Books That Should be Required Reading

[Nathanael]

My take: Here's what I think would be the smallest, yet still comprehensive education on the breadth of what we call audio production from tracking through to a CD:

The New Stereo Soundbook - Ron Streicher and Alton Everest
Master Handbook of Acoustics - Alton Everest
Mastering Audio - Bob Katz

Before someone points out the obvious, yes I know that experience is still necessary. Point is just think how much faster you could "experience" with a full understanding of the underlying science and theory.

Any "must have's" that I'm missing on the short list? Can you suggest a better first three books?

Prolly some good ones like old RCA handbooks, IEEE archive CD-ROM's, etc.

Don't just suggest every audio book on your shelf. What are the desert island "must have" references?

[C.Lambrechts]

Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince


ymmv , imvho etc etc ...

[Paul Gold]

The Audio Cyclopedia and/or Handbook for Sound Engineers/The New Audio Cyclopedia

[Ol' Betsey]

1. Confessions of a Record Producer - Not an audio book per se but pretty interesting reading none the less. Helps you understand the business and attempts to help you protect your chops.

2. The Tao of Pooh - Not an audio book per se but a great book none the less. Helps you understand the simplicity of life...



R.

[Jules]

The Sound of Money "recording for profit" - Chris Stone

Modern recording techniques - ????

Diary of a rock star - Ian Hunter

Sage advice / dry & factual tech / funny

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by Jules
The Sound of Money "recording for profit" - Chris Stone

and, "Hitmen"

great book.

[smoothmoniker]

Craig Anderton, Audio Recording for Musicians. Nothing but the basics, written for musicians, not engineers.

[bjornson]

Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maint. Robert Pirsig. Discussions on "quality"

[e-cue]

Originally posted by Steve Smith
and, "Hitmen"

great book.

Triple Ditto that. That book is a "ohhhh, so that's way that record didn't do jack" answerbase.

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by e-cue
Triple Ditto that. That book is a "ohhhh, so that's way that record didn't do jack" answerbase.

also a grat " How not to be" reference.

The Loverboy explaination is worth the book alone!

[ozraves]

"Slaughterhouse Five"
"The Great Gatsby"
"All You Need is Ears"

I'd add a couple of movies as well. An interesting night is watching "8 1/2" and following it with "Stardust Memories."

And, then balance it all out with some Johnny Cash.

[Drumsound]

"All you need to know about the Music Business" by Donald Passman. It's abusiness book that won't make you fall asleep.

[maxim]

this sounds like a great opportunity to mention that mike stavrou, my friend and a golden-eared engineer, has just released a book, called "mixing with your mind"

any australians on this list would, undoubtedly, already be aware of mike's wisdom through 'stav's word', a column he's had in 'audio technology'

if you haven't, suffice to say that this man has been an inspiration to me and many others, and was once named by sir george martin as his"favorite engineer"

check it out on his website:

www.mixingwithyourmind.com

i can't say enough about his ability to teach this stuff, so i'll just shut up now

[twilt]

i need info on how to find hitmen by chris stone.
who is the publisher
isbn number
anything??????

[exfakto]

The recording engineers handbook by Boby Owisnki, Jesus what a great book!!! I ve read it like three tiems just to make sure I didnt miss anything!! It's very good indeed.

Behind the Glass, is also very good, not as technical as the other one

Bon Kats book, I didnt liek that much, maybe too trechnical, Have to read it again to see

[Dave Martin]

Originally Posted by twilt

i need info on how to find hitmen by chris stone.
who is the publisher
isbn number
anything??????

Hitmen is by Frederic Dannen

http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/045721/details.html

is one source...

[Jamz]

Lot of good books mentioned.
This is not light reading. More like studying but if you're into the science of acoustics it's 575 pages of info.

Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics: Arthur H. Benade

[mattssons]

Phillip Newell - Recording spaces

I´ve tried to read books about acoustics but usually fall a sleep with all the boring maths and graphs.
This one i have actually read several times.

Bobby Owinsky´s books
Tim Crich - Recording tips for engineers.
"Confessions of a record producer"
"Behind the glass"

All of the above do not follow the usual, lets start with a chapter about the ear, some acoustics, a tiny bit of microphones, compressors e.q and the mixer. Throw in some really dated pictures on some gear that no one never uses and finish up the rest half of the book with an appendix and a massive glossary....
All the best / Toby

[Drumsound]

"Temples of Sound" is a quite cool history bood.

[hociman]

Ken Pohlman's Fundamentals of Digital Audio, and almost anything by John Watkinson.

For those suggesting literature on this list, I suggest you read William Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury without Cliff's Notes.

[neve1073]

Originally Posted by Drumsound

"Temples of Sound" is a quite cool history bood.

Temples of Sound"---that's a fun book!

Required reading: Dante's Inferno

[toolskid]

this

is a useful tool

[strauss]

The Mixerman's Diaries is a MUST read.
It's edutainment in it's best form!

[norman_nomad]

I second: Mastering Audio - Bob Katz

This book cleared up a lot of misconceptions I had about clocking, word lengh, dithering, etc...

A MUST read!

[kudzu]

Phillip Newell - Recording spaces

This is a great, great book.....I've read it many, many times....its bloody brilliant

thumbsup


OH and WWW.GEARSLUTZ.COM.......ALL THE UPTODATE INFO/ADVICE U COULD EVER NEED

[Alexi]

Producing Hit Records: Secrets from the Studio - David John Farinella




........i just got this book and really enjoy reading it so far....



cheers

[Bob Olhsson]

Exploding by Stan Cornyn.

What makes the great, great


By Dennis Kimbro. You'll thank me later

[T.RayBullard]

THe New Stereo Soundbook- Everest, Streicher
The Handbook of REcording Engineering John Eargle
Sound Recording John Eargle
The Microphone book , from mono to stereo to surround John Eargle
On Location recording techniques Bruce Bartlett

[Harley-OIART]

Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook
Modern Recording Techniques
Audio Dictionary
Mixing Engineers Handbook
Mastering Engineers Handbook
Recording Engineers Handbook
Make Money with Your Studio - Tom Volinchak
Dan Lavry's White Papers (a few) (http://www.lavryengineering.com/supportpage.html)
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Trillium Lane White Paper on Digital Distortion & Intersample Peaks
(Been Searching for 45 mins and can't find a working link to it .... Maybe one of u could post it)
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~Scott