Hi,

Tnx for the advice!
I too feared that it would be difficult to find a filter that reliably(!) does all of this automatically, WITHOUT the risk of mingling the good audio parts... I'll do my best to give Audition a go (and use the advice given in the thread you refer to), as well as Audacity (which has been mentioned on Tapers section to also have a decent "Audio repair" tool). Also, as I now have a Macbook Pro, I'll try some of the audio editing programs that have been recommended to me in a different thread. Perhaps one of them has a comfortable and not so time-consuming way to achieve this.

Also: I totally hear you about not being satisfied with the mixing results as time passes. I remember that about a year ago, I was pretty satisfied with the results on this particular show, but it was when I mixed an Iron Maiden show last December, that I came to realise I had made some major errors in the equalisation process of the DM show, by having forgotten to compensate the total output gain, hence almost certainly introducing clipping (ouch! ). Regarding the IM show, I think I could do that slightly better too now, but for that particular show the only thing I'd probably change slightly would be to reduce some excessively loud peaks (audience outbursts, mostly), such that the overall normalisation up to 0dB would result in (hopefully) better dynamics, but then, I am quite satisfied with the end result on that show, so I (already previously) decided to do exactly what you recommend: don't look back to it in terms of re-mastering it.
The DM show is a different matter though... When I came to realise the (IMO) gross mixing errors, I couldn't let that one go, and just had to do it over (I'm too much of a perfectionist to not do so, and fortunately I hadn't really spread the first version widely yet). Even now, with the crackling still present, it is already much better than my first version was (well, IMO, at least), and indeed I could live with the crackling, if it proves to be too time consuming. Tnx for your opinion regarding re-mastering; it is a big relieve to see that I'm not the only one who gets dissatisfied with one's own results over time.

Finally, gear wise, I think I'll keep on using my current gear as much as possible for a little while longer: we just bought a new house and have a baby on the way, so my budget for this is very limited now. The upgrade to the ECM-717 already makes a HUGE difference, and on June 16th this year I intend to use it again (for IM, and some other metal bands). This time I'll perhaps try figuring out a slighty different mic position (rather than on the neck of my t-shirt, which I found to pick up a lot of my own enthusiasm ).
A lossless recorder would be very, very sweet. Especially if it would be of high quality, and HD or CF based. This is something I'll definitely keep my eyes open for, even if such an upgrade may not happen this year...

Tnx again, and cheers!
MM