Recording and Production Techniques

Whilst this book in undoubtedly a tome-of-knowledge for any aspiring producer / engineer it is, to my mind, spread a little thin. Paul White, the editor of UK magazine SOUND ON SOUND clearly knows his onions, but I feel has covered too many subjects with too little detail and comes across quite sterile and a little to 'fast'. Books covering more specific subjects are certainly going to be more help to anyone trying to improve their production / engineering techniques but for a general over-view and a quick reference guide this book is pretty good.

highly recommended and comprehensive book (75/78 people found this helpful)

This is an excellent book especially at this price. The author has crammed a vast amount of useful information about recording and producing audio into a little over 200 pages + there's a 40 page (!) comprehensive glossary. The book is well written and logically structured, which is where many books on this type of topic fall short, unfortunately. They're often either too theoretical, vague or complex, or seem to focus on explaining only the basic concepts to the newbie. Not so with this book - this is not an audio engineering textbook with formulae, wiring diagrams and so on, and neither is it written as a step-by-step tutorial to help the complete newbie set up a home studio. What's here is downright useful and interesting stuff for those who have some recording and/or producing experience and want to get the most out of their equipment at every stage of the recording/producing process. There are many useful tips about mic'ing drums, electric and acoustic guitars or vocals; how to setup and troubleshoot mixes, an in depth look at effects and dynamic control, optimum signal flow, the editing/mastering process... you name it. What's more is that this information is far from superficial, the author "digs in" where necessary and often discusses the pros and cons briefly, leaving you to think you just learned a lot without having to wade through dozens of pages of first. Moreover, the information is presented in a structured manner and is clearly divided over different chapters - and while some information naturally tends to overlap, this makes it the kind of book that's very easy to look something up in. Also, no space is wasted on photos or drawings unless the text could be misinterpreted or the concept / setup that is being discussed needs some carifying. That's another big plus - I really felt I got more than my money's worth when I bought this book. No wasted space means more useful tips or relevant background information. The author stays clear of overly technical jargon and doesn't elaborate on theory too much, he explains how things work, suggest working methods and the possible alternatives depending on what gear you have at your disposal, and workarounds for more practical problems than you'd think possible in a book this size. Excellent job.
Overall I would say it's a book aimed at the intermediate recordist, although most beginners will probably find the learing curve isn't too steep. In short, this has to be one of the best "how to" books I ever read and it is without doubt excellent value for money - not just because of the sheer amount of useful information inside - the clearly organized way in which it's presented really sets this book apart from many others costing twice as much. Highly recommended.

Recording and Production Techniques

Paul White

Reader Reviews:

CLEAR BUT STERILE (7/8 people found this helpful)

highly recommended and comprehensive book (75/78 people found this helpful)

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