Given that the album was recorded live to a Studer 2-inch tape machine it is possible that you are hearing a bit of tape saturation. This is particularly easy to hear with female voice one a sustained note. As the human voice has incredible dynamic range these things can happen and they may have decided to not worry about it as the performance was otherwise wonderful.

Just speculation however - I haven't heard the recording other than little MP3 clips on her website.

Interesting - what does tape saturation sound like? (easy to ask, maybe hard to answer!)

When the limits of tape headroom are reached, analog tape starts to soft-clip and the amount of high frequency information is reduced. If not pushed to hard, the sound of clipping is not harsh but just a bit fuzzy. The high frequency reduction occurs primarily in the 1kHz to 3kHz range.

It is pretty subtle, but there are lots of recordings out there where tape is pushed a bit too hard.

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When the limits of tape headroom are reached, analog tape starts to soft-clip and the amount of high frequency information is reduced. If not pushed to hard, the sound of clipping is not harsh but just a bit fuzzy. The high frequency reduction occurs primarily in the 1kHz to 3kHz range.

It is pretty subtle, but there are lots of recordings out there where tape is pushed a bit too hard.

I have yet to play my newest LP of Joni Mitchell's "Blue," but I think that has classically been a disc/recording where this phenomenon can be discerned. It is especially irritating on some of the CD versions.

There are some problems with Blue. It originally had a shrill SS sound. Steve Hoffman did a great job warming it up with his remastering.

There are spots however in her vocal that remain unpleasant. I don't know if it was mic or mic pre (I don't think the tape was pushed too hard - but someone with more experience with I could tell) that was overloaded at times, but there are some harsh moments with vocal peaks.

Don't producers do that sometimes intentionally to make things sound thicker and fuller? Or at least they CLAIM it's intentional.

It absolutely is done on purpose for effect. If you record hot but don't overdo it, tape adds a gentle warm natural sounding compression.

This is why there are occasions of tape being overloaded. Many push the tape as hard as possible and take the risk of falling off the edge once in a while.

Tape compression is so nice that there are lots of digital compressors and plug-ins that emulate this effect.

I have not bought the record/LP yet, but the CD came today and what a great job Al Schmitt did on this recording. I was fearful of the LP quality based on MF comments, but after listening the the stream off Shelby's website, I was hooked. The silver disc is very nice. I will probably do the LP at some point just for a science project. Recommended! Next up the Plant/Krauss CD.

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I have not bought the record/LP yet, but the CD came today and what a great job Al Schmitt did on this recording. I was fearful of the LP quality based on MF comments, but after listening the the stream off Shelby's website, I was hooked. The silver disc is very nice. I will probably do the LP at some point just for a science project. Recommended! Next up the Plant/Krauss CD.

Jim, Ditto my experience with the cd. Just eerie senses of space with spare, distinct instruments and superb detail on Lynne's voice. A very nicely recorded cd.

Her website is very cool, also.