technical music books
March 9, 2011 9:17 PM Subscribe
Books that all aspiring audio engineers/mixers/producers should own.
Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook (if live sound is at all an interest).
posted by zachlipton at 10:50 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 10:50 PM on March 9, 2011 [2 favorites]
Perfecting Sound Forever was fascinating. Live Sound Reinforcement and Sound Check are the textbooks for the audio section of my stagehand apprenticeship coursework.
posted by mollymayhem at 5:18 AM on March 10, 2011
posted by mollymayhem at 5:18 AM on March 10, 2011
My producer and engineer were both raving about this. I think he has a blog as well.
posted by troywestfield at 6:26 AM on March 10, 2011
posted by troywestfield at 6:26 AM on March 10, 2011
It might be worth posting a question with a link back to this thread over in MeFi Music talk too.
posted by usonian at 7:10 AM on March 10, 2011
posted by usonian at 7:10 AM on March 10, 2011
It doesn't cover the technical side, but if you're interested in working with recording/mixing music, Donald Passman's Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business is THE book about the music business.
posted by andrewraff at 7:33 AM on March 10, 2011
posted by andrewraff at 7:33 AM on March 10, 2011
Except of course, Passman's book is titled All You Need to Know About the Music Business.
posted by andrewraff at 7:37 AM on March 10, 2011
posted by andrewraff at 7:37 AM on March 10, 2011
It's not a book, but how can I not mention Pensado's Place? The guys is the remix master and now hosts a weekly talkshow about mixing and production. It's as good as it gets.
posted by fantasticninety at 2:22 PM on March 10, 2011
posted by fantasticninety at 2:22 PM on March 10, 2011
Definitely check out The Mixing Engineer's Handbook. It's got a lot of interviews with well-known engineers/producers and has a lot of useful info.
The Tape Op suggestion is also a great one. Check out their web site. New articles are still being published.
posted by mrbob14 at 3:20 PM on March 10, 2011
The Tape Op suggestion is also a great one. Check out their web site. New articles are still being published.
posted by mrbob14 at 3:20 PM on March 10, 2011
Mixing With Your Mind. Lots of practical advice for recording and mixing.
Also, not overly techical, but I got a lot out of Sir George Martin's autobiography All You Need Is Ears
Also, also - there's a great DVD on producer Tom Dowd called The Language of Music. Again, not very technical, but nonetheless interesting and inspiring.
Enjoy.
posted by robotot at 4:15 PM on March 10, 2011
Also, not overly techical, but I got a lot out of Sir George Martin's autobiography All You Need Is Ears
Also, also - there's a great DVD on producer Tom Dowd called The Language of Music. Again, not very technical, but nonetheless interesting and inspiring.
Enjoy.
posted by robotot at 4:15 PM on March 10, 2011
Seconding zachlipton and mollymayhem.
The Yamaha handbook and Live Sound Reinforcement were immensely helpful for helping me get new people up to speed on all that goes into "running sound". Basics and principles are in there, as well as talk about getting everything properly set up and torn down, speaker and monitor placement, theory behind main and monitor mixing, recording, and much more.
posted by xedrik at 4:25 PM on March 10, 2011
The Yamaha handbook and Live Sound Reinforcement were immensely helpful for helping me get new people up to speed on all that goes into "running sound". Basics and principles are in there, as well as talk about getting everything properly set up and torn down, speaker and monitor placement, theory behind main and monitor mixing, recording, and much more.
posted by xedrik at 4:25 PM on March 10, 2011
The Daily Adventures of Mixerman is a must if you want something that is a fun humorous read, but also sheds some light onto some of the non-technical parts of working in a studio, such as the importance of feeding people, getting a vibe, how not to piss off the band, etc.
posted by markblasco at 5:19 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by markblasco at 5:19 PM on March 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
i was coming here to recommend reading anything dave pensado writes on the web and was thrilled to discover he has a podcast now! he has a great way of breaking things down to specifics (like what particular plug-in he used for the vocals on that one mary j. blige track etc) while explaining the reasons he does things he does, so you understand the concepts behind why he used that plug-in and how etc. it's 4 in the morning so sorry but i'm just gonna be lazy and cut and paste a few urls:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/insidetrack_0107.htm
http://emusician.com/dsp/emusic_dave_pensado_plugin/
http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_mixing_down_speaking/
http://emusician.com/dsp/emusic_dave_pensado_plugin/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/169302-r-b-mixing-kick-drum.html
that last one's from a month where he very freely shared his knowledge on the excellent gearslutz.com forum - there's miles of Q & A on there:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/q-dave-pensado/
also, cosign on "All You Need to Know About the Music Business", it's a very very useful book.
and finally, "KLF - The Manual - How To Have A Number One The Easy Way" really does tell you how to do just that. here's the one i got by following their simple instructions:
http://kutaradio.multiply.com/journal/item/221
that's me there at the top, chart position being obtained by following their instructions to the letter. also it's a great read and gives some interesting insight into the music industry.
posted by messiahwannabe at 12:01 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan07/articles/insidetrack_0107.htm
http://emusician.com/dsp/emusic_dave_pensado_plugin/
http://emusician.com/tutorials/emusic_mixing_down_speaking/
http://emusician.com/dsp/emusic_dave_pensado_plugin/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/169302-r-b-mixing-kick-drum.html
that last one's from a month where he very freely shared his knowledge on the excellent gearslutz.com forum - there's miles of Q & A on there:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/q-dave-pensado/
also, cosign on "All You Need to Know About the Music Business", it's a very very useful book.
and finally, "KLF - The Manual - How To Have A Number One The Easy Way" really does tell you how to do just that. here's the one i got by following their simple instructions:
http://kutaradio.multiply.com/journal/item/221
that's me there at the top, chart position being obtained by following their instructions to the letter. also it's a great read and gives some interesting insight into the music industry.
posted by messiahwannabe at 12:01 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you! I shall acquire and consume said media!
posted by hiddenknives at 3:22 PM on March 12, 2011
posted by hiddenknives at 3:22 PM on March 12, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by minkll at 10:31 PM on March 9, 2011 [1 favorite]