Good Books: What are some essential reads on electronics-audio-diy-etc.?

[blarg]

What's up people? I'm looking for books on electricity, electronics, audio-electronics, sound, history on the subjects, etc. Or just some essential titles similar to those that you have at the top of your list. Thanks up front.

[KingDaddyO]

A few of my favorites ...

Audio Cyclopedia (2nd Edition) - Howard Tremaine
Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps - Gerald Weber
RCA Radiotron Designer's Handbook (4th Edition) - Langford, Smith

Mastering Audio - Bob Katz
Mixing With Your Mind - Michael Stavrou
The Recording Studio Handbook - John Woram
Recording the Beatles - Ryan, Kehew
The Daily Adventures of Mixerman - Mixerman

[brianroth]

Walt Jung's "Opamp Cookbook".

Bri

[rotation]

Originally Posted by blarg

What's up people? I'm looking for books on electricity, electronics, audio-electronics, sound, history on the subjects, etc. Or just some essential titles similar to those that you have at the top of your list. Thanks up front.

See Prodigy Pro (in meta-meta threads) for this. There is link to the website where you find lots of basic books scanned. If you don't find it PM me, i have it bookmarked at home.

Miha

[jamsmith]

Originally Posted by rotation

See Prodigy Pro (in meta-meta threads) for this. There is link to the website where you find lots of basic books scanned. If you don't find it PM me, i have it bookmarked at home.

Miha

The Master Handbook of Acoustic - F. Alton Everest
The best read on acoustics with needed a math degree

Electronic Projects For Musicians - Craig Anderton
There are lot so books on electronics When I comes to audio, this will get you into it quicker.

The Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook
Even Full Sail used this book for its live sound class. Hard to beat

The Tube Amp Book - Aspen Pittman
The Bible and Encylopedia for tube amplifiers

[dcollins]

The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill.

Anything by Douglas Self, Ben Duncan or John Linsley-Hood

Microelectronics by Sedra and Smith. Dense but lots of good information

The Art of Sound Reproduction by Watkinson.

And the Audio Cyclopedia, of course.

I think it's out of print, but "The Technique of the Sound Studio" by Nisbett is also recommended.

Remember that you can't really learn anything about sound from a book, only principles......


DC

[Francis Vaughan]

Hi, well I'm a bit of an outsider, and my first post, but can add a few comments. Mostly supporting the above.

Horrowitz and Hill. This is the go-to book for non-EEs who want to build something. In truth a lot of EEs will admit to having a copy on their bookshelf as it is a very comprehensive overview of electronics with an eye to designing and building things. Its intend is to give professionals in other areas enough info to build stuff. Its audio related stuff is OK, but they don't discuss anything that might be called high-end.

Stuff by Walt Jung. Superb stuff from a highly respected serious audio design engineer. He has a web site with most of his writings available. Much of these works are go-to references for anyone wanting to build a hi-end device. Much of it at the extreme high performance end. This is the guy that defined the science behind the sound of capacitors. Anything involving op-amps (whether discrete or integrated) should involve looking at what Walt has to say. His site.

Douglas Self. His book on amplifier design is considered a classic, if a little controversial. Controversial in that he is an "if it measures good, it is good" engineer. But he writes well and his series on distortion modes in amplifiers is classic. Douglas' site.

Writings by Nelson Pass. Nelson is an interesting guy, with a very different take on design and ethos. Much of this is on his DIY web site. Some of which you need to dig for, as it is referenced under legacy stuff. He has a neat tutorial on minimalistic op-amps, and a very long and well worked out set of articles of designing his Zen series of amplifiers. The amplifiers themselves are, well, not for everyone, but inside the design rationale there are real gems of insight. He makes schematics, indeed the entire service manual available for every product that has ceased production on his website. Considering that his power amplifiers are a favoured top end amp for mastering suites he probably knows a bit about his craft. Nelson's site.

There are a few DIY web forums about. Some are better than others. There is a degree of preciousness sometimes, and a few otherwise talented people have failed to get on in the past, leading to a bit of fragmentation. Almost all of this stuff is directed at reproduction, rather than recording sadly. But quite a lot of the principles remain the same. Issues with jitter, proper digital design techniques, board layout, power supplies, noise, and perhaps most importantly a lot of guys that listen to the music. Sites like DIYAudio and DIYHiFi are not a bad start. DIY Audio has a forum specifically for Nelson Pass' designs, and Nelson contributes. DIY HiFi is a breakaway group that now refers to DIYAudio as "the other place", but has a number of quite talented guys contributing. A number of them professionals in the field.

There is a wealth of information on the web now. Many designers of note and experts have made available papers and writings on their subjects of expertise. There is some element of luck in digging them out, and also some element of winnowing the wheat from the chaff.

Much depends upon what you want to learn to design and build.

[blarg]

Right on. Thanks again for the replies. Great Info!!!