I need some knowledge...

[DeafinONEear]

I need some recommendations for books dealing with the history and application of the recording studio for something that I'm writing. I've been reading Temples of Sound, which is a great overview if anyone is interested, and I need much much more. Intend on getting All You Need is Ears and maybe Behind the Glass (what do you think of that one).
Anyone ever take any recording history classes? If so I would love to know what the reading lists were.
But yeah, I'm mostly look at the studio's effect on music and it's use as a musical instrument. Included Dub, Talking Heads, Electronic Music, etc.

Gimme Some titles.

[soundguy]

behind the glass is worth reading, its a great smattering of way different folks and approaches. More than anything its really more coffee talk than tech talk. Its worth reading, but I wished the dude had focused his interviews a little more.

dave

[markpar]

Inside Tracks by Richard Buskin was pretty good. You might also take a look at Good Vibrations by Mark Cunningham.

Good Luck!
-mark

[heylow]

Yo...

I second Dave's recommendation....I borrowed it from a friend once and found it to be a very intersting read from many differing perspectives.



heylow

[swillhite]

I really enjoyed Behind the Glass. Would definately recommend it.

[bedbug]

Intend on getting All You Need is Ears .

I dug that one. The second half focuses mainly on the Beatles, but hey is that a bad thing? There's some good history in the first half, but probably geared more towards the British. Good read though.

[DeafinONEear]

cool... anyothers? I'm really realizing that I'm going to have to focus on Dub here and I don't know any books on dub production... so any thoughts on dub?

but also, more names on standard american studio work would be great.

[trodden]

I haven't checked it out yet, but a friend is reading "good vibrations" and enjoying it.

[SpaceCad]

There are a lot of great books hitting the market now on this subject. I definitely recommend Behin the Glass. i would also check out The Mixing Engineer's Handbook by Bobby Owsinski - very much in the same format as Behind the Glass. Also, for a very dry, technical account of the history of sound recording, I would recommend Repeated Takes by Chanan. It's full of useless information, but it also has a great overview of how technology drove sound engineering.

[Professor]

There are lots of books on lots of subjects out there so it really depends on what angle you are trying to catch in your paper. I'll run down a few and you can feel free to ask any additional questions as you look these up.

1. Behind the Glass - I have only just started on this one and it does indeed seem more focused on the coffee talk than the tech talk though as you read you find little tricks and tips tossed out along the way. It's more for your development as an engineer than it is for history as it doesn't give chronological perspective or mention technological developments. Well recommended.

2. Inside Tracks - Similar but a bit more technical in the questions asked during the interviews. I found this one to be a very helpful book both in growing as an engineer and in understanding history though it still doesn't delve into dates and chronologies. Some of the interviews are quite short, but all are worthwhile. Highly recommended.

3. Someone else mentioned Owsinki's Mixing Engineer's Handbook - This is one that is meant to be a training manual on mixing so it doesn't have much in the way of history. It's a handbook so it is a great starting place to learn about basic terms and techniques.

4. Good Vibrations - Well the subtitle is 'a history of record production' so that should suggest something about it's inclusion of history. I only just got the book and haven't started reading it yet but from a quick scan, it looks like there is some technological history included. It looks like his main focus is on 1965 forward with only the slightest glossing of early Elvis, Buddy Holly and those groups from the 50s. There is a nice glossary and discography in the back. Looks pretty good for production history after 65.

5. Off the Record, by David Morton - This one is hard to find but very much worth the effort. It's subtitle is 'The technology and culture of sound recording in America'. It is a detailed history of recording technology starting from Edison in 1877 through to the late nineties (published in 2000) and it is a history of the technology, not the engineers, producers or bands. You'll learn about dictation recorders, answering machines, and multi-track tape without all of the pop culture fluff we usually see. It is an academic pressing though the writing is very straight forward. I bought a couple copies to give away as gifts. It is available for around $20 from the publisher, Rutgers University Press in New Brunswick, New Jersey and you can order it from the school's website. It also has a considerable 'notes' section at the end that ends up being a pretty substantial bibliography.

So if you are looking for technological history, technique history, or pop culture history, you should know where to start.

Let us know how it goes and what kind of grade you get on the paper.

-Jeremy

[DeafinONEear]

Thanks Jeremy,
Yeah, I just got Inside Tracks today and it looks pretty good. Damn near searched through 1000 Amazon listings looking for books... man my eyes hurt....
And then I realized that I can probably get a whole bunch of stuff out of the TapeOp book... and was actually thinking of ordering back issues to complete my collection (someday I'm going to plate all my issues in gold )
I saw Off the Record, but I can't really see me putting Dictaphone and Answering Machine references (unless we're talking Silver Jews or Casiotone for the Painfully ALone) in this....


still looking.

[apropos of nothing]

Heya.

On the electronic tip, I can recommend
"Ocean of Sound" by David Toop, (history of ambient music) and
"Strange Sounds -- Music, Technology and Culture" by Timothy Taylor (some history and tech, some theory)

[jajjguy]

I'm afraid i have nothing useful to add, but this thread made me reflect that Tape Op mag is probably one of the best resources for this sort of thing. The knowledge that is dropped in every issue is amazing, and really spans a range of music cultures and time periods.