A Good "get your feet wet" book?

Jive · Post by **Jive** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:24 pm

Hey guys,
I'm somewhat of a newbie to this recording thing. I'm in a band that has done a couple recording projects, some of which have turned out pretty nice I think; but i was the innocent guitar player who just turned knobs and played chords without really understanding what was going on.
I'm looking for a good book to get my feet wet with basic recording technique and "theory" to build off of. I'm guessing there has been a thread about this already, but using "book" as a search word brought up about every post ever. If someone could reccomend a book or link me somewhere it would be much appreciated. Thanks!

??????? · Post by **???????** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:32 pm

one of the standards is "Modern Recording Techniques" by David Miles Huber

Pretty textbook-y, but whatever. It's a little outdated in some respects and a little dense in others, but it covers the basics pretty well.

Electro-Voice 664 · Post by **Electro-Voice 664** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:32 pm

Then read this:

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:40 pm

somewhere there's a picture of me next to my wife's hospital bed holding my day-old daughter, and on the night stand is the Tape Op book.

apart from that, the other biggies for me have been "Audio In Media" by Stan Alten, "Introduction to Professional Recording" by Bruce Bartlett and "Sound Recording Handbook" by John Woram.

this isn't counting the various books about specific subjects like acoustics and mic placement/usage.

micyourbrain · Post by **micyourbrain** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:26 pm

Hey buddy,
I know it can be confusing early on, but it helps to focus your thinking in a certain way to filter out excessive information that you can absorb later. I think the most helpful building block idealogy would be modular like this

Recording: Source -> Mic -> Preamp -> Compression if needed -> Multitrack recording medium

Mixing: Multitrack recording medium -> levels, panning, and effects as needed -> main outs to stereo medium

Mastering: mixed stereo track -> mastering guy -> your label -> hit song

If you think of it like this, you will have a solid understanding of the basic process, and then you can learn all the extraneous or exception information. For example, right now, you just need to know that there are different mics that sound different. You don't need to know about all of the types of mics like crystal, PZM, speaker mics, electret and their impedance, gain and power requirements.

The tapeop book is a good place to start. Then you can start seeking out subjects that you don't quite understand yet. It's a lot to absorb and it will make your head swell but over time as you continue to search, you will reach a point where you know the information you need to know to do a good job.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:55 pm

micyourbrain: That is only ONE basic process. Many great records have been made live straight to 2-track, and a few are even still made that way.

On the other side of the pond they are known historically for printing more effects during tracking than those in North America, etc etc etc.

Your flow chart diagrams one very common working methodology, but it is not by any means universal, as you have probably unintentionally implied.

Just sayin.

Justin Foley · Post by **Justin Foley** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:00 pm

Yamaha's "Sound Reinforcement Handbook", while geared towards live sound, gives a thorough and solid understanding of audio concepts like compression, reverb, equalization and others. I'd highly recommend it as the first place to start.

The Woram book mentioned above is out of print, medium level to advanced and totally recommended.

= Justin

micyourbrain · Post by **micyourbrain** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:41 pm

??????? wrote:micyourbrain: That is only ONE basic process. Many great records have been made live straight to 2-track, and a few are even still made that way.

On the other side of the pond they are known historically for printing more effects during tracking than those in North America, etc etc etc.

Your flow chart diagrams one very common working methodology, but it is not by any means universal, as you have probably unintentionally implied.

Just sayin.

Just trying to make things simple for the lad. Once he gets the basics, then he can record guitars direct, use dynamics as overheads, record onto wax cylinder etc. I should have mentioned this is the standard way of doing things, but it's important to do everything however the hell you want

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:08 pm

Justin Foley wrote:Yamaha's "Sound Reinforcement Handbook", while geared towards live sound, gives a thorough and solid understanding of audio concepts like compression, reverb, equalization and others. I'd highly recommend it as the first place to start.

oh yeah, definitely worth getting your hands on.

why did i forget that one?

??????? · Post by **???????** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:52 pm

micyourbrain wrote:
??????? wrote:micyourbrain: That is only ONE basic process. Many great records have been made live straight to 2-track, and a few are even still made that way.

On the other side of the pond they are known historically for printing more effects during tracking than those in North America, etc etc etc.

Your flow chart diagrams one very common working methodology, but it is not by any means universal, as you have probably unintentionally implied.

Just sayin.
Just trying to make things simple for the lad. Once he gets the basics, then he can record guitars direct, use dynamics as overheads, record onto wax cylinder etc. I should have mentioned this is the standard way of doing things, but it's important to do everything however the hell you want

I'm sure it's appreciated by him, as well. I didn't mean to come off as sounding pedantic like I did (re-reading my post) my bad. I was just trying to supplement what you said with what you already knew but didn't say.

8th_note · Post by **8th_note** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:45 pm

This isn't a book but here's a classic internet article that's a great place to start:

How To Mix A Pop Song From Scratch

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:05 am

+1 on the TapeOp book.

I also like "Behind the Glass" by Howard Massey, and the 2 books by Bobby Owsinksi "Recording Engineers Handbook" and "Mixing Engineers Handbook".

The last 2 especially are good for beginners.

centurymantra · Post by **centurymantra** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:52 pm

The Owskinski books are good and - don't laugh, but the "Home Recording for Dummies" is actually a surprisingly OK book.

phantom power · Post by **phantom power** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 1:40 pm

JWL,

+1 on all of those.

-AE

ultravioletray · Post by **ultravioletray** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 9:19 am

+1 on the Owsinski books. I find they go well together - microphone disussion in one, compression discussion in the other, etc. Get 'em both.

I've only read a few chapters from "Behind The Glass", and was quite impressed. The Visconti interview alone was pretty amazing.

dAve

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A Good "get your feet wet" book?

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