threatening to eject me because I lacked dinner reservations.) On the floor is closer to the stage and has better sound, but it’s more exposed. I have heard that the theater owners have since permanently closed off the balcony and built a wall dividing the floor section from the bar area, which is under the balcony, probably to improve the acoustics of the front part of the theater. The Ventura Theater was built in the 1920s, and at one point all the original theater seats were removed to convert it to a dinner theater with three tiered levels. I always seem to cut the beginning of ‘Spanish Pipedream’.
On a positive note, I think this was the only time I’d heard John do ‘Linda Goes To Mars’, a favorite of mine. Unfortunately, I found that my ticket stub must have suffered from heat damage as it was mostly blacked out except for the date so I was unable to scan it to use with this recording.

December 2024 Notes:
I just remastered this recording to try and reduce the microphone noise that occurred when someone would jostle me because inn those years I was wearing the AK 40 capsules mounted on an x/y bar on my collar. I also wanted to lower the ambient crowd boise so i could boost the music level a bit because the quiet parts when John would speak to the audience were difficult to hear well.

(DO NOT Convert To MP3!
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