"Don’t You Know" - Della Reese

Hi

i think i can actually help here.... the subject was discussed at length among those of us who EQ'd the disc for the Hit Parade release.
One of the main things to know about the Nippers set is, those were released early in the CD era, and the tapes for the most part, were not EQ'd. This info was provided by one of the folks who worked on them!
So what are hearing on the Nipper disc is a very clean, nice transfer of the flat stereo master.
But since it was flat, it made the hi-hat/shaker sound very loud in the mix.

We then, for the Hit Parade release had the option of EQ-ing several different ways, and we were to determine how loud the percussion seemed in the mono, but more importantly, in the stereo mix on vinyl.

BTW, i say "we" but really this one was actually beautifully EQ'd by Tom Daly.
If i recall what he said correctly, he used several sources as guidelines, one being the Bear Family box set, and another being an old RCA record set (forget the name) it appeared on. His EQ is very warm, (more lows, and less hi-mid-range) and thus the hi-hats seem lower in the mix - but this is the same stereo mix, nothing is changed except the EQ.
We all loved how *warm* and rich it once sounded on vinyl, so that's why it sounds this way on the Hit Parade disc.

Hope that didn't sound too much like a commercial, but i just loved the sound of that one on this CD, and what Tom did...so i am biased.
BTW, minor trivia for you: Tom is indeed friends with Della, and they DO keep in touch. So i know if he didn't give one of her masters full props, he's gonna hear about it!!!

:-D

-MM